Design Things (Design Thinking, Design Theory)

A new perspective on design thinking and design practice: beyond products and projects, toward participatory design things.

Design Things offers an innovative view of design thinking and design practice, envisioning ways to combine creative design with a participatory approach encompassing aesthetic and democratic practices and values. The authors of Design Things look at design practice as a mode of inquiry that involves people, space, artifacts, materials, and aesthetic experience, following the process of transformation from a design concept to a thing.

Design Things, which grew out of the Atelier (Architecture and Technology for Inspirational Living) research project, goes beyond the making of a single object to view design projects as sociomaterial assemblies of humans and artifacts—“design things.” The book offers both theoretical and practical perspectives, providing empirical support for the authors' conceptual framework with field projects, case studies, and examples from professional practice. The authors examine the dynamics of the design process; the multiple transformations of the object of design; metamorphing, performing, and taking place as design strategies; the concept of the design space as “emerging landscapes”; the relation between design and use; and the design of controversial things.

Thomas Binder is Associate Professor at the Danish Design School.
Giorgio De Michelis is Professor at the University of Milan–Bicocca.

Pelle Ehn has been a member of the participatory design research community for many years. He is a coauthor of Work-Oriented Design of Computer Artifacts, Design Things (MIT Press), and other books. Ehn, Topgaard, and Nilsson are part of Malmö University's “digital Bauhaus.”

Giulio Jacucci is Professor at the University of Helsinki.

Per Linde is a Researcher at Malmö University. Ina Wagner is Professor at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Design.

Ina Wagner is Professor at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Design.