Spheres of Practice for the Co-design of Wearables
- Submitting institution
-
University of Ulster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 76466298
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1080/20511787.2016.1255445
- Title of journal
- Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 85
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2051-1787
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- December
- Year of publication
- 2016
- URL
-
https://ulster.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/REF2021/ETQV0d5gi25OutZDXpKr9jQBROuPfwcNpP4ausOi_0B2Kw?e=2BQjcC
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
2
- Research group(s)
-
B - Art, Design & Health
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This research addressed new research paradigms between design, science and technology. A series of iterative investigations over a longitudinal period developed new knowledge informed by each subsequent project. The Second Skin project extended this knowledge to find common research ground between multiple academic disciplines. It comprised themed workshops on health and technology and this author led on extending workshop outcomes to facilitate and participate in a research symposium at Ulster comprising themes of e-textiles, medical textiles and ageing in place. Outcomes informed a follow up research workshop at Ulster with the core team to explore wellness in ageing, using empathic and transformative design. Three different scenarios of elderly end-users were proposed as a vehicle to consider users’ needs in the context of ageing and their emotional relationships with textile products. These were framed in a way that did not predetermine the outcomes. They formed the foundations for further multidisciplinary collaboration with computer scientists and design teams. Building on previous knowledge, asking iterative questions; developing scenarios; exploring materials; generating concepts and rapid prototypes resulted in emotive and novel e-textile artefacts. These were not intended as final solutions but served as tools to evoke further debate and explore what it means to be “that wearer”.
The process was original and agile, enabling multi-component, multi-site and multi-disciplinary research. Significantly its ‘thinking through doing’ ethos underpinned the research and embedding a hacker-culture created common ground between computer scientists and designers.
Scenario-based proposals enabled distinction between different ages and needs of ‘elderly’ users. The rigorous process engaged end users, industry and academics from multiple disciplines, exploring open formats at various sites over a longitudinal period of time to achieve meaningful new knowledge. Multidisciplinary, practice-led research shifted the paradigm of what design is, to what it could become as a collaborative, transformational and end-user experience.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -