DRS2018

DRS2018 Limerick - Conference summary

The 2018 Design Research Society international conference was held in Limerick, Ireland from 25 - 28 June 2018. Thanks to record-breaking weather, umbrellas intended for traditional Atlantic Irish rain were put to use as sun shades and the campus of the University of Limerick came to life, providing a beautiful backdrop to an amazing event.

This is just a quick summary of the conference with some links and resources. We’ll be posting a series of conference reports from a range of different perspectives and voices over the coming weeks (so check your notification settings to make sure you get these).

The scale of the conference demonstrated the continuing growth and development of design research at an international level, with 600+ delegates from all around the world. The domain of design research was clearly represented by the themes emerging from work submitted by DRS members.

This landscape of design knowledge culminated in 7 volumes of Conference Proceedings:

• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 1
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 2
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 3 (part a)
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 3 (part b)
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 4
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 5
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 6
• Proceedings of DRS2018 - Volume 7

The conference was preceded by the PhD by Design event, hosting it’s second satellite event at a DRS conference. Work from the event will contribute to the 5th PhD by Design Instant Journal.

The conference hosted 3 main Keynote Debates around particular topics in design research as a catalyst for change. Technology did what technology does best (of course…). But people did what they are best at, too - finding their own ways to discuss, connect with, and develop ideas.  Videos of each debate are available here:

• Keynote debate Day 1 - Design research and industry impacts
• Keynote debate Day 2 - Social and Public
• Keynote debate Day 3 - Whose Design?

The workshops, discussions, and paper presentations were all well attended - even over-attended in the fantastic Limerick weather. And in between events the overall feel of the conference was one engaged activity and debate. You can find some of the conference photos here:

• Conference Day 1
• Conference Day 2
• Conference Day 3
• Conference Day 4

And, the DRS Council had a stall at the conference and it was great to have direct conversations with everyone face to face and online. We gathered some really useful feedback from the postcards and consultation session around our 4 key FutureDRS questions. A huge thank you to everyone who took time to get involved and we will publish the results on this shortly.

Next up, the biennial DRS LearnXdesign 2019 Conference will be held 9 - 12 July 2019 in Ankara, Turkey.

And the 2020 DRS Conference will be held at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Further details to follow soon…

DRS2018 Conference Keynote Debates Announced

Anyone who has attended a DRS conference will know that the Keynote Debates have always provoked debate an acted as catalysts and prompt for wider discussion in the design research community. The DRS2018 conference debate themes look set to continue this with some superb speakers, moderators and topics. Here's the full line up.

Design Research & Industry Impacts

(Tuesday 26 June 2018)

Moderator: Prof. Alex Milton

Participants: Lorna Ross, Paul A Rogers, and Mariana Amatullo

'Design Research & Industry Impacts' explores the changing nature of design research and practice within academia and industry.

Design is moving beyond merely being an instrumentalised tool for industry, and becoming an altruistic agent for, and of, change as well as a force for social innovation.

More information...

Social and Public

(Wednesday 27 June 2018)

Moderator: Dr. Simon O'Rafferty

Participants:

'Social and Public' will explore the changing contexts of design research and practice through the intersections between design for policy and social design.

The debate will critically examine intersections between existing and emerging trends around design for policy, social design alongside other emerging perspectives such as systemic design, transition design and public service design. By exploring these intersections the debate will open a discussion in the relationships between the research, practice and education domains.

More information...

Whose Design?

(Thursday 28 June 2018)

Moderator: Dr. Andrea Botero

Participants: Sadie Red Wing and Arturo Escobar

'Whose Design?' poses questions around the sharing of counterpoints to the traditional design gazes.

In asking “Whose Design?” we seek to explore diverse understandings and counterpoints to dominant design gazes, both from the perspective of design as a noun (what is it that particular designs do in the world?) and as a verb (how should we go about designing our way out of the current mess?).

More information...

DRS2018 Travel Tips

DRS2018 provides lots of travel and sightseeing tips for delegates at http://www.drs2018limerick.org/venue/conference-venue, including directions to Limerick from major airports and a list of favourite local pubs! In preparation for your trip, conference organisers recommend booking a room near the University of Limerick (pictured here). Staying near campus will be more convenient, as there is 5km between the UL campus and the city centre. That said, there will still be plenty of opportunities to explore the city. DRS2018 plans to set-up a bike sharing system to travel downtown - in addition to the taxis and busses already available. The gala reception and dinner will also take place in the city centre, at King John’s Castle and The Strand Hotel.

Follow DRS2018 on Facebook and Twitter for more information and updates.

Celebrating Irish Design at DRS2018

Taking place in Limerick, Ireland, DRS2018 will celebrate local design and design research. It was the Irish Year of Design in 2015 and DRS2018 builds on this momentum. On Tuesday, June 26^th, the conference is hosting a Bread & Butter Session in conjunction with the Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI). Bread & Butter is an IDI presentation series where delegates can learn about Irish design practice.

Beyond formal activities, conference goers can also explore Irish art and design in Limerick at the Hunt Museum, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Fab Lab Limerick and the EVA International festival, taking place at the same time as DRS2018. Conference organisers also encourage delegates to check out the Iterations journal, a local design research publication.

As announced in the May DRS Member's Newsletter, a DRS Special Session will be held at the 2018 DRS Conference in Limerick. This will take place on the last day of conference - Thursday 28 June, 12:45 - 14:00 in room KBG12. All DRS Members are invited to attend this session, where Council will report to members and begin discussion on the future of the DRS.

To be an international and representative community committed to promoting and developing design research, DRS Council believes the Society needs to engage in a more interactive and participatory way in setting future directions. However, the challenges in achieving this in contemporary contexts need to be recognised. As a starting point we propose to focus on four themes and conversations that will begin at the Special General Meeting.

So please come to this Special Meeting and help influence the future direction of the Society! If you're not coming to Conference (and even if you are), we encourage you to give us feedback directly using the online form.

Future DRS Feedback Form

You can also comment on the Future of DRS discussion Forum or email us directly: admin@designresearchsociety.org

Look out for further opportunities to engage during conference by following us on Twitter.

Reflection on Keynote Debate 1: Design Research and Industry Impacts

As a follow-up to DRS2018, we invited conference participants to reflect on the keynote debates and related conversations that took place during the conference. The article that follows responds to debate 1 - "Design Research and Industry Impacts:  Exploring the changing nature of design research and practice within academia and industry." It was prepared by Chris Hammond (IBM Design) & Joyce Yee (Northumbria University), track chairs of "How Organisations Employ Design as a Vehicle for Change" at DRS2018. 

The Impact of Design Research on Organizational Culture Change in Industry: Lessons from DRS2018

On opening day of DRS2018, we heard that design is a key component of Ireland’s innovation agenda and that 20% of Ireland’s exports are design-driven. In the opening keynote debate exploring the changing nature of design research and its practice within academia and industry, Professor Paul Rodgers stated that designers are "facilitators of change." Lorna Ross added, "design is like science, it is a tool for understanding as well as for acting." In the two sessions of our curated track "How organisations employ design for change," we heard no shortage of case studies documenting the adoption of design to create increased value and differentiation. These studies featured a range of organisations: from large, multi-national companies to small businesses.

It is evident that design brings value to organizations. The notion of changing culture through design is widespread but not well understood. Research typically focuses on methods to create better goods and services, but little exists on how organizational culture has evolved and what tactics were used to create new realities for employees. We observed this gap in our own track; few papers directly presented concrete evidence to the theme of long-term sustainable organisational change. Additionally, the majority of papers were overwhelmingly from academic researchers, not practitioners in the field. There seems to be significant interest on this topic, but the lack of practitioner papers and attendees suggest limited design research impact on industry.     

The lack of academic research impact on industry practice isn’t a new problem and is not limited to design research. This gap reflects the realities of the different practices and cultures - not a lack of trying. Many academic papers are made inaccessible through a pay wall subscription format. But, impact on practice is an increasingly important issue. We need critical and long-term study in this field of growing importance for design. It would also help inform the research impact agenda in the UK and elsewhere. So, how do we encourage more interactions and engagement between design researchers and practitioners? How do we ensure we focus on evidencing long-term sustainable change while also responding to the changing needs of industry?

In industry, design research involves making as a key research approach. We advance our understanding by not only tracking and understanding an ongoing phenomenon, but in participating in it - by prototyping and creating new future experiences and evaluating their impact. Investigation, understanding and framing are all important moments in design, but it is not until we make new experiences that we can begin to measure and assess the improved future state. This focus on action can create more meaningful interactions between academic researchers and practitioners.

How might we plan experiments to inform knowledge on the topic? Where can we study long-term change over time? What other formats might bring about more meaningful interactions? Would organisations host a ‘researcher-in-residence’? Could the DRS as a traditionally academic-focused society be opened up to design researchers practising in industry or act as the bridge? Do we need intermediary organisations like think tanks to ‘translate’ research with industry, similar to the policy sector?

Current forms of research dissemination don't have the desired impact on industry. What can we as a community do? With the current discourse on decolonising design and the re-evaluation of our existing frames of reference relating to design knowledge, it seems an opportune time to ask how we are using this knowledge to better inform practice. Effective organizational change requires a diversity of experiences and skills. As a community, what experiences need to be shared and how do we advance the research and the practical application? We’re ready to start. Help us to build a community of organisational change for academics and industry! 

Authors

Chris Hammond, IBM Design

Joyce Yee, Northumbria University

Reflection on Keynote Debate 2: Social & Public

Optimistic Design Power in Japan

It’s clear from this Keynote Debate that many European countries employ design teams within government. There was a deep discussion about the role of design in, with and for government throughout the talk. This significant role and influence of design were surprising to me as a Japanese researcher, since it hasn’t typically been seen in my government. However, the Japan Patent Office, within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), recently released a Design-Driven Management manifesto. This hints at a significant turning point for the role of design in Japan!

This manifesto was originally developed by a study group consisting of government officials and design leaders like Kinya Tagawa from Takram, Chiaki Hayashi from Loftwork and Yutaka Hasegawa from Sony. They engaged in deep discussions about design and ultimately proposed that design should play a bigger role in business and governance, taking power from the management sector. They set policy recommendations to promote this design-driven management and held a bold trial of the policy within the Patent Office itself. This involved appointing a Creative Design Officer and design management project team to analyse and reimagine services from a user’s perspective. The team launched their first beta-version services this September, after only a month. This is an unbelievably fast move, especially considering it happened within the Japanese government!

This manifesto and its quick adoption are like a flower that started to grow and then spread at incredible speed. Passionate young design leaders cultivated the groundwork for these results over many years, and helped open the way for followers in design and business fields. Just this month, Mr.Tagawa from Takram and Ms.Munakata from the Patent Office participated in a talk about the manifesto. Although I was unable to attend, I could sense extraordinary enthusiasm in the potential of design by following the event on Twitter and blogs. To quote Dr. Andrea Siodmok from the Keynote Debate, this recent event was filled with “optimistic design power.”

This initiative is very promising. Japan has many issues to be addressed like an aging society, the dangers of earthquakes and industry structure. I believe design within government will encourage the spread of optimistic and positive design thinking in response to these problems.

DRS 2018 was my first international design conference, as I just started my PhD this year. I was struck by the positive atmosphere and open-minded conference attendees working from many different perspectives. That said, there weren’t many Japanese participants, which makes me feel that we Japanese missed an amazing opportunity. I encourage other Japanese researchers to join the DRS community and potentially gain inspiration to further increase “optimistic design power” in Japan.

You can read more about the Design-Driven Management manifesto in this news release and these study group proceedings. 

Author

Shion Asada, University of Tokyo

The final submission deadline for DRS2018 has passed and with 50 proposals for conversations and 63 for workshops submitted, the response has, once again, been incredible. These submission join the 559 papers submitted and 900 reviews that have taken place.

Paper authors are reminded that revised papers are due for the 6 March deadline. Notification of Final Acceptance is scheduled for 27 March 2018. 

Registration for the DRS2018 Conference is now open and further information can be found here.

Look forward to Limerick and check out the Discover Limerick site and the conference website for information on the venue and location of the conference.