Conference Agenda

Extensive learning and comprehensive consideration of the dynamic connections between stakeholders are the keys to tapping into novel insights, especially in service design. However, due to their lack of professional experience, novice designers usually struggle with the complicated network of stakeholders which results in incomplete design solutions. We created the Stakeholder-Nexus, a knowledge graph-based heuristic teaching tool based on reliable service design examples, to address this problem. By conducting pre-post comparison experiments, we revealed that using the tool significantly increased the effectiveness of stakeholder learning and ideation of design solutions yielded heightened creativity with increased appeal and improved feasibility. Furthermore, we discuss the impact of stimulus distance on the tool's effectiveness and the range of reflecting effects for future stakeholder-related service design education.

The extensive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cultural sector necessitated a paradigm shift, demanding organizational resilience and adaptability from organizations within this domain. In response, this study employs a mixed-methods approach to elucidate the innovative strategies implemented by Dutch cultural organizations amidst the constraints imposed by the pandemic. The study discerns three pivotal strategies: repurposing, the accelerated digitalization of cultural experiences, and the cultivation of a collaborative and experimental mindset. This research highlights the enduring implications of COVID-19-induced changes, illuminating the design strategies for sustaining organizational stability amid uncertain events posed by unprecedented external challenges.

Strategic design considers strategy as the core deliverable of practice, where designers are intentional about creating change. However, there is limited research that reveals change as a deliverable in these projects. The purpose of this study is to understand how experienced practitioners do strategic design and to identify their approaches for behavioral, organizational, and social change intentionally. With many experienced strategic designers invited to podcast shows, we analyzed the content of salient podcast episodes. This qualitative study uncovers themes, methods and approaches that expert strategic designers use to implement intentional change. We found that strategic designers embed themselves in particular situations for long-term collaborations while developing powerful visions of change. They develop actions around managing and creating structures to manifest those visions of change, such as facilitating multi-stakeholder participation and recruiting agents of change.

This study investigates processes of career exploration and vocational identity development for Design students. Establishing a professional identity is a central aspect for career construction and definition of academic, personal, and professional goals – and an essential process to promote success and accomplishment as students prepare to move from school to work.We surveyed 109 students enrolled in undergraduate design majors and minors and graduate design programs at a North-American university on career decision motivation and vocational identity status including measures of career exploration (in-breadth and in-depth), career commitment and career flexibility. Findings follow a developmental perspective suggesting that age and seniority relate to higher levels of commitment and in-depth exploration and lower levels of in-breadth exploration. Career flexibility, the ongoing consideration of alternatives and openness to change career choice as a consequence of learning and experience, emerges as a key aspect of career development in a rapidly changing environment.

This paper examines the aims, approaches, and impact of a selection of 62 con-temporary design research projects in the UK. Whilst there is general acknowl-edgement that design research can contribute to the social, cultural, environ-mental and economic fabric of a nation, there is little evidence (to date) that ar-ticulates clearly the specific impact(s) of design research. This work, conducted over a four-year period (2017 to 2021), involved working with over 2,000 design researchers. Building, maintaining, and articulating impact is vitally important in the current research funding climate in the UK where there are significant pres-sures for governments and organisations to prioritise what are deemed to be es-sential components of a functioning society. As such, this paper aims to highlight the power and impact of UK-based design research across social, economic, cul-tural, and environmental contexts that contribute to a diverse and rich national landscape.

There is a call for more use of future-oriented design methods like speculative de-sign in developing policies. While these methods offer potential benefits in helping future-proof policies, they also run the risk of solidifying existing structures of pow-er if not applied critically. In this paper, we describe a case study examining smart doorbells in Amsterdam, where we created a speculative design exhibition grounded in feminist theory in order to challenge the existing power structures in the public domain. We then discuss the insights from our design process and the reaction the exhibition received in light of how feminist theory can help ensure a critical application of future-oriented design methods in policy design.