Conference Agenda

Recent research has established the necessity to understand sound as a service design material since its unique qualities can enhance representational design methods and contribute to the understanding, communication, and collaboration in designing complex service situations. However, much is still unknown about the role sound plays in the service design process and how the nuances related to its representational capacity influence collaborative sensemaking. This paper explores these nuances by developing a framework that allows inclusion of sound in service design practices regardless of sound-related skill level. The framework was developed based on empirical input from a master level course in service design with a specialised focus on sound. It categorises representational capacity of sound as divergent (auditory representations) and convergent (auditory prototypes) and shows how different conceptual levels (abstract vs. concrete) can have meaning-related implications (denotative vs. connotative) in collaborative design work.