Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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PAPERS: Situated Methods, Metrics, and Meanings Location: 40 George Square, LG.09 Zoom Link Accessibility: https://www.accessable.co.uk/the-university-of-edinburgh/central-area/access-guides/george-square-40-lecture-theatres Session Chair: Bianca Kóczán, HBK Braunschweig Session Chair: Herlo Bianca, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts | |
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The ‘Cuteness Matrix’: Mapping cuteness as an affective strategy for purpose-led communication design 1: Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London; 2: Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore Cuteness is often dismissed as trivial or decorative. Yet research across neuroscience, psychology, and cultural theory reveals it as a powerful affective force that captures attention, evokes empathy, and encourages prosocial behaviour and well-being. Cute’s affective potency also renders it ethically ambivalent, capable of manipulation as much as comfort. Despite its ubiquity, cuteness remains under-theorised in design research, a notable gap for a discipline concerned with communication, emotion, and human connection. Addressing this gap, this study conducts an interpretive systematic literature review of publications from 1943 to 2025, identifying 65 key scholarly sources. Interdisciplinary insights are synthesized into the ‘Cuteness Matrix,’ a diagnostic framework mapping two central tensions in cuteness studies: power and purpose. The study reconceptualises cuteness as a relational affect that can be intentionally designed to nurture empathy, participation, and care. Ultimately, it asks: can cuteness be reimagined as a purposeful and ethical design strategy—Cute for Good? View Paper: https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1631
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