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1. Designing the Metaverse

   Seidel, S.; Yepes, G; Berente, N; Nickerson, J. V (January 2022, Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   The Metaverse, a term coined in science fiction, is now being discussed seriously as a new form of infra-structure. The Metaverse is intended to make possible thematically interconnected immersive experiences. In this paper, we conceptualize the Metaverse as a meta design space. Within this space, designers create var-ious interconnected design spaces. We highlight how the key dimensions of human experience (time, space, actors, and artifacts) each introduce tensions for making decisions in those design spaces, and we highlight the transitions between design spaces. This conceptual language opens up this novel and emergent phenomenon both to those wishing to design new disruptive technologies and those seeking to improve existing platform strategies. We conclude by highlighting how the Metaverse will not only comprise immersive virtual experiences but also transitions between physical and virtual experiences. 

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2. Semantic Fluency in Design Reasoning

   Quintana-Cifuentes, Jenny; Purzer, Senay (December 2022, International journal of engineering education)

   During design, different forms of reasoning shape the designers’ decision-making. As a result, the ability to fluently transition across various forms of reasoning is essential. The purpose of this study is two-fold: first is to introduce and explain the concept of Semantic Fluency in Design Reasoning, as the ability to transition across multiple forms of reasoning fluently. To identify these transitions, this study used the Design Reasoning Quadrants framework, which represents four quadrants: experiential observations (reasoning based on observations and experiences), trade-offs (reasoning recognizing multiple competing design requirements), first-principles (reasoning requiring disciplinary understandings), and complex abstractions (reasoning in envisioning new situations). The second purpose of this study is to illustrate semantic fluency in a design review conversation. We selected and presented three different forms of transitions identified through our analysis of conversations between students and design reviewers. Our analysis revealed evidence of semantic fluency in young designers. Mike, one of the students, demonstrated fluency across three quadrants (experiential observations, trade-offs, and first-principles). Lisa and David demonstrated two-quadrant transitions. Lisa had fluency from experiential observations to trade-offs, and David transitioned from experiential observations to first-principles. We recommend the intentional use of design reviews to elicit student reasoning in design and adopt questioning strategies to promote fluency across different forms of design reasoning. 

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3. On the Cultivation of Designers’ Emotional Connoisseurship (Part 1): A Theoretical Positioning

   Xue, H; Desmet, P; Yoon, J (April 2024, She ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation)

   This two-part article explores the concept of emotional connoisseurship— the art of appreciating lived emotional experiences in emotion-driven design (EDD). In Part 1, we aim to establish and position the concept within the current EDD theoretical landscape. We first review the concept of connoisseurship, its origins, development, and relevance to professional practices. Second, building upon the existing design literature, we scrutinize the relationships between design connoisseurship and design expertise. We then conceptualize emotional connoisseurship as an essential skill that designers aspiring to practice EDD must actively cultivate, along with learning EDD theories, methods, and tools. After that, we reflect on how previous EDD research outcomes (i.e., emotional granularity design tools) can support the development of a designer’s emotional connoisseurship, especially in a schema-oriented or top-down manner, and argue the need for a sensibil- ity-oriented or bottom-up approach. Part 1 sets the stage for Part 2. Part 2 will detail our pedagogical initiative supporting the self-cultivation of emotional connoisseurship among novice designers through a sensibility- oriented approach. 

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4. Queering Design in Alaska

   Nicewonger, Todd; Fritz, Stacey; McNair, Lisa (September 2021, European Network for Queer Anthropology (ENQA) Workshop 2021: Futures beyond Crises, 16 & 17 Sept 2021)

   This paper examines how a small cadre of builders are “queering” design in Alaska. Specifically, it draws on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork to introduce the concept of “design queering” as an analytical framework for situating the creative practices of housing designers within wider debates about housing insecurity and activism in the Panarctic. This requires drawing on queer theory (e.g., Hayward 2010; Hayward and Che 2017; Boyce, Gonzalez-Polledo, and Posocco 2020) to describe how a set of intersecting experiences inspired this small group of builders to develop a kit-of-parts prototype. This prototype is influenced by the lessons these builders learned while collaborating with rural Alaskan communities on building projects where they witnessed how contemporary construction methods pollute landscapes and force homeowners into what Michelle Murphy has termed “regimes of chemical living” (2008). Later, through their own personal research efforts they began to weave together a set of construction principles for decolonizing the building industry, both in Alaska and beyond. These principles include design for disassembly, designing for the circular economy, and the notion of home ownership as a human right. By mapping out how this prototype came into being through the “queering” of housing design, this paper explores what a “future beyond crisis” might look like from the perspective of a small group of builders who are invested in transforming the structural inequalities produced by construction industries in Alaska and beyond. 

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5. Design Interactions between Robot Surfaces and Human Designers

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3294109.3302962  

   Wang, Yixiao (March 2019, Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI ’19).)

   This paper presents the rationale and current progress of my Ph.D. dissertation: "design interactions between robot surfaces and human designers." This specific topic serves as a case study trying to explore the question of how to design an interactive and partially intelligent space. We proposed the concept of "space agent" defined as "interactive and intelligent environments perceived by users as human agents" based on communication theories. Built upon this concept, we proposed a design framework for interactive environments. Then we further explored literatures about what space agent could contribute to human users specifically for the case of interior designers' work space. Research questions and research designs are introduced in this paper, followed by the discussions of experiments design. 

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