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Design is increasingly used to develop public services, and considerations have arisen regarding how to gain best value from it. Design ladders and design maturity models are commonly also referenced in the public sector, but we argue that their adequate use must rest on an informed view of the diversity of design activities in public-sector organizations. The world's major cities are large and highly diversified organizations. Our inductive case study of one of them, the city of Helsinki, reveals 23 design activities, distinct in terms of the process, outcomes or agency that design has. These activities can be grouped into six different clusters. These lay the ground for each other and support the cultural transformation of the organization into being a more citizen-centric organization. At the same time, they also create a design management challenge and confusion over what 'design' is and what it can do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of legal design has recently raised considerable interest from both design and legal communities. The present study is based on a systematic review of the legal design in peer-reviewed publications from 2001 to 2021, to identify current knowledge of its concepts, processes, and methods in the literature. Our analysis found that legal design and design thinking are conceptually comparable as both possess a human-centred approach to innovation. However, due to the inherent nature of law and the legal system, legal design and design thinking processes and methods differ in practice. Notably, proactiveness and stakeholder-centred thinking are key concepts of legal design. Legal design emphasises interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to accommodate diverse stakeholders with competing priorities and to improve communication. Finally, drawing on the literature review, we conclude by reflecting on our analysis and raising further research questions for design practitioners and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-centred design has grown into a widely applied field that has produced a large number of standards, methods and guidelines for designing meaningful and usable products and services and direct contact to users seems to define whether a project is considered human-centric or not. However, as the field has grown more mature, companies have also matured in human-centredness, and thus, they have already accumulated user knowledge and may not need to start from the beginning in each project. This paper presents a case study of a human-centred-design–mature company, where first-hand access to users was blocked due to confidentiality. The project team had to rely on other sources of user knowledge. They utilized user representations that were based on earlier user studies and other sources, and the company also employed in-house users who gave their input in the product development process. Together these resulted in a successful design project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of design is fast moving beyond the physicality of experiences. The theory and practice of inclusive design, however, is still largely focused on considerations of physical aspects. This research attempts to fill the gap in understanding of psychosocial inclusivity in design by identifying a formal definition with constructs. Theoretical interrogation of literature (design and non-design fields) together with empirical investigations (semi-structured interviews, a creative workshop and observations) are conducted within two distinct contexts, i.e. older individuals' supermarket shopping and assisted mobility service users. The outcomes are evaluated using expert surveys. A formal definition and four evaluative constructs of psychosocial inclusivity in design are described: Cognitive, Emotional, Social and Value. The results provide first elements of an encompassing definition of psychosocial inclusivity, which is theoretically and empirically informed, and may serve as a guide for design in the future. The research enhances the knowledge of psychosocial inclusivity in design through devising a formal definition and constructs, and details the constructs within two specific contexts of supermarket shopping and assisted mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key aim of this article is to give a contribution to a design-oriented definition of organization design, with the human-centred approach to design (HCD) serving as the epistemological tool. Highlighting organizational identity as a facilitator or inhibitor of organization design change, the paper shares HCD’s focus on meaning with Verganti’s theory of design-driven innovation. An explanatory model is put forward detailing the steps in the process of linking the top-down changes from strategy or product innovation initiatives, as well as bottom-up changes emerging from organizational practices and relationships, with organizational design change. Organizational identity is defined as a superordinate conveyer and transformer of meaning and purpose, assuming different roles in the creation and dissemination of meaning, internally, as well as to and from the organization and the external environment. The paper ends with a number of recommendations about the need to focus on the management of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, as the disciplinary boundaries for the application of design have dissolved, public health has emerged as one area within the social sector where design thinking and human-centred design have been applied more frequently. With that increased activity comes a need to understand how, why, for whom, and with what level of impact design thinking has been used. Many health projects receive public funding, and those that include design thinking approaches may thus be subject to evaluation more typically used in traditional biomedical research, with the potential for errors in translation between disciplines. The present paper considers the limitations and potential to further incorporate the two disciplinary approaches in order to improve progress in achieving health equity and improving population-level health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Stroke causes significant damage to the brain. Symptoms commonly affect one or both limbs on one side of the body. The preferential use of the less affected limb is called compensatory movement and it is a common phenomenon after a stroke, leading to learned non-use of the affected side. The aim of this study was to design everyday objects that can be used by chronic stroke survivors to initiate the use of the arm on the affected side to overcome learned non-use. Following a human-centred design approach, an understanding of the users’ needs was developed and different design solutions were produced and evaluated by stroke survivors and health professionals. Initial findings suggest that the object should remind the user to use the affected arm, and the movement needs to take account of the mental model that the user has of the object. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explored product experience based on users’ three ego states. In a qualitative study, 33 cellphone users answered a questionnaire about their selection requirements and satisfaction reasons. These requirements were assigned to one ego state’s characteristics. The most important requirement, an operating system, is both adult and child ego states’ request. However, results showed that the requirements, their reason, and the active ego state change in different stages. When users’ adult and child ego states select a product and are satisfied with it, they have some new needs related to the child ego state for the next selection. Characteristics of each ego state also defined an active ego state interacting with a product. A product’s appearance activates users’ child ego state while tactual experience activates all ego states. Users’ adult ego state holds the product for use while nurturing parent protects and strokes the product, and child ego state is being stroked by product’s surface. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aesthetics is omnipresent in all aspects of our life, and an aesthetic perspective of design concerns the living emotions, feelings, and shared passions among consumers and designers. We empirically investigate how the meanings that consumers infer from earphone designs reveal their personal notion of the ‘aesthetic’ in everyday life and how this notion affects the aesthetic judgement of consumers and their preferences for product designs. This study provides product designers with the implications of comprehensive knowledge behind the design in the form of a story to engage consumers into learning, understanding, and associating their consumption experience with both private and social meanings that constitute the aestheticization of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, I discuss key principles and practices of humancentred design in the unusual context of the successful rescue of 33 Chilean miners in 2010. The paper begins with a review of elements and characteristics associated with human-centred design in contemporary design theory and literature. From this reflection, questions arise about the role and place of human-centred design in 'non-design' social contexts, dominated by technicians and engineers. Can the Chile Miner Rescue serve as an example for the value and relevance of a human-centred design approach in these domains? The paper draws on publicly available materials, published interviews and background stories to identify a range of humancentered design practices and principles which guided this rescue operation. The aim of this paper is to stimulate thoughts, discussions and research into these questions while looking into a situation in which design approaches and design problems reach beyond the familiar products and services. The deliberate focus on a current event is meant as an invitation and challenge to apply design theoretical concepts and methods to social and organizational questions. With this in mind, the Chile Miner Rescue offers an opportunity for testing the boundaries, relevance and validities of some of our design concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is often no straightforward relationship between theory and practice in design, it is necessary to articulate their mutual impact more clearly. Drawing on Wolfgang Jonas' generic model of design, a complete design process involves three domains of knowledge; namely analysis, projection and synthesis. For analysis, designers have adopted many methods from other disciplines, but it is not always obvious how they affect projection and synthesis. This is also the case when adopting a constructivist approach to design. Considering the 'applicability gap' between design analysis and projection, we are interested in how design practitioners deal with the increased uncertainty inherent in constructivism. To investigate the underlying assumptions about meaning construction, we compare four different design approaches, namely Participatory Design, Critical Design, Non-Intentional Design and Human-Centred Design. From the basic assumptions of each approach, we draw conclusions about how it addresses participation in design and anticipation of use. Our main proposition is that a constructivist perspective in designing requires designers to address `use as design' more explicitly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare systems are under high pressure, from chronic disease, and aging populations with their consequent array of issues. Healthcare professionals are asked to deliver better care with fewer resources, increasing efficiency and efficacy. Simultaneously, patients expect more personalized therapies and physicians are discovering the benefits of making patients more active in their own care. This paper outlines the challenge to arrive at healthcare decisions that are based not only on data but also on the patient’s values and preferences. However, helping healthcare to face this challenge requires designers to develop new skills and competences. The paper proposes some general competences that designers need to develop to provide design solutions to satisfy users and healthcare systems’ needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to increased life expectancy, our society is deeply committed to reaching the target of ageing in place in the near future, to lead an independent and assisted life in one’s own environment. In order to lower social costs, research in the field of Design, with the aid of medical science, aims to define innovative strategies and solutions for user-friendly products and services, that have a reasonable benefit-cost ratio, to help the elderly live a better life on a daily basis. This paper illustrates the design process of an on-going research based on a human-centred approach, to innovate inclusive products and services related to daily-life activities which enable the elderly to lead an independent life, and raise awareness about healthy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes are frequently required to use medical devices to manage their condition. While the devices are clinically effective, they have many psychosocial impacts on their users. Identifying the user requirements of young medical device users could benefit the design and development of these devices. In this study, interviews regarding medical technology use were conducted with seven females with type 1 diabetes aged 13-21. Five resulting user requirements were used to inform design experiments with 28 undergraduate industrial designers. Finally, a selection of the designs was shown to six of the participants with diabetes to both validate the initial analysis of the interviews and as a prompt to facilitate further discussion about user experiences and medical technology preferences. We argue that while the clinical efficacy of medical technology is significant, so too is the effective use of these technologies by a variety of users in everyday contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare systems are under high pressure, from chronic disease, and aging populations with their consequent array of issues. Healthcare professionals are asked to deliver better care with fewer resources, increasing efficiency and efficacy. Simultaneously, patients expect more personalized therapies and physicians are discovering the benefits of making patients more active in their own care. This paper outlines the challenge to arrive at healthcare decisions that are based not only on data but also on the patient’s values and preferences. However, helping healthcare to face this challenge requires designers to develop new skills and competences. The paper proposes some general competences that designers need to develop to provide design solutions to satisfy users and healthcare systems’ needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to increased life expectancy, our society is deeply committed to reaching the target of ageing in place in the near future, to lead an independent and assisted life in one’s own environment. In order to lower social costs, research in the field of Design, with the aid of medical science, aims to define innovative strategies and solutions for user-friendly products and services, that have a reasonable benefit-cost ratio, to help the elderly live a better life on a daily basis. This paper illustrates the design process of an on-going research based on a human-centred approach, to innovate inclusive products and services related to daily-life activities which enable the elderly to lead an independent life, and raise awareness about healthy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes are frequently required to use medical devices to manage their condition. While the devices are clinically effective, they have many psychosocial impacts on their users. Identifying the user requirements of young medical device users could benefit the design and development of these devices. In this study, interviews regarding medical technology use were conducted with seven females with type 1 diabetes aged 13-21. Five resulting user requirements were used to inform design experiments with 28 undergraduate industrial designers. Finally, a selection of the designs was shown to six of the participants with diabetes to both validate the initial analysis of the interviews and as a prompt to facilitate further discussion about user experiences and medical technology preferences. We argue that while the clinical efficacy of medical technology is significant, so too is the effective use of these technologies by a variety of users in everyday contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]