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Although contemporary children's learning environments highlight promoting physical and social development–related play behaviours and safety, there are no valid means to analyse children's dynamic, complex behaviours. To address this limitation, the paper explores the impacts of agent-based simulation on architects' trade-offs in designing children's play-oriented learning environments. To simulate children's subtle behavioural responsiveness to the given environments, this paper adopts reinforcement learning (RL) as a method to develop autonomous play behaviours. A comparative experiment was conducted with 14 professional architects to investigate the capacities of the RL-powered agents. The systemic qualitative analysis indicates that the RL agent supported the coordination of complex physical constraints and new insights into child-oriented dimensions when evaluating the learning environment design. • RL agent is developed for designing children's play-oriented learning environments. • Capacities of RL agents-powered simulation is explored with professional architects. • Simulation facilitates calibration and refinement of design goals and strategies. • Simulation promotes optimisation of physical layouts via removing unused elements. • Simulation motivates experts and novices to design with child-centric perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive review of fifty-two studies co-designing conversational agents (CAs). Its objectives are to synthesise prior CA co-design efforts and provide actionable recommendations for future endeavours in CA co-design. The review systematically evaluates studies' methodological and contextual aspects, revealing trends and limitations. These insights converge into practical recommendations for co-designing CAs, including (1) selecting the most suitable design technique aligned with desired CA outcomes, (2) advocating continuous stakeholder involvement throughout the design process, and (3) emphasising the elicitation and embodiment of stakeholder values to ensure CA designs align with their perspectives. This paper contributes to standardising and enhancing co-design practices, promising to improve the quality of outcomes in the case of CAs while benefiting stakeholders and users. • A review of conversational agent co-design studies. • The review looks at what studies took place and how they were conducted. • Findings show variations across dimensions such as stakeholder proximity. • A set of recommendations is derived to provide best practices for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design, as a field, is inherently multifaceted. For this reason, it might be expected that design research would be reflective of this diversity, not only regarding research themes, but also geographic representation. This paper employs bibliometric methods to explore the issue of country of institutional affiliation of the authors of 14 design journals. Through the analysis of data on paper authorship, cited references and patterns of co-authorship collaboration, we develop a profile of country participation in the design research field. Our findings indicate that the distributions of country affiliation are alarmingly concentrated. As a result, we aim to foster a deeper discussion on the topic of geographic inclusivity in design research, suggesting probable causes and possible ways forward aimed at alleviating this reality. • This study is a bibliometric analysis of country participation in 14 design journals. • The US and UK are dominant in both paper authorship and cited references metrics. • Authors from Latin America, Africa, West Asia and South Asia are virtually absent. • Geographical representation has no correlation with GDP or ECI. • Geographical representation is correlated with number of editors from a given country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores game designers' attitudes and praxis through a Grounded Theory analysis of data collected from interviews with 11 game design professionals. The aim of the research is to investigate and map possible shared approaches and strategies. The study presents a theoretical framework based on the core category "Balancing permanence and change". Designers appear to build and maintain elements of stability, and contemporarily ensure the process' flexibility and adaptability to possible constraints through collaborative approaches and iterative methods. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of game design practices and provide a theoretical framework for interpreting designers' choices. Future research should assess the adaptability of the framework across game genres and cultural backgrounds of designers. • Grounded theory can provide insights on game designers' attitudes and praxis. • Game designers' work is based on balancing permanence and change. • Game designers adopt fixed frameworks to ensure the project's coherence. • Game designers value flexibility to ensure the project's adaptability. • Game designers use team cooperation and iterative approaches as balancing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive reuse (AR) of heritage buildings is a complex process involving many stakeholders with different ambitions. Recently, a theoretical model has been proposed to facilitate this process. However, the validation of this model and investigation of the nexus between process steps, methods/tools used by architects, and the effectiveness of projects are still lacking. This paper aims to validate the model by examining four AR projects in the Netherlands, considered effective as winners of a prestigious architectural prize. The research methods included literature reviews, case visits, and interviews with architects and other stakeholders. The model was refined, and methods/tools used by architects in the process steps were identified, highlighting their link with the effectiveness of results. • A systematic and value-based adaptive reuse process may result in effective adaptive reuse projects. • Architects' role in adaptive reuse projects is not just developing design strategies, but also managerial. • Active involvement of original and end-users of heritage buildings during adaptive reuse processes enhances social values. • Architects have to balance the stakeholders' input (including end-users) with their own design strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to study the learning process of collaboration through the analysis of design projects. The research is directed towards a better understanding of how teams work and how to improve their practices. Building on the theory of expansive learning, according to which cognition is situated, socially built and culturally influenced, we propose to elucidate the learning process by making visible the challenges and actions emerging from designing. Expansive learning supports reflection-on-action by studying everyday details, which hold meaningful clues about lived experiences. The discussion brings insights regarding how expansive learning can support collaboration and the integration of team experiences in design education. The paper concludes with the importance of valuing awareness about individualising tensions to reach team collaboration. • Provides a situated interpretation of collaborative design experiences. • Explores potential tools and methods to analyse the collaborative intentions of design projects. • Introduces the theory of expansive learning to understand the learning cycles of designers during team projects. • Offers insights to encourage reflectivity and action during team processes to promote collaborative behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an exemplary case in the car industry: the design of the new MINI Cooper, released in 2001. Through a semi-structured interview with design expert Frank Stephenson and the use of secondary data, we examine how an expert designer considers time to design a car relevant across decades. We find that the framing of the new MINI Cooper integrates both timely and timeless aspects. In the process, Frank Stephenson draws values, frames and working principles from the present portfolio and competing products to create a succession of product generation. We use this case to argue for the centrality of framing time when striving to create seminal, long-lasting designs. The study identifies 'the framing of time' as a main expertise in the car industry. Therefore, this paper answers scholars' calls for more research on how outstanding designers work to consider time (Cross, 2004). • The framing of time is a critical skill for expert automotive designers. • The key steps for framing the design of the new MINI Cooper are analysed. • Timeless designs are anchored in the aspired values and the framing. • Timely designs are based on working principles that respond to the context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design practices often involve grassroots communities and institutional actors with designers working as or with intermediaries. This paper defines intermediation as a significant design practice, especially when designers engage in commoning and institutioning—concepts that have gained traction in recent discourses in design scholarship. To discuss intermediation, the paper introduces two case studies: a community radio project in Europe and a food supply chain project between Australia and China. The two cases show implicit and explicit ways that intermediation can form an integral part of the practices and competences of designers. The paper discusses the merits of intermediation skills and techniques as well as how intermediation can be better embedded and integrated in design practices. • Expands discourse on institutioning and commoning in participatory design research. • Makes explicit the so far largely implicit design skillset of intermediation practice. • Illustrates the argument with two design cases from Europe and Australia/China. • Argues for the merit of adding intermediaries to interdisciplinary design teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory design (PD) is a signature element of good design practice. However, enabling effective participation is often difficult to realise. This article highlights the value of applying psychoanalytic approaches to spatial thinking to better understand the deeper complexities and dynamics of the space-psyche relationship, and the challenges in the spatial thinking process that can inadvertently alienate participants in PD. Lacanian psychoanalysis is used to highlight how participants' lack of access to imagined space compromises their ability to establish a reciprocal relationship with space. The paper contributes to critiques of PD by exploring the relationship between spatial thinking, power, and agency in the PD process through Lacanian psychoanalysis. The paper argues the space that imagination seeks to access should not be gated or guarded by the designer's gaze, and that careful work is required to prevent such foreclosures from occurring. • Lacanian psychoanalysis is used to map space-psyche tension in PD. • Three ideations of space in PD: Lived, Represented, Perceived. • Participant's ability to establish reciprocal relationship with space is compromised. • Represented space should not be gated or guarded in the designer's gaze. • Subjectivity in PD is not a challenge but a gateway to immerse participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Case Study paper presents the first exploration of Speculative Design as a participatory democracy method for navigating the future of ageing in Malaysia. Speculative Design in the context of Global South is emerging, but without much data on how it is applied within different socio-economic conditions from the Global North countries. This Case Study considers the challenges and opportunities of employing Speculative Design as policy identification and development method from the context of Malaysia, a Global South country with its own unique characteristics. The paper concludes by suggesting that the novelty of Speculative Design as a policy-design approach in Global South countries, such as in Malaysia, requires the right selection of provocations and culturally familiar content to ease introduction of the methodology. Also, the efficacy of this approach as a participatory design application would require further enculturation within targeted communities, as well as sustained engagement through Champions. • Employing Speculative Design in a Global South context requires adaptation to local contexts. • Future thinking is unfamiliar to many societies still facing non-equitable development. • Participatory Speculative Design can disrupt the top-down policy-making in Malaysia. • More research is required to better localize and measure the proposed method impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research in design typically postulates a relationship between divergent thinking and ideation, but little or no empirical evidence is available to critically assess the connection between the two. Using protocol analysis of 35 design experiments, this paper constructs a detailed investigation of the ways divergent thinking and ideation occur in the design process. Two measures are extracted from the protocol data – a divergency index (D) and an ideation index (I) – and quantitative comparisons are constructed between the two. Thereafter four types of individual design processes are identified and discussed. The paper concludes that, within the limits of the method used, there is clear evidence connecting divergent thinking and production of ideas. • Comparison between divergent thinking and ideation in the design process. • Perplexity is used to quantify individual patterns in divergent thinking. • Ideation is captured at a microscopic level in the design process. • The relationship between divergent thinking and ideation is revealed. • Cognitive allocations and patterns characterise four types of design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge from academic design research projects does not always help design professionals to actually strengthen their work. Based on a multi-case study, this paper describes how researchers view the impact of their design research projects on design practice and what they do to achieve this. Even in projects where impact on design practice is a stated ambition, several challenges can stand in the way, such as a lack of funding opportunities and unclarity on the needs of design practice. The paper provides tips for researchers and funding parties who want to inform design practice by research, including tips to operationalize design practice roles. • Professional design practice as an audience is a blind spot in funding. • Involving design professionals is not sufficient to impact design practice. • Four tips to impact design practice are provided for researchers and funding parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no consensus on how to judge the quality of Research Through Design (RTD) projects, which makes them difficult to plan and evaluate. In response, this study provides a framework for discussing and positioning RTD projects in terms of quality. It draws on theory on research quality and an original analysis of 25 RTD papers to identify how known quality indicators are applied. Our findings show that most papers align with these indicators, especially those associated with pragmatist research. Nonetheless, there are opportunities to enrich discussions on quality in RTD and we propose recommendations to this end. These recommendations can support more mindful and transparent project planning and reporting, and better assessment of and discussions on quality. • There is a lack of consensus on how to evaluate and discuss the quality of research through design projects. • Many research through design projects align with pragmatist indicators of quality. • Quality indicators from different paradigms can be grouped together based on similar goals. • Certain categories of quality indicators are widely addressed in research through design while others are less common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of virtual and physical workflow is a major ongoing trend in engineering, with substantial potential for benefit during design development stages. Within this trend, the emerging field of Mixed Reality technologies provide capability to couple the virtual and physical realms in design prototyping. Applications to date remain ad-hoc however, with little clarity of the breadth of benefits afforded by Mixed Reality. Through a systematic review of 108 publications, this paper presents a classification of the benefits of Mixed Reality technology afforded to prototyping, the design process, and designers. This paper elicits and characterises five evidence-based dimensions of value. These are analysed in detail against design processes and prototyping to extract benefits of application, implementation challenges, and sets directions for future work with implications for design researchers, computer scientists and designers. • A systematic literature review leading to 108 papers where MR has been used to support prototyping. • Contrast 'tech push' & 'design pull' views to distil dimensions of value sought by researchers. • The dimensions found are Creation & Configuration, Visualisation, Knowledge Management, Integrated Analysis, & Collaboration. • The dimensions of value are presented in detail with implications for academics and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly transdisciplinary context of design, where designers collaborate with other disciplinary and domain experts, means there is a growing need to evidence the effectiveness of design methods. We address this need in two ways. First, we propose a 'chain of evidence', from motivation to claims, operationalising this in a systematic assessment framework. Second, we systematically review current design method research. Our results reveal that while all links in the chain of evidence are reported across the literature and best practices can be identified, no individual paper either reports all links or consistently achieves best practice. Our framework and results demonstrate the need for standards of evidence in this area, with implications for design method research, development, education, and practice. • Identifies a critical 'chain of evidence' supporting the proposal of a design method. • Describes five key links in this chain from motivation to claims. • Proposes a systematic assessment framework for design methods. • Systematically reviews current method research. • Demonstrates the need for standards of evidence in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current discussions in practice-led design research concentrate on the thoughtful dimension of working with materials and the problem of analyzing acts of making at the scale of individual practice. Informed by the theoretical tenets of sociomateriality, this paper encloses a practice-led study addressing both issues. We followed the making of a collaboration-based, material-intensive workshop designed by the first author, where he also participated as a maker. This approach afforded us an insider's perspective to delineate how thinking through making transcends the individual and distributes across the entangled becoming of the social and the material. Our findings shed light on four features of sociomaterial assemblages that warrant critical attention in practice-led design research: temporality, contingency, epistemic capability, and analytical agency. • We contribute a methodological approach to conducting practice-led design research. • Our approach situates design practice in collaborative making. • Collaborative making demands a process of sociomaterial negotiation. • This process decenters the designer-researcher from knowledge production. • Adopting a sociomaterial lens can substantially benefit current efforts to analyze own design activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design anthropology covers various design practices and research. While some researchers/pactitioners rely on anthropological insights to enhance design, others use design as a tool to gain anthropological knowledge. This paper explores the symbiotic relation between design and anthropology and proposes a 'design anthropology of collaborative making'. It contributes to gaining insights in plural ways of knowing while providing contextual insights that inform design practices. Starting from a common skill from an 'in-habitat' position, we consider both perspectives and invite collaborative engagement between people and materiality. Based on collaborations with the San community in Namibia on shoemaking and with Syrian refugee women through embroidery, we explore the added value of this tactile engagement through making to bridge theory and practice. • Collaborative making to inform design practices and situated knowledge creation. • Common skills from an in-habitat position as a means of correspondence. • Values of design anthropology to collaborative design research practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of team learning behaviours in the performance of architecture teams. This is significant to architects because most architects work in project teams. Although there is a growing body of research on the behaviours of design teams, this survey is one of the first studies conducted specifically on the learning behaviours of architects working in teams. We conducted a survey with 105 architecture firms in Victoria, Australia to collect perceptions of team learning behaviour and team performance, then interviewed nine architects to explore their team learning practices. Results from the survey demonstrated that team reflexivity, error communication and boundary crossing behaviours were positively associated with team effectiveness and employee satisfaction. • We surveyed 105 Australian architects on their learning behaviours and performance. • Team learning behaviours were positively associated with team performance. • Such behaviours were team reflexivity, error communication and boundary crossing. • We interviewed nine architects to identify common team learning behaviours. • Learning behaviours were either project-specific or part of office procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current concepts of design processes are largely pre-defined by Westphalian perspectives which omit other non-European-defined onto-epistemes. This paper draws on a co-design education program with young adults from the Aboriginal community of Ntaria to explore Western Arrarnta ways of designing , which are mediated by Country, culture, and community. Questioning accepted universal processes, drawing from multiple participatory methods, and enabling Ntaria students to reinforce their own knowledge systems, practices, and cultural values within their design learning, revealed how identity, place, and culture are fundamental to the enactment of design. In articulating a Western Arrarnta design process, the significance of autonomous and pluriversal ways of designing must be respected. • Westphalian design processes omit other non-European-defined onto-epistemes. • Aboriginal young adults explore Western Arrarnta ways of designing. • Insights reveal how identity, place, and culture are fundamental to design. • Encourages the incorporation of Indigenous values systems within design discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of 'strategic design' has arisen in the past years as an umbrella term for a set of evolving practices. Yet the literature is quite fuzzy as to what this strategic design actually is and how it would lead to strategic impact. In this paper we explore the issue afresh, bracketing the concept of strategic design, and starting from the standpoint that " There is no such thing as strategic design ". We use a longitudinal case study of a design intervention, following its strategic impact as it unfolds over 10 years to critically consider the strategic impact of design practices. The dynamics of strategic impact across this case study is captured in a fledgling 'Game Changers' model. • We question whether what is called 'strategic design' is part of design at all. • There are complex relationships between design and strategic impact. • Strategic impact requires synchronized top down and bottom–up processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le Corbusier's projects instantiating his concept for the Museum of Unlimited Extension share a common structure of visibility, revealing and obscuring views of the horizon. A diagram of this structure, called the occlusion map, can generate floor plans consistent with the structure of visibility in the Museum of Unlimited Extension. This paper highlights capabilities of digital tools for revealing latent attributes of existing buildings. By generating a population of floor plans, we hope to show an untapped possibility of generative design strategies – beyond the possibility of generating novel architectural form, we discuss the possibility of "designerly analysis" aimed at disclosing latent architectural attributes of existing form. • An analysis of Le Corbusier's spiral museum designs leads to a generative algorithm. • Shared features of visibility and occlusion are identified and generalized. • A population of new floor plans is generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about place has long intersected with design studies. Our contribution to interdisciplinary design is to facilitate a dialogue between design and human geography. Grounded in Doreen Massey's conceptualisation of place as the interrelations of diverse powers, processes and practices, this paper combines ethnographic methods and examples into a succinct place-based methodology for design researchers. We argue that this interpretation of place can provide designers and design researchers with an approach to understanding the multiplicity of place to locate themselves and their work better. We maintain that taking place-based methodologies seriously can support design researchers working in transdisciplinary teams, help avoid the pitfalls of homogenising and solution-based outcomes, and make space for Indigenous voices, feminist fabulations and pluriversal futures. • The article extends interdisciplinary dialogues to human geography, foregrounding the work of geographer Doreen Massey. • An articulation of place as extraverted and progressive can sharpen the understanding of situated research. • Place-based methodologies can help design researchers avoid homogenising and solution-focused outcomes. • Ethnographic approaches to place expand the idea of design ethnography to the production of alternative situated knowledges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In product development, designers employ techniques to overcome creativity barriers and most stimuli proposed take the form of texts and illustrations. To facilitate the application of external stimuli and enhance their benefits, this paper proposes the use of physical models. The hypothesis is that these can enhance the designer's creativity more efficiently than other forms of stimuli. The influence of physical models on ideation sessions was evaluated and the outcomes were compared with those obtained applying informative cards. The results reported herein show that physical models can improve the capacity of designers to generate more creative solutions, because they promote a better understanding of analogy sources and encourage communication between the members of the design team. • Physical models as creative stimuli can enhance the generation of innovative solutions. • The functionality, features and structure of physical models facilitate the understanding and transfer of information from an analogy source. • Designers ideate more functions in the solutions when working with physical models. • Physical models facilitate the use of analogy sources from distant domains in ideation sessions. • Physical models improve the design by analogy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While multidisciplinary collaboration is increasingly considered as a prerequisite for innovation in design, it is unclear what has been studied and what to investigate next. To address this, we conducted a systematic literature review on multidisciplinary design collaboration, focussing on what has been found, and how these studies have been implemented. Following a PRISMA approach, 17 papers were selected for a critical review. A co-occurrence analysis found that the selected literature covered five themes centred on communication, all highlighting the importance of shared understanding in multidisciplinary design collaboration. Further analysis revealed biases and differences between the methodological approach followed in the studies. For future research, we suggest investigating two under-explored areas of design collaboration: distributed work and digital/service-oriented design activities. • First systematic review of studies into multidisciplinary design collaboration. • We found five thematic clusters all showing the importance of shared understanding. • We found a lack of methodological consistency and great variation in the findings. • We discuss the limited generalisability and low industrial relevance of these studies. • We suggest to study collaboration in 'distributed' work and in 'digital' design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of 'publics' has emerged as a frame for rethinking the relationships between design practices and the communities affected by design. This paper explores two facets of the intersection of design and publics. First, we examine the notion of designing for public interests with an understanding of publics as multiple, conflicting and varied. Second, with reference to the Australian context, we reflect on different ways design communities can identify and support the formation of publics as a pivotal next step to more effectively serve its own interests and values, including the urgent enactment of social change. Our discussion identifies four sets of tensions that we offer as provocations for constructive and ongoing engagement by the design community at large to inform the process of designing for our own publics. • Reviews interdisciplinary scholarship on publics and public interests. • Maps Australia's design industry associations to identify publics' challenges and opportunities. • Identifies arising tensions across distinctions such as fragmentation or pluralism of interests. • Asks design researchers critical questions about advocacy and unionisation. • Invites discussion about how design communities can foment their own publics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous methods have been designed to aid practitioners in identifying ethical concerns, imagining potential futures, defining values, and evaluating existing systems. However, there is little scholarship that addresses the design of these methods, including how ethical concerns are operationalized in these methods. In this paper, we report results of an interview study with twelve ethics-focused method designers, investigating their process of instigating, creating, and disseminating their method. We conducted a top-down thematic analysis using the Biskjaer and Halskov framework of decisive constraints, identifying intrinsic, extrinsic, and self-imposed constraints alongside iterative and evaluative resonance-seeking activities. This analysis provides a rich conceptual vocabulary to better describe the design of methods for ethical impact from the perspective of researchers and practitioners. • We use the language of decisive constraints to describe how methods are shaped. • We identify how design methods operationalize ethical perspectives through constraints. • We indicate opportunities for methods to support ethics-focused design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simon and Schön are commonly seen to represent two conflicting views on design method, but this interpretation has been challenged in recent years. In this paper we discuss their differences and agreements in more depth. Both of them agree on a rationality which is distinct from science and its reliance on universal truth. They depend on a practical reason, and what Aristotle calls the calculative part of the soul, which deals with the contingencies of real world problems, and still let us know, and share, truth. One discrepancy remains between Simon and Schön. Simon does not tell us how we identify the changing goals of man. Schön addresses this by invoking the distinctly human power to see-as. • There is no conflict between intuition and rationality in design processes. • As much as intuition, Schön emphasises rational evaluation and testing in design. • Intuition is information processing and has an important role in Simon's models. • Aristotle's logistikon concerns the particular truths that we search in design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How a research team defines their study sample can be decisive in shaping impact on both practice and theory. However, sampling in design research faces several major challenges, including diverse terminology, limited prior literature, and lack of common framework for discussing sampling decisions. We address these challenges by bringing together guidance from across related research fields as well as cross-referring to examples from published design research. We offer a structured process for sample development and present eight key sampling considerations. The paper contributes to research method selection, development, and use, as well as extending discussions surrounding knowledge construction, standards of reporting, and design research impact. • Identifies critical sampling challenges in theory driven design studies. • Describes eight key sampling considerations. • Proposes a structured sample design process. • Illustrates links between sampling, theory development, and knowledge construction. • Provides guidance for reporting of sampling considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note addresses the formulation of questions in design research. On the premise that well formulated research questions have far-reaching implications for other aspects of the development and impact of research, articulating quality research questions is an issue of the highest concern. In this note we propose a framework for the formulation of research questions, adapted from clinical research and tailored to empirical design research. The framework, RIN. AFE, pertains to criteria for effective research questions: on the substance side, Relevant, Interesting and Novel; on the methodological execution side, Appropriate, Feasible and Ethical. The application of this framework is demonstrated through an analysis of an award-winning Design Studies paper. • We propose a set of six characteristics of research questions. • Effective empirical design research questions are relevant , interesting , and novel. • Further characteristics pertain to method: appropriate , feasible and ethical. • Research questions have implications for other dimensions of the study. • Quality questions open new lines of inquiry for the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological term affective quality denotes the ability of objects to change how individuals feel when they encounter those objects. In design research, the affective qualities of inspirational materials and the perception of such affective qualities have been studied, mainly from a positivist standpoint. This involves experimental methodologies and tools like rating scales which imply objective measurements of perception of affective qualities to establish cause-effect relationships. However, affective quality is enmeshed in cultural and contextual frameworks. This implies that there can be subjective perceptions of affective quality that demand more descriptive research. This paper contextualises a descriptive phenomeological approach to study designers' subjective perceptions of affective qualities of inspirational material. This approach fosters methodological diversity and theory-building research in design. • Affective quality is the ability of various objects to influence how people 'feel'. • Designers perceive affective qualities of various inspirational materials. • Such perceptions are subjective, enmeshed in contextual and cultural frameworks. • To capture such rich subjective perceptions, descriptive phenomenology is proposed. • This fosters methodological diversity and theory-building research in design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]