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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the fashion industry, impacting various stages of the fashion lifecycle and offering promises of enhanced operational efficiency, personalized consumer experiences, and contributions to sustainability and innovation. This paper outlines the main trends, implications, constraints, and potential risks associated with AI in fashion design and production. In particular, the paper delves into biases in AI-powered systems, emphasizing data, algorithmic, and transparency gaps that can perpetuate discrimination. Bringing ethics and pluralism into AI-powered design, the paper introduces intersectional feminism and feminist design principles, which can help envisioning a more inclusive, equitable, and unbiased fashion discourse. In conclusion, the paper contends that feminist design principles can inspire the development of more inclusive and ethical AI-powered fashion. By challenging norms, promoting diverse representations, and incorporating user perspectives, feminist design can contribute to a socially responsible and equitable future for fashion technology.

ICOM (International Council of Museums) envisions a role for the museum as an accessible and inclusive institution open to the public, which operates professionally and with the participation of communities. This vision requires research and practice to be fully implemented. The paper illustrates the participatory ideation and evaluation of new museum services that are inclusive and accessible for people who cannot visit the museum due to disability and age-related impairments. It illustrates the co-design process carried out within the EU project BeauCoup, which aims to make the cultural heritage accessible beyond the museum’s walls. This objective implies that the museum must play a key role in promoting inter-institutional partnerships between the cultural and the social sectors to engage marginalised communities. The paper describes the approach and the outcomes of the co-design process which involved various stakeholders and institutions, offering a reflection on the benefits and shortcomings of the approach.

To evaluate whether there are differences among orthodontists in the clinical management of facemask treatment for early treatment of Class III malocclusion, a survey consisting of 16 questions was conducted among members of the Italian Society of Orthodontics (SIDO). Sixty percent of the respondents were Specialists in Orthodontics (S) whereas 40% were General Dentists practicing Orthodontics (GD). Descriptive statistics were calculated to summarize the collected data. Differences in answers between S and GD were assessed with the Fisher’s exact test for dichotomous variables, chi-square test for qualitative variables, and Mann–Whitney test for ordinal variables. A total of 151 clinicians participated in this survey. As for treatment timing, about 80% of the participants reported treating Class III patients with RPE and facemask between 5 and 8 years of age. Most of the participants requested the patients to wear the facemask in the afternoon and at night for a period of 9 or 12 months with recommended forces of 500 g per side. Comparisons between S and GD showed that S preferred the Petit facemask whereas GD favored the Delaire’s type facemask (Fisher’s Exact test, p = 0.0005). S and GD also differed significantly in their judgment of the most critical time of treatment, which for the majority of GD was the initial period but for the S was the final period (Chi-square test p = 0.0188). This survey showed that the facemask is not well received by the patients who, along with their parents, express concerns regarding its tolerability.

Smart Learning Ecosystems are intelligent, purpose-oriented platforms supporting innovative learning. However, for these ecosystems to be true engines of innovation they should be fully accessible. This vision reflects the inclusion policies underpinning the SDGs of the Agenda 2030 that recommend the adoption of knowledge and technologies to drive a social change in the direction of inclusion and social sustainability. In this paper we present the case of a smart learning ecosystem that brings together hearing parents of deaf children and other stakeholders involved in the care and education of deaf children. After an intense user research based on digital ethnography, interviews, and a questionnaire, a prototype of a digital application supporting learning of the Italian Sign Language and communication among stakeholders was designed and tested. The prototype served the objective to raise awareness about current biases on deafness and the need to stimulate the creation of a culture of inclusion and peer-to-peer learning.

Design Thinking is a human-centred approach to problem solving and innovation that exploits design theories and methods to solve ill-defined problems. Recently it has been a popular subject of real-life applications in research and industrial endeavours for its original way to combine creative and analytical thinking, what is desirable from a human viewpoint with what is technologically feasible. This paper focuses on the application of Design Thinking in paediatric orthodontics. Through the analysis of a design case study, the paper picks up the threads of the challenges of devising a facemask for maxillary malocclusion. The case study shows how a Design Thinking mindset can make a holistic and creative approach flourishing, bringing together different competences at any stage of the design process. The methods of design allowed to translate the different languages of the stakeholders into a single narrative where the people’s journeys are clearly depicted, monitored, and supported.

In order to improve fit and comfort, a maxillary protraction facemask customized to the patient’s anatomy was produced by means of 3D face scanning, digital design and additive manufacturing. An 8-year-old patient in need of early treatment for the Class III malocclusion received a rapid palatal expander and a Petit-type facemask, whose components were digitally designed on a 3D scan of the patient’s face. For face scanning, the iPad Pro 2018 tablet (Apple, Cupertino, CA, USA) with the Bellus3D DentalPro application (Bellus3D, Campbell, CA, USA) was used. Facemask components were modelled with 3D Blender software. The rests were 3D printed in BioMed Clear biocompatible resin (Formlabs, Somerville, MA, USA), and the bar in stainless steel. For greater comfort, the internal surface of the rests was lined with a polymer gel pad (Silipos, Niagara Falls, NY, USA). The manufacturing procedure of the customized facemask is patented. The patient wore the facemask at night for a period of 9 months. The patient’s experience was evaluated with a questionnaire at 1 week, 3, 6, and 10 months of treatment. The customized facemask was well accepted by the patient and obtained the expected treatment outcome. Furthermore, 3D face scanning, 3D modelling and 3D printing allow for the manufacturing of customized facemasks with improved fit and comfort, favoring patient compliance and treatment success.

A set of prominent designers embarked on a research journey to explore aesthetics in movement-based design. Here we unpack one of the design sensitivities unique to our practice: a strong first person perspective—where the movements, somatics and aesthetic sensibilities of the designer, design researcher and user are at the forefront. We present an annotated portfolio of design exemplars and a brief introduction to some of the design methods and theory we use, together substantiating and explaining the first-person perspective. At the same time, we show how this felt dimension, despite its subjective nature, is what provides rigor and structure to our design research. Our aim is to assist researchers in soma-based design and designers wanting to consider the multiple facets when designing for the aesthetics of movement. The applications span a large field of designs, including slow introspective, contemplative interactions, arts, dance, health applications, games, work applications and many others.

This article presents the design of Iromec, a modular robot companion tailored towards engaging in social exchanges with children with different disabilities with the aim to empower them to discover a wide rage of play styles from solitary to social and cooperative play. In particular this paper focuses on expressiveness as a fundamental feature of the robot for engaging in meaningful interaction with different typologies of disable children – Autistic children, Moderate Mentally Retarded children and Severe Motor Impaired children. Modularity and configurability of expressive traits contribute to the flexibility of the system in creating rewarding games that can be easily understood by the child and can promote fun and learning. Other key features of the system are the combination of autonomous and user-controlled behaviour and a strong emphasis on identity and expressiveness that can be dynamically adapted during play. A main contribution of this work is that the robot’s expressiveness is achieved through different channels (facial expression, gesture, pose, body language -appearance, shape, movement-) and realised through the use of both digital and mechanical components but also of smart materials and textiles.

Smartness in contemporary society implies the use of massive data to improve the experience of people with connected services and products. The use of big data to collect information about people’s behaviours opens a new concept of “user-centred design” where users are remotely monitored, observed and profiled. In this paradigm, users are considered as sources of information and their participation in the design process is limited to a role of data generators. There is a need to identify methodologies that actively involve people and communities at the core of ecosystems of interconnected products and services. Our contribution to designing for social innovation in ecosystems relies on developing new methods and approaches to transform data-driven design using a participatory and co-creative data-enabled design approach. To this end, we present one of the methods we have developed to design “smart” systems called Experiential Design Landscapes (EDL), and two sample projects, Social Stairs and [Y]our Perspective. Social Stairs faces the topic of behaviour change mediated by sensing technologies. [Y]our Perspective is a social platform to sustain processes of deliberative democracy. Both projects exemplify our approach to data-enabled design as a social proactive participatory design approach.