Design Research Unit

Pushing the frontiers of design research, we work with artistic and traditional research perspectives and practices to identify and explore new research areas. We work with ‘applied’ research in the sense of using everyday situations and practices as a basis for intervention and development. Based on material and participatory practices of design, we use concepts, prototypes, performances and other formats that open up for rich experiences of also complex and conceptual matters

As a research unit, we embody a wide range of expertise in design: from critical practice to design anthropology. From critical practice, we draw upon methods and tactics of conceptual and critical design to explore alternative values and roles for design. From design anthropology, we draw upon rich frameworks for understanding people and practices, but also the more recent critique of the traditionally firm distinctions between the descriptive (anthropology) and the projective (design) to instead seek positions where they come together. As a result, the range of methods and materials of our toolbox is considerable. Working with methods stemming from user-centred and participatory design as well as from performative ethnography, we continuously develop new mechanisms for engagement – just as we use artistic research and experimental design to push the material practices of design in developing new materials, objects and systems.

Over the past ten years, we have established a series of new research areas through research programs such as IT+Textiles and Static!. Using experimental design prototypes, we have demonstrated the unique possibilities for design research to very early in the process present intriguing, inspiring and informative examples that spur further discussion and discovery.

Unit members Ramia Mazé and Johan Redström used to manage the Design Göteborg (RE:FORM) and PLAY studio.