Outlining the Gap: visualising design research methods

Supervisors: Dr. Laura Gonzalez, Professor Irene McAra McWilliam

As human-centred design philosophies permeate the landscape of design practice, education and research, a growing body literature surrounding participatory methods corresponds with a democratic process that responds to the experiences and needs of users and stakeholders. It can be argued, however, that making and using tools to gather and interpret the insights of others contributes to fluctuating perceptions of the designer as a creative auteur, visual communicator, observer, facilitator, interpreter and problem solver.

Situating human-centred design in the context of rural and organisational placemaking, I explore how relationships, roles, attitudes and decisions are informed by applying the designer’s own images and artefacts as methods of data collection and analysis. I make written field notes, observational photographs and experiential drawings to orient myself in each case study setting before creating participatory tools to establish a dialogue with users and stakeholders. Here, image-based questionnaires, interactive activity packages and visually-mediated interviews help uncover their experiences, needs and aspirations and subsequently reveal a range of design-led opportunities.

Currently in my third year of practice-led PhD research, I have developed a reflexive drawing technique derived from autoethnographic premises of subjective storytelling to examine different perspectives of sociocultural problems. My illustrative accounts offer a means of narrative analysis to contrast and complement the insights of collaborators involved in each case study, as mediated by images and artefacts. Through this, I investigate how the creation and use of visual and participatory methods enhances social engagement, shapes the direction of the human-centred design process and impacts upon the designer’s multiple professional and personal identities.

Cara Broadley is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)