Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio

1.1
Introduction
Design research has in recent years laid interest in inviting various people,
from users to other stakeholders, to contribute in early phases of design
processes. This has led to changes in design researchers’ work context
and role; creativity is not aimed only towards designing new products but
increasingly towards creating opportunities for creative collaboration
among different actors. The problem area has changed as well: novel design
approaches have been welcomed outside traditional product development
projects, thus widening the scope of design to cover various types
of change, including development tasks that demand creative attitude
and methods to question old assumptions and to reach novel solutions.
These movements in design and design research signal the readiness to
understand the potential of co-design as a meaningful input to direct the
early concept search (Koskinen & Battarbee 2003, pp 37–50) in diverse
settings. In this search, approaches that provide temporary places for codesign
activities are called for, to direct exploration of design possibilities
rising from people’s daily experiences, needs and dreams.
Through my personal journey of investigating design researchers’
roles and tools in early phases of design process, the issues of design
collaboration, facilitating creative interplay between current practices
and future opportunities, and design materials as tools in ideation, have
emerged as central topics. Having a starting point in co-design and early
design process, it has become clear that it is not the new concept ideas as
such that are the main outcome but rather the process of co-constructing
ideas in a dialog that reveals several points of views to the phenomenon
under focus. To reach that, it is none of the three above mentioned topics
alone but the interplay between them that highlights the holistic view
with several potential directions for design to take.
1.1.1
Research
focus
The dissertation takes the form of a travelogue; it describes the progress
of my research journey, during which I have encountered many people
and sources of inspiration that have influenced the empirical experiments
and analyses reported in this dissertation. I will develop my line
of arguments, following retrospectively my experiences in designing and
facilitating various co-design events, which are called here co-design
gatherings. A co-design gathering indicates a situation where at least two
persons are temporarily connected in regard to place and time to carry
out some design activities. It is not a spontaneous action as in practical
situations where colleagues work together in a design studio. Rather, it
can be described in terms of social occasion that is typically programmed
in advance, possesses an agenda, has a pre-established unfolding of phases
guided by someone, and invites only specific people (Goffman 1963, pp
18–19). The focus on co-design gatherings limits long-term collaboration
and other application contexts beyond the scope of this research project.
13