Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
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Summary<br />
Co-design, <strong>as</strong> discussed in this dissertation, includes all those views<br />
above, i.e. co-design, co-creation <strong>and</strong> participatory design. They all can<br />
be <strong>as</strong>sociated with the idea that people are creative if provided with an<br />
appropriate setting <strong>and</strong> <strong>tool</strong>s. As mentioned earlier, we are talking here<br />
about an arranged situation with a predesigned <strong>structure</strong>, t<strong>as</strong>k <strong>and</strong> a facilitator<br />
who is responsible for guiding the situation. The outcomes of these<br />
situations are not always “really designs but rather a common underst<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
of the complexity <strong>and</strong> visions <strong>and</strong> ide<strong>as</strong> for improvement” (Mattelmäki<br />
& Sleeswijk Visser 2011, p 10).<br />
What is important is the creative interplay between the existing <strong>and</strong><br />
imagined <strong>and</strong> support for it through a set of playful <strong>and</strong> tangible design<br />
material, an <strong>as</strong>pect that I will discuss later in this <strong>and</strong> next chapter. Codesign<br />
is also about making the familiar unfamiliar <strong>and</strong> vice versa, <strong>as</strong> w<strong>as</strong><br />
described by Halse (2008). Although I use the term co-design most of<br />
the time to describe specific co-design gatherings, activities or design<br />
processes, I sometimes also use creative collaboration <strong>as</strong> a synonym to it.<br />
Creative collaboration shares, approximately, the same meaning, but it is<br />
purposefully left ambiguous to cover wider application are<strong>as</strong>, including<br />
service design that will be introduced briefly next.<br />
2.1.3<br />
Widening<br />
scope<br />
of<br />
design<br />
The movement towards user experience <strong>and</strong> co-design h<strong>as</strong> been influenced<br />
by the changes in society at large, which h<strong>as</strong> put attention to human-centred<br />
solutions in several societal levels <strong>and</strong> domains. We need more holistic<br />
approaches to improve the environment, products <strong>and</strong> services we are continuously<br />
in touch with <strong>and</strong> surrounded by in our daily life. For instance,<br />
digitalization, new communication channels <strong>and</strong> ubiquitous technology,<br />
among other technological achievements, have brought up new opportunities<br />
for peoples’ everyday life by affecting delivery, distribution of services,<br />
user interfaces, user interaction, <strong>and</strong> thus the whole user experience.<br />
Customer behaviour h<strong>as</strong> changed in line with the technological development;<br />
while technology h<strong>as</strong> become intertwined in daily practices, people<br />
incre<strong>as</strong>ingly dem<strong>and</strong> more options to satisfy their personal preferences.<br />
Besides the opportunities <strong>and</strong> needs the new technological l<strong>and</strong>scape<br />
h<strong>as</strong> brought up, design competence h<strong>as</strong> been seen <strong>as</strong> novel approach to solve<br />
complex challenges such <strong>as</strong> incre<strong>as</strong>ed chronic illnesses, social problems<br />
<strong>and</strong> environmental changes. For instance, Cottam <strong>and</strong> Leadbeater (2004),<br />
who have been working with societal issues in UK, call for more integrated<br />
perspective on social, economical <strong>and</strong> ecological sustainability. According<br />
to them, for instance health services could be changed by studying the traditional<br />
<strong>structure</strong>s from different angles, including that of design methods.<br />
They call their approach transformation design (ibid.). New multidisciplinary<br />
research institutes <strong>and</strong> centres have been established to tackle the <strong>as</strong>sociated<br />
problems. For example, there is Mindlab in Denmark <strong>and</strong> Participle in<br />
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