Priscilla Chueng-Nainby | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)

Co-Design by Priscilla Chueng-Nainby

This paper reports a co-design practice which aims to enact social innovation by connecting local... more This paper reports a co-design practice which aims to enact social innovation by connecting local communities' needs to the global data networks. We introduce low-fi physical tools that mediate a community's shared imagery as the creative space for collective meaning-making. We discuss our practice of a co-design framework within the systemic view of social innovation processes. By discussing a community workshop method that structure locals' " collective imagery " , we seek to develop insights into the potential linkage of social innovation to systems of open data. We discuss three village regeneration projects that encourage a community's transformative learning enacted through an analogical installation. We explore the concepts through broader practical and theoretical considerations, especially connectivist and transformational learning processes, and the use of information technologies in engaging social innovation with communities. We propose the need to consider ontological differences between a local community workshop and the open data for social innovation to impact a systemic change.

This paper explores the use of a collective imagery framework, as part of a participatory design ... more This paper explores the use of a collective imagery framework, as part of a participatory design workshop, facilitated by the My Dream World project in Namibia. The workshop focused on issues relating to youth unemployment in Southern Africa. The collective imagery framework, discussed in this paper, was the first phase of the participatory workshop. The framework aimed to externalise individual creative imagery, in order to create a safe, creative space for participants to explore their own perceptions regarding youth context and unemployment, as well as those of
others. This paper documents the context, process, and participant experience, and aims to identify outcomes as well as factors that contribute to, or challenges empathetic interactions and storytelling within participatory design practices.

EKSIG2015: Tangible Means, International Conference 2015

This paper reports a co-design intervention experimented with ‘kindness’ as a community value for... more This paper reports a co-design intervention experimented with ‘kindness’ as a community value for social innovation during Dutch Design Week 2014. We discuss the insights gathered from the practice-based research aimed to envision and enact community’s creative imagery as a shared space for co-creation. The co-design intervention visualized, enacted, connected and structured community’s ideas by projecting “kindness” as an idealistic social value to inspire the community’s collective wishes. The activity was instrumented by Collective Imagery framework supported by two co-design tools: Collective Imagery Weave as a physical installation using tags and threads to envision creative complexity; and Mind Weave Theatre as drama sketches to enact design solutions through narrative reasoning. Collective Imagery Weave was presented in a public space and continued to engage the community to co-design for social innovation. The physical installation’s aesthetic quality evolves in its static form, the interactive process of being constructed, as well as stories resulted from this intervention, which demonstrated a structuring process possible to innovate from the abstract concept of “kindness” as the community’s ideal collective wish into concrete design solutions.

Branding is almost fully embedded as a strategic asset. Companies must develop products with desi... more Branding is almost fully embedded as a strategic asset. Companies must develop products with designs that not only appear attractive but also carry distinctive references, manifest in the values of the brand. However, those values are sometimes intangible and evoke different meaning between consumers. Therefore it is a challenging job to manipulate design features to elicit the ‘right’ associations, especially for novice designers. This paper discusses a workshop where we implemented a method based on the collective imagery framework to explore seven values (prestige, superior, quality, excitement, audacious, performance, simplicity). The method establishes an embodied common ground for co-designers to envision, enact and connect the complex network, which connects brand values to product characteristics. In the workshop participants were asked to create visions with each other by sharing personal stories. The physical structure built by participants to show their values in spatial structure. We conclude that it is useful to use physical installation to determine meanings of values that inform product characteristic for a brand to be recognisable.

This paper reports co-design interventions with local community of practice at Inner Mongolia, wh... more This paper reports co-design interventions with local community of practice at Inner Mongolia, who are keepers of a vernacular architectural practice dated back to 2000 bc. The research aims to explore a social innovation method towards sustainable village regeneration in China. We report four days community engagements with tools and activities designed and implemented as a result of collaboration between three design researchers, local NGOs and the local community. We describe co-design interventions based on a framework of co-design which works through envisioning and enacting community’s imagination for social innovation. We conclude by addressing the embodied co-design tools developed with the locals as an unobtrusive form of activities to engage community to work towards consensus. We addressed the importance of design activism, which take into the considerations local values, and to achieve social innovation through collaborative imagination of the community’s collective wishes.

5th International Congress of International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) , Aug 29, 2013

This research explores creative imagery shared between co-designers during cross-disciplinary des... more This research explores creative imagery shared between co-designers during cross-disciplinary design collaboration as a co-design theoretical framework, which we term “collective imagery”. Collective imagery is a shared working structure of design concept consists of associated design elements such as facts, insights, ideas and concepts, often too partial and complex to envision and enact collaboratively. We carried out experimental workshops to identify co-design tools and processes, which externalise and structure collective imagery for designing. A selection of co-design tools was designed to allow design process to unfold itself without adhering to the conventional design development process: collective imagery board, skit improvisation and complexity weave. Without giving a prescriptive design process, we trace over time the patterns of the co-design process using the collective imagery board to visually depict the diverse structure of design concept. We discovered co-design process in a creative emergence cycle of inspiration, deconstruction, association, clustering, threading and emergence. Themes emerged from visual evidence shows structuring collective imagery as core co-design activity, that a coherent conceptual structure often entails a coherent design solution. We conclude the notion of collective imagery as a co-design theoretical framework that allows co-designers of diverse creative process to envision, embodied and enact.

This working paper describes a practice-based study instrumented through co-design workshop to ex... more This working paper describes a practice-based study instrumented through co-design workshop to experiment with new tools to devise connectivist learning experience. The workshop forms part of postgraduate design course to introduce academic skills in reviewing journal paper for essay writing. Within a three hours workshop, participants envision and enact their creative imagery as conceptual structuring tool to collectively architect narratives into stories. Through an interventionist approach, we introduce three co-design tools and phases to give rise to creative emergence: deconstruction with imagery board, construction with imagery box and reconstruction with imagery weave. This paper presents an understanding on the practice by describing tools and activities carried out and also from collected paricipatory reflections supported by visuals captured from the workshop. We conclude with a description of a community of learning through creative practice. In summary, participants are able to collectively envision and enact their creative space and structure narratives in a collaborative space while embodiedly structure knowledge and ideas to achieve connectivist learning.

Note: A working paper yet to be edited and proof read. Comments welcome.

Cross-cultural Issues in Design by Priscilla Chueng-Nainby

As designers, we are often called to focus and extract information from the public and civic cont... more As designers, we are often called to focus and extract information from the public and civic context, and elaborate them into insights and research purposes that will inform design projects. Storytelling is one of the most important tools in the research toolbox to communicate the insights we collect in the field, and to engage the research participants, and it is grandly challenged when it faces to serve people and cultures: how are stories built?
How will plots, characters, and narrations be orchestrated? Which culture of reference will be displayed? Which critical translations will be performed? During this active conversation with the participants, we will share and discuss principles and recommendations for a design toolkit for storytelling that leverages listening as the key pathway to shape stories across cultures and contexts.

EPDE2006, Jan 1, 2006

"This paper reports a preliminary analysis of the role of negotiation in cross-cultural design co... more "This paper reports a preliminary analysis of the role of negotiation in cross-cultural design collaboration between Swiss-trained design students and China-trained design
students at the annual cross-cultural design student collaboration in Zurich. The research that informed this paper aimed to extend currently mono-culturally oriented Co-design
description of data collection and discourse analysis to a cross-cultural context. Our aim is to investigate the role of negotiation in constructing shared concepts in cross-cultural
design collaboration. An ethnographically informed study using video-assisted technology was carried out to capture both verbal and non-verbal data of design discourse of a cross-cultural team during early design episodes. Preliminary analysis on the data aimed to testify currently available Co-Design analysis methods from problem solving and reflective practice design paradigms. A comparison between Swiss-trained and China-trained designers are done on 1) the distribution of verbal, sketches and gestural cues used during design interaction, and 2) tracing team framing through the
distribution of association and disassociation of design episodes. The research outcomes show a cultural variance in the data collection and analysis methods currently available
in Co-Design studies."

… design boundaries: proceedings of the 3rd …, Jan 1, 2005

The socio-cultural differences between Western and Chinese designers highlights the issue of nego... more The socio-cultural differences between Western and Chinese designers highlights the issue of negotiating ideas at the early stage of designing when communication is kept ambiguous in order to be exploratory. This research takes the viewpoint of Chinese designers with Western experience. In two studies, we explore: 1) cultural issues concerning Chinese designers working in the West, 2) Chinese viewpoint in negotiating ideas with Western designers at the early stage of designing. The issues revealed subsequently inform a proposed dialectic framework useful for Western/Chinese designers to negotiate ideas with ambiguity at the early stage of designing.

This research explores differences in early design collaboration between Western-trained designer... more This research explores differences in early design collaboration between Western-trained designers and China-trained designers. The phenomenon observed was that the cross-cultural team adopted a simplified design process to accommodate collaboration, while the extensive design process was left as a client-facing tool. In explaining the differences, we review the history of the process models of design. We argue that an isolated conceptual design stage (CDS) is a rationalist ideal set in the 1980s. Its essence is that ideas are dealt with in abstraction for concept formation. This prescriptive process assumes an abstract-to-concrete progression, which does not transfer to the cross-cultural context. Yet, crucially, most research on designers’ practice has focused on the concept design stage. Instead of assuming that early designing is equivalent to the CDS, this paper argues for the importance of reconsidering the definition of the CDS.

西方的设计方法依然是目前中国设计教育的主导方向。作者参与了在苏黎士艺术与设计学院与江南大学设计学院之间的一个跨文化交流项目的研究，在设计初期阶段进行对设计活动跟踪观察，并采访参与者。这个阶段主... more 西方的设计方法依然是目前中国设计教育的主导方向。作者参与了在苏黎士艺术与设计学院与江南大学设计学院之间的一个跨文化交流项目的研究，在设计初期阶段进行对设计活动跟踪观察，并采访参与者。这个阶段主要是提出想法和概念，对思维的自由度和创造性有较高要求。初步的研究结果表明在中国和瑞士的学生之间有下列差异：1）概念产生的方法；2）概念的讨论; 3）教师的任务。从这里中国设计教育应意识到思维与教学方式本来就是传统文化使然，一味的引进西方设计方法会沦为东施效颦。更何况在1960后的西方已从理性为主的设计方法开始领会到非逻辑概念设计的重要性。鉴于此，我们在本次中瑞合作项目中展开这方面的研究，探讨适合中国的设计教育方法。

Co-Design Workshops/Engagements by Priscilla Chueng-Nainby

Collective Imagery Weave is creative method to engage community to co-design through collective a... more Collective Imagery Weave is creative method to engage community to co-design through collective activities of deconstruction, construction and reconstruction utilising collective imagery weave installation alongside performative story co-construction. We visualise community’s collective imagery through a weave installation consists of coloured tags populated with words and visuals of ideas and fact. We invite workshop participants to explore ways to evaluate the method by experiencing it and engage conference participants as a community of practice to explore mutual research interests and connect to everyday problem.

Sound Design for Virtual Environments by Priscilla Chueng-Nainby

This paper reviews current approaches to designing virtual environments and investigates aspects ... more This paper reviews current approaches to designing virtual environments and investigates aspects of influence in designing auditory spaces to support novel forms of interaction in virtual places. Initial research on human imagined sounds from places has identified ‘expectation’ as an important psychological construct, which must be considered when designing sounds for virtual places. The research work continues to provide evidence that there are differences between sounds people expect to hear in places and sounds recorded in real life places. Instead of designing realistic virtual spaces, the paper suggests a user’s sense of presence as a measure of the user’s experience in virtual environment. The results indicate that using highly expected sounds increases users’ sense of presence. As such, it is to propose that designing auditory spaces using expectations as perceived affordance is perhaps a minimal way to design auditory spaces that support sense of place, hence provoke the emergence of virtual communities.
Future work of the project is discussed.

Papers by Priscilla Chueng-Nainby

EKSIG2015: Tangible Means, International Conference 2015

5th International Congress of International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) , Aug 29, 2013

Note: A working paper yet to be edited and proof read. Comments welcome.

EPDE2006, Jan 1, 2006

… design boundaries: proceedings of the 3rd …, Jan 1, 2005

Branding is almost fully embedded as a strategic asset. Companies must develop products with desi... more Branding is almost fully embedded as a strategic asset. Companies must develop products with designs that not only appear attractive but also carry distinctive references, manifest in the values of the brand. However, those values are sometimes intangible and evoke different meaning between consumers. Therefore it is a challenging job to manipulate design features to elicit the 'right' associations, especially for novice designers. This paper discusses a workshop where we implemented a method based on the collective imagery framework to explore seven values (prestige, superior, quality, excitement, audacious, performance, simplicity). The method establishes an embodied common ground for co-designers to envision, enact and connect the complex network, which connects brand values to product characteristics. In the workshop participants were asked to create visions with each other by sharing personal stories. The physical structure built by participants to show their values in spatial structure. We conclude that it is useful to use physical installation to determine meanings of values that inform product characteristic for a brand to be recognisable.

This research explores creative imagery shared between co-designers during crossdisciplinary desi... more This research explores creative imagery shared between co-designers during crossdisciplinary design collaboration as a theoretical framework for co-design studies, which we term “collective imagery”. Collective imagery is a shared working structure of design concept and consists of associated design elements such as facts, insights, ideas and concepts, often too partial and complex to envision and enact collaboratively. We carried out experimental workshops to identify co-design tools and processes, which aim to externalise and structure collective imagery for designing. We develop co-design tools to allow co-design process to unfold itself without adhering to traditional design development process: collective imagery board, skit improvisation and complexity weave. We trace over time patterns of co-design activities by using the collective imagery board to visually depict the diverse structure of design concept. We discover co-design process in a creative emergence cycle of activiti...

This paper describes an ontological attempt in the understanding of codesign activity in the wild... more This paper describes an ontological attempt in the understanding of codesign activity in the wild within the context of service innovation. The research has an aim to analyse the transformation of ideas during co-design by examining informal data from a workshop that inspired villagers in Turkey to innovate collaboratively. Contrary to the often process-oriented analysis of co-design activity, the workshop facilitates designing by envisioning and enacting participants’ collective imagery in physical forms in an iterative cycle of deconstruction, construction and reconstruction. We report an understanding of the ontology established to describe and analyse the informal data collected from the physical forms of collective imagery. A machine learning approach is used to underpin assumptions made in the understanding of the activity based on the ontology. The analysis suggests the frequency and relevancy of ideas significantly influenced the possibility that an idea will become part of ...

As designers, we are often called to focus and extract information from the public and civic cont... more As designers, we are often called to focus and extract information from the public and civic context, and elaborate them into insights and research purposes that will inform design projects. Storytelling is one of the most important tools in the research toolbox to communicate the insights we collect in the field, and to engage the research participants, and it is grandly challenged when it faces to serve people and cultures: how are stories built? How will plots, characters, and narrations be orchestrated? Which culture of reference will be displayed? Which critical translations will be performed? During this active conversation with the participants, we will share and discuss principles and recommendations for a design storytelling toolkit that leverages listening as the key pathway to shape stories across cultures and contexts.

Nordic Design Research Conference, 2015

This paper explores the use of a collective imagery framework, as part of a participatory design ... more This paper explores the use of a collective imagery framework, as part of a participatory design workshop, facilitated by the My Dream World project in Namibia. The workshop focused on issues relating to youth unemployment in Southern Africa. The collective imagery framework, discussed in this paper, was the first phase of the participatory workshop. The framework aimed to externalise individual creative imagery, in order to create a safe, creative space for participants to explore their own perceptions regarding youth context and unemployment, as well as those of others. This paper documents the context, process, and participant experience, and aims to identify outcomes as well as factors that contribute to, or challenges empathetic interactions and storytelling within participatory design practices.

Virtual reality is one of the ways that designers and game programmers are seeking to change the ... more Virtual reality is one of the ways that designers and game programmers are seeking to change the way user's experience digital technology. This paper detailed a minimal approach for providing an effective sense of presence in digital virtual environments. Instead of reproducing realistic sounds, we are finding minimal sound objects and sound events. The user studies of people’s imagination of sound identified expectation and discrimination as two important constructs to be considered in designing minimal yet effective ecological sound. Our ongoing research into investigating these constructs is described, along with future avenues for research.

This paper presents a new sound-based approach for providing an effective sense of presence in vi... more This paper presents a new sound-based approach for providing an effective sense of presence in virtual environments. Instead of reproducing realistic sounds, our technique is based on finding minimal sound objects and sound events. We present the results from a user study of people's sound expectations in different physical spaces. Expectation and discrimination are identified as two important constructs to be considered in designing minimal yet effective ecological sound.

CHI '02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '02, 2002

In this paper, expectation and discrimination are identified as two important constructs to be co... more In this paper, expectation and discrimination are identified as two important constructs to be considered in ecological sound design to achieve a sense of presence in virtual environments. Research to investigate the extent of this is described and the results obtained are discussed. Future avenues for research, on the basis of these results, are indicated.

&amp;amp;quot;This paper reviews current approaches to designing virtual environments and... more &amp;amp;quot;This paper reviews current approaches to designing virtual environments and investigates aspects of influence in designing auditory spaces to support novel forms of interaction in virtual places. Initial research on human imagined sounds from places has identified ‘expectation’ as an important psychological construct, which must be considered when designing sounds for virtual places. The research work continues to provide evidence that there are differences between sounds people expect to hear in places and sounds recorded in real life places. Instead of designing realistic virtual spaces, the paper suggests a user’s sense of presence as a measure of the user’s experience in virtual environment. The results indicate that using highly expected sounds increases users’ sense of presence. As such, it is to propose that designing auditory spaces using expectations as perceived affordance is perhaps a minimal way to design auditory spaces that support sense of place, hence provoke the emergence of virtual communities. Future work of the project is discussed.&amp;amp;quot;

This thesis brings forth a perspective on the need for an isolated conceptual design phase in pro... more This thesis brings forth a perspective on the need for an isolated conceptual design phase in process models of designing. The perspective is made possible by identifying theories to describe designers in practice. The research sets out to describe concept negotiation during early ...

This paper presents a new sound-based approach for providing an effective sense of presence in vi... more This paper presents a new sound-based approach for providing an effective sense of presence in virtual environments. Instead of reproducing realistic sounds, our technique is based on finding minimal sound objects and sound events. We present the results from a user study of people’s sound expectations in different physical spaces. Expectation and discrimination are identified as two important constructs to be considered in designing minimal yet effective ecological sound. Our ongoing research into investigating these constructs is described, along with future avenues for research.

Proceedings of the The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children - IDC '16, 2016

Two things often observed in children: (1) many do not eat a healthy diet and (2) they like playi... more Two things often observed in children: (1) many do not eat a healthy diet and (2) they like playing videogames. Game-based learning has proven to be an effective method for attitude change, and thus has the potential to influence children's eating habits. This study looks at how, through a series of workshop activities, children themselves can inform the design of such games. Using a co-constructive approach, the study's format promotes creativity and control, enabling children to act as valuable informants for its design. Patterns emerging from the study show that children do indeed understand the concept of healthy eating. Future phases of this work will explore whether they understand how various foods affect their bodies. This information will then inform the design of a videogame that encourages healthy eating.

This paper investigates aspects in designing auditory spaces to support novel forms of interactio... more This paper investigates aspects in designing auditory spaces to support novel forms of interaction in virtual spaces. Initial research on human imagined sounds from places has identified 'expectation' as an important psychological construct. Instead of designing realistic experience, the paper suggests a user's sense of presence as a measure of the user's experience in virtual spaces. The results indicate that using highly expected sounds increases users' sense of presence. As such, it is to propose that designing auditory spaces using expectations as perceived affordance for presence is perhaps a minimal way to engaging users experience. 1 Users Experience in Virtual Spaces We have a tendency to imitate reality for virtual experience. These virtual environment designs are based on real li fe metaphors that register our senses as important aspects to optimise the virtual experience. However, perceptual realism attained through accurate perspective projection may not always be the best approach for engaging users' experience. Taking examples from cartography that intentionally distorted to exaggerate features (Monmonier, 1991), the design of virtual experience can be very different from those happening in our everyday world. Moreover, the modern technology affords a novel way of interaction (Gaver, 1991). The concept of 'presence' is has becoming well accepted as the key concept to redefine virtual environments. Presence is defined as the perceptual illusion of "being there" in a mediated environment (Lombard & Ditton, 1997). This illusion of n on-mediation occurs when user fails to perceive or acknowledge the existence of a medium in the environment and responds as if the medium were not there.

This paper describes an ontological attempt in the understanding of co-design activity in the wil... more This paper describes an ontological attempt in the understanding of co-design activity in the wild within the context of service innovation. The research has an aim to analyse the transformation of ideas during co-design by examining informal data from a workshop that inspired villagers in Turkey to innovate collaboratively. Contrary to the often process-oriented analysis of co-design activity, the workshop facilitates designing by envisioning and enacting participants' collective imagery in physical forms in an iterative cycle of deconstruction, construction and reconstruction. We report an understanding of the ontology established to describe and analyse the informal data collected from the physical forms of collective imagery. A machine learning approach is used to underpin assumptions made in the understanding of the activity based on the ontology. The analysis suggests the frequency and relevancy of ideas significantly influenced the possibility that an idea will become part of a design solution. An evaluation of the machine learning analysis delivers insights into the understanding of data collected during co-design in the wild.

This paper explores the use of a collective imagery framework, as part of a participatory design ... more This paper explores the use of a collective imagery framework, as part of a participatory design workshop, facilitated by the My Dream World project in Namibia. The workshop focused on issues relating to youth unemployment in Southern Africa. The collective imagery framework, discussed in this paper, was the first phase of the participatory workshop. The framework aimed to externalise individual creative imagery, in order to create a safe, creative space for participants to explore their own perceptions regarding youth context and unemployment, as well as those of others. This paper documents the context, process, and participant experience, and aims to identify outcomes as well as factors that contribute to, or challenges empathetic interactions and storytelling within participatory design practices.

This paper explores the impact of a collective imagery framework, as part of a service design wor... more This paper explores the impact of a collective imagery framework, as part of a service design workshop, facilitated by the My Dream World project in Namibia. The workshop focused on issues relating to youth unemployment in Southern Africa. The framework aimed to externalise individual creative imagery, in order to create a safe, creative space for participants to explore their own perceptions regarding youth context and unemployment, as well as those of others.