Design against normality

Authors

  • Gesche Joost Berlin University of the Arts
  • Tom Bieling Design Research Lab

Keywords:

Design Research, Normality, Diversity, User, deaf-blind, Interaction, Disability

Abstract

Against the background of the cultural construction of normality, the social exclusion of human beings and the design of innovative products, in this paper we criticize the position that proposes majority-oriented design conclusions to be the guiding principle in usability-focused design approaches. In turn we discuss the value of including “out-of-norm”-users in the design-/ and design research-process.

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Author Biographies

Gesche Joost, Berlin University of the Arts

She is Professor for Design Research at Berlin University of the Arts and Chairwoman of the DGTF (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung; German Society for Design Theorie and Research). Until 2010 she has been Professor for the Interaction Design & Media department at Technical University Berlin, and since 2005 she has headed the Design Research Lab at Deutsche Telekom Laboratories.

Tom Bieling, Design Research Lab

He is Co-Founder oft he Design Research Network, is a visiting professor in Applied Sciences and Art at the German University in Cairo and researcher at Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2007 he has been researching at the Design Research Lab. Before that he studied Design in Cologne (Germany) and Curitiba (Brasil).

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Published

2012-07-01

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 07 (2012): V!07 Cultural Actions and Digital Media

Section

Invited Papers