Experiencing, Exploring and Experimenting in and with Co-Design Spaces

Abstract

The concept of design space has been useful to designers in supporting the act of designing and for reflecting on the activity of designing. With the increase in cooperative design practices, it is time to consider the concept of co-design space. Co-design spaces differ from design spaces in that they tend to be situated in the early front end of the design process (also referred to as pre-design), they rely on the collective creativity of designers working together with non-designers, they deal with very complex challenges such as behavioural change and organizational transformation, and they often point to the embodiments in the immaterial domains such as experiences and services. We will argue that we can add greatly to our understanding of design by experiencing, exploring and experimenting in and with co-design spaces.