COCOON – CONCEPTUALISATION OF A VIRTUAL MEMBRANE IN THE CURRENT TRANSITION TOWARDS MORE-THAN-HUMAN DESIGN

Abstract

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, existing sociotechnical work phenomena are revealed and magnified. With the help of a design case, this paper discusses where the Human-Centred Design (HCD) paradigm meets boundaries, asking to expand and shift towards More-Than-Human Design. The case at hand presents the metaphor ‘Cocoon’, furthermore allowing to speculate on the broader concept of ‘virtual membrane’. Recontextualising the case from the scales of workspheres and from user–tool towards human– nonhuman relations, we critique and discuss the socio-technical implications of HCD.