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Specialty

Design anthropology

Joins anthropological research and design: anthropologists working in design teams to intervene and create with people, not just to observe them.

In Spanish
Antropología del diseño
Origin
Gunn, Otto and Smith (2013)

What problem it addresses

Classic ethnography describes; design changes things. This specialty tries to do both at once.

Principles

  • Collaborate

    Research with people, not about them.

  • Intervene

    Try out changes and study what they cause.

  • Co-create

    People take part in shaping the solutions.

Applications in design

  • Use it like this

    Include the researcher in the team for the whole project, not just at the start.

  • Avoid

    Using anthropology just to add color to a presentation.

  • Don’t fall for it

    Intervening also changes what you study: document it.

Connections

Related to

Authors and works

  1. 2013

    Wendy Gunn, Ton Otto and Rachel Charlotte Smith (Eds.)

    Brought together the theory and practice of design anthropology, which moves from observing to intervening and co-creating.

Sources

Academic reviews

  • Gunn, W., Otto, T., & Smith, R. C. (Eds.) (2013). Design anthropology: Theory and practice. Bloomsbury Academic.

Last reviewed: