Participatory design
An approach in which the people who will live with the result take part as partners throughout the design process and decide together with the team.
What it’s for
It gives a voice and a say to those who will live with a design’s consequences, who usually have none.
Principles
Voice and decision
Those who will live with the result have the right to shape it.
Mutual learning
The team learns from people’s reality; people learn about the technical possibilities.
The whole process
They take part from start to finish, not just in a consultation.
How it’s done
Form a group with the people who will live with the result.
The team and the people learn from each other.
Decisions are made together at every stage, from start to finish.
Applications in design
When to use it
When the design changes the life or work of a specific group.
Avoid
Calling a survey, or a workshop where nothing is decided, participation.
Don’t fall for it
Really share power: make clear from the start what participants can decide.
Connections
Authors and works
- 2012
Toni Robertson and Jesper Simonsen
Summed up its origins and commitments: participating is not just being consulted, and learning goes both ways.
- 2008
Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders and Pieter Jan Stappers
Placed it, along with co-design, in the shift from designing for people to designing with them.
Sources
Original sources
- Sanders, E. B.-N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. CoDesign, 4(1), 5–18. View source: Sanders, E. B.-N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008)
Academic reviews
- Robertson, T., & Simonsen, J. (2012). Challenges and opportunities in contemporary participatory design. Design Issues, 28(3), 3–9. View source: Robertson, T., & Simonsen, J. (2012)
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