Co-creation and the new landscapes of design

Elizabeth Sanders and Pieter Jan Stappers observe that designers have moved increasingly close to the future users of what they design, and that co-designing with users has become a defining feature of the changing landscape of design research. They note this is not entirely new, having developed along distinctly different paths in the United States and in Europe. The paper traces the evolution in design research from a user-centred approach toward co-designing, and argues this shift changes the roles of the designer, the researcher, and the person formerly known as the user. It also considers the large implications of this shift for how designers and researchers are educated. Published in CoDesign, 4(1), 5 to 18. Credits: Sanders, E. B.-N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. CoDesign, 4(1), 5–18. http://doi.org/10.1080/15710880701875068