2.4 Design for and with values: Surfacing and negotiating values in socially-engaged design (Design Ethics SIG)

Corresponding Chairs

Deger Ozkaramanli & Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke

Co-Chairs

Sine Celik, Geertje Slingerland, Michael Nagenborg, Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz, Leigh-Anne Hepburn

Abstract

Design is an inherently value-laden practice. However, values that drive design processes often remain implicit, predefined, or oversimplified in lists, offering little inspiration for real-world design practices. As socially-engaged design fields (such as systemic design, social design, and transition design) mature, there is a growing need to interrogate how values are surfaced, interpreted, negotiated and enacted, not just as ‘desirable ends’ to design for, but also as generative drivers in framing, idea generation, and critical reflection during design processes.

Building on our track at DRS2024, this track zooms into ‘values’ as a central construct in design ethics and invites contributions that explore ‘values’ as conceptual anchors in socially-engaged design as well as related practice-based concerns. We welcome work that engages with values in ways that help theorize or illustrate their situated and emergent nature in design work. In particular, we encourage interdisciplinary approaches that extend beyond the boundaries of Value Sensitive Design, drawing on, for example, philosophy, political economy, anthropology, sociology, futures studies, cultural studies and history. Both theoretical explorations and practice-based research are welcome, especially those involving public sector collaborations, civic engagement, or community-driven initiatives for social change.

Key questions include:

• How can design research reconcile top-down normative value frameworks with bottom-up, stakeholder-driven value articulation?

• Which underexplored values, such as dignity or reciprocity, offer new potential for social and systemic design?

• How might we move beyond technology-centered frameworks and methods to support value discovery, interpretation, negotiation and enactment in social and systemic design?

Keywords

Design ethics, design methods, design for values, social design, systemic design

References

Bos-de Vos, M. (2020) A framework for designing for divergent values, in Boess, S., Cheung, M. and Cain, R. (eds.), Synergy - DRS International Conference 2020, 11-14 August, Held online. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.374 

Gulbransen-Diaz, N., and Hepburn, L. (2024) Grand narratives of Value and their relationship with design, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.232 

Kim, M. (2021). A study of dignity as a principle of service design. International Journal of Design, 15(3), 87-100. 

Manders-Huits, N. (2011). What values in design? The challenge of incorporating moral values into design. Science and engineering ethics, 17(2), 271-287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-010-9198-2   

Van den Hoven, J., Vermaas, P. E., & Van de Poel, I. (2015). Handbook of Ethics, Values and Technological Design. Springer. ‏DOI10.1007/978-94-007-6994-6