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Noemi Sadowska

London College of Communication, Branding and Design Innovation Programme, Faculty Member

London Collage Of Communication, Branding and Design Innovation, Faculty Member

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Toronto Metropolitan University

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Northumbria University

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University of Oslo

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University of Technology Sydney

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Papers by Noemi Sadowska

Tilting T&L – awakening responsible design practices via the senses

This case study outlines the experience of engaging postgraduate design students in activities ex... more This case study outlines the experience of engaging postgraduate design students in activities exploring sensorial modalities in relation to their creative processes. Situated within wider research trialling a set of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum as a mechanism for awakening learning around responsible design-this case study sets out the process and some early discoveries concerning a pair of workshops that utilise the senses as a tool for enquiry, imagination, and connection. It offers insights and reflection on methods for 'tilting' perspectives and practices regarding human and more-than-human awareness within design education.

Becoming Learners in Laboratories of Learning: A Rhizomatic Assemblage of Nomadic Pedagogies

Exploring Business Undergraduates’ Journey and Decision-Making Processes while Immersed in Strategic Design Experience

The paper explores the delivery of a strategic design module within an undergraduate business edu... more The paper explores the delivery of a strategic design module within an undergraduate business education in UK. In light of the recent discourses to promote change in design education (Friedman, 2001; Cassim, 2013; Norman and Klemmer, 2014; Souleles, 2013), the learner's journey and their decision-making process undertaken in the strategic design module are being investigated to highlight the potential of design process in contributing to business and management education. The paper follows participatory action research and draws on observations of learners' engagement in a design process substantiated by insights from staff delivering on the module. The aim is to understand the nature of decisions the learners undertake in order to generate more effective learning and teaching strategies highlighting the value of strategic design. The insights gained illuminate learners recognition of the value of decisions grounded in empathy in addressing contemporary organisational challenges, whilst highlighting their avoidance of risk in decision-making and lack of perceived interconnectedness of those decisions. Thus, it is argued that the resulting awareness around decision-making can become a very useful tool in helping learners conceptualise what strategic design requires and understand their own learning experience.

Tilting to transform: Sensorial problem-framing

This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that util... more This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that utilise real and fictional sensorial modalities to reimagine problems and humanise design thinking. The 60 minutes online session will experiment with sensory scenarios and how they can enhance reframing and responsibly &#39;tilt&#39; design problems and approaches, leading also to engaging participants in a discourse on the role of design within society and ecology. This workshop stems from wider research being undertaken into a system of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum, to catalyse and reinforce learning around design action and eco-social consequence. As such, this session seeks to explore creative and humanity-centred pedagogic approaches for reframing design problems and supporting responsible ideation.

Rhizome Theory and Twenty-First Century Learning

Rhizome Metaphor

Design methods as disruptive process in delivery of a business school curriculum

In a recent article of Co.Design, Quinn (2012) describes the Rotman Design Challenge as a ‘commen... more In a recent article of Co.Design, Quinn (2012) describes the Rotman Design Challenge as a ‘commendable experiment by the school’s Business Design Club to expose MBAs at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management to the value of design methods in business problem solving’. The call for a meaningful reinvention of both design and business education so that the business world can realise the true value of design thinking is not new. At the 2009 European Academy of Design (EAD) conference in Aberdeen, Scotland, the authors of this work presented a paper identifying the same points but from the perspective of a business school’s educational paradigm. These authors believe that the change does not have to be a radical overhaul of the educational system in business and design but, rather, a more disruptive process from within where focus on innovation can provide a common platform for both business and design education to exchange methodologies. In design education, reliance o...

The Practical and the Creative of the Innovation Journey – Education in Action

This has been a ‘taster’ workshop of some of the approaches that the authors use in supporting st... more This has been a ‘taster’ workshop of some of the approaches that the authors use in supporting students along their innovation journey. The tasks in the workshop included the initial ideation process in identifying a ‘Blue Ocean’ opportunity for a club in London, UK, followed by an investigative approach to managing some of the practical elements of creating a business as part of ideation process. The workshop concluded with a reflection on where issues arise for university students in this process considering very practical challenges such as numbers, promotion and revenue. The workshop concluded with the participants exploring ways in which lecturers can support their students in overcoming those challenges as they progress through the ideation stage of the innovation process.

Boundaries of Unfamiliar Learning Experiences in the Innovation Journey in Business Management Education

The study investigates the effectiveness of using design mock-ups by business learners as part of... more The study investigates the effectiveness of using design mock-ups by business learners as part of their innovation journeys. It draws on learners’ experiences in a final year elective module (Managing Strategic Design) delivered on an undergraduate management degree. This module has been designed to challenge learners to develop truly innovative business opportunities, utilising design and strategic thinking. The design mock-ups are examined for their capacity to help learners to traverse disciplinary and conceptual boundaries in order to seek out innovative solutions. In design, reliance on mock-ups as teaching tools informs critical aspects of learning about the design concepts and processes, but this is not the case in business. We investigate the impact of creating such artefacts by teams as a means of mediating collaborative interaction within innovation process and for the ways, learners encounter the unfamiliar and incorporate it into their learning experiences. The methodolo...

Ways of Promoting Design Management in Business Education to Increase Creativity in Business Practice

In 2005, the Cox Review of Creativity in Business [UK] indicated the need for ‘ … business awaren... more In 2005, the Cox Review of Creativity in Business [UK] indicated the need for ‘ … business awareness of how creativity can boost performance … [by] creating more demand for creativity and design through business support services and government incentives’. In 2006, the Competitiveness Summit

Laboratories of Learning’: Learning to Learn in Co-created Communities of Practice

Blucher Design Proceedings, 2021

During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for ... more During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for coming together in communities of belonging. Within this context, our study focuses on how we all learn can highlight our belonging. We argue for a need to implement a more explicit process to keep developed connections more permanent, by implementing co-creative and collective learning spaces, so our students can engage in their understanding of what it means to learn. This exploratory investigation underpinned by participatory action research (PAR) methodology uses focus group, workshops co-designed with students and peerdelivered sessions, to gain insights into what conditions would prompt students to 1) talk about learning as a practice beyond subject knowledge; 2) what conditions would be needed for students to want to share with others insights about their learning, and 3) what conditions would be needed to create student communities of learning, which we are calling 'Laboratories of Learning'.

Value of Participatory Action Research Methodology in Investigating Design Process within Undergraduate Management Education

11th EAD Conference Proceedings: The Value Of Design Research, 2016

The paper evaluates the effectiveness of participatory action research (PAR) methodology utilised... more The paper evaluates the effectiveness of participatory action research (PAR) methodology utilised in a study investigating the delivery of design management module within the context of undergraduate management education. The paper presents the benefits and challenges of PAR as methodological choice for conducting research into a design management curriculum delivery. It draws on six research cycles between 2009 and 2014 to offer its critical analysis by comparing the key implemented changes to the curriculum delivery resulting from each cycle with formal disseminations of research findings, as points of self-refection following each cycle. Authors draw on Cunningham (2008), who asserts that '… action research gives us an iterative, systematic, analytic way to reflect on what we are doing in class, to evaluate our success at achieving our classroom goals, and to chart the direction of future classroom strategies based on what we have learned' (p. 1). Thus, the authors argue that in the case of the undertaken research, the PAR methodology enabled them to conduct a selfreflective inquiry into design management module delivery in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of their own teaching practices, their understanding of those practices, and the classroom situations and experiences such practices engendered. The underlying aim of the paper is to explore the potential of PAR methodology in design research, whilst offering contribution to recent broader debates shaping design and management education.

Measuring the impact of strategic design learning experience long after the classroom delivery

The Design Journal, 2019

This paper seeks to examine the transformational impact of a final year strategic design module o... more This paper seeks to examine the transformational impact of a final year strategic design module on learners some years after its completion. A subset of learners, who completed the module between two and ten years, were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire around Fink's (2003) taxonomy of learning. We researched how much learners still make the connections between what they have learned in the module and their current circumstances. While potentially humbling to find out how little of the detailed content is retained, particularly five to ten years after the event, we argue that the impact of the module on learners developing their creative skill-set and effectiveness in navigating team dynamics has indeed been transformative. We suggest that educators could do more to embed this longer term transformational focus by explicitly raising the future in the classroom and enabling learners to build linkages to the development of their own future selves.

Infusing management education with design to foster resilience, adaptability and flexibility

The Design Journal, 2017

We reflect on the impact design education has on our management learners by equipping them with a... more We reflect on the impact design education has on our management learners by equipping them with a different learning perspective; one that allows them to 'live their learning'. We maintain that the role of learning is to be owned and internalised for learners to feel responsible for its impact and outcomes. Where such an approach to learning instils in management learners' resilience, adaptability, and flexibility, highlighted by Harford (2011) as key in shaping the future workforce. Using an autoethnography approach we examine a Design Leadership module for its capacity to instil those characteristics through the synergy of design approach with management education catalysed by an exhibition opening event. Through observations at this event, we identify four impacts and propose that education should adopt 'lean start-up' principals (Ries, 2011) and become a 'platform for experimentation' for learners to have an impact and be in control for the next.

Minding the Gap: Using Artefacts to Navigate Private, Professional and Academic Selves in Design

The Stored Wisdom project (completed 2005), conducted by Sadowska and Tham (joint PI's), expl... more The Stored Wisdom project (completed 2005), conducted by Sadowska and Tham (joint PI's), explored how artefacts may bridge the gap between personal and professional value positions, and between individuals within the field of design. In a series of workshops, everyday artefacts were used to create 'uncontaminated spaces' where discussions about sensitive issues could safely be initiated. This was found especially valuable when a topic may cause tension or guilt, such in the cases of sustainability and gender. The research was unique in methodological approach merging emerging design methods (such as the cultural probes) with particular value systems.

Are we designing female audiences? The case of BEME. com a women's commercial online portal

In February 2000 IPC Media (IPC) – a UK magazine publishing house – launched its first commercial... more In February 2000 IPC Media (IPC) – a UK magazine publishing house – launched its first commercial women’s portal, BEME.com, to provide an alternative for its female magazine readership and respond to an economic boom in online industries. The site offered information and advice to female users but, in August 2001, after a period of only eighteen months, it closed having failed to generate commercial revenue. Could the way in which its target audience were ‘designed’ be part of what went wrong?

Mind The Gap: a Collaboration in Design Teaching and Learning Between UK and Australia

In April 2008, lecturers from Regent's Business School London, UK and The College of Fine Ar... more

The design brief: inquiry into the starting point in a learning journey

The Design Journal, 2017

The paper reviews an assessment regime for its capacity to engage university learners, enabling t... more The paper reviews an assessment regime for its capacity to engage university learners, enabling them to design radically new business offerings. We explore the effect of the briefing approach on defining the customer/offering match. This study is framed by participatory action research, where data draws on two distinctive module deliveries: one where the design brief asks learners to generate the offering first and then shape the customer segment. The second one supplies an archetype and asks learners to define customer first and then develop the offering. Our analysis reveals that learners' engagement with the design brief prompts an emergence of five patterns of learners' responses, leading to conclusions that the nature of design brief elements has an impact in shaping the overall learning. Moreover, going from customer to offering appears to generate better iterations between the two, overall leading to learners' engagement with the process not simply seeking an outcome.

Negotiating online design practice within existing , gender structures

In the context of World Wide Web and associated technologies, online design practice rarely becom... more In the context of World Wide Web and associated technologies, online design practice rarely becomes a focus of the Internet research community. However, its unique position to offer development tools, carry the message and provide the means of experience provides a rich platform of investigation within a wider scope of design knowledge. The argument focuses on BEME.com – a women's commercial portal – to examine online design practice from a feminist theoretical perspective. It suggests that BEME.com represents a particular type of gendered experience, constructed through design specifically for female online use. This experience is expressed through web page layouts and exists within a specific structure of social, cultural and political discourses that disseminate gendered assumptions about female online users. Thus, an investigation of sites like BEME.com with its design and social context provides an important insight into ways in which design practice perpetuates patriarchal...

Tilting to Transform Sensorial Problem-framing

Proceedings of the DRS Learn X Design 2021: 6th International Conference for Design Education Researchers (Vol. 2, pp. 315–317). Design Research Society, 2021

This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that util... more This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that utilise real and fictional sensorial modalities to reimagine problems and humanise design thinking. The 60 minutes online session will experiment with sensory scenarios and how they can enhance reframing and responsibly 'tilt' design problems and approaches, leading also to engaging participants in a discourse on the role of design within society and ecology. This workshop stems from wider research being undertaken into a system of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum, to catalyse and reinforce learning around design action and eco-social consequence. As such, this session seeks to explore creative and humanity-centred pedagogic approaches for reframing design problems and supporting responsible ideation.

'Laboratories of Learning': Learning to Learn in Co-created Communities of Practice

Conference Proceedings: Safe Harbours for Design Research: 14th International Conference of European Academy of Design, European Academy of Design, Lancaster, United Kingdom, 11-16 October 2021, 2021

During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for ... more During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for coming together in communities of belonging. Within this context, our study focuses on how we all learn can highlight our belonging. We argue for a need to implement a more explicit process to keep developed connections more permanent, by implementing co-creative and collective learning spaces, so our students can engage in their understanding of what it means to learn. This exploratory investigation underpinned by participatory action research (PAR) methodology uses focus group, workshops co-designed with students and peerdelivered sessions, to gain insights into what conditions would prompt students to 1) talk about learning as a practice beyond subject knowledge; 2) what conditions would be needed for students to want to share with others insights about their learning, and 3) what conditions would be needed to create student communities of learning, which we are calling 'Laboratories of Learning'.

Tilting T&L – awakening responsible design practices via the senses

This case study outlines the experience of engaging postgraduate design students in activities ex... more This case study outlines the experience of engaging postgraduate design students in activities exploring sensorial modalities in relation to their creative processes. Situated within wider research trialling a set of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum as a mechanism for awakening learning around responsible design-this case study sets out the process and some early discoveries concerning a pair of workshops that utilise the senses as a tool for enquiry, imagination, and connection. It offers insights and reflection on methods for 'tilting' perspectives and practices regarding human and more-than-human awareness within design education.

Becoming Learners in Laboratories of Learning: A Rhizomatic Assemblage of Nomadic Pedagogies

Exploring Business Undergraduates’ Journey and Decision-Making Processes while Immersed in Strategic Design Experience

The paper explores the delivery of a strategic design module within an undergraduate business edu... more The paper explores the delivery of a strategic design module within an undergraduate business education in UK. In light of the recent discourses to promote change in design education (Friedman, 2001; Cassim, 2013; Norman and Klemmer, 2014; Souleles, 2013), the learner's journey and their decision-making process undertaken in the strategic design module are being investigated to highlight the potential of design process in contributing to business and management education. The paper follows participatory action research and draws on observations of learners' engagement in a design process substantiated by insights from staff delivering on the module. The aim is to understand the nature of decisions the learners undertake in order to generate more effective learning and teaching strategies highlighting the value of strategic design. The insights gained illuminate learners recognition of the value of decisions grounded in empathy in addressing contemporary organisational challenges, whilst highlighting their avoidance of risk in decision-making and lack of perceived interconnectedness of those decisions. Thus, it is argued that the resulting awareness around decision-making can become a very useful tool in helping learners conceptualise what strategic design requires and understand their own learning experience.

Tilting to transform: Sensorial problem-framing

This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that util... more This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that utilise real and fictional sensorial modalities to reimagine problems and humanise design thinking. The 60 minutes online session will experiment with sensory scenarios and how they can enhance reframing and responsibly &#39;tilt&#39; design problems and approaches, leading also to engaging participants in a discourse on the role of design within society and ecology. This workshop stems from wider research being undertaken into a system of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum, to catalyse and reinforce learning around design action and eco-social consequence. As such, this session seeks to explore creative and humanity-centred pedagogic approaches for reframing design problems and supporting responsible ideation.

Rhizome Theory and Twenty-First Century Learning

Rhizome Metaphor

Design methods as disruptive process in delivery of a business school curriculum

In a recent article of Co.Design, Quinn (2012) describes the Rotman Design Challenge as a ‘commen... more In a recent article of Co.Design, Quinn (2012) describes the Rotman Design Challenge as a ‘commendable experiment by the school’s Business Design Club to expose MBAs at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management to the value of design methods in business problem solving’. The call for a meaningful reinvention of both design and business education so that the business world can realise the true value of design thinking is not new. At the 2009 European Academy of Design (EAD) conference in Aberdeen, Scotland, the authors of this work presented a paper identifying the same points but from the perspective of a business school’s educational paradigm. These authors believe that the change does not have to be a radical overhaul of the educational system in business and design but, rather, a more disruptive process from within where focus on innovation can provide a common platform for both business and design education to exchange methodologies. In design education, reliance o...

The Practical and the Creative of the Innovation Journey – Education in Action

This has been a ‘taster’ workshop of some of the approaches that the authors use in supporting st... more This has been a ‘taster’ workshop of some of the approaches that the authors use in supporting students along their innovation journey. The tasks in the workshop included the initial ideation process in identifying a ‘Blue Ocean’ opportunity for a club in London, UK, followed by an investigative approach to managing some of the practical elements of creating a business as part of ideation process. The workshop concluded with a reflection on where issues arise for university students in this process considering very practical challenges such as numbers, promotion and revenue. The workshop concluded with the participants exploring ways in which lecturers can support their students in overcoming those challenges as they progress through the ideation stage of the innovation process.

Boundaries of Unfamiliar Learning Experiences in the Innovation Journey in Business Management Education

The study investigates the effectiveness of using design mock-ups by business learners as part of... more The study investigates the effectiveness of using design mock-ups by business learners as part of their innovation journeys. It draws on learners’ experiences in a final year elective module (Managing Strategic Design) delivered on an undergraduate management degree. This module has been designed to challenge learners to develop truly innovative business opportunities, utilising design and strategic thinking. The design mock-ups are examined for their capacity to help learners to traverse disciplinary and conceptual boundaries in order to seek out innovative solutions. In design, reliance on mock-ups as teaching tools informs critical aspects of learning about the design concepts and processes, but this is not the case in business. We investigate the impact of creating such artefacts by teams as a means of mediating collaborative interaction within innovation process and for the ways, learners encounter the unfamiliar and incorporate it into their learning experiences. The methodolo...

Ways of Promoting Design Management in Business Education to Increase Creativity in Business Practice

In 2005, the Cox Review of Creativity in Business [UK] indicated the need for ‘ … business awaren... more In 2005, the Cox Review of Creativity in Business [UK] indicated the need for ‘ … business awareness of how creativity can boost performance … [by] creating more demand for creativity and design through business support services and government incentives’. In 2006, the Competitiveness Summit

Laboratories of Learning’: Learning to Learn in Co-created Communities of Practice

Blucher Design Proceedings, 2021

During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for ... more During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for coming together in communities of belonging. Within this context, our study focuses on how we all learn can highlight our belonging. We argue for a need to implement a more explicit process to keep developed connections more permanent, by implementing co-creative and collective learning spaces, so our students can engage in their understanding of what it means to learn. This exploratory investigation underpinned by participatory action research (PAR) methodology uses focus group, workshops co-designed with students and peerdelivered sessions, to gain insights into what conditions would prompt students to 1) talk about learning as a practice beyond subject knowledge; 2) what conditions would be needed for students to want to share with others insights about their learning, and 3) what conditions would be needed to create student communities of learning, which we are calling 'Laboratories of Learning'.

Value of Participatory Action Research Methodology in Investigating Design Process within Undergraduate Management Education

11th EAD Conference Proceedings: The Value Of Design Research, 2016

The paper evaluates the effectiveness of participatory action research (PAR) methodology utilised... more The paper evaluates the effectiveness of participatory action research (PAR) methodology utilised in a study investigating the delivery of design management module within the context of undergraduate management education. The paper presents the benefits and challenges of PAR as methodological choice for conducting research into a design management curriculum delivery. It draws on six research cycles between 2009 and 2014 to offer its critical analysis by comparing the key implemented changes to the curriculum delivery resulting from each cycle with formal disseminations of research findings, as points of self-refection following each cycle. Authors draw on Cunningham (2008), who asserts that '… action research gives us an iterative, systematic, analytic way to reflect on what we are doing in class, to evaluate our success at achieving our classroom goals, and to chart the direction of future classroom strategies based on what we have learned' (p. 1). Thus, the authors argue that in the case of the undertaken research, the PAR methodology enabled them to conduct a selfreflective inquiry into design management module delivery in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of their own teaching practices, their understanding of those practices, and the classroom situations and experiences such practices engendered. The underlying aim of the paper is to explore the potential of PAR methodology in design research, whilst offering contribution to recent broader debates shaping design and management education.

Measuring the impact of strategic design learning experience long after the classroom delivery

The Design Journal, 2019

This paper seeks to examine the transformational impact of a final year strategic design module o... more This paper seeks to examine the transformational impact of a final year strategic design module on learners some years after its completion. A subset of learners, who completed the module between two and ten years, were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire around Fink's (2003) taxonomy of learning. We researched how much learners still make the connections between what they have learned in the module and their current circumstances. While potentially humbling to find out how little of the detailed content is retained, particularly five to ten years after the event, we argue that the impact of the module on learners developing their creative skill-set and effectiveness in navigating team dynamics has indeed been transformative. We suggest that educators could do more to embed this longer term transformational focus by explicitly raising the future in the classroom and enabling learners to build linkages to the development of their own future selves.

Infusing management education with design to foster resilience, adaptability and flexibility

The Design Journal, 2017

We reflect on the impact design education has on our management learners by equipping them with a... more We reflect on the impact design education has on our management learners by equipping them with a different learning perspective; one that allows them to 'live their learning'. We maintain that the role of learning is to be owned and internalised for learners to feel responsible for its impact and outcomes. Where such an approach to learning instils in management learners' resilience, adaptability, and flexibility, highlighted by Harford (2011) as key in shaping the future workforce. Using an autoethnography approach we examine a Design Leadership module for its capacity to instil those characteristics through the synergy of design approach with management education catalysed by an exhibition opening event. Through observations at this event, we identify four impacts and propose that education should adopt 'lean start-up' principals (Ries, 2011) and become a 'platform for experimentation' for learners to have an impact and be in control for the next.

Minding the Gap: Using Artefacts to Navigate Private, Professional and Academic Selves in Design

The Stored Wisdom project (completed 2005), conducted by Sadowska and Tham (joint PI's), expl... more The Stored Wisdom project (completed 2005), conducted by Sadowska and Tham (joint PI's), explored how artefacts may bridge the gap between personal and professional value positions, and between individuals within the field of design. In a series of workshops, everyday artefacts were used to create 'uncontaminated spaces' where discussions about sensitive issues could safely be initiated. This was found especially valuable when a topic may cause tension or guilt, such in the cases of sustainability and gender. The research was unique in methodological approach merging emerging design methods (such as the cultural probes) with particular value systems.

Are we designing female audiences? The case of BEME. com a women's commercial online portal

In February 2000 IPC Media (IPC) – a UK magazine publishing house – launched its first commercial... more In February 2000 IPC Media (IPC) – a UK magazine publishing house – launched its first commercial women’s portal, BEME.com, to provide an alternative for its female magazine readership and respond to an economic boom in online industries. The site offered information and advice to female users but, in August 2001, after a period of only eighteen months, it closed having failed to generate commercial revenue. Could the way in which its target audience were ‘designed’ be part of what went wrong?

Mind The Gap: a Collaboration in Design Teaching and Learning Between UK and Australia

In April 2008, lecturers from Regent's Business School London, UK and The College of Fine Ar... more

The design brief: inquiry into the starting point in a learning journey

The Design Journal, 2017

The paper reviews an assessment regime for its capacity to engage university learners, enabling t... more The paper reviews an assessment regime for its capacity to engage university learners, enabling them to design radically new business offerings. We explore the effect of the briefing approach on defining the customer/offering match. This study is framed by participatory action research, where data draws on two distinctive module deliveries: one where the design brief asks learners to generate the offering first and then shape the customer segment. The second one supplies an archetype and asks learners to define customer first and then develop the offering. Our analysis reveals that learners' engagement with the design brief prompts an emergence of five patterns of learners' responses, leading to conclusions that the nature of design brief elements has an impact in shaping the overall learning. Moreover, going from customer to offering appears to generate better iterations between the two, overall leading to learners' engagement with the process not simply seeking an outcome.

Negotiating online design practice within existing , gender structures

In the context of World Wide Web and associated technologies, online design practice rarely becom... more In the context of World Wide Web and associated technologies, online design practice rarely becomes a focus of the Internet research community. However, its unique position to offer development tools, carry the message and provide the means of experience provides a rich platform of investigation within a wider scope of design knowledge. The argument focuses on BEME.com – a women's commercial portal – to examine online design practice from a feminist theoretical perspective. It suggests that BEME.com represents a particular type of gendered experience, constructed through design specifically for female online use. This experience is expressed through web page layouts and exists within a specific structure of social, cultural and political discourses that disseminate gendered assumptions about female online users. Thus, an investigation of sites like BEME.com with its design and social context provides an important insight into ways in which design practice perpetuates patriarchal...

Tilting to Transform Sensorial Problem-framing

Proceedings of the DRS Learn X Design 2021: 6th International Conference for Design Education Researchers (Vol. 2, pp. 315–317). Design Research Society, 2021

This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that util... more This workshop will engage participants in a sequence of individual and group activities that utilise real and fictional sensorial modalities to reimagine problems and humanise design thinking. The 60 minutes online session will experiment with sensory scenarios and how they can enhance reframing and responsibly 'tilt' design problems and approaches, leading also to engaging participants in a discourse on the role of design within society and ecology. This workshop stems from wider research being undertaken into a system of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum, to catalyse and reinforce learning around design action and eco-social consequence. As such, this session seeks to explore creative and humanity-centred pedagogic approaches for reframing design problems and supporting responsible ideation.

'Laboratories of Learning': Learning to Learn in Co-created Communities of Practice

Conference Proceedings: Safe Harbours for Design Research: 14th International Conference of European Academy of Design, European Academy of Design, Lancaster, United Kingdom, 11-16 October 2021, 2021

During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for ... more During the pandemic, through university feedback mechanisms, our students expressed the need for coming together in communities of belonging. Within this context, our study focuses on how we all learn can highlight our belonging. We argue for a need to implement a more explicit process to keep developed connections more permanent, by implementing co-creative and collective learning spaces, so our students can engage in their understanding of what it means to learn. This exploratory investigation underpinned by participatory action research (PAR) methodology uses focus group, workshops co-designed with students and peerdelivered sessions, to gain insights into what conditions would prompt students to 1) talk about learning as a practice beyond subject knowledge; 2) what conditions would be needed for students to want to share with others insights about their learning, and 3) what conditions would be needed to create student communities of learning, which we are calling 'Laboratories of Learning'.

Value of Participatory Action Research Methodology in Investigating Design Process within Undergraduate Management Education

Conference: The Value of Design Research: 11th International Conference of European Academy of Design, 2015

The paper evaluates the effectiveness of participatory action research (PAR) methodology utilised... more The paper evaluates the effectiveness of participatory action research (PAR) methodology utilised in a study investigating the delivery of design management module within the context of undergraduate management education. The paper presents the benefits and challenges of PAR as methodological choice for conducting research into a design management curriculum delivery. It draws on six research cycles between 2009 and 2014 to offer its critical analysis by comparing the key implemented changes to the curriculum delivery resulting from each cycle with formal disseminations of research findings, as points of self-refection following each cycle. Authors draw on Cunningham (2008), who asserts that '… action research gives us an iterative, systematic, analytic way to reflect on what we are doing in class, to evaluate our success at achieving our classroom goals, and to chart the direction of future classroom strategies based on what we have learned' (p. 1). Thus, the authors argue that in the case of the undertaken research, the PAR methodology enabled them to conduct a self-reflective inquiry into design management module delivery in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of their own teaching practices, their understanding of those practices, and the classroom situations and experiences such practices engendered. The underlying aim of the paper is to explore the potential of PAR methodology in design research, whilst offering contribution to recent broader debates shaping design and management education.

Privacy in the Physical Environment and Ethical Behaviour

BAM2014 Conference Proceedings, 2014

Previous research shows that a sense of anonymity increases unethical behaviour (Zhong, et al., 2... more Previous research shows that a sense of anonymity increases unethical behaviour (Zhong, et al., 2010a). A set of quasi-experiments are used to extend this research by studying the interaction between physical privacy and ethical behaviour. Both unethical behaviour and pro-social behaviour are studied. The results suggest that barriers in the physical environment are associated with increased unethical behaviour and decreased pro-social behaviour.

Accordingly, when people feel physically hidden from scrutiny, their behaviour becomes less ethical and more selfish. This relationship is particularly strong among the young. Well lit open-plan office designs can therefore be used to increase ethical and pro-social behaviour.
Moreover, the findings show that in some conditions, privacy can make young people more generous. Further research is needed on situational factors to understand why the relationship between physical privacy and pro-social behaviour changes direction.