Undermine Through Design

Undermine_Through_Design explores an alternative digital design approach, moving away from sticky designs that create addiction and lure people in

The project was based on my vision that interaction design is failing to serve humans. We, humans, are becoming the product to be consumed by our technologies. Creating overconsumption and addiction. However, I believe that good interaction design can also be the remedy to this issue created by it. Celebrating fluidity, creating interactions that trigger reflection, empowering people, and creating sustainable behaviour. 

The research question of this thesis is: How do we design interactions that empower people in their engagements with the digital so a balanced relation can be formed?

A stab at this question is taken through a process I call co-reflection through disruptive design, a hands-on design method that uses experiments as contextualisations of the reflections done by the designer. The experiments are shared with people to reflect upon as well. Throughout this process three design principles and three design handles are initiated; visibility, friction, and disposability. 

To conclude the project a final experiment, Huddle, was created. A nomad server where the digital design manifesto is kept and collectively written. Looking at the fluidity of the process and the community involvement I chose to not deliver a final solution but another experiment that is in flux. 

UniversityUniversity/faculty Umea Institute of Design, Interaction Design Masters
Type of projectGraduation project
Maker(s)Ilse Pouwels

Extra information

 http://www.ilsepouwels.nl/thesis.html