In pursuit of cool and its implications for the design process

Marketers have long understood the value of cool as a predicator of consumer behavior. Recently, researchers within the field of Design of information systems have taken an interest in the concept and how it can be used in the design process in order to design more engaging technologies. Yet there is little research and design with teenagers. This paper describes how using cool as a design guideline in a participatory design approach affected the process and the outcome. The novelty in this approach was that cool was frontloaded throughout the project with the objective of designing a health-oriented social networking site with and for teenagers. The study demonstrates how cool contributes so that teenagers and teenage patients can participate on their own terms in a design process, resulting in mutual learning and a more engaging process and end result.