Making, using and interpreting design probes: how subjective is participation?

The wealth of participatory methods in human-centred design adheres to the notion of a democratic process and solutions that respond to the experiences and needs of users and stakeholders. However, as human-centred design philosophies permeate the landscape of design education and research, the designer’s role as both an objective facilitator and creative decision-maker suggests their impact upon stages of data collection and analysis. This paper advocates tools and techniques to support design students in initiating user engagement and insight-gathering whilst simultaneously recognising and utilising their own subjective experiences and knowledge. Drawing comparisons between our practice-led masters and PhD research, we discuss how an interactive activity pack is used to gather community members’ perceptions of fear and safety in the urban environment before examining how observational illustrations are employed to examine the multiple functions of an art school. In this, we consider how the designer’s creation, use and interpretation of design probes can establish an empathic and inter-subjective dialogue in participatory design exploration. We propose that the application of a reflexive methodology can strengthen students’ critical awareness of sociocultural issues and promote authenticity and rigour in human-centred design.