Design for Health, Wellbeing, and Happiness

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-creating narratives: an approach to the design of interactive medical devices, informed by phenomenology  

Rowan Page, Mark Richardson 

Monash University (2)

rowan.page@monash.edu

Keywords: phenomenology; medical device design; co-design; interaction

Abstract

This paper attempts to articulate a philosophical underpinning, an attitude, with which to approach the design of interactive medical devices. This exploration is undertaken through drawing upon and connecting ideas from relevant discourses within the; medical, human computer interaction (HCI), and design fields. Through exploring the common discourse of phenomenological research in these three fields, this paper seeks to provide an introduction to a transdisciplinary foundation relevant to researchers working within the intersection of these fields. In my own design practice, this is explored through the co-creation of an intersubjective feedback cycle between designer and design recipient through a combination of co-design sessions and speculative design probes. Stopping short of suggesting a framework, this paper proposes that adopting a phenomenological attitude to research might benefit design researchers working in the medical field, providing a transdisciplinarycommon ground for working within, and communicating across; design, HCI, and medicine. 

This paper is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.

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Cite this paper: Page, R., Richardson, M. (2016). Co-creating narratives; an approach to the design of interactive medical devices, informed by phenomenology. Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016.

This paper will be presented at DRS2016, find it in the conference programme


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