This thesis presents a collection of experimental designs that approach the problem of growing electricity consumption in homes. From the perspective of design, the intention has been to critically explore the design space of energy awareness artefacts to reinstate awareness of energy use in everyday practice. The design experiments were used as vehicles for thinking about the relationship between physical form, interaction, and social practice. The rationale behind the concepts was based on a small-scale ethnography, situated interviews, and design experience. Moreover, the thesis compares designer intention and actual user experiences of a prototype that was installed in nine homes in a residential area in Stockholm for three months. This was done in order to elicit tacit knowledge about how the concept was used in real-world domestic settings, to challenge everyday routines, and to enable both users and designers to critically reflect on artefacts and practices. From a design perspective, contributions include design approaches to communicating energy use: visualizations for showing relationships between behaviour and electricity consumption, shapes and forms to direct action, means for turning restrictions caused by energy conservation into central parts of the product experience, and ways to promote sustainable behaviour with positive driving forces based on user lifestyles. The general results indicate that inclusion is of great importance when designing energy awareness artefacts; all members of the household should be able to access, interact with, and reflect on their energy use. Therefore, design-related aspects such as placement and visibility, as well as how the artefact might affect the social interactions in the home,  become central. Additionally, the thesis argues that these types of artefacts can potentially create awareness accompanied by negative results such as stress. A challenge for the designer is to create artefacts that communicate and direct energy use in ways that are attractive and can be accepted by all household members as a possible way of life. / <p>In the electronic version of the thesis the references in some of the chapters has been corrected.</p>

This project investigates how interaction design can support handcrafting and foster well-being. The design process has been user-centered, focusing on people who handcraft during their leisure. Along the process, the focus was narrowed down to the practices of artistic handcrafting such as painting and sketching. The design project resulted in a concept with an associated digital prototype that supports users to handcraft personal artistic work by inspiring them to realize one's ideas or visions. The final concept supports a free and exploratory handcrafting process, proven by the design process to be important for people engaged in artistic handcrafting. This thesis further discusses the design process, the reasoning behind the prototype role, and its features. The outcome contributes knowledge to the field of Interaction Design regarding essential aspects of design that support the practice of handcrafting and fosters well-being.

The need for treatment has skyrocketed during the epidemic, as well as the demand for relationship therapy. Many couples’ relationships have suffered as a result of quarantine and lockdowns. The goal of this project is to find a way for couples to reconnect with each other. This might be for people waiting in line for treatment together or for couples who believe they can learn more about each other than they do currently. The final concept called LoveTree has suggestions for activities, dates, or topics to talk about. It has been developed by using the five phases of Design Thinking. This paper will go through all five phases in depth, and talks about the design process as well as the applied methods. By which a prototype has been developed in its early stages. Finally, there is a discussion and conclusion of the final result, which goes in depth about how the project contributes to Interaction Design and relationships. Furthermore it takes a look at future steps that could be taken.

This thesis focuses on the aesthetics of shared memories, specifically on how additional insights and infor-mation might trigger and alter our perception of a shared incident and experience. Delving deeper into the aesthetics of human recollections might help us gain a better understan-ding and appreciation for ourselves as well as for one another.Even though memory itself is somet-hing individual, most of it is shared (or at the very least linked) with others and is therefore dependent on exter-nal influences and how we interpret them. Our recollection fully relies on what we consciously and unconsci-ously choose to pay attention and at-tach value to. Even if we have shared the same moment, our memories may differ in terms of the facts we recall and how we interpret that information. To explore this topic further, I decided to focus on the aesthetics and mea-ning of shared memories and their ability to alter our perceptions. It was critical for me to maintain a poetic and experimental approach throug-hout the process to grasp the subject on a more abstract level and not lose sight of the aesthetics of memories and their interplay.My project is envisioned as an immer-sive experience that emphasises and includes embodied interaction in or-der to create an environment condu-cive to exploratory engagement and conversation by discussing shared memories. Through this approach, I intend to encourage the users to en-gage in more self-reflection and the-refore build stronger bonds between one another. At this point I would like to emphasise that, for the time being, the context is purely centred on recol-lecting and establishing an intimate moment between the users. Following the completion of my thesis, I intend to reflect on this project in order to determine how it might be expanded to further operate on a societal level in the future.

A new generation of feminist activists such as Amanda Gorman, educators like Lesley-Ann Noel and design researchers like Ece Canli are continuing to struggle facing resistance to change, due to patriarchal power dynamics and white supremacist attitudes. In the past years I have developed an understanding for feminist perspectives in design and am now wondering how to take this understanding with me into the professional design industry and design research, and how I can connect to people who are already there doing similar work. My entry point into this project is from a queer feminist point of view, for others it might be from a sustainability perspective. And even though we all come from different angles, we still all deal with questions of how discrimination in design can be dissolved. This project searches ways where to position oneself in the system as feminist designers, and where within design we can have an impact and how to expand this impact from an individual level to a systemic level. This project offers an exploration of how we can bring norm-critical conversations and anti-oppressive approaches to practise in the design industry. Through a decolonial queer feminist lens (Canli, 2017 and Vergès 2022) it is investigating issues of design‘s entanglement with systemic inequalities and values that are rooted in dominant cultural/societal perspectives and systems. All these oppressive systems are interconnected and intersectional (Crenshaw). They have in common that they privilege one group and make life harder for another group, based on specific characteristics. And then connect this to your perspective: With a feminist activist toolkit this project suggests one way of “staying with the trouble” and how to challenge binary regimes from within the design discipline. The activist toolkit is suggesting a form of practice to create connections which increase critical thinking on a reflective empowering journey to equity. It is one idea of how we can change design from margins to centre and develop feminist tactics for a more just design discipline. Furthermore, it assists dialogues to unfold concepts of how design embodies binaries in visuals, spatial, and other material practices and proposes a strengthening of allyship, to step by step bridging the gap between academia and industry, and between circular and linear thinkers.

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Online social interactions have become commonplace in the way we interact with one another. The way these interactions can be incorporated into an otherwise social-less application is explored in this study. By designing features based on user engagement design and inspired by theories of user needs, motivations, and social dynamics an application concept was created. Social features were incorporated into the concept in the form of a social feed that allows users to create and react to others' content within the platform. The concept was then realized through a high-fidelity interactive prototype and evaluated with stakeholders of the application in an unstructured interview process. The views, feedback, and design critique of the participants were then addressed and discussed. Recommendations and guidelines about how to design and implement social features are drawn from this evaluation. Further studies are proposed to take into account the end-users of the platform and to explore how the concept might behave in a real-life scenario through a working application. / Sociala interaktioner på nätet har blivit en vanlig del av hur vi kommunicerar med varandra idag. I denna studie undersöks hur sociala interaktioner kan integreras i applikationer som tidigare inte medfört andra sociala aspekter. Genom att basera funktioner på design för ökat användarengagemang och med inspiration av teorier om användarnas behov, motivationer och social dynamik skapades ett applikationskoncept. Sociala funktioner integrerades i konceptet i form av ett socialt flöde som gör det möjligt för användarna att skapa och reagera på varandras innehåll i plattformen. Konceptet realiserades sedan genom en interaktiv prototyp och utvärderades med intressenter av applikationen i en ostrukturerad intervjuprocess. Deltagarnas åsikter, feedback och designkritik behandlades och diskuterades. Rekommendationer och riktlinjer för hur man utformar och implementerar sociala funktioner har tagits fram och sammanfattats från utvärderingen. Ytterligare studier föreslås för att ta hänsyn till plattformens slutanvändare och för att utforska hur konceptet skulle kunna se ut i ett verkligt scenario med en implementerad version av applikationen.

Keeping the audience engaged when presenting a topic in a conventional setting (a class presentation or a keynote in a conference) can be challenging. Often, presenta- tions tend to be linear and non-engaging. It was my intention to research how the ex- perience can be improved by using different methods to engage the audience.In this thesis the reader will find the results of my exploration and research on how to make presentations more engaging for the audience via interactive methods.After some background information, I go through the process of developing concepts that could improve the presenting experience. I describe different contexts where peo- ple deliver presentations and research about these environments to discuss the context of the thesis. I also discuss the concept of audience engagement.After selecting one of these concepts I describe the development of a prototype that il- lustrates the concept and discuss it after a series of user testing procedures.Finally some conclusions and comments are discussed in the final part of the docu- ment.

This thesis examines participatory Urban Planning as an emerging application area for Participatory Design. Through testing and analysis traditional methods and concepts from Interaction and Participatory Design demonstrate how Participatory Design can contribute to current practices within participatory Urban Planning. Literature research provides a base on which to analyze the designer’s roles acting within Urban Planning. Research findings concerning the redevelopment of the RAW-arena in Berlin suggest the adjustment of traditional Participatory Design operating principles, such as user-centeredness into citizen-centeredness. The Participatory Designer’s traditional roles of a facilitator and translator extend by the role of a mediator, advocate, connector and activist when acting in the context of Urban Planning. The research presents a thorough description of the design process, workshops and interventions on-site.