This thesis presents the development and evaluation of a new approach (Sound- TrAD) to designing auditory interfaces. The proposed approach combines practices and concepts from film soundtrack composition with established approaches to general user interface design. The synthesis of the two design approaches from different areas of design into a novel approach may be viewed as an example of conceptual integration, (also known as conceptual blending). The process of developing and evaluating SoundTrAD broadly follows a methodology of Research through Design. The thesis presents four user studies as part of an iterative design and evaluation process. Each study involves a mixture of expert and novice end-users which provides new information and identifi es new questions and design issues for the subsequent studies. The fi rst study explores how an idea from fim composition (the cue sheet) can be used in auditory interface design to help designers place and organise sound elements, and to better understand auditory design spaces. In order to make this concept work in the new context, it is combined with the scenario concept from general interaction design to provide designers with reference linear sequences of events and actions. The second study used thematic analysis to investigate how information to be sonifed can be characterised and analysed for features that can be mapped in to sound. The study also explores the development of a timeline on which the sound design ideas from soundtrack composition for individual events, can be placed and in principle moved in order to cater for multiple use-case scenarios. The third study presents an iteration of this, including further development of both the task analysis and mapping technique. The study also explores the idea in principle of an interactive timeline that can be manipulated by the designer in order to re-arrange and audition sound events. The final study brings the studies together by obtaining feedback on the success of a nal version of SoundTrAD.

Tangible User Interaction (TUI) has gathered much momentum over recent years as a way of physically representing and controlling digital information. Tangible User Interfaces privilege the control and action we, as humans, have with our highly developed motor and spatial skills. This physical mode of interaction with computation contrasts significantly with the visual mode of interaction we have with the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the personal computer. The context for this research inquiry is the design of a TUI, the Sonic Blocks, to encourage exploratory and expressive soundtrack making activities. This thesis gives an account of the design, development and deployment of the Sonic Blocks, with a small group of children in a primary school, to gain an understanding of their unique capabilities to enable a physical and embodied interaction for exploratory and expressive purposes.

This is a question-driven project where it seeks to find social connections in monetary transactions. Disruptive experiments have been conducted to understand the complex relationship between money and social connections. A design concept, developed through a service blueprint, has been used to investigate a hypothesis. Screen-based mobile app prototypes have been used to engage users to dialogue into the issue of social connections in transactions. By basing purchasing decisions on economic value, consumers are neglecting to take social values into consideration. As a result, it has led to social disconnection between the consumers and the producers. By research through design, this project aims to identify the attributes in monetary transaction that led to this disconnection. It also aims to image a new transaction system highlighting social connections. The result is a payment platform concept as a case study of for the restaurant industry. By tracing and visualizing the flow of money in a purchase, the payment platform allows the consumers to see the connections they have with the producers. By making the social connections visible, consumers can begin to balance their purchasing decision based on social and monetary values. Through the dialogues generated in the user tests, the project encounters the social issue in the increasing dependence on imported food and its effect on the local economy. The dialogues also shed light on the fact that the dependence on money as a medium of exchange deepens the interdependency between individuals as today’s food production requires global collaboration. By making social connections visible in transaction, instead of social disconnection, money is in fact social.

Det kan verka som en uppenbar fråga men hur skapas film? Vanligtvis behövs en kamera av något slag, analog, digital eller virtuell. Alltså något som kan spela in video och sedan spela upp den igen. Det vi är intresserade av är verktyg som precis som kameran möjliggör och har ett värde när de används i filmproduktion. Vi blev inspirerade av de verktyg, metoder, ramverk och filosofier som används inom mjukvaruproduktion och interaktionsdesign. Historiskt sett har filmproduktion varit väldigt svårt för en privatperson eller liten grupp människor att skapa om personen eller gruppen inte haft enorma mängder resurser eller teknisk kompetens men allt eftersom har filmskapande blivit mer och mer tillgängligt. Idag har nästan alla en filmkamera i fickan och det finns ett stort utbud av helt gratis program som kan användas för att skapa visuella effekter och allt annat som inte hade varit möjligt utan en enorm studio och ett enorm bankkonto trettio år tillbaka i tiden. Genom att arbeta med olika verktyg och pröva dem i filmskapande hoppas vi utforska hur film kan skapas och vad som är möjligt att skapa.

The protection and preservation of biodiversity, a term that encompasses all living organisms on Earth, is becoming an exceedingly important topic as we are losing species at an alarming speed. Inspired by the UN conference, COP15, on biodiversity, this project seeks to engage and educate audiences about the importance of biodiversity conservation in the context of gardening, in close cooperation with two local gardening-related organisations based in Norrköping, Sweden.  The design project utilises motion graphics as a medium to depict the interconnections between biodiversity and gardening practices visually. By combining animation, visual effects, and audio elements, the motion graphics attempt to communicate the significance of preserving biodiversity and sustaining healthy garden environments. This thesis essay explores the research question using a Research Through Design (RtD) approach. The project was conducted through research, concept- and prototype development, finalising in an evaluation and validation phase.  The conclusion of this thesis suggests that motion graphics allow for a visual representation of complex environmental concepts, making them further accessible to a wide audience. By bridging the gap between scientific information and public understanding, motion graphics can empower individuals to adopt sustainable gardening practices and contribute to the preservation and protection of biodiversity.

Starting out as a minor form of amusement, the game industry has become one of the most lucrative andsuccessful in the entertainment business competing against giants such as television, movies and music.As the internal competition within the developer community grows companies work hard at discoveringnew ways to attract and keep customers. By having a playcentric approach focusing on user experiencethey hope to achieve that goal. This thesis describes the process of designing a game with focus on theplayer. We apply the concept of flow on game development and investigate through research throughdesign if we are able to create a game that keeps the player in flow. Play tests showed several elements such as control issues and too difficult challenges early in the game,affecting the possibility for players to experience flow while playing. These negative factors came to becalled flowleakers. In the end, based on our play tests, we were able to conclude that we achieved ourgoal of making a game that generated flow.

Detta kandidatarbete undersöker om värdesättningen av digitalt måleri idag i jämförelse medtraditionellt målande. Vi författare av denna artikel är båda aspirerande digitala konstnäreroch har upplevt att det finns en väldigt aktiv konversation som kan verka väldigt negativ ochnedlåtande, riktad mot digitalt måleri och dess värde. Då allt idag blir mer och mer digitaltifrågasätter vi varför konstens värdesättning verkar ha haft svårt att följa med i samma fartsom digitaliseringen av konst och måleri. För att undersöka detta använde vi oss avdesignmetoden Research Through Design där vi gestaltade varsin digital målning, där vianvänt oss av digitala tekniker för att måla i samma stil, samt med liknande tillvägagångssättsom traditionella oljemålningar för att skapa en artefakt som förmedlar vissa av de aspektersom värdesätts i de mer traditionella och fysiska medierna. Detta gjordes för att undersökavad som kan krävas av digitala medier för att kunna värdesättas på ett liknande sätt som detraditionella medierna.Gestaltningarna användes i intervjuer med konstnärer insatta i både den traditionella samtdigitala konstvärlden för att skapa en diskussion kring det digitala målandets värde samtuppfattningInspirationen för artikeln kom främst från Benjamin, W. (1936) konstverket ireproduktionsåldern och deras begrepp och teori om “aura” som ger ett historie baseratperspektiv på värdesättningen av nyare medier. Vi kommer även ifrågasätta hans teori medhjälp av våra intervjuer och Nick Peim’s nyare text Rereading of ‘The Work of Art in the Ageof Mechanical Reproduction (2007) om aura och dess relevans. Där skriver han om hurpolitik och skillnader på tidsperioder kan ha förändrat attityden till konst och aura.Jämförelsen mellan dessa medium var något som visade sig vara ganska svår där det visar sigatt digitala medier kan behöva fortsätta utvecklas tillsammans med tekniker som NonFungible Tokens (NFT) eller dagens typiska prenumerationer för att försörja konstnärer.Slutsatsen blev att i fallet av jämförandet av digitalt mot traditionellt måleri så behövs detstörre grad av förståelse för det digitala måleriet, För att det ska kunna värdesättas på ettjämlikt sätt som det traditionella måleriet. Då för tillfället så kan det inte jämföras på sammaeller på likvärdiga kriterier. / This bachelors candidacy article is about the valuation of digital painting today incomparison to traditional painting. Us writers of this article are both aspiring digital artistswho have experienced that people can have a very critical and condescending attitudetowards digital painting and its value. As everything today becomes more and more digital,we question how and why art seems to have a hard time keeping up with the digitization of itsmedium as a whole.To investigate this, we used the design methodology of Research Through Design and eachcreated a digital painting where we use digital techniques to try to paint in a similar style, andapproach very much like traditional oil paintings to create an artifact that attempts to mediatewhat gives traditional and physical mediums its values.This was done to research what digital mediums can do to reach a similar value as thesetraditional mediums. We will also question his theory with help from our interviews and NickPeims newer text Rereading of ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction(2007) about aura and its relevance. He writes about how politics and changes in time periodscan have changed the attitude to art and aura.We used these paintings in interviews with artists who are familiar with the digital andtraditional art world to create a discussion about the value and perception of digital painting.We took much inspiration from Benjamin, W. The Work of Art in the Age of MechanicalReproduction (1936) and its concept of “aura” to give an historical comparison to thevaluation of new mediums.The comparison between these mediums was something that turned out to be quite difficultwhere it turns out that digital media may need to continue to be developed together withtechnologies such as Non Fungible Tokens (NFT) or today's typical subscriptions to supportartists.The conclusion was that in the case of the comparison of digital vs traditional painting, is thata greater degree of understanding of digital painting is needed, in order for it to be valued inan equal way as traditional painting. At the moment we concluded that it can not becompared with the same or equivalent criterias.

VR är ett växande medium men också ett medium som har stor potential för att utöka vår kapacitet som människor. Det finns olika designexempel inom fältet på hur gränssnitten ska se ut men enligt vår mening använder inte dessa gränssnitt mediets potential fullt ut. I denna artikeln använder vi oss av Affordances och en antropologisk vinkel för att hitta nya interaktioner i VR. Kan vi låta användaren interagera med innehåll på nätet och utökar det förmågan till personlig anpassning? Vi har baserat vår bedömning och vårt ramverk utifrån observationer av verklighetens interaktioner samt dom interaktioner som VR afforderar enligt arbetare inom fältet och dess användare.Vi har gjort en serie arbeten kring handtracking, kontextuella interaktioner, webbinnehåll och anpassning av det virtuella utrymmet. De prototyper vi har utvecklat har sammanställts i en gestaltning som söker att reproducera en hemmiljö för VR, alltså den miljö du ser när du startar ditt headset och motsvarigheten till skrivbordet i windows. / VR is a growing medium but also a medium that has great potential to expand our capacity as humans. There are various design examples in the field of what the interfaces should look like, but in our opinion these interfaces do not fully utilize the potential of the medium. In this article, we use Affordances and an anthropological angle to find new interactions in VR. Can we allow the user to interact with online content and does that increase the ability for personalization? We have based our assessment and our framework on observations of real-life interactions and the interactions that VR affords according to workers in the field and its users. We have done a series of works around hand tracking, contextual interactions, web content and customization of the virtual space. The prototypes we have developed have been put together in a design that seeks to reproduce a home environment for VR, i.e. the environment you see when you start your headset and the equivalent of the Windows desktop.

This dissertation in industrial design focuses on the gap between the context of design and the context of use. It aims to open up design to the layperson and investigate an active role for the layperson in the design of everyday products. Over the last century, the industrial paradigm has institutionalised and professionalised many practices, including product design. A binary spectrum of production and consumption has been established with distinct roles for the professional designer, who engages in production, and the consumer, who engages in consumption. However, this clear distinction has been blurred recently and the consumer, or layperson, is no longer involved only in consumption, but also in production. In this research I have explored and examined the participation of the layperson, or the non-professional, in design, which I refer to as lay design. It constitutes a shift for the professional designer from knowing what a future user would like to have towards knowing what a layperson would like to design, which is for most designers an unfamiliar way of thinking. I specifically investigated how the layperson can be involved in design through the use of so-called digital-physical toolkits, software applications where one designs in a digital environment and which outputs a physical product. Lay design is enabled by two developments: On the one hand, the creation of variable designs is enabled by computational design, and on the other hand, the fabrication of variable products is enabled by 3D printing. The two main questions that I focused on are: How will the roles of the professional designer and the layperson change when the latter engages in the design of personal products and how can designers develop digital-physical toolkits for the layperson to collaboratively create value and meaning? The theory that I drew on consists of existing approaches which involve the layperson in design, such as mass customisation, meta-design, and co-design, and I used the theory of technological mediation to analyse and discuss the mediating role of toolkits in lay design. I investigated the research questions through a series of studies, both analytical and experimental. For the experiments I took a constructive design research approach, which means that I engaged in the making of toolkit and product prototypes in order to obtain insights and an understanding of the subject. The main contribution of this research is a framework of lay design that consists of a set of principles and guidelines that enables the professional designer to develop digital-physical toolkits that empower the layperson to engage in the design of everyday products. Through the participation of the layperson in the design process, lay design constitutes value created by both the professional and lay designer, thereby eliminating the separation of production and consumption. The framework’s principles outline the basic ideas of lay design while the guidelines support the professional designer in the development of toolkits and their products in practice. Lay design is concerned with the layperson designing personal products and is therefore primarily self-serving. It deals with creating meaningful products by enabling the layperson to personify designs, meaning that the designed product cannot exist without its originator. This research established an understanding of design spaces and toolkits and of the roles the professional designer, layperson, and toolkits play. The implications of lay design concern the role of the professional designer, the way value is created, a shared accountability, and also the way designers are educated regarding the tool-sets, skill-sets, mindset, and knowledge.

Since the early 2000s, within the fields of Design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) an emerging body of unconventional design work has exemplified and articulated alternative and oppositional functions of design. Examples of such functions include provocatively speculating about alternative futures (speculation), questioning the status quo (critique), and debating political issues (agonism). Prominent examples of alternative and oppositional design have originated within HCI. Others have been heavily discussed, adapted, and critiqued within HCI. Alternative and oppositional designs have been presented under various names: critical design, design fiction, adversarial design, reflective design, ludic design, speculative design… At this moment the list continues to grow while examples of such work proliferate. This work collectively demonstrates the potential for design to engage concerns and goals that pivot around themes of generating radical alternatives and creating productive political, cultural, and social opposition. This thesis argues that there is a body of unconventional design work that becomes cohesive and legible when held together by themes of oppositionality and alternatives, and operating throughout these designs is a technique which I term design resistance. This thesis presents two primary contributions. The first contribution is to isolate and elaborate resistance as a design technique at work across a range of alternative and oppositional designs. I articulate how design resistance works by analyzing a series of design exemplars drawn from HCI and adjacent areas of Design. The second contribution is to extend and refine the overarching technique of design resistance through two design case studies. These design case studies serve the dual function of offering additional insight into design resistance grounded in my own design practice while concretely demonstrating new knowledge relevant to specific domains and concerns within HCI, including sustainable energy consumption and critiques of digital consumer technologies. Together these contributions provide new knowledge for (1) understanding the rise of alternative and oppositional designs, the concerns they are working to engage, and the research gaps they are working to fill, and (2) how to practice alternative and oppositional forms of design using techniques of design resistance.