Reflections on the Usefulness and Limitations of Tools for Life-Centred Design
Martin Tomitsch, Katharina Clasen, Estela Duhart, Damien Lutz · Proceedings of DRS · 2024
Life-centred design decenters humans and considers all life and the far-reaching impacts of design decisions. However, little is known about the application of life-centred design tools in practice and their usefulness and limitations for considering more-than-human perspectives. To address this gap, we carried out a series of workshops, reporting on findings from a first-person study involving one design academic and three design practitioners. Using a popular flat-pack chair as a case study, we generatively identified and applied four tools: systems maps, actant maps, product lifecycle maps and behavioural impact canvas. We found that the tools provided a structured approach for practising systems thinking, identifying human and non-human actors, understanding their interconnectedness, and surfacing gaps in the team’s knowledge. Based on the findings, the paper proposes a process for implementing life-centred design tools in design projects.