Design and Phenomenology

In this zine I compile some thoughts and reflections about the experience of conducting Human-Centered Design research from a phenomenological perspective.

The zine highlights underlying assumptions in Human-Centered Design, mostly deployed as a rational and objective process, where designers discover needs and desires in people’s lives. This mode of inquiry perpetuates the duality between ‘the expert’ and ‘the user’, and the overall process often pushes a design agenda based on productivity, functionality and efficiency, rather than a people’s agenda.

The central critique in the zine is about the positionality of design researchers and our tendency to present research results as an objective reality outside of ourselves, without acknowledging the potential for self-discovery, self-referentiality and community building, offered by a Human-Centered Design inquiry.

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