Design, story-making and play through child-adult partnerships

This thesis explores how designing and story-making capabilities can be combined and used as everyday inventiveness for all. It examines the learning that arises out of “getting lost” in child-play and fictional speculation when combined with an iterative design process. The research highlights the value of this combination for individual self-discovery, criticality, fostering social engagement and responsibility.

This thesis reviews existing cases where designing and playfulness have been combined and highlights the lack of examples where design is recognised as a valuable everyday process for everyone. At the same time, it explores the consequences of losing the childhood expertise with the onset of adulthood.

In this context, this thesis examines a partnership between adult designers and children working together on an imaginary design brief. The aim is to explore the possibility for children to acquire capabilities and experience how they might stream their playfulness into their adult roles as everyday designers, researchers and story-makers. At the same time, this thesis explores if and how the adult designers can temporarily plunge back to a childhood state and learn from the children.

The research involved undertaking and analysing a series of explorations with children or adult participants that led to the final adult-child partnerships. While, the “learning in action” nature of these engagements bears similarities with “Action Research”, this thesis trials a new approach introducing story-making as a research method.

The thesis findings propose a new method that allows adults to look at the world through the lenses of child expertise and for children to value their own expertise and experience its applications in adulthood. The thesis is primarily directed at designers and the design education research community, although its findings are relevant for educators, parents and everyone that is interested in creativity in life.