Children as co-researchers: More than just a role-play

Co-research is a method that engages participants in contextual user research by giving them the role of researcher. This method aids to capture their input in the fuzzy front end of the design process. A previous study [5] showed that children can act as co- researchers to gather contextual knowledge. In that study 20 children aged 9-12...

Involving children and elderly in the development of new design concepts to become active together

Designers need to have an empathic understanding of their intended users if they are to design products that fit. This holds especially strong for elderly and children as user groups, because they are very different from the designer. However, it might be harder to obtain this information from children and elderly. This paper describes a...

Friends sharing opinions: Users become co-researchers to evaluate design concepts

The role of users in design is diversifying and increasing. Besides product evaluations and idea-generation sessions, users can collaborate in research that aims to find requirements for design by acting as researchers themselves. Earlier studies have addressed a variety of reasons why giving users the role of co-researcher makes sense: users...

Get up and move: An interactive cuddly toy that stimulates physical activity

Health experts are worried about the increase in the number of overweight children and the decrease in activity levels among this age group. This project explores the possibilities of using interactive toys and social interaction in encouraging children to become more physically active. To arrive at the final concept, research was conducted into...