EKSIG2023 Conference: From Abstractness to Concreteness – experiential knowledge and the role of prototypes in design research

EKSIG 2023 aims to investigate the role of prototypes and their relationship with the multifaceted landscape of today’s design research. As prototypes and prototyping represent ideas and give intelligible form to abstract concepts regarding design solutions, they support the interconnections and collaborations among researchers and practitioners in several design fields. Their role encompasses possibilities that link to the context and aim of design research, whose scope of inquiry has recently expanded to tackle various technological, social, and environmental issues (e.g. the impact of technology on society, climate change, social innovation, etc.). With more challenging issues and the current landscape of design research, prototypes have become more complex and embodied the translation of different design languages into a developing concept.

The conference received a great response with an unusually high number of full paper submissions from researchers all over the world. The papers were largely interdisciplinary and came from researchers situated in various design fields, including, but not limited to, architecture, automotive design, craft, design engineering, design for health and wellbeing, design education, material design, interaction design, service design, social design, and textile design. EKSIG 2023 became a platform for design researchers to share and discuss ways in which they had utilised and/or might utilise prototypes and prototyping in their research to generate and evaluate new and existing knowledge.

The conference brought together design professionals and academic researchers to examine prototypes as a means for knowledge generation and evaluation. EKSIG 2023 was the largest EKSIG conference since the inauguration of the conference series. The conference programme included 55 paper presentations, three keynotes, and an exhibition.

(see the conference summary)
(see the special interest group website)