Design and Anthropology
Anthropological Studies of Creativity and Perception Series

Design and Anthropology challenges conventional thinking regarding the nature of design and creativity, in a way that acknowledges the improvisatory skills and perceptual acuity of people. Combining theoretical investigations and documentation of practice based experiments, it addresses methodological questions concerning the re-conceptualisation of the relation between design and use from both theoretical and practice-based positions. Concerned with what it means to draw 'users' into processes of designing and producing this book emphasises the creativity of design and the emergence of objects in social situations and collaborative endeavours. Organised around the themes of perception and the user-producer, skilled practices of designing and using, and the relation between people and things, the book contains the latest work of researchers from academia and industry, to enhance our understanding of ethnographic practice and develop a research agenda for the emergent field of design anthropology. Drawing together work from anthropologists, philosophers, designers, engineers, scholars of innovation and theatre practitioners, Design and Anthropology will appeal to anthropologists and to those working in the fields of design and innovation, and the philosophy of technology and engineering.

Chapter 1 Design Anthropology: An Introduction, Wendy GunnJared Donovan; Part I Using and Producing; Introduction1 The Perception of the User–Producer, TimIngold; Chapter 2 The Patient as Skilled Practitioner, KyleKilbourn; Chapter 3 Hearing Poorly with Skill, DennisDay; Chapter 4 Gliding Effortlessly Through Life? Surfaces and Friction, GrietScheldeman; Chapter 5 An Institutional View on User Improvisation and Design, MaxRolfstam, JacobBuur; Part II Designing and Using; Introduction2 Defining Moments, JohanRedström; Chapter 6 The Time it Takes to Make: Design and Use in Architecture and Archaeology, LesleyMcFadyen; Chapter 7 Moving from Objects to Possibilities, JaredDonovan, WendyGunn; Chapter 8 Emergence of User Identity in Social Interaction, HenryLarsen, ClausHave; Chapter 9 The Role of Supply Chains in Product Design, BenedicteBrøgger; Part III People and Things; Introduction3 Humanity in Design, Peter-PaulVerbeek; ch10 Anthropological Fieldwork and Designing Potentials, MetteKjærsgaard, TonOtto; ch11 Designing Behaviour, NynkeTromp, PaulHekkert; ch12 Emergent Artefacts of Ethnography and Processual Engagements of Design, JamieWallace; ch13 Theories and Figures of Technical Mediation, StevenDorrestijn; epilo Epilogue; Chapter 14 Utopian Things, PelleEhn;

Wendy Gunn is Associate Professor of Design Anthropology at the University of Southern Denmark. Jared Donovan is Lecturer in Interaction Design at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.