Good to See You Again: Engaging Users in Design

Designers and researchers have been involving users as part of their design processes for some time now. However, there are limited examples of user-driven innovation processes that are conducted and studied in an industrial context. In this paper we present and provide a detailed account of the design process for the Social and Spatial Interactions (SSI) platform. This research project was conducted by systematically involving end users from the very start of and throughout the design process. Some activities conducted as part of this project include a probes study, co-design workshops, and evaluations of prototypes. We describe and illustrate the individual steps of the process, as well as reflect on the overall impact and challenges of introducing and applying user-driven innovation in an industrial research context. In particular, we discuss aspects such as shifting attitudes in different phases of the user engagement, overcoming skepticism in a multidisciplinary research team, and the role and the competence of the facilitator