The productive role of material design artefacts in participatory design events

Physical design artefacts are employed in a wide range of participatory design events, yet there are few comprehensive discussions of the properties and qualities of them in the literature of the field. In this paper, we examine the productive role of material design artefacts in participatory design events. First, we offer a theoretical foundation for understanding material artefacts in design, based on pragmatist philosophy. Then, we employ this theoretical perspective to analyse a case in which a range of physical design materials was employed to envision and explore a projected building, the “Urban Media Space” a new library in Aarhus, Denmark. Drawing on examples from this case, we define a series of design considerations for employing material design artefacts in collaborative design events. Our contribution is valuable both in advancing the theoretical standpoint of interaction design in general, and in allowing participatory design practitioners to reflect on their use of material design artefacts when involving users.