Personal values as a catalyst for meaningful innovations: supporting young designers in collaborative practice

The overall aim of this research is to assist junior designers in using their personal values and those of others for creating meaningful innovations. Studying the use of values in design is new to the design research field and there is a lack of a validated approach to cope with conflicts of values. In this paper we outline the theoretical framework and the view from practice as a foundation for our research approach. From the literature review can be concluded that values have an influence on behavior, decision making (Trimingham 2008), collaboration (Bergema et al, 2011; Kets de Vries et al, 1997), creativity (Rothkegel 2012) and the design result (Trimingham 2008). The use of values in practice was explored through semi-structured interviews with four design professionals and one design student. Additionally a semi-structured interview with Dr den Ouden was conducted to better understand the value framework (Ouden, 2012). Analyzing the interviews made us realize that conflicts are not uncommon and can result in abandonment of the project or termination of the collaboration. At the end of the paper we propose two research questions and research methodology.