Design Research Through Practice

9. Constructive Design Research in Society

Any successful research program needs to be socially robust to live long enough to produce interesting results. Perhaps more than any other design research specialty, constructive design research has to work with many types of partners. This chapter looks at one project, Luotain (probe), conducted in Helsinki between 2002 and 2005 to illustrate how constructive researchers juggle between various demands in its environment. In the research world, Luotain juggled between information technology, industrial design, and art. It also needed to gain acceptance among design and business communities. It even contributed to public policy in Finland. Luotain managed to keep all of these interests in line for almost ...