Exploratory Design Games as Participatory Method

As the core of democratic design is participation in design experimentation and decision making about possible futures it seems obvious to engage the people that possibly would be affected by a future change in the design process. Still, many professionals are unsure about how to organise sessions that involve people with diverse agendas, roles and views on a matter in fruitful ways. I would like to share and discuss experiences with designing and using exploratory design games in the fuzzy frontend of design as a methodology for participation. In regard to the general functionality of participatory design/codesign games Vaajakallio and Mattelmäki argue that they are “(1) creating a common design language; (2) promoting a creative and explorative attitude; (3) facilitating the players in envisioning and enacting ‘what could be’; and (4) helping to define the roles of participants in the interaction during a session” (Vaajakallio and Mattelmäki 2014, 66). My special interest is in exploring how exploratory design games in various ways can build upon everyday practices and assist players in evoking and exploring new possible futures through different hands-on material engagements.