The Designer as Facilitator: Actively Involvement of End-users in the Design Process

This is a report from an on-going research project within design research. The project involves a collaborative partner from the textile industry working with fabrics for upholstery. The author - herself a textile designer, is affiliated with the design unit in the company and the project has a very strong relation to design practice. Focusing on so-called emotional values the project investigates how stakeholders and end-users can actively contribute to the design process. Even though that the collaborating company has an in-house design unit responsible for certain emotional as well as functional aspects in the development process it is a highly technical and functional trade. It is therefore assumed that there is a ‘sleeping' potential which can be released investigating emotional values.