Design Research (DR)

The Design Research (DR) group focuses on understanding, supporting and empowering fundamental human capabilities and behavioral traits in the creative design of interactive artifacts and environments.

DR’s research addresses three main research questions: (1) How to optimally integrate novel technologies in the design process? In particular, (1a) how to alleviate encumbrance in design by integrating XR technologies, like mitigating design fixation with flexible XR interaction and reducing design stereotype with immersive VR; (1b) how to support early stages of design by enhancing the understanding of users and providing better ideation tools; and (1c) investigating the potential side-effects of introducing XR in design, such as Proteus Effect and internalization of stereotypes. In the ongoing PRIME-VR2 project funded by H2020 DR is responsible for the design and digital fabrication of controllers for VR-based rehabilitation. (2) How to mitigate the cultural bias towards creativity methods used in designing interactive products? Various creative methods will be tested with students from different cultural backgrounds during creative design education, and interventions will be developed to stimulate participants’ creativity based on their unique needs. (3) How to provide a more informed, inclusive and comfortable arena for digital fabrication, making and Fab Lab education? The focus of this research includes sensing of location and use of machines and interactions in Fab Lab, to quantify demands, appropriation, patterns and issues in use during the informal and formal activities and education conducted in Fab Lab Oulu and other maker spaces.

People

Georgi V Georgiev
Associate Professor
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Scholar

Vijayakumar Nanjappan
Postdoctoral researcher
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Scholar

Zhengya Gong
Doctoral researcher
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Scholar

Sohail Soomro
Doctoral researcher
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LinkedIn

Mengru Wang
Doctoral researcher
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Projects

PRIME-VR2 – Personalised recovery through a multi-user environment VR for Rehabilitation (H2020)

PRIME-VR2 project — PRIME-VR2 – Personalised recovery through a multi-user environment VR for Rehabilitation

Selected Publications

2023

Georgiev, G. V., & Georgiev, D. D. (2023). Quantitative dynamics of design thinking and creativity perspectives in company context. Technology in Society, 74, 102292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102292

Gong, Z., Nanjappan, V., Lee, L.-H., Soomro, S. A., & Georgiev, G. V. (2023). Exploration of the Relationship Between Culture and Experience of Creativity at the Individual Level: A Case Study Based on Two Design Tasks. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 0(0), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2022.2157889

Hu, X., Casakin, H., & Georgiev, G. V. (2023). Bridging Designer-User Gap with a Virtual Reality-Based Empathic Design Approach: Contextual Information Details. Proceedings of the Design Society, 3, 797–806. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2023.80

Soomro, S. A., Casakin, H., Nanjappan, V., & Georgiev, G. V. (2023). Makerspaces Fostering Creativity: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 32(4), 530–548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-023-10041-4

2022

Cascini G, Nagai Y, Georgiev GV, Zelaya J, Becattini N, Boujut JF, Casakin H, Crilly N, Dekoninck E, Gero J, Goel A, Goldschmidt G, Gonçalves M, Grace K, Hay L, Le Masson P, Maher ML, Marjanović D, Motte D, Papalambros P, Sosa R, Štorga M, Tversky B, Yannou B & Wodehouse A (2022) Perspectives on design creativity and innovation research: 10 years later. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 10(1):1-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2022.2021480

2021

Hu X, Nanjappan V & Georgiev GV (2021) Bursting through the blocks in the human mind: enhancing creativity with extended reality technologies. Interactions 28(3):57-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3460114

Soomro, S. A., Casakin, H., & Georgiev, G. V. (2021) Sustainable Design and Prototyping Using Digital Fabrication Tools for Education. Sustainability, 13(3), 1196. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031196

Casakin, H., & Georgiev, G. V. (2021). Design creativity and the semantic analysis of conversations in the design studio. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 9(1), 61-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2020.1838331