How do we think about plants and nonhuman animals in design? What does it mean to think of animals as users of technology? How can design facilitate relationships between humans and the environments in which we are situated? In this 90-minute workshop, we will develop a set of design questions related to multispecies design, and we will utilize a design deck (which you should have received at registration) to practice techniques for brainstorming ideas and developing design concepts.
Designing for and with plants and nonhuman animals requires a different approach than traditional human-centered design. However, there are some methods that may translate into these different contexts. We’ll begin the workshop with a discussion of multispecies design and an overview of some of the current work in this area, with a focus on sustainable design, speculative design, and animal-computer interaction. We’ll look at a variety of examples from architecture, landscape, and interaction design, and we’ll consider the very notion of design very broadly as we create our own concepts.
This workshop is structured to be accessible, and no previous design experience is necessary. We’ll work in groups to generate ideas, and all you need to bring is your imagination and an interest in thinking about multispecies relationships.
