Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates how craft-like practices and participatory making technologies dismantle specific social boundaries between designers and users by drawing upon a description of projects and preliminary practice observation of makers and designers at work.

Paper long abstract:

Embracing users and their expertise with their craft-like practices and hands-on participation is central to the methods of well-tried participatory design and recent open design. Yet, in reality the position that designer and user are essentially different is still maintained. Acknowledging the expertise of design practitioners, it appears that design is anxious to be conflated with craft, a "pre-modern," non-exclusive activity of everyone. Such an anxiety sits amidst reflections upon the role of design among other human activities. Thus, turning this into a question of social status. However, craft methods expand the set of values of design by adding material truth, appreciation of skill and workmanship (Bean & Rosner, 2012). The recent (re-)emergence of craft-like practices and technologies such as electronic fabrication, additive manufacturing, and DIY culture, as "boundary objects" (Star & Griesemer, 1989) blurs the lines of design's social structures. The boundaries between professional and amateur are being dismantled with the potential to transform design practice and its consumption. Despite these promises, the craft-like practice of users often lacks recognition as design from a professional perspective.

Describing existing projects involving participatory craft technologies and open attributes in design practice, I will present a critical, STS-informed analysis of what it means to remove distinctions between designer and user. In addition, I will draw on preliminary interviews and practice observation of amateur makers, product designers, and researchers to exemplify how users' craft practices reconfigure the work of designers with respect to their authority.