Talisman Toolkit

A Resource for Co-Designing With Personal Objects

Overview

Co-design is an approach to designing artifacts and experiences that reflect the lived experiences, practices, and goals of participants through their inclusion and active participation throughout the design process. One recurring problem in co-design, however, is that traditionally participants have little to no say over the materials they use while designing.

Often, these materials (e.g., markers, colored sticky notes, tablets, microcontrollers, etc.) are imposed on participants, which may not be relevant or useful to their goals or contexts. Past research has also shown how participants may sometimes prefer to draw on their own tangible or intangible materials in co-design. Given the important role that materials play in co-design, what happens when we shift control of design materials to participants?

overview overview

Talisman Toolkit is for teachers and tinkerers, community organizers and collectives who are aiming to foster a more inclusive environment for their participants.

Aims

By pushing co-design from a model where materials are traditionally imposed on participants to one where participants have greater control over their materials, your participants will be more empowered to:

image from Chapter VI: Esmeralda
  1. Enact aspects of their identities and lived experiences in co-design
  2. Feel more in control over the design process and their decision-making
  3. Draw connections between the design topic and their personal lives
  4. See the design potential in everyday objects, whether tangible or intangible, as design material

Gains

Past participants who have used Talisman have made the following gains through their participation:

image from Chapter VI: Esmeralda
  1. Concrete ideas and solutions that relate to participants’ and communities’ design questions
  2. Design and process knowledge that participants can take back into their communities
  3. Greater sense of individual belonging and feelings of being both seen and heard
  4. Increased sense of group cohesion and team-building

By using this toolkit, your participants will be empowered to bring their own materials into design sessions to make the design topic uniquely their own.