Audiences in Design: From passive consumers to active users

The understanding of audiences in design is in transition. Former ideas of viewers, spectators and consumers understood audiences as passive. New ideas have shaped more active terms such as users, participants, respondents and ‘prosumers’. Novel creative strategies and technological applications have responded to, engaged with, and produced these new audiences. This proseminar explores the birth of the user as a key figure in design production. In particular, it seeks to understand the way technological objects and processes shape the way designers understand and conceive of users. On the one hand, technologies influence the way designers design for, gather information about and imagine their users. On the other, designers create technologies and artefacts that shape individual behaviours, identities and subjectivities. We will problematise the notion of the ‘user’ and critically examine the agency of end-users by exploring key design paradigms in their historical contexts. Furthermore we will discuss why understanding and engaging your audience is important and where design anthropology reaches its limits.

For successful completion of this proseminar the following requirements apply:

• regular, punctual attendance (min. 80% of all sessions)
• active participation in each session in form of comments and critique of the readings and the inputs (30% of grade)
• a short presentation (10 min.) of a selected case study, reflecting on the course content + submission of the presentation notes (1000 words) with accompanying images and references (https://www.scribbr.de/chicago-zitierweise/zitieren-im-text-chicago-fuss-oder-endnotensystem/); (40% of grade)
• a poster-zine handout (one A3 or A4 sheet, folded into 8 pages + poster); (30% of grade)
• presentation, notes + zine must be uploaded as PDFs to the Base-folder of the course 24 hours before the presentation

This proseminar is held in German. Presentations, presenter-notes and zines can be delivered in German or English.

This proseminar considers the social model of disability, that people are disabled by barriers in society such as behaviours, processes, attitudes or physical environments, not by their impairment or difference. We will try to do our best to change disabling factors to accommodate impairments. Please get in touch as soon as possible for us to accommodate your needs.