Creative Practices in the Design Studio Culture: Collaboration and Communication

Abstract

For the purpose of developing collaborative support in design studio environments, we have carried out ethnographic fieldwork in professional and academic product design studios. Our intention was to understand design practices beyond the productivity point of view and take into account the experiential, inspirational and aesthetical aspects of design practices. Using examples from our fieldwork, we develop our results around three broad themes by which design professionals support communication and collaboration: 1) use of artefacts, 2) use of space, and 3) designerly practices. We use the results of our fieldwork for drawing implications for designing technologies for the design studio culture.