Nordes 2009 Design Conference

Engaging Artefacts

Call For Papers / Call For Participation (CfP)

Design research aims to provide new insights to the ways in which we understand – and do – design. The conference invites contributions from researchers in universities, design schools and industry who share an interest in understanding and developing design as a trans-disciplinary practice that is always in the making. The scope of the conference reaches beyond the traditional design disciplines and includes other research areas with mutual interest in design research and engaging artefacts. NORDES ‘09 directs its interest towards the diversity, challenges and emerging practices and understandings of design. The conference theme reflects a range of issues that characterize design and design research today.



Confronted with the increasingly complex problems of our times, design should engage in new ways of thinking. Design objects are characterized by their form, aesthetics, functionality, materials as well as social, political and cultural codings. How do and might designers, and educators and researchers of design respond to these different perspectives in design? How can designers respond to the life cycle of artefacts? How can designers be better at designing artefacts for performability and sustainability? How do designers and researchers develop ways of researching knowledges, skills, theories, methods, intuition and passion in design practices?

In addressing these many issues, the Engaging Artefacts conference includes the following themes:

- Consumption: critical perspectives on the increasing number and diversity of artefacts and their creative design but also use and abuse in global economy

- Production: critical perspectives on the complexity, interrelations and consequences of production

- Technology: new forms given by new materials – and new materials developed to enable new forms

- Interactivity: performance and system oriented thinking regarding the interaction between artefacts, material systems, environments and users

- Politics: the role of artefacts in shaping alternative futures especially addressing accessibility, sustainability, poverty and democracy



So as to fully take up the theme Engaging Artefacts, we invite a range of contributions:

- Research papers (full paper - maximum 10 pages)

- Exploratory papers (maximum 4 pages)

- Doctoral consortium (maximum 4 pages proposal)

- Design cases (maximum 2 pages proposals)

- Artefacts for exhibition (maximum 2 page proposals)

- Tutorials (maximum 2 page proposals)

- Workshops (maximum 2 page proposals)



Submitted contributions are subject to an anonymous peer-review process. Accepted contributions will be published electronically on the conference website prior to the conference and in the conference proceedings.

Are you the event organizer?

You can allow your visitors to import event dates into their own calendars through the convenient webcal-links above.

Changes to this page (conference/event)

24 Mar 2009: Tagged
05 Nov 2008: Added