Short answer
Designers of collaborative events should actively integrate strategies that promote joy, play, and relationship-building to ensure more equitable and effective participatory design outcomes.
- Field
- User-Centred Design
- Source
- Academic Publication (2019)
- Method
- Participatory Design
- Evidence
- Moderate effect
By integrating elements of joy and play into hackathon formats, designers can create more inclusive environments that encourage participation from diverse stakeholders and lead to more equitable system-level solutions. This user-centred design research insight is drawn from a 2019 study published in Academic Publication. Using Participatory design, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Designers of collaborative events should actively integrate strategies that promote joy, play, and relationship-building to ensure more equitable and effective participatory design outcomes.
Hackathons Can Foster Inclusive Participatory Design by Prioritizing Joy and Play
By integrating elements of joy and play into hackathon formats, designers can create more inclusive environments that encourage participation from diverse stakeholders and lead to more equitable system-level solutions.
Academic Publication · 2019
Key Findings
- 01Conventional innovation structures can be re-imagined through a focus on experience design.
- 02Joy and play are effective strategies for building relationships across lines of difference in participatory design processes.
- 03Iterative refinement of event design is crucial for achieving equity and systems-level impact.
Application
Design takeaway
Designers of collaborative events should actively integrate strategies that promote joy, play, and relationship-building to ensure more equitable and effective participatory design outcomes.
How to apply
When organizing workshops, design sprints, or hackathons, consider incorporating icebreakers, creative warm-ups, or gamified elements to encourage interaction and a positive atmosphere.
Project actions
- 01Consider how participants will feel during your design process.
- 02Think about ways to make collaboration enjoyable and less intimidating.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Focuses on a critical area of social justice through design.
- +Provides a practical, iterative approach to improving participatory methods.
Limitations
It can be challenging to balance 'fun' with achieving specific design objectives within a limited timeframe.
Reliability & validity
The iterative nature of the study and the focus on qualitative experience suggest strong validity in capturing the nuances of participatory design. Reliability would depend on replicating the specific design interventions and context.
Think critically
To what extent can 'joy and play' be a genuine strategy for addressing systemic oppression, versus a superficial addition to a fundamentally flawed system?
Design Principles
"Design participatory processes to foster joy and play, thereby enhancing inclusivity and relationship-building across diverse stakeholders."
Traditional innovation models often exclude marginalized voices. This research suggests that by shifting the focus from purely functional outcomes to the experience of participation, design events can become powerful tools for social change, fostering collaboration and building relationships across differences.
What This Means for Your Design
To get better ideas and include more people in design projects, make events fun and playful, not just serious and work-focused.
How to use in your project
- 1.Reference this study when discussing the importance of inclusive methodologies in your design process.
- 2.Use it to justify incorporating user-centered activities that go beyond traditional interviews or surveys.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
The 'Make the Breast Pump Not Suck' hackathon demonstrated that participatory design processes can be significantly enhanced by prioritizing experience design, specifically by integrating elements of joy and play. This approach fosters stronger relationships across diverse participants and leads to more equitable, systems-level solutions, suggesting that designers should consider the emotional and social dimensions of collaboration to achieve more inclusive and impactful outcomes.
Source
Questions About This Research
- What does the research say about hackathons can foster inclusive participatory design by prioritizing joy and play?
- Designers of collaborative events should actively integrate strategies that promote joy, play, and relationship-building to ensure more equitable and effective participatory design outcomes. Evidence: Academic Publication (2019).
- Why does "Hackathons Can Foster Inclusive Participatory Design by Prioritizing Joy and Play" matter for design?
- Traditional innovation models often exclude marginalized voices. This research suggests that by shifting the focus from purely functional outcomes to the experience of participation, design events can become powerful tools for social change, fostering collaboration and building relationships across differences.
- How can designers apply this research?
- Designers of collaborative events should actively integrate strategies that promote joy, play, and relationship-building to ensure more equitable and effective participatory design outcomes.
- What were the main findings?
- Conventional innovation structures can be re-imagined through a focus on experience design.. Joy and play are effective strategies for building relationships across lines of difference in participatory design processes.. Iterative refinement of event design is crucial for achieving equity and systems-level impact.
- What research method was used?
- Participatory Design.
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Moderate effect, based on a 2019 journal from Academic Publication.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When organizing workshops, design sprints, or hackathons, consider incorporating icebreakers, creative warm-ups, or gamified elements to encourage interaction and a positive atmosphere.
- What are the limitations?
- The effectiveness of joy and play may vary depending on cultural context and participant expectations.