Scaffolding Co-Design with an Amateur Quality Comic

Abstract

This article discusses an experiment in using a homemade comic to facilitate a visually based idea generating co-design activity with young children. The children were provided with an incomplete comic story that they were invited to complete by drawing a design idea in the final frame.   The technique appears to have potential not only because of the quantity and range of ideas collected, but also because of the unexpected positive role that the children's drawings played as mediators between members of the design team.  Reflections upon the case material draws on literature from a variety of fields such participatory design, activity theory, educational psychology and cultural criticism with the intention to contribute to discussions around involving children in design and of organising participatory and interdisciplinary development processes more generally.