The dialogue-labs method: process, space and materials as structuring elements to spark dialogue in co-design events

Facilitating participation has become one of the cornerstones of co-design, and a number of methods, techniques and events intended to inspire design participants and scaffold collaborative ideation and concept development have been developed. However, an aspect that is yet relatively unexplored in co-design literature is how different methods and techniques can be productively combined. In this paper, we present and discuss the dialogue-labs method, which provides a structured way of generating ideas through a sequence of co-design activities. In our analysis of the method during 18 sessions and based on iterative reflection, we focus on its three key structuring aspects: the process how dialogue-labs sessions are orchestrated, the space in which the sessions unfold, and the materials that are employed. In addition to understanding the specific dialogue-labs method, our discussion of process, space, and materials may yield insights into how other co-design methods are analyzed and further developed or combined.