Co-design methods for designing with and for families

This paper describes co-operative design work regarding the development of IT artefacts to be used for communicating within families. It shows advantages of codesigning together with users. Thereby obtaining ‘real life’ experience, understanding and knowledge about their needs and desires. Since there was no specific solution or technology in mind from the beginning, several different methods were used in combination to investigate what had meaning to the family members. Some of the methods used are: cultural probes, interviews, observations, workshops, video brainstorming, prototyping in the homes, technology probes and individual assignments. The researchers represent different academic professions, mainly ethnography, industrial design, interaction design, computer science. To minimize the problem of ‘handing over’ information, researchers from at least two different backgrounds participate in all work done together with the families.