Ready-mades in empathetic design

Even though designers seldom talk about ready-mades, they use them in a variety of ways in design. This paper describes several uses of ready-mades in empathic design, which aims to gain an internalized understanding of the people they design for. Specifically, the paper looks at three uses: ready-mades as research instruments in taken-for-granted experience with haptic qualities of materials in everyday life; ready-mades as instruments for capturing the spirit of a community for design; and ready-mades as instruments for carrying this spirit into product development. Each example is illustrated with a case study. At the end of the paper, we discuss these cases and the usefulness of an art world concept in understanding design research.