Design without designers: thinking everyday design practice

The study of users’ practices (User-centred Design) and the integration of potential users in the design process (Participatory Design) have become important ways of resourcing design. Still, from a designer’s viewpoint, the material practice of users by itself is not acknowledged as design. By catching up with current debates about everyday design we want to establish an understanding of everyday design as a mode of practice. This implies a stress on practice and a move away from false expectations of innovation in everyday design. This paper seeks to enrich the debate by presenting empirical material from studies of everyday design in students’ self-regulated learning activities. This focus extends the scope of everyday design from pragmatic action to cognitive activities.