Design for well-being in China: lessons learned from exploratory workshops

Co-design methods such as game-like design workshops have been developed in Western countries for years. Through game-like tasks, participants are able to participate equally in collaborative design. When Asian participants are involved, the social hierarchy tends to have a stronger influence on the group's communication. The co-design method needs to be adjusted to suit the cultural context. In the field of participatory design, the transformation process from users' needs to design inspiration is ambiguous and needs more explicit discussion. This paper describes our reflections on and lessons learned from a case study called "Active aging: designing for well-being in China" conducted in Beijing in 2011. Senior citizens aged 65 to 80 from the local community were involved in the participatory design process as potential end-users. In a series of three generative workshops, we incrementally adjusted the design tools and techniques in order to retrieve users' insights and transmit the knowledge to the ideation phase. Three forms of artifacts, verbal stories, design debriefing and design cards, were explored and experimented with in our study. Through our action research, we also reflect on the limitations and challenges of conducting participatory design with seniors in China.