The Madeira Life interdisciplinary research team draws inspiration from the everyday life and traditions of the island, in order to imagine, design and produce experiences and services fitting the local context. Supported by digital media and interactive technologies, the Madeira Life team utilize a design research approach which, stresses design artifacts as outcomes that can transform the world from its current state to a preferred state (1).
Our aim is to design and produce new experiences and services for the locality of Madeira. “Unlike designing products for companies, designing for communities, socio economic settlements of peoples in certain areas, is about designing in situ services and ideas for people” (2).
In order to do design research, we apply design thinking skills which means the application of a design process that involves grounding—investigation to gain multiple perspectives on a problem; ideation— generation of many possible different solutions; iteration— cyclical process of refining concept with increasing fidelity and reflections (1).
