The artistic attitude in a social context: The art of seeing things differently

For this book, we chose the term Applied Design Research. “We”are the Network Applied Design Research: a learning community of professors and researchers at various universities of applied sciences. Within this community, we share our experiences with the many forms of applied design research. We consciously choose the word “applied” because we like to emphasize the practical application of design research. So what do we mean by applied design research? And do we even have a shared understanding about the concept?
By asking the members of the network: “What is your definition of applied design research?”, we created a unique spectrum of different perspectives. The resulting articles give a glimpse into the kitchen of twenty-five professors and researchers who apply this inspiring approach to product development, architecture, the arts, healthcare, food, and the social sector. It leads to a remarkably transdisciplinary research field. When reading and discussing the articles, we found a robust pattern of characteristics. These all manifest to a greater or lesser extent in each individual contribu-tion, including a future-orientation, the desire to improve the world and the ambition to involve others in the design process.