Category Archives: body

Assistance – On the History of Assistive Ensembles

Posted on March 12, 2021 by designabilities

The category of assistive technologies is often discussed as a political category (Alper 2017), as they invoke connotations such as “in need of help” with respect to the respective users* (Mills 2015; Kotsch 2012; Ott 2014). In the 2nd convention … Continue reading →

Posted in accessible, alternative communication, augmentative communication, body, care, Conference, deaf, Design History, disability aesthetics, disability studies, Diversity, education, Enhancement, event, Experience Disability, Health, interaction, STS, universal design | Tagged Access, Access Studies, Accessibility, barrierefrei, Critical Media Studies, Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, dfg, Digital Media, disability, disability studies, Leuphana, Medienwissenschaften, Meryl Alper, Northeastern University | Leave a comment

„It’s like theater“ – Soziale Konzepte von Gender und Körperlichkeit in Ari Asters Midsommar

Posted on May 15, 2020 by designabilities

von Sarah Reininghaus und Julia Willms Der vorliegende Artikel plant Entwürfe und Repräsentationen von Weiblichkeit im Zusammenhang mit Körperlichkeit und damit verstärkt Frauenfiguren[1] in Ari Asters Midsommar[2] in den Blick zu nehmen. Das Ziel ist es, anhand dieses populär-relevanten Beispiels … Continue reading →

Posted in body, Diversity, Film, gender, german/deutsch, movie, report | Tagged Ari Aster, behinderung, critique, critizsm, design, disability, Film, gender, Geschlecht, Gestaltung, horror, Julia Willms, kritik, midsommar, movie, Sarah Reininghaus, spoiler | Leave a comment

Invisible Women – Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Posted on April 6, 2020 by designabilities

A book review by Johanna Mehl. In her award-winning book „Invisible Women“ Caroline Criado Perez shows, how the lack of data or the refusal to regard existing data on women’s bodies, environments, and occupations cause the perpetuation of a male … Continue reading →

Posted in awareness, body, Diversity, gender, Literature | Tagged book, buch, Caroline Criado Perez, data bias, design, gender, johanna mehl, review, rezension | Leave a comment

Designing Utopia – Designers as Catalysts for Transformation

Posted on May 24, 2019 by designabilities

by Tom Bieling It is said that if 3.5% of the population, across all classes, are prepared to change substantial aspects of their way of life, this will set in motion a profound change in society. 3.5 %, that doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, architecture, awareness, body, design research, exhibition, gender, posthumanism, Protest, social design, sustainability and social innovation | Tagged Critical Care, design research, Designtheorie, NDU, New Design University, Political, Social, St. Pölten, tom bieling, Transformation Design, Transformationsdesign, vienna, wien | Leave a comment

Zwischen Materialität und Medialität: „Die Sprachen des Materials“ (#BookReview)

Posted on April 9, 2017 by designabilities

Die in den letzten Jahren auch in den designtheoretischen Diskursen zunehmende Auseinandersetzung mit dem Begriff „Agency“ – der in diesem Zusammenhang im Deutschen wohl am ehesten mit „Handlungsmacht“ übersetzt werden kann – hat nicht nur die Wirkungskraft von Subjekten, sondern … Continue reading →

Posted in body, design research, designwissenschaft, embodiment, german/deutsch, interaction, philosophie | Tagged buch, design, Designforschung, Designwissenschaft, Digital Materialism, Harald Weltzien, Julia Wolf, kulturwissenschaft, Martin Scholz, Material, material turn, Materialforschung, New Materialism, Patrick Rupert-Kruse, rezension, Stefan Wölwer, tom bieling | Leave a comment

Beauty and the Norm: Debating Standarization in bodily Appearance

Posted on April 1, 2016 by designabilities

Beauty and the Norm: Debating Standarization in bodily Appearance The past decades have seen a global boom in the body aesthetics services with profound effects on people’s bodies worldwide. The global beauty and fashion industries disseminate mass-mediated images of men … Continue reading →

Posted in body, Conference, Diversity, gender | Leave a comment

Skintimacy

Posted on November 1, 2013 by designabilities

Skintimacy is an interface that allows for the manipulation of electronic-based processes through touch. Depending on whom you touch, the way your bodies make contact influences the control of both analog instruments and digital setups. Alexander Müller-Rakow and his team … Continue reading →

Posted in body, interaction | Leave a comment

Touching new ways of commincation for 2012 and beyond….

Posted on December 28, 2011 by designabilities

Dear friends Liebe Freunde Caras amigos A healthy, successful and happy 2012 to all of you (especially those we haven’t met this year)! Euch allen (insbesondere denen, die wir in diesem Jahr leider nicht treffen konnten) sowie einen sicheren Rutsch … Continue reading →

Posted in accessible, blind, body, care, deaf, design project, design research, design study, embodiment, Experience Disability, prototyping, research, social design, sustainability and social innovation, tactile communication, team | Leave a comment

Anthropomorphe – Different views on the human body

Posted on February 24, 2011 by designabilities

“Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not.” (Quote from the anthropomorphe blog) Anthropomorphe features an extensive collection of stunning imagery that challenges our notions of … Continue reading →

Posted in blog, body | Leave a comment

Welcome to DESIGNABILITIES!

Posted on June 1, 2009 by designabilities

… a research blog developed and run at

Posted in accessible, activism, advertisement, age, alternative communication, architecture, art, augmentative communication, awareness, bioethic, blind, blog, body, body modification, Calendar, Capability Simulation, care, co-design, comedy, Conference, cyborg, cymatics, deaf, deaf-blind, Definitions, demenz, design project, design research, design study, designwissenschaft, disability aesthetics, disability studies, echolocation, education, embodiment, Enhancement, event, exhibition, Experience Disability, fashion, Film, freak, game, gender, german/deutsch, graphic, humor, illiteracy, implants, interaction, interview, jewelery, jobs, Literature, movie, multimodality, music, neuroscience, people, performance, philodhopir, philosophie, photography, playful interaction, Politik, pop culture, posthumanism, prosthetics, prototyping, quote, reciprocal learning, report, research, senses, social design, sound, STS, sustainability and social innovation, synaesthesia, tactile communication, tangible interaction, team, toy, Transhumanity, typo, Uncategorized, universal design, virtual reality, visual communication | Tagged AAC, activism, aktivismus, Architektur, augmentative, Ökonomiekritik, barrierefrei, Bürgerwissenschaft, behinderung, blind, blind view, body, braille, Citizen Science, communication, deaf, deafblind, design, design for all, design research, design research lab, designabilities, designability, Designforschung, disability, fankultur, gebärdensprache, gehörlos, gesche joost, hci, inclusion, inclusive design, inklusion, interaction, interface, journal, Konsumkritik, kunst, lorm, participatory design, partizipation, perzeption, politik, Pop, Protest, protestkultur, science, sign language, silent talk, social design, social innovation, social integration, Soziotechnik, special needs, speechless, Stadt, Stadtsoziologie, STS, Techinksozoiologie, technology, teilhabe, Theorie, tom bieling, universal design, unterstützte kommunikation, Urbanism, usability, visual communication | Comments Off