Identity centered design : the liberating of the post-discretionary user

Abstract

The intersection of critical creative practices and HCI was explored in an effort to create a design framework for developing material speculations in the form of communication tools that evoke critical reflection. In an effort to resurrect the individual within option-oriented technologies, Identity Centered Design was created. Identity Centered Design is an alternative conceptual framework for approaching HCI design that emphasizes communication, interaction, and physicality in an effort to diversify ‘users,’ giving emphasis to the ‘individual-as-user.’ The application of an Identity Centered Design methodology to the creation of material speculations leverages social disfluency in the form of creative tools to reintroduce discretionary use and individuality within digital-communication systems. This was demonstrated within a case study that featured the creation of a situated artifact in the form of a chat-based application entitled Digital Penmanship. Digital Penmanship relies on the use of disfluency through the encoded presence of the individual-as-user as a way to induce critical reflection on the limitations of modern-day communication systems. The Digital Penmanship application features the visual encoding of an individual’s biometric data, specifically their keystrokes, to the non-verbal elements of type design.