Sensibilities as Knowledge in Design Research

Paper in proceeding, 2026

There is an expanding vocabulary in academia addressing the struggles surrounding what constitutes knowledge in design research. However, most approaches overlook the role of researchers themselves, along with their lived experiences and theoretical commitments. Building on Redström's work on design programs, we retell stories of our architectural education and practice as a constructed we' and suggest design sensibilities as a way of knowing that allows for a less aseptic approach to the epistemological assumptions in interaction design research. We portray sensibilities as a skin rather than a lens, and propose that design relies strongly on breaching the theory/practice divide as situated, poetic, positional, relational, and corporeal; while still constituting transferable and collective knowledge. We propose the articulation of sensibilities as intermediate level knowledge in order to account for a view of theory as the skin through which we shape and are shaped by our work.