Information as an experience: a visual design approach to ethics for building mutual and reciprocal relationships between researchers and participants

Design and social innovation research can be defined as a relational practice that is concerned with the emergence, through applied design strategies, of new social and material relationships within a group. Establishing a relationship between the design researcher and the community based on reciprocity and mutuality is then fundamental for successful research.

This paper interrogates how this relationship is built during the recruitment phase by analysing how reciprocity and mutuality can be reached through an information design approach to ethical procedures. It focuses on the principle of informed consent and its role in defining the relationship between the researcher and the (potential) participants within the context of my PhD, which is a graphic ethnography exploration on how cultures of sustainability emerge in craft communities in Southwest England.

Drawing upon the original meaning of the Latin verb informare, “to give a shape”, and defining ‘consent’ as a continuous conversation, I used my expertise as a visual design practitioner to create an integrated information experience that ‘gives a shape to the research’ to allow potential participants to have a comprehensive understanding of the project while creating the conditions for a dynamic conversation to take place.

Initial exploration showed local maker communities as heterogeneous and dynamic groups with shifting hierarchies and demographics where roles, meanings, and values are renegotiated over time, hence the necessity for an integrated information approach flexible enough to both address ethical challenges and function as a tool for constructive relationships.

The paper discusses the way this approach incorporates three fundamental elements of the research project, the methodology (graphic ethnography), the research object (craft), and the research ethos (sustainability and accessibility) by designing ad-hoc print and web versions of participant information sheets for different audiences, accompanied by an online showcase that gives a recognisable shape to the overall project.

It concludes with preliminary observations collected through the first year of field work, and it engages with the limits and issues of creating ad-hoc information experiences to obtain consent.

As the research is ongoing, this paper does not yet give a full assessment but is meant to start a conversation on creative approaches to ethical procedures. The aim is for these to become a tool to generate solid and informed relationships between researchers and participants.