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Suggested readings for contextmapping

As an introduction to contextmapping we recommended the following papers:

  • Sleeswijk Visser, F., Stappers, P.J., van der Lugt, R., Sanders, E.B.N. (2005) Contextmapping: Experiences from practice. CoDesign, 1(2), 119-149.
    This mainstay journal article describes the theoretical framework of contextmapping. It presents an overview of the basic models, and provides tips for each of the steps of the contextmapping procedure. In an appendix, these are illustrated with a case study.

  • More papers on generative tools, look at Liz Sanders' MakeTools website.


  • Tuuli Mattelmaki's Ph.D. thesis Design Probes(2006) gives a theoretical background and many tips and tricks about various ways to use probes in the design process.

  • Bill Gaver has written several papers about cultural probes. Cultural probes became very popular soon after the publication of Cultural Probes (1999) in ACM. He has published several papers afterwards in which he emphasises on the playful nature and uncertainty which is needed with this technique, e.g. cultural probes, ambuigity as a resource for design, uncertainty

If you have read a few of the above papers, you know the basics of contextmapping. Below, we have created a list of recommended literature which can be useful for specific fields of interest of contextmapping; the integration of contextmapping data in the design process, involving different user groups, e.g., Asian people, children, people with cognitive disabilities, and contextmapping in education. For a detailed overview of all our publications related to contextmapping, go to the publication pages of Stappers, Sleeswijk Visser, van Rijn, Postma, de Lille, van der Lugt.

New!

  • Froukje Sleeswijk Visser's PhD. Thesis treats the communication of user experiences. In it you find a description of the problems and solutions in informing and inspiring design teams with the findings from a contextmapping study. The thesis provides a framework for understanding how communication tools and techniques can be used, and tips and tricks for practitioners.Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2009) Bringing the everyday life of people into design. download:
  • In this paper, we explain how learning from users with contextmapping techniques is embedded in design projects. The paper describes three design projects in which intensive user studies, clear vision development, and a working prototype were realized. Stappers , P.J., van Rijn , H., Kistemaker , S.C., Hennink, A.E., Sleeswijk Visser,F. (2008) Designing for other people's strengths and motivations: Three cases using context, visions, and experiential prototypes. Advanced Engineering Informatics, Special Issue on Human-Centered Product Design and Development, vol 23, page 174-183. You can find the printed version on the (Elseviers site). You can also download: the final draft.

Integrating contextmapping data into design processes

  • With participatory design, the users get a more active role in the gathering of information about their experience. However, results are typically communicated to design teams in a closed form, where the designers are passive recipients of pre-interpreted data. By giving designers open-ended elements, and making organizing and interpreting an integral part of the communication step, the communication of results becomes participatory too . The receiver of the message becomes co-creator.
    Sleeswijk Visser, F., van der Lugt, R., Stappers, P.J. (2007) Sharing user experiences in the product innovation process: Participatory design needs participatory communication. Journal of Creativity and Innovation Management, 16(1), 35-45.download:

  • This paper zooms into the possibilities of representing people in communicating user experiences. It provides theory about the way an image of a face is interpreted, and how this can be used to support designer to create empathy with users. It also presents guidelines, which can be used for e.g., creating a persona
    Sleeswijk Visser, F., Stappers, P.J. (2007) Mind the Face DPPI (Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces), Helsinki, August, 119-134. download:

  • This paper describes a case study about the distribution of rich user data in a fast moving consumer good company. We observed that marketeers and designers have different needs and motivations to study rich user data.
    Sleeswijk Visser, F., Stappers, P.J. (2007) Who includes user experiences in large companies? International conference on inclusive design, Royal College of Art, London, UK, April, 1-5. download:

  • Results from generative sessions are analyzed by qualitative methods; these connect to idea generation sessions later on, but are a creative activity in themselves. This paper discusses techniques and considerations for conducting creative workshops on analysing user data, address questions on how to balance involvement, time available, and the emphasis on creative interpretation versus empathic experiencing.
    van der Lugt, R., Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2007) Creative sessions for interpreting and communicating rich user information International conference on inclusive design Royal College of Art, London, UK, April, 1-5. download:

  • Although the users play an important role in participatory design, this role is often limited to a small part in the design process. Users which participate in mapping the context are often replaced by a new set of users when the resulting concepts are evaluated. This is done for reasons of scientific purity (avoid fixation on early solutions), or just for practical reasons (the recruiting company lost touch with participants). However, participants from early sessions have developed a sensitivity for the design problem, which they may have retained, or even extended over the period that the concept was generated. This last indeed happened in the very rich concept feedback that 'consumers' could give in a concept evaluation, suggesting that it's worthwhile to re-tap the participants' knowledge. Also in this study, the evaluation panel was first given a generative exercise; as a result their understanding of the criteria for judging the proposed design had grown beyond the 'gut reaction' typical of focus group evaluations.
    Sleeswijk Visser, F., Visser, V. (2005), Re-using users: Co-create and co-evaluate. Personal and ubiquitous computing, 10(2-3), 148-152. download:

  • This is a great book which describes the persona method in detail. It provides many projects form practice and is full with useful tips and tricks
    Pruitt, Adlin: The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design. Pruitt, J., Aldin, T., Morgan Kaufmann (2006) p 9-10.

Contextmapping and participatory design

  • An overview paper by Liz Sanders and P.J. Stappers about developments in participatory design.
    Sanders, E.B.-N., Stappers, P.J. (2008) Co-creation and the new landscapes of design Codesign, 4(1), 5-18. download:

  • The basic philosophy of contextmapping, and the map metaphor, are explained in the popularizing paper .
    Stappers, P.J., Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2006), Contextmapping, GeoConnexion, August 2006, 22-24. download:

Contextmapping and different user groups

  • In generative sessions, participants are asked to give opinions and discuss personal experiences and views. Generative toolkits can help them realize what they want to say, but for many people there is still a considerable threshold for expressing themselves in public. The experience in the cross-cultural techniques study (van Rijn, Bahk, Stappers, and Lee, 2006) provided a magnifying lense by which we re-evaluated the techniques we used in before. In this paper we present a metaphorical model 'scripts and staging' that explains how these threshold-crossing techniques work; the model can be used as a guideline in developing new discussion techniques.
    van Rijn, H. and Stappers, P.J. (2007) Getting the shy to talk: scripts and staging for contextmapping. Include 2007, RCA: London download: .

  • The standard set of contextmapping techniques relies heavily on participants taking on the role of 'expert of their experience', expressing their opinions (and feelings), and discussing about this with other participants. Self-expression and discussion however are not comfortable activities for Asian cultures, where social harmony is valued highly, and questioning other people's statements is regarded as disrespectful. In a research project, Helma van Rijn (of TU Delft, Netherlands) and Yoonnyong Bahk (of KAIST, Korea) explored a series of modifications of contextmapping techniques in order to involve Asian participants more readily.
    van Rijn, H., Bahk, Y.N., Stappers, P.J., Lee, K.P. (2006) Three factors for contextmapping in East Asia: Trust, control and nunchi. CoDesign, 2(3), 157-177.

Contextmapping in design education

  • At EPDE 2007, 13-14 sep in Newcastle, UK, we presented another perspective on the contextmapping education, this time within the framework of participatory design and the new international master programmes in design that have been running in Delft since 2004.
    Stappers, P.J., Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2007) Bringing participatory design techniques to industrial design engineers Engineering and Product Design Education Conference, NewCastle, 117-122. download:

Last update: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 7:29:37 AM