On Wednesday May 13 there is a symposium on contextmapping at IDE, TU Delft. Liz Sanders, Jacob Buur and Froukje Sleeswijk Visser are the main attractions, and the symposium is followed by hands-on workshops on contextmapping.

Front end user research
In user-centered product development it is fairly common to pay attention to testing: evaluating whether your design fits the needs, capabilities and preferences of the anticipated user group. Often, less attention (and effort) goes out to making the design that is tested as usable as possible to begin with, for example by getting a thorough understanding of the user group, through methods such as contextual enquiry, field ethnography and contextmapping.

Contextmapping?
Contextmapping is a procedure for conducting contextual research with users, where tacit knowledge is gained about the context of use of products. It aims to inform and inspire design teams, where users and stakeholders actively participate in the design process to ensure a good fit between the design and the use of a product.

Symposium
Intended audience are design practitioners, students, and researchers. Attendance/participation is free of charge, but you will have to register online because of limitations in space. The symposium features presentations by:

• Liz Sanders: President of MakeTools, a design research firm. She is a pioneer in the use of participatory research methods for the design of products, systems, services and spaces. Liz speaks about and teaches human-centered design to students, clients and colleagues around the world.
• Jacob Buur: Professor of User-Oriented Product Development at the Mads Clausen Institute at the University of Southern Denmark. His research focuses on the study of people, technology and work in order to create innovative products. Fascinated by bright user interaction designs he is convinced that we need more knowledge about design collaboration and design learning in order to improve product development processes.
• Froukje Sleeswijk Visser: The first Ph.D. student on contextmapping, a phrase coined in her MSc thesis to indicate user participation techniques she had applied and developed. In the past five years of PhD research, Froukje worked intensively with students and design teams in industrial practice to 'bring the everyday life experiences of people into design'. On the day before the symposium, Froukje defends her thesis (at 12:30 in the Aula of TU Delft).
• 10 graduate students who give pecha kucha-style presentations about how they applied contextmapping in their graduation projects.