This presentation discusses a series of participatory design approaches, developed at different levels of an institution, these moments of collective counter-mapping and reflection offer a counterpoint to ‘top down’ institutional approaches.

This presentation discusses a series of participatory design approaches, developed at different levels of an institution, these moments of collective counter-mapping and reflection offer a counterpoint to ‘top down’ institutional approaches.

This paper explores the role visual prototyping by visual communication designers can play in the navigation and communication of textile design research. Typically, visual communication is only applied to dissemination of research activities – which happens at the end of a project. The authors argue that visual communication has more to offer when it is included as core element of the research process supported by visual prototyping.

This paper presents a case study of a material-lifecycle design project developed between educators, researchers and industry. Communicating and conceptualising circularity presented an opportunity to expand the reach of the research into a curriculum intervention. The project invited graphic design students to visualise a product lifecycle for a circular textile industry client - Piñatex.