The waves project explored whether idiographic design, a category of interaction design that focuses upon responding to detailed personal accounts of individuals’ practices, can be used to support interaction designers in responding to the complex and multifaceted design space posed by live performance. The idiographic approach was applied during the design of Waves involved a close and dialogical engagement with the practices and experiences of an individual live performer, during a series of semi-structured interviews and then the discussion and iteration of an evolving prototypical design.
Reflection on the experience of applying this approach highlighted idiographic design as a practical means to support interaction designers in proposing innovative designs that respond sensitively to the kinds of subtle and complex issues that underpin people’s lived and felt experiences of live performance and, potentially, many other domains.