Bonded Design: A Methodology for Designing with Children

Abstract

This chapter presents a new methodology, called bonded design (BD), for designing information technologies. It is especially suited to work with children, where designers and children collaborate in an intergenerational team to develop a low-tech prototype, over a number of design sessions, using techniques such as group discussions, critical evaluation of existing technologies, brainstorming, and prototyping. BD is compared with other user-focused design methods, and its unique features identified. Two case studies are presented in which designers worked with elementary school students, within the BD framework, to design two Web portal prototypes intended for young students to find information for class projects. The successful evaluation (using focus groups and an operational study) of working portals developed from these prototypes validated BD as a means to design technologies for young students.