Stories at the Spot: Designers Learning From Caregivers of Children With Autism

Designers need insight into the needs and experiences of the people they are designing for. However, when these people are very different from the designer, it can be challenging for him or her to get an understanding of them. In this paper, designers learned about the needs and experiences of children with autism for their design project by means of direct contact with these children, and their caregivers. In this direct contact, designers and caregivers jointly used an observation tool called ‘Tick & Watch’. This tool is especially developed to support and stimulate designers and caregivers in remembering and discussing learning moments from direct contact with children with autism. This paper discusses how this tool optimizes the interaction between designers and caregivers in user observations.