Auto-cam – An innovative approach to visual research for design

The Auto-Cam investigates how design researchers can take advantage of photography as a visual research method through the design and deployment of a wearable ‘POV’ (Point-Of-View) camera. Photographs have a unique ability to capture and express personal perspective and promote empathy among researchers and participants (Van Gestel, 2015), but photography remains relatively overlooked as a research method, in particular for design research.The Auto-Cam provides a first-person look into someone’s daily lifeand activities, using coloured stickers as a way to ‘tag’ objects of interest in one’s environment; the Auto-Cam is designed to automatically capture an image when it ‘sees’ a sticker. We present the Auto-Cam as a case study showing the value of automatedfirst-person photography and the importance of continuing toexplore the potential of photography as a valuable research method for design.