Tanja Ubert – Master Design Research

Category: Research

  • Rediscovering Drawing as a Research Practice: Visual Thinking in Design Research

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    Creating visuals For many practitioners in design research, creativity is not only a professional tool but also a deeply personal form of expression. However, within the constraints of project deadlines, academic rigor, and institutional demands, practices like drawing and painting—once central to many designers’ identities—often fall dormant. This was my experience as well: having drawn…

  • Experiment visual language

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    New Practices and Evolving Expertise: Co-Creation with People with Low Literacy Reframing Expertise in Design Research Contemporary design research has increasingly moved toward participatory approaches that challenge traditional hierarchies of knowledge. In this spirit, my research sought to investigate whether it was possible to co-create a visual language to translate bureaucratic texts into accessible visuals,…

  • Visual Language in Design Research: Between Ambition and Practicality

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    Research into visual language In the context of socially engaged design research, the quest to make information more inclusive and accessible continues to evolve. This is particularly relevant for groups such as low-literate individuals, for whom visual communication holds significant promise. In this essay, I explore the viability of translating written information into visual language,…

  • Definitions

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    Low-literacyPeople who can read and write a little bit are low-literate. This means that they do not have the language and/or arithmetic level* to participate in society.*Various designations are used for the level of language proficiency. For non-native speakers we use the NT2 Framework (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). For Dutch speakers we use…

  • What Experts by Experience Can Teach Us: Lessons from Illiteracy for Design Research

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    Research into illiteracy We, as Design researchers, are increasingly called upon to address complex, human-centered challenges. Among these is the persistent issue of illiteracy, a barrier that affects more than 2.5 million people in the Netherlands alone—and millions more across Europe. Yet in the rush to innovate and intervene, we often overlook the most important…

  • Interview with my dad

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    Design Research and Literacy – A Personal and Transdisciplinary Inquiry Interviewee: Father of the researcher (Name withheld) Interviewer: Tanja Ubert Date: 10-10-2023 Format: One-on-one in-depth interview Context: This interview is part of an exploratory design research project into how design can address issues of illiteracy through changing roles, lived experiences, and community engagement. Background and…

  • Designing Without Words: A Visual Recipe Co-Creation Experiment with the Neighbourhood Dads of Hillesluis

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    Experiment Recipe without words In design research, particularly in the context of inclusive and participatory methods, working with so-called experts by experience is vital for uncovering the hidden frictions in daily life caused by systemic exclusion. This experiment explores whether visual communication—specifically a recipe without words—can be a tool for inclusion, especially for people who…

  • Experiment translating formal text in to visuals

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    The subsequent experiment was less successful and became an important moment of reflection within the research. In an attempt to translate formal written texts into images together with an illiterate volunteer, in collaboration with the SOL organization and language ambassadors from the Reading and Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen en Schrijven), it quickly became clear that…