Cracking open co-creation: Categories, stories, and value tension in a collaborative design process

In this paper we show how stories and categories help to frame and express values in a car accessory design process. We consider how a group of designers plan two co-creation workshops through categorising participants in ways that impact upon the subsequent process of design. We then describe how two stories emerge during the design process, additionally structuring design discussion through linking 'past particulars' - experiences and behaviours that the co-creation process reveals - with 'imagined particulars' - stories that place specific actors, objects and relations into an imagined context. We propose a key function of stories within this collaborative design process as holding value tension, allowing contrasting values to coexist together.