In this conceptual article, our aim is to deconstruct the conceptualization of design framing and establish its essentially political nature. It demonstrates the positionality inherent within frames insofar as frames articulate subordinated or dominant status, or express normative understandings until challenged. In doing so, we build a conceptualization of the political foundations of design framing practices and their implications for those contexts within which design operates. Consequently, we argue for dissensual counter-framing design practices that unsettle institutionalized norms and ideologies played out within frames, and through which a form of political agency is sociomaterially enacted.

design frames, design politics, social movements, Institutional Theory, frame innovation, counter-frames, collective action, materiality, sociomateriality
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© 2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2022
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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