Deger Ozkaramanli

Hello! I’m Deger – and in case you are wondering how to pronounce my name – it is pronounced as “de’er” as if there is no “g”. That covered, I am an assistant professor in Designing with Dilemmas at Delft University of Technology. Dilemma-Driven Design is a conceptual design method that I developed during my PhD studies. In this earlier research, I drew from motivational psychology to introduce personal dilemmas to human-centered design practices. The main goal of this research was to enhance product experience and contribute to wellbeing through meaningfully addressing personal dilemmas. You can read my PhD dissertation here.

Dilemmas are versatile phenomena that can be approached and defined from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Inspired by this versatility, I continue to explore dilemmas using theories and methods at the intersection of design and the humanities.

Currently, I study dilemmas from a systemic (vs. personal) perspective, for which I borrow from the ethics of technology and critical studies. My main goal is to create space for ethics and critical thinking in design methodologies, without hindering creativity and innovation. To achieve this, I regularly collaborate with design practitioners using qualitative and participatory research methods. 

With a team of co-conveners, I lead the Design Research Society Special Interest Group in Design Ethics. If you want to learn more and/or become a member, please visit the DRS SIGs webpage. 

Academic background

I have an interdisciplinary and international academic background with a BSc. and an MSc. degree in industrial engineering (Louisiana State University (2005) and University of Miami (2008), respectively) and a second-MSc. and a PhD degree in Industrial Design Engineering (Delft University of Technology (2010, 2017)).

Before rejoining TU Delft in January 2023, I worked as an assistant professor at the University of Liverpool (2016-2018) and at the University of Twente (2018-2022).

Research interests

• Dilemma-driven design
• Design ethics
• Design methods
• Design for wellbeing and social inequalities

Dilemma-driven design is an ongoing research agenda that explores dilemmas using theories and methods at the intersection of design, moral philosophy and critical studies.

Dilemmas & human-centered
design:

Ozkaramanli, D., Desmet, P. M., & Özcan, E. (2016). Beyond resolving dilemmas: Three design directions for addressing intrapersonal concern conflicts. Design Issues, 32(3), 78-91.

Ozkaramanli, D., Özcan, E., & Desmet, P. (2017). Long-term goals or immediate desires? Introducing a toolset for designing with self-control dilemmas. The Design Journal, 20(2), 219-238.

Ozkaramanli, D., & Desmet, P.M.A. (2016). Provocative design for unprovocative designers: Strategies for triggering personal dilemmas. In proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, Brighton, 27-30 June. 

Ozkaramanli, D., Desmet, P. M., & Özcan, E. (2020). From discovery to application: What to expect when designing with dilemmas. Diseña, (17), 58-83.

Ozkaramanli, D. (2022). Framing user experiences through personal dilemmas. Proyecta56, an Industrial Design Journal, (2), 52–57. 

Most of these articles are freely accessible online either on scholar.google.com or on ResearchGate. If you cannot find them, email me at d.ozkaramanli[a]tudelft.nl

Dilemmas & multi-stakeholder projects:

Ozkaramanli, Deger (2021) Dilemmas and Conflicts in Systemic Design: Towards a theoretical framework for individual-system dialectic. In: Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD10) 2021 Symposium, 2-6 Nov 2021, Delft, The Netherlands.

Geenen, A., Ozkaramanli, D., Matos-Castaño, J., & van der Voort, M. (2022). Positioning design in transdisciplinary collaborations: Experiences from a smart city consortium project. In proceedings of DRS 2022, Bilbao, 25 June – 3 July.

Ozkaramanli, D., Zaga, C., Cila, N., Visscher, K., and van der Voort, M. (2022) Editorial: Design Methods and Transdisciplinary Practices. In proceedings of DRS 2022, Bilbao, 25 June – 3 July.

Dilemmas & redesigning design:

Ozkaramanli, D. (2019). Dilemma-thinking as a Means to Enhance Criticality in Design for Wellbeing. 8. Ozkaramanli, D. (2019). Dilemma-thinking as a Means to Enhance Criticality in Design for Wellbeing. In R. Cain & A. Petermans (eds.), Design for Wellbeing: An Applied Approach. Routledge.

Ozkaramanli, D., Karahanoǧlu, A., & Verbeek, PP. (2022). Reflecting on Democratic Deliberation and Design: The Case of Dutch Covid-19 digital contact-tracing application. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 8(2), 244-269.   

Ozkaramanli, D., Nagenborg, M., Fantini van Ditmar, D., Lehtinen, S., Schwobel-Patel, C., & Ferrarello, L. (2022). Design+ Ethics: How is it more than the sum of its parts? In proceedings of DRS 2022, Bilbao, 25 June – 3 July.