Pattern-based support for interactive design in domestic settings

Designing for future domestic environments offers a challenge for everyone involved in the design of new technologies. The move from the office, and working environments in general, has highlighted the need for new techniques for understanding the home and conveying findings to technology developers. This paper presents a pattern-based approach informing the design of technology for future domestic settings. The approach is based on the original work of Alexander and seeks to support the on-going process of design, rather than the structuring of a corpus of previous work. The paper presents an adapted pattern language framework for structuring and presenting ethnographic fieldwork and considers the broad implications of patterns for the development of new technologies for domestic settings.