Agency and the User-Designer Relationship in Co-Created Wellness Spaces

Abstract

In this study I adapted the work of Wilson, Rawlins, and Crane (2018) to explore the cocreated wellness space of the Apple Watch Activity Rings. I examined the agential roles and relationships between users and designers and the Activity Rings’ agential scripts while incorporating coded questions to determine the presence of usefulness, control, and agency. Research question: How do users perceive and understand their agency and control, their relationship to the designer, and the Activity Rings’ agential scripts? The findings of this exploratory study suggest that users possess agency that they do not fully recognize and that they more strongly perceive the influence of the Activity Rings than the that of the designer.