Exploring Visual Analysis in Design Research: Insights from Workshops with PhD Students at the University of Porto, 2022

This paper discusses two workshops on visual analysis conducted with research students from the PhD in Design at the University of Porto in 2022 within a curricular context. The objectives were to extract significance from visual information and to use visual methods for more effective research communication. The workshops focused on visual ethnographic analysis of photographs. Through hands-on exercises and joint theorising, two doctoral projects gained insights. The first project aimed to explore the contributions of informal dwelling to the city of Porto's visual and semantic identities using visual ethnography. The workshop's goal was to refine the research universe's definition. The second project, ‘Pulse Approach’,  proposed a design project management tool based on ancestral wisdom from Portugal and Brazil's southern communities. The workshop aimed to clarify the research concept and facilitate an exploratory immersion for the transformative social design concept. In both workshops, clusters of images were analysed to identify themes, patterns, and connections. Visual methods allowed researchers to engage better with participants, validating their self-expression through selected photographs. Visual data brought participants' experiences and perspectives to life for analysis and interpretation, providing multidimensional feedback as triggers of memories and feelings. The workshops provided insights into collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches in design research, demonstrating the potential of visual methods for supporting research outcomes. Working with students from different disciplines brought diverse perspectives and insights. In the first workshop, colleagues helped interpret samples from the photographic collection, contributing to a suitable selection for analysis and communication. The process refined typological classifications, leading to a central definition for the research object. The second workshop, a collaborative work of sensorial and exploratory immersion, identified core concepts and terminologies from research images collected through fieldwork, based on feelings, impressions, and perceptions expressed by the focus group. It clarified the meaning of the concept and proposed a taxonomy of approaches to project management templates. Both workshops confirmed that a collective, exploratory use of visual methods for research analysis and communication enhances data, leading to new knowledge and tangible outcomes for research projects.