Ciculating objects between frontstage and backstage: collectively identifying concerns and framing solution spaces

In this chapter we use a conceptual framework of frontstage and backstage and intermediary objects to investigate how problems (matters of concerns) and solutions are negotiated through an iterative process of producing and inscribing objects backstage and circulating these objects frontstage. This is done by exploring the navigational moves of a team of five third-semester bachelor's design engineering students who sought to improve quality of life for elderly residents with dementia in a nursing home by engaging in a co-design process to develop a new sensory stimulation technology. During this analysis we identify a new type of ‘fluid’ intermediary object that continuously evolves during the design process as new concerns emerge and which thus also frames the solution that is to be designed.