Materializing Design is an ongoing SSHRC funded research project housed at Concordia University in Montreal, led by Dr. Rilla Khaled.
Our main objectives are:
- To surface and materialize game design processes for an audience of academics, members of the game industry, design practitioners, and the game-curious general public
- To develop best practices and workflows for game makers to document, archive, and reflect on their work, aka the Method for Design Materialization (MDM)
- To progressively build a set of public-facing online game development repositories, documented using MDM, supporting future research into game design practice
- To transparently employ grounded theory analysis to inform evidence-based patterns for how game design actually happens
TLDR; we’re throwing our life force at the development of accountable, transparent game design research standards that pave the way for stronger game design research.
If this also vibes with you, then reach us at hello@materializing.design. You can also find us on GitHub .
Publications
- Documenting trajectories in design space: A methodology for applied game design research. (2018). Khaled, R., Lessard, J., & Barr, P.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3235765.3235767 - Generative Logics and Conceptual Clicks: A Case Study of the Method for Design Materialization. (2023). Khaled, R., & Barr, P.
https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_a_00706 - Reflective Surfaces: Experimenting with Playful, Playable Publication Formats. (2024). Khaled, R., Sinervo, K. A., Ali, M. S., Barr, P., Bethancourt, M., Kocken, F., Limeburner, C., & Nickel, V.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3656156.3665435 - Tracing Research Through Design with Ponte: Bridging game development repositories and qualitative research tools. (2025). Granzotto Llagostera, E., Khaled, R., & Sinervo, K.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723821