« Dans la peau du vivant ». Le persona non humain (PNH) : un outil pour un design centré vivant

‘In the skin of the living things’. The non-human persona (NHP): a tool for life-centered design

¹ Sciences de gestion, ISEN Méditerranée, Laboratoire RASSCAS, Toulon, France
² Géographie, géopolitique, ISEN Méditerranée, Laboratoire RASSCAS, Toulon, France

^* Auteur correspondant : guillaume.perocheau@yncrea.fr

Reçu : 24 Juillet 2023
Accepté : 4 Juillet 2024

Résumé

Dans le cadre de ses recherches destinées à proposer des solutions et des méthodes pour concevoir des innovations et des usages qui respectent les besoins sociétaux et environnementaux dans le contexte de l’anthropocène, le laboratoire RASSCAS présente dans cet article une expérience et un outil (fiche persona non humain) destinés à sortir du positionnement trop souvent anthropocentré des méthodes de conceptions actuelles. L’idée de fond est d’inciter les concepteurs à passer d’une approche human-centered design vers une approche plus juste, la life-centered design.

Abstract

Aware that any innovation must now adapt to the demands of the Anthropocene by simultaneously taking into account planetary limits and social floors, which guarantee its sustainability, the researchers at RASSCAS have integrated into the usual design methods an additional tool, the non-human persona sheet, which makes it possible at the very least to preserve and at best to participate in the regeneration of the ecosystems to which these innovations must be applied. This article presents the need to go beyond the usual anthropocentrism of design processes. It also stresses the importance of offering designers the opportunity to empathize with living things in order to foster both a greater understanding of the needs of biodiversity and a pro-environmental attitude. This work was tested in June 2022 in a concrete case study involving the design of technologies for ecological preservation and restoration, as part of a collaboration between a company and 88 engineering students. The results of these tests are presented here and allow our RASSCAS researchers to submit a more robust ‘life-centered design’ method to the reader, and to propose other avenues of exploration for design methods that are more respectful of non-human needs.