The primary goal of the network is promotion discussion in the world of Swiss design research. A major SDN conference is held annually, with subsequent publishing of the results; The design researchers are offered the chance several times a year to attend colloquia to exchange their viewpoints on current topics.

The website http://swissdesignnetwork.org/ presents projects and participating institutions of higher education and provides information about the annual symposia, conferences and colloquia. 

2010 Conference in Basel: Negotiating futures. - Design fiction.
The Academy of Art and Design FHNW in Basel and the Swiss Design Network are pleased to invite you to participate in the 6th Annual Swiss Design Network Conference in Basel, Switzerland, October 28-30, 2010.

The SDN Conference belongs to the leading European design research conferences and brings together scholars, professionals and students who come from diverse backgrounds and share interests in design and design research.

The 2010 conference theme addresses the topic of “negotiating futures. design fiction.“ It builds on the assumption, that designers see the world not simply as it is, but rather as it could be. In this perspective, the world is a laboratory to explore the contingency of the existing and the thinking in options. Imaginations of the contra factual are a key source for the creation of alternative political, technological, social, or economic constellations of artefacts, interfaces, signs, actors, and spaces. At the same time, strategies of materialization are pivotal to shift the boundary between the fictional and the real and to finally bring possible new realities into being. The conference therewith addresses the question of how fictions are designed and how the multiplicity of possible new futures is negotiated and realized.

Please visit our website.

2009 Conference in Lugano: Multiple Ways to Design Research
The Fifth Symposium of the Swiss Design Network wants to highlight
research cases informed by knowledge of other disciplines to understand their relevance for design theories, methods and practices.

The conference aims to present a multidisciplinary overview on research projects - from those ones originated within the design field to those ones originated within other fields - that produce design research outcomes useful to outline those theories, methods and practices which influence and reshape the design discipline.

The framework of the conference is based on the assumption that the evolution of sciences and technologies, and their impact on society, suggests new research questions that constantly tend to expand the ways to design research - in term of topics of interests, approaches and contaminations - research questions that can be relevant for the design knowledge, practice and education.

Delivering both overviews and deepening, the conference keynote speechs and the parallel project sessions are addressed to a wide range of attendees: senior researchers of academia and of corporate R&D departments, PhD and master students coming from different disciplines, industry exponents involved in the design development and production.

http://www.multipleways09.ch/

2008 Conference in Lucerne: Focused
The Symposium 2008 of the Swiss Design Network (SDN) had put the "daily practice" of design research on its agenda. Real-world design research projects illustrate questions, processes, methods and activities, with which they have been planned, approached, executed and evaluated. Projects were connected to various design disciplines, ranging from product design to interface design, visual communication and service design. In other words: projects were related to products, services, interfaces, information, communication and environments, or they focused on integrated systems of products, services and customer experiences.

With Rosan Chow, Alain Findeli, Karmen Franinovic, Gavin Melles, Kristina Niedderer, Margareta Tillberg, Teal Triggs, among others.

http://symposium-konkret-08.hslu.ch/

Publikation: "Focused" : current design research projects and methods : Swiss Design Network Symposium 2008, 30-31 May 2008, Mount Gurten, Berne, Switzerland / Concept and editing: Roman Aebersold, Bettina Minder, Arne Scheuermann. - Geneva: Swiss Design Network, 2008.

2007 Conference in Geneva: Drawing new territories
Publication: Drawing new territories / 3rd Symposium of design research 2006 ; publisher: Swiss Design Network ; concept and editorial: Ralf Michel, Lysianne Léchot. - Zurich: Swiss Design Network, 2006.

2006 Conference in Zurich: Research Landscapes Related to Design
Publication: Research Landscapes Related to Design /Second design research symposium 2005 ; [Organiser]: Swiss Design Network ; [Project management: Ralf Michel]. - Zurich : Swiss Design Network, 2005.

2005 Conference in Basel
Publication: First design research symposium: 13-14 May 2004, HGK Basel / Ralf Michel. - Zurich : Swiss Design Network, 2004.

The SDN is an organ of the director's conference of Swiss Academies for Art and Design DKKD.

The board of directors is composed of the following persons:

• Basel: Martin Wiedmer (Präsident des SDN);
• Bern: Arne Scheuermann;
• Genf: Lysianne Léchot Hirt;
• Lausanne: Christophe Marchand;
• Lugano: Polly Bertram;
• Luzern: Roman Aebersold;
• Zürich: Ralf Michel.