An Inquiry from User’s Perspective into the Furniture with Open-Source Recipes in the Context of Do-It-Yourself Theme

In this study made, it was investigated through an exploratory survey, which was based on user experience in the context of the “Do-it-Yourself” theme of the relationship with furniture in the changing perception of consumption in the present-day of the users, who are partly passive and/or active in the process of the design/manufacture of mass production furniture. In the study, the website titled “https://www.instructables.com/”, which was started by Eric Wilhelm from the MIT Media Lab, was used for the furniture that would be made by participants. Three of the instructions included in the website were selected by the authors, who were in the role of users and they were implemented at places independent from each other and at different times. In the selections of what would be applied, there was no restriction other than it should be furniture. The users preferred and implemented furniture for which they felt a need, only within their own life routines. In the process of this implementation, the authors experienced one-to-one the theme of “Do-it-Yourself” with the furniture they made. Together with this experience, they made evaluations about accustomed furniture and the roles of users in the user relationship. With the implementations that were carried out with the exploratory survey made and the theoretical framework of the study, which types of dynamics were kept in the forefront in the selection of furniture that would be produced by the users who wanted to meet their needs within the scope of the Do-it-Yourself theme? Which types of interventions did the users make in the instructions of the furniture produced? What were the alterations and common points in the production processes that advanced independent from each other? By treating these questions and the study as a whole, can a different user definition be made in the Do-it-Yourself theme? In this theme, what is the role of the user, who is the main element of consumption? How is the dialogue among the user, producer, designer, design and design instructions? Responses were sought to the question of can everyone make furniture according to their needs? In conclusion, it was determined that the Do-it-Yourself theme could be an area of experience based on production for the user in the consumer culture and that there are also roles, such as producer and designer in the “Do-it-Yourself” theme of the users in the role of consumer in the mass production process and that the limits of these roles become difficult to understand.