Positioning theory as a design lens

Abstract This article demonstrates the value of positioning theory as a lens for localizing information design in culturally resonant ways. Drawing on 40+ interviews with residents in a Southwestern U.S. community experiencing water scarcity, we develop a positioning theory–based codebook to analyze self-, other-, and collective positionings around responsibility, power, and inaction. This method reveals relational patterns that thematic coding alone might overlook, offering information designers a methodological approach for clarifying how people in communities express and negotiate responsibility and capacity to act. Positioning theory thereby expands the field’s methodological toolkit and introduces localized perspectives that can help information designers create interactions that can foster participation and collective environmental action.