How is theory translated to technology design?
As digital technologies increasingly shape society and people how do we ensure that the knowledge guiding their design is not only rigorous, but usable? At the IT University of Copenhagen, Associate Professor Elisa Mekler is working to bridge that gap.
Elisa MeklerResearchdesigndiversity
Written 10 August, 2026 07:41 by Theis Duelund Jensen
Her research focuses on how theory—particularly from psychology and critical traditions—can be transformed into practical tools for understanding and shaping technology, with a specific emphasis on games.
HCI has long been defined by its interdisciplinarity. It borrows extensively from other disciplines to study how people interact with technology. But this strength also creates a structural tension: theories developed in one context do not automatically translate into another.
This is particularly visible in areas such as user experience research, human-AI interaction, and game design, where frameworks from psychology—such as self-determination theory—are widely referenced.
“It shows up everywhere,” says Elisa Mekler. “But often in a very surface-level way.”
Her own earlier work with motivational psychology revealed this pattern. While debates about concepts like intrinsic motivation were common, empirical grounding and precise application were often limited. The result is a gap between theoretical ambition and practical use.
Rather than treating this as a failure of individual researchers, Mekler frames it as a broader problem of translation.
“Theories are written in a language that doesn’t always align with what designers or developers need,” she says. “So, the issue is not just whether the theory is good, but whether it can travel.”
From abstraction to application
This insight forms the basis of Mekler’s research project Theorycraft: Bridging the Games Research-Practice Gap through Theory Translation, which in 2022 received 10 million kroner from the European Research Council.
The project examines how theories can be adapted and reshaped as they move between contexts—such as from psychology to HCI, or from academic research to design practice. Rather than assuming that theory can simply be “applied,” it treats translation as a creative and necessary process.
“What does it actually mean to use a theory when designing something?” she asks. “How do we know if we’ve done it well?”
One strand of the work focuses on developing concrete examples of how this translation can happen. In a recent study, Mekler and collaborators reworked the concept of “affordances”—a foundational idea from ecological psychology describing how environments enable certain actions—into a tool for analysing game interfaces.
Applied to character creation systems, and combined with perspectives from queer theory, the framework allowed researchers to identify subtle but consequential design choices. While some contemporary games appear to offer more inclusive options by using neutral labels, underlying constraints often still reinforce binary structures.
“You can remove gendered language,” Mekler explains, “but if the available options are still divided in the same way, then the system hasn’t really changed.”
The contribution is not only critical, but methodological. By translating an abstract concept into a structured way of analysing design, the work demonstrates how theory can guide concrete evaluation.
“That’s the goal,” she says. “To turn theory into something we can actually use.”
Critical theory, operationalized
Mekler’s work also highlights a broader shift in HCI: the increasing integration of critical theory into practical design contexts. Approaches from feminist theory, queer studies, and sociology have traditionally been associated with critique—analysing culture, power, and representation.
In HCI, however, these perspectives are being reworked also as tools for design and evaluation.
“There’s often an assumption that critical theory is only applicable in an analytical context,” she says, “but it can also be a generative force.”
This is particularly important in fields like game design, where questions of identity, representation, and experience are central. By combining critical frameworks with computational and design-oriented methods, HCI can address issues that would otherwise remain invisible.
It also enables a more nuanced understanding of what “good” theory means.
“In psychology, theory is often judged by its predictive power,” Mekler explains. “But in design, theory might be useful because it inspires new ideas or helps us see problems differently.”
Knowledge beyond academia
Another strand of the Theorycraft project examines how knowledge is produced outside academia. In game development communities—particularly among independent and hobbyist creators—design frameworks and conceptual tools are often shared informally.
“These are what I call ‘homebrew theories,’” Mekler says. “They’re created by practitioners, for practitioners.”
There’s often an assumption that critical theory is only applicable in an analytical context, but it can also be a generative force.
Elisa Mekler
By studying these practices, her research challenges the assumption that theory flows only from academia to industry. Instead, it highlights a more dynamic exchange, where different forms of knowledge coexist and inform each other.
This perspective is central to HCI’s interdisciplinary ambition: not only to integrate multiple academic fields, but also to connect research with real-world practice.
“Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have thought to combine psychological concepts with queer theory to analyse game interfaces,” she notes. “But that’s what becomes possible when you work across disciplines.”
Reframing the role of theory
Ultimately, Mekler’s research points toward a broader rethinking of theory in HCI and beyond. Rather than treating theory as a fixed set of principles to be applied, it becomes something that must be adapted, tested, and reshaped in context.
This shift is particularly relevant in a technological landscape where systems are increasingly complex and socially embedded. Questions about inclusion, motivation, and human experience cannot be addressed through technical performance alone—they require conceptual tools that are sensitive to context and practice.
“If we want technology to reflect the diversity of human experience,” Mekler says, “then we need ways of thinking that can move between disciplines and into design.”
Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, phone +45 2555 0447, email thej@itu.dk