**1. Introduction**

Since the development of technology, the participation of end-users used to be an essential part in the design thinking phases. Design thinking with the users leads to deal complex aspects of design context, either in architecture or urban design, with the active participation of the stakeholders. The ever-changing development of virtual instruments and their current state of communicative power open new possibilities to engage non-expert stakeholders, primarily citizens, in the design decision making stages. However, mostly, the virtual instruments come with their pre-set operability, limiting the designerly ways of interactions with the virtual artefacts. Developing the design engagement instrument by understanding the need and interest of the end-users can bring conclusive results from the participation. Such instrument development phases follow the primary concept of design thinking. The process usually a journey of trial and errors. It is also necessary to identify goals and objectives of the design participation and ensure participants' feeling of control in the decision-making process. Thus, this study proposes a framework for designers like architects or urban designers to develop instruments by understanding the scope of interactions with the virtual artefacts and their perceptual representation in the virtual environment.

In the beginning, the article briefly discusses the current trend of shift in participatory design, the concept of tools, techniques and artefacts in design processes and the concept of design thinking in the instrument design. The brief literature review helps to understand the underlining concept of the proposed framework that had been tested with three interfaces. The article argues that the current trend in the computer-aided participatory design process requires developing the instruments with an empathised mindset on possible users' interactions with the interfaces.
