Filed under: design studies | Tags: design studies, design thinking, mentoring, mind map
In response to this little red robin, I spent this afternoon with two lovely people who have encouraged and motivated me since my first day at university…Christine Kingsley and Louise Valentine
To give a little background information ‘Design Studies’ is a module in the undergraduate Product Design and Interactive Media Design Course at the University of Dundee. Design History Theory and Practice is also a part of this module.There are many wonderful characters involved in the running of this module, who all have different backgrounds and interesting stories to tell…
I could chatter and type about Design Studies forever….I believe Design Studies is all about thinking, learning and understanding. Becoming more ‘worldly aware’, learning how to work as part of team and recognise the strengths of others. Learning about the ’social responsibility’ of being a designer today and the importance of multi-disciplinary collaboration. Learning how to recognise your skills, your process and way of learning/thinking. Keeping sketchbooks, presenting, collating,story-telling, reading,writing, reflecting and visualising…most importantly – realising where and how design fits into the real world – it is all extremely good stuff :)
I am so excited I am going to be part of it all again :) Myself and my classmate Giorgio Giove are going to be working within the Visual Expression module. The end article the students have to create is a magazine article for the Guardian Newspaper.
This opportunity is a peer learning experience. We will be guiding students…teaching them and learning from them. Tutorials, presentations, surgeries and managing processes and people.
It is very exciting and I am really looking forward to this experience! I have to really think about what I want to get out of it, how I can leave my mark on the students’ minds and what I want to learn from it all :)
I downloaded Tony Buzan’s iMindMap software today, I created a mind map to summarise the meeting today. The website describes it as ’software that helps you think’. I like that. I am testing out the free trail…so we shall see how I compare it to lovely pen and paper in the end…
A definition that made me smile ( thanks to Jennifer Mackie):
Read – er
1. a person who reads
2. a book of collected or assorted writings.
Filed under: reading and writing | Tags: change, dissertation, jonathan baldwin, malcolm gladwell, tipping point, visualisation
I read this excellent book whilst researching for my dissertation “An Exploration into the Evolving field of Service Design.”
Jonathan Baldwin is giving my Masters Class a lecture on the book next week. So I thought I would revisit the key points and themes to refresh my memory…perhaps think up some tricky questions to ask :)
A visualisation of my thinking on the key points I took away with me from reading.
I belive the revelations, ideas theories explored in this book are directly related to Service Design developing as a new field. Here is an extract from my dissertation which was influenced by reading the tipping point:
“Changes that have lifted services to a new ranking: considering changes in product culture, changes in living circumstances, mentality of consumers and changes in companies. To truly understand why things change it is crucial to reflect on how they should change.”
Filed under: master of design | Tags: innovation, master of design, product, service design, tom inns
This morning was spent with Professor Tom Inns, the Director of Designing for the 21st Century initiative. Tom runs our module entitled “Design Led Product & Service Innovation”, which we share with the Design Ethnography course.
He offered us some interesting definitions of innovation:
“The process of translating new ideas into tangible societal impact.” Krisztina Holly
Our morning began with a little task, the masters of design students were asked to write their definition of design – the ethnographers were asked to write their definition of ethnography.
It is an understatement to say that design, as a word/subject, is very difficult to define. Here is a picture of my contribution :
My classmate Fiona’s description – clear and concise:
It was interesting to see everyone’s point of view. I also find it interesting that a group of individuals who all have some experience in the field of design – myself in particular having studied Product Design for four years- still find this question extremely uncomfortable!!
The ethnographers definitions were also thought provoking:
I understand ethnography to be the observation, understanding and translation of the human condition.
Tom then asked the room some questions which I am still thinking about – When does a designer need an ethnographer? When does the job of an ethnographer stop? When would I use an ethnographer?
At the moment, I find it hard to envision a situation when I would feel I had to hire an ethnographer! That is of course, at the stage in my career I am at now! I am not sure if this is the right way to be thinking…I feel I have good experience in ethnography, I practised it a lot during my time in Amsterdam and have read books about the subject…I am confident in myself that I am a fairly talented observer.
I’m sure many more intriguing questions are going to form as these two programs continue to run in parallel.
We spent some time discussing ‘innovation failures’. Tom pictured below demonstrating why the Sinclair 5 was so unsuccessful!
I learned that the word design comes from the Italian word ‘disengare’! I also liked they way Tom advised me to use this time on the Masters as an ‘experimental space for me to re-direct myself’.
Filed under: made me think | Tags: beautiful, clever, culture, design, emotional, ethnography, people, study
Design is all about empathy and understanding people as real people. This project 6 Billion Others created by Yann Arthus-Bertrand tries to “draw a portrait of contemporary mankind by asking questions about universal values. What is happiness? What can we learn from life’s values?”
This project aims to reveal each persons individuality. The project team carried out 6,000 interviews in 65 countries and filmed 4,500 hours of interview footage. The results are truly captivating and unlike anything I have ever seen before.
The interviews are filmed beautifully and extremely intimate. I am finding them very addictive. You can watch people from all over the world talk openly and honestly about their dreams, hopes, regrets and fears.
Simply beautiful.
Filed under: master of design | Tags: design, methodology, mike press, research, visualisation
Today we were given a talk on research by Professor Mike Press. He is very inspirational speaker who never fails to capture my imagination! He talked about the difference between scientists and designers - a scientist observes the world and then compares observation with current knowledge. A designer has value preferences of how the world should be and proposes how to change it.
Interesting. This would suggest that designers have the opportunity to change the world! Even if just a little bit.
I want to clearly understand the methods that I use to make sense of the world?
I am going to start reading Visualising Research by Carole Gray and Julian Malins. We discussed the various differents modes of research :
- research into design
- research for design
- research by design
Ultimately using design as a creative practice to produce new knowledge.
Filed under: service design | Tags: award, deborah szebeko, service, think public
Deborah Szebeko, the founder and Director of thinkpublic, walked away with the prestigious British Council’s UK Young Design Entrepreneur Award on Friday evening. The award was presented by Sebastian Conran at the 100% Design exhibition in London’s Earls Court.
Sebastian Conran, Managing Director of Studio Conran, added “Deborah gave an impressive, compelling and prodigiously clear-sighted presentation on how to integrate design with the public realm. Tenacious about translating design to a wider range of clients, she has succeeded in combining both enthusiasm and common sense to gain the confidence of people who are usually sceptical about design. The judges commend her unique achievements in marrying design with the public sector in a tremendously valuable, straightforward and no-nonsense way.”
I was lucky to be part of the audience at the ISDN Conference in Newcastle last April, where Deborah spoke about the ideas that happen at ThinkPublic, and about her up and coming Phd research.
After introducing myself to Deborah at this event I was invited to spend some time working with the company over summer! Hopefully this will happen over the next few months. They are a company that I truly believe in and I have lots of ideas about the projects they are launching ( especially The Social Lab and The Real Work Experience. Watch this space :)
Congratulations to Deborah and the team at ThinkPublic :) this award is a huge step towards increasing awareness and understanding of the positive impact Service Design can have on real people and their lives!
Filed under: master of design | Tags: dundee, master of design, terry irwin
Now that is a title I like :) Today was my first day of my Masters Course.
Last week I attended the end of year show to learn about the projects carried out by last years students. You can watch a little video on the preparation for the show here
The projects were very diverse, with a wide range of students from all over the world with very different backgrounds. Many of the projects were service based, and unlike other degree shows I have visited…these students had the opportunity to show their process and thinking. I think this is key as I believe the times when visitors want to walk around an exhibition and look at ’shiny objects’ are long gone. Although this introduces complications – it is important to really think about the best way to display this kind of information for particular audiences…
Details of all the projects can be found on the Masters website.
One of my favourite projects was The Wave Project by Jonathan Brown.
I think the main reason I like it is that it is very real. The project focuses on worldwide audio visual education, asking the question : “Can educational web based audio visual conferencing exchanges between children in the developed world and those in the emerging economies make an impact on the digital divide?” Jonathan went to visit South Africa to test his prototypes. It will be interesting to see how his project develops.
I also liked Nevada Halle’s project Indentity, a graphic designer and illustrator, who created guidelines to help voluntary organisations create their own brand identity. I think this is an example of simple, effective and a very much needed application of design thinking. She worked very closely with Princess Royal Trust Carers centre and worked with carers at every stage of her design process. Hopefully, her website will up and running soon so we can learn more!
Many people ask me why I am doing a Masters, and I will admit that it was never in my plan from the outset. This year is my chance to identify exactly what kind of designer I want to be, what kind of work I want to do and how I am going to get there. It will give me the chance to do all the things I wanted to in my undergraduate course but I was never given the freedom to do. It will enable me to choose the skills I want to develop and ultimately move up a gear in every sense, both professionally and personally.
The Masters course at Dundee has a tremendous body of staff behind it, some of the best design thinkers and researchers from around the world.
I cant wait to learn from this team of diverse creatives, and hopefully they will learn from me too!
A fantastic Monday morning start, although very intense, was a talk given to us by Terry Irwin.
As an introduction to our People and Design Module, Terry spent the morning with Masters of Design students and MSc Design Ethnography students. Terry began by voicing her opinion that the collaboration between these two new Masters courses was:
“Very unusual and long overdue”
Terry spoke about the principle of holistic science and world views. Concentrating on the imperative of looking at our underlying assumptions. She believes we are embedded in a belief system, and have to try and discover ‘other ways of knowing’.
She described it as a ‘posture of certainty’ – we as humans like to see things as black and white, we like to know we are right or wrong and whats good and bad. However, designers often find themselves swimming in shades of grey.
I liked the way she described collaboration – ‘its almost like dancing’. The key is adopting a ‘willingness to engage’ and you must believe that what you will deisgn as a team is far better than anything you could acheive on your own.
“Everything is connected.”
A little book list if you would like to learn more:
Web of relationships. We can make a difference – that is why it is so exciting being a designer in the 21st century. How do we learn to connect dots between big problems and extreme areas of speciality? We focus on the problem space of our own discipline, we should also be looking at problems that confront us at the level of everyday.
“A world view tells us what we can see and cannot see. We cannot perceive what we cannot conceive.”
“Paradigms prescribe behaviour and guide what questions can and cannot be asked.”
“We are fascinating creatures and must learn to pulse between the micro and the macro.”
“Ways of knowing become styles of knowing.”
So what can I do to assist the development of this thinking and insight? Seeding conversations and feed myself more information, and help develop narratives.
Ultimatley Terry showed us that how we think = what we see = how and what we design.
The insight that made me think the most today – “Our world view is a sketch and a blueprint for reality.”
Filed under: service design
Sunshine, sand and lollipops for a week :) be back soon…
Filed under: reading and writing | Tags: design, foresight, future, kevin mc cullagh, plan, trends
Plan’s Kevin McCullagh outlines eight strategies for design and foresight in this article.
Predicting the future played a strong role in my final year project Douceurs… I had to rely on insights gained to ‘imagine’ what the service would become in the future. This article is interesting, I have always been interested in trend forecasting, especially the work that happens at The Future Laboratory…
I agree with Kevin’s opinion that “making bets on the future is part of a designers job description.”
“Foresight work is about identifying and understanding discontinuities, which are the best spotted from 35,000 feet.”
Filed under: amsterdam adventure | Tags: experience, narrowcasting, travel
Having been doing lots of traveling lately and thinking about narrowcasting this article was really interesting…definately proves this sector needs design help.
“Dublin’s bus information system, overhauled last week by Applied Information Group and Image Now, has been criticised in the part for failing to indicate which direction passengers are traveling in. What’s the worst informtation system you’ve experienced, and why?”
Read more here.
“Extremely confusing, woefully inaccurate and often ludicrously positioned. That’s my verdict on the wayfinding and informational signage at most British airports.” Steve Collis
Filed under: made me think | Tags: address, design, design week, issues, john thackara
An interesting article in Design Week today, asking the question “Are there any causes you would like to see addressed by design?”
I interviewed John Thackara as part of my dissertation research, his advice guided me away from concentrating on what service design actually is (a question we could debate over forever) …to looking at the bigger picture.
John Thackara: “An exciting and widespread area of social innovation, that could use some expert help from designers, is time-sharing. Time-based exchange, which is key to survivial in this difficult economy, which is key to survival in this difficult economy, is an example of so-called ‘non-market’ work in which we feed transport, teach and care for each other – only exchanging time, not money, as we do so. Service and interaction design input is needed if time-exchange platforms are to be well-organised, safe and easy to use.”
Colum Lowe: “The big ‘red’ issues are all well and ood, but as a citizen the things that affect me most are those in my neighbourhood. A “sense of community and community with sense” would be my competition brief, although my current bugbear is the quality of street furniture and in particular, that black anti graffiti paint which is worse than the graffiti it prevents”
I met Rebecca at the Audi Young Designer of the Year awards, she is passionate about design making a difference to peoples lives.
Rebecca Edge: “It’s got to be sustainability. UK designers have always been very generous in their support of causes. By nature, designers want to make a difference. Communicating consumer behavioural changes and influencing business so the most environmentally sustainable option is best for the economy, too.”
This inspires me. Reaching and influencing teenagers in many areas is a sector I believe service design could make a real difference.
Daniela Nunzi-Mihranian: “I have three small boys, so knife crime is a cause of great concern. While design alone can’t save the world it can help people change the way they think. Design helps us communicate powerful, often complex, messages in ways people can understand. It’ll take time to change disenfranchised teenage minds, but design may be a powerful vehicle to engage these individuals. Design is, after all, part of their day-to-day vocabulary.”
Filed under: service design | Tags: characters, new york, scenarios, service, taxi, visualisation
A long term plan for the design of the New York Taxi Cab Service
“The Design Trust for Public Space is a not-for-profit organization committed to improving the design, utility, and understanding of New York City’s public spaces. We forge public/private partnerships between neighborhoods, city agencies and design professionals. While the subject of Design Trust projects may vary, the goal is always to make New York City more beautiful, sustainable, functional, and available to all.”
“Taking a yellow cab seems like a fairly uncomplicated experience: you hail, a taxi
stops, you ride to your destination, pay the driver, and get out. Simple. But that
cab trip may actually be one of the most highly organized experiences in a New
Yorker’s day. A century of social custom and government rule-making control most
aspects of the ride, and dozens of behind-the-scenes actors are deeply involved in
every detail of the vehicle and its service.”
Filed under: amsterdam adventure, service design | Tags: 31 volts, amsterdam, marc, marcel, tool, utrecht
I was lucky enough to spend some time with the Marc and Marcel from 31 Volts – a service design agency based in Utrecht.
I like to talk about Service Design…lots…this was a great opportunity to see it in action in the real world :) There are lots of interesting projects happening at 31 volts – ranging from tackling obesity in local schools to improving the service of an insurance company.
Since beginning my work in Amsterdam, I have been reading and hearing the word ‘tools’ very often. This was puzzling me slightly….’what is a tool? Surely, a tool can be any single thing at all?’. Part of my task was to design ‘tools’ to encourage interaction, to draw information out of stakeholders etc.
Marcel’s perspective on what a ‘tool’ can be to a service designer is interesting:
“A tool is anything that is not a question. They spark conversations…”
This made my thinking much clearer. I also believe it is important to design ‘how’ tools will be used and ‘when’ and ‘where’.
This is a little tool they designed as a ‘leave-behind’ for one of their workshops.
The participants take this bottle filled with coffee beans, sugar and syrup, home with them. The writing on the front instructs the owner to shake the bottle once a week for 4 weeks. The mixture will then dissolve into a tasty coffee shot.
It is personal, thoughtful and interactive. The kind of thing you need to provide so participants don’t forget about the workshop, and the issues and questions keep ticking over in their mind.
And of course, it is fun :)
Another tool used to bring stakeholders to life. Life sized cardboard cut-outs.
A nice little experiment Marc created: ‘One Line of Service Design’
“If you look closely, most people tend to give a definition of service design. But now what are those practical examples you’d give to your grandma (eg. service design makes you walking out of a hospital with a smile?)”
I like this. I created a similar experiment as part of my dissertation research. I sent out postcards asking the question “What is service design?”
I think these are good examples of how to gather opinions and visually display them.
We need tools like this to help us understand ourselves what it is we do.
The team have excellent blog. It is written mostly in Dutch, but lots of interesting links and images for the non-dutch :)
They will also be part of the Picnic Conference and the Service Design Network conference in Amsterdam.
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In the very short time I was there I learned alot…in particular the challenge all service designers of explainng what they do to other people.
I really liked their studio space, which was in an old school building. The building has lots of creative teams working within it…A great environment!
Thank you for sharing your stories with me and making me welcome!
