For this event we will be hosting three presentations - two about social technologies and a case study from Razorfish; here is the list of speakers:
“Mobile Social Networking” Carol Taylor, Director of User Experience at Motricity.
“The Psychology of Social Technologies: Implications for Design” Shelly Farnham, Ph.D., Founder, User Experience Architect, and Researcher at Pathable.
Anil Joisher, Senior Account Director, and Christopher Esposito, Director of User Experience, both at Razorfish, will be sharing a case study.
If we had to attempt to reduce the entire two-day conference into one sentence, we’d summarize the DRC this way:
To remain relevant and to overcome commoditization, design researchers in the future must learn to influence organizations and their intentions using emotionally charged story telling with diagrams to reveal deeper insights through measurable testing using prototypes on an ongoing basis with real, breathing, feeling humans to create new ideas that solve real problems.
Whew. Now for the details.
Major themes
Changing Role of Design and Design Researchers
If anything stood out the most to us, coming from our technophilic enclave in the Pacific Northwest, it was the focus – for the most part – on people. Understanding different types of people, telling their stories, and making a difference in their lives. This isn’t limited solely to the end-users of the products/solutions that we design; in addition, we need to understand the people (clients) whom we are working with or for.
One of the biggest themes at DRC09 – in speaker presentations, the panel discussion, and in the workshop we attended – was around the role we must play as designers and design researchers. Specifically, it was the exhortation that we move beyond gaining user understanding and designing solutions to actually changing and influencing the organizations (e.g., our clients) delivering the solutions. In other words…
half of our job is to gain insights into end users’ lives, their needs, aspirations, etc. and then successfully synthesize those insights into viable solutions; the other half is about making organizational impact, by communicating the users’ situation and building alignment and buy-in from the organization, in order to catalyze and mobilize action.
Marc Rettig, principal of Fit Associates, talked about this as a journey of change, one that is both personal and collective, and deeply emotional. Kim Goodwin of Cooper advocated the value of storytelling, both as a way to extract rich information from end users during ethnographic studies and as a tool for communicating in a compelling and visceral way those insights from the field back to the organization and the interdisciplinary design team.
Sometimes the client organizations will be slow or stubborn to change. Our job in making this impact and influencing organizational alignment may require us to “go slow to go fast,” as Ben Jacobsen of Conifer Research nicely put it.
The Outlook for Design Research is Good (and Bad)
Another theme was the outlook for design research, both in a world currently in an economic downturn and a world of rapid commoditization. Robert Fabricant and Jon Kolko of frog design presented complementary talks where they outlined some things we can do to remain relevant. Fabricant began his talk by outlining the explosive growth in spending on design research and ethnography services in the economy, with the sudden acceleration in the curve occurring around the same time that Nokia’s Jan Chipchase began his famous design research globetrotting and blogumentation on his future perfect blog. He seemed to be suggesting an imminent bursting of the proverbial bubble. Sharing his “top 5 myths of design research” (see below), the outlook was painted in somber hues… unless, he advised, we do a number of things:
move beyond the search for insights to having more extended conversations in the communities we serve
translate the insights we do gain into meaningful and actionable ideas
make these ideas tangible quickly and push them out into communities to initiate the feedback process faster
remain engaged and immersed in these communities and activate/motivate change
Kolko added, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that short of moving to Asia, giving away our services for free (nothing wrong with social design!), or making it really really really expensive, in order to remain relevant we need to:
make meaning out of data (the challenge, for many of us practitioners, resides in the challenge of sensemaking and synthesis)
build frameworks for emotional experiences
have empathy
draw more diagrams
Conifer’s Jacobson was more optimistic in the panel discussion. Smart organizations, he argued, will double their R&D spending during economic downturns in order to have new products ready to be launched as soon as economic conditions turn for the better.
Fuzzy Wuzzies: The Everlasting Quest to Define What We Do
Patrick Whitney, the dean of the IIT Institute of Design, in his opening remarks at the conference, mentioned the problematic confusion and ambiguity that continues to trouble our industry and those that might benefit from what we do around the meaning of “design.” This issue of language and the struggle with ambiguous definitions resurfaced during the lunchtime roundtable discussion that Artefact hosted on the second day of the conference.
Our topic for the informal conversation was in which other industries or fields does design research have the greatest opportunities to be used, and design thinking applied. Three of the participants in our discussion were approaching design research from “the outside,” specifically from the worlds of government, the fine arts, and advertising/marketing. There was some discernible discomfort and struggle apparent in the confusion over terminology and the use of loosely defined terms (e.g., “design,” “design thinking,” “experience,” etc.).
It seems that we still have a long ways to go to address this seemingly persistent, vexing problem around clarifying what design is and how its methodologies can be applied to a broader set of arenas to solve complex problems.
But Of Course, It’s Still About Empathy. Deeper, Longer, More Immersive Empathy
Empathy and deep immersion into the communities and lives of those for whom we design was, of course, a major theme as it is one of our most fundamental approaches to user-centered design. Richard Saul Wurman – though not exactly advocating empathy! – repeatedly reminded the audience of the importance of “listening” to each other, and that “understanding is power.” Rettig impressed upon us the importance of diving deep in order to cause a “sea change.” Goodwin advocated storytelling and narratives as a way to identify with user pain.
But, the most captivating appeal came from social anthropologist Stokes Jones, Principal of Lodestar, who passionately presented how ethnographic fieldwork helps uncover the embedded innovation that is always and continuously brewing from the bottom up. Leveraging the “knowledgeability” of users and communities helped him and his team innovate in ways no one else on the Vicks VapoRub team would have imagined. After visiting 12 – a mysterious, empirically successful magical number – homes in South African townships, Stokes discovered a mortar and pestle sharing shelf space with the collection of medicine. To these families, “healing” possessed two specific properties: action and sensation. Their “knowledgeability” about medicine led to this DIY approach of combining not only the appropriate active ingredient, but also a component that allowed the patient to feel the medicine. Proctor and Gamble used this knowledge to create products that satisfied both the feeling and effects produced from the observed DIY approach for the South Africa market.
Fabricant’s call to design researchers was to get truly immersed in communities, observe emergent behavior, participate in conversations, and create rapid experiments which are pushed out into these communities for iterative feedback. Fabricant once asked Chipchase about how to keep those connections alive and strong between his team and those research subjects who turned out to be absolute gems of insight. Chipchase responded, “You just hire them.”
Prototyping Faster, Smarter, Earlier
In addition to maintaining extended conversations with communities, the importance of producing tangible artifacts quickly and putting them out there was stressed.
Start producing tangible things (e.g., solutions, parts of solutions) quickly in order to speed up the end-user feedback process. Prototype and experiment quickly. Learn and iterate. Robert Fabricant and, to some degree, Jason Fried of 37signals touched on these principles of consistent, early feedback.
When Fried and his colleagues were building Basecamp, they started off with just one line of text as a way to communicate. Then they added in titles to messages to allow disambiguation with each message. Slowly, they would roll out features that were absolutely necessary to complete a task. Each build would be tested and iterated fully before the next feature would even be considered.
Marc Rettig also shared a fairly typical “eureka” moment during his workshop when he asked some developers to create paper prototypes of their ideas and present them to their significant others when they got home at night. After 3 nights, the developers received the feedback they needed to build the system confidently.
People to People: Service Design is a Huge Opportunity
Just as the IDSA conference closed with Jeneanne Rae citing the size and dominance of the services sector of our economy versus the product sector, the DRC was capped by Ryan Armbruster’s presentation on the business value of service design, where he also cited our economy as consisting of roughly 78% services (note: actual, according to BEA NIPA data, it’s actually about 68% of personal consumption expenditure that is spent on services in the last quarter). Armbruster’s inspiring keynote was all about his experience and dedication to the improvement and design of services in the healthcare field, informed largely through design research and ethnography.
In Conclusion
To summarize, the speakers at DRC09 addressed the critical importance of designers and design researchers wearing more and more “hats” going forward. You have to be many things in order to stay relevant and add value:
a listener
an observer
an analyzer
a translator
a synthesizer
a curator (learn to say “no”)
a storyteller
a mobilizer
a tweet-oholic (this is still up for debate)
Musings & Miscellany
The conference was mostly good, with only a couple duds. The entertainment factor was high this year, as the organizers brought in a wide range of speakers, from the rambling and misanthropic – but brilliant and hilarious – curmudgeon, Richard Saul Wurman, to the well-known and oft-reviled founder of 37 signals, Jason Fried, as well as the stoked oratory of social anthropologist Stokes Jones. Here are some of our unofficial awards:
Most Unapologetic: tie between RSW and Jason Fried
Most F-bomb Droppings: RSW
Most Unusual Usage of Vicks VapoRub Cited: Stokes Jones
Most Inspiring Reminder that We Need to Think More About People Interacting with People: Ryan Armbruster
Most Low-key Yet Profound Purveyor of Pithy Quotes: Ben Jacobsen (“Sometimes, you have to go slow to go fast.”)
Most Snarky Tweet: Jon Kolko (“#drc09 Jason fried speaking about his software dev fundamentals; no wonder basecamp is such a piece of garbage”)
Thank Yous
Tal Shay and Kate Pemberton for organizing a great event
IIT Institute of Design for teaching design research, innovation, design thinking, and producing great future leaders
Spertus Institute for providing a great venue for the event
The Wieners Circle for the late-night entertainment and artery-busting char dogs
David Armano (@Armano) for the photo above of us Tweeting the hell out of #DRC09
Ask a group of industrial designers what they will be doing in 5 years, or 10 years, or 50 years, and the answers you get will fall into one of two camps.
The first camp (I’ll call it “Old ID”) focuses on the qualities that make them valuable today: their ability to create physical objects of desire. They see their growth reflected in the innovation and efficiency of their processes. They see an evolution in the beauty and sophistication of the products they design.
Old ID fears that doing something different from this will dilute and diminish who they are. Disciplines like human factors or interaction design threaten Old ID. As a way to defend against these diverse points of view, Old ID will pay them lip service. Old ID will slap an anonymous LCD screen on a physical form and call it an interface. For Old ID’ers, “sustainability” is a way to market what they do instead of informing what they do. Old ID will engage in nuanced discussion about the industrial design they’ve always known instead of seeking out new motivations and meanings in design discourse.
The second camp (“New ID”) embraces ambiguity and diversity. New ID realizes that societal change is upon us and requires us to redefine industrial design. New ID understands that it is more important to stay relevant to people even if the cost is abandoning traditional form-giving. New ID says we must examine the “edges” of a product and focus less on the product itself.
At the recent IDSA conference in Miami, Old ID and New ID alike attempted to define the future of our discipline in the face of the massive change and harsh economic reality hitting us today. This challenging situation was described in different ways by a number of speakers. Closing speaker Jeneanne Rae said it well when she presented a chart illustrating the growth and size of today’s service industry vs. product industry. She described the economic and technology forces that lead to the now-dominant service economy and how our design practices will change to meet the demands of this economy. If all you do is design physical products (are you listening Old ID?), the picture wasn’t pretty.
Valerie Jacobs provided a similar impetus for change in her exceptional talk on future trends. With the rise of alternate economies people are creating their own business models that go beyond anything most of us are familiar with today. With the emergence of the simple and slow movements, maker culture, biophilia, and generative design practices, we are challenged to reconsider our role as designers. If you believe these trends are coming to fruition (indeed they are) then the “object” will no longer be held in such high esteem by the patrons of our work. It is critical that industrial design redefines itself in a mold that better serves this future.
Surya Vanka closed the conference by comparing our present society to darker times of our past: the black plague of the 14th century and the great depression of the 1920s and 30s. These bleaker moments in history gave birth to the renaissance, and a renaissance of design. Today we live in a time of ambiguity and uncertainty. The good news is these are precisely the conditions that designers are expert at navigating. We have the opportunity and responsibility to guide people with the experiences we design.
We are beginning to feel the impact of these big changes. Only by opening ourselves up to understanding these changes can we stay relevant to the people who experience our design work. If you were to ask me what I will be doing in the future, I hope I’ll be helping people understand and create the positive and human experiences that will grow out of this time of massive change.
We’ve officially submitted a bunch of talk proposals to the IXDA conference taking place February 4 - 7 in Savannah, Georgia. Stay tuned to the IXDA site to learn what talks are selected.
Visit the talk abstracts below and let us know what you think.
Until recently, the parts required to build NUI devices were expensive, but higher volumes and technology advancements have enabled lower production costs and retail availability/selection of touch-based devices is no longer a barrier to consumer adoption. Does that mean it’s just a matter of time before NUIs become mainstream? According Sabrina Boler at Artefact, the answer is YES.
With Sabrina’s experience as the Design Manager for Microsoft Surface, where — as one of the original team members — she built a team that brought to life the potential of Surface’s capabilities, she can discuss Microsoft Surface as a key example of a NUI. Microsoft Surfaces uses a unique NUI which includes touch screen, multi-touch gesture and object recognition capabilities — but where is it headed next? [Link]
Demand for interaction designers is growing — even during the recession. Additionally, technology is evolving at a phenomenal pace from touch screens to cloud computing to sensors. And all types of companies and industries — from software to mobile to retail to entertainment — are looking for ways to enhance the user experience of their products and services. This demand for interaction designers, evolution of technology, and changes to the market are outpacing the educator’s ability to stay relevant to students. Design educators who are focused on teaching static graphics and pure three dimensional form are becoming less relevant to technology companies. Educators who focus on experiences over form will remain relevant. [Link]
Hollywood continues to fantasize and provoke us UX designers to imagine more dimensional user experiences. Perhaps for the first time however we are witnessing a bit of a critical mass for real working 3D UI’s. There are a number of factors influencing this trend from the change of perception of console gaming as a popular consumer activity vs. niche hardcore activity.
Rob will demonstrate that there is something viscerally compelling about 3-D movement and 3-D visual style, which he believes is commercially undeniably successful. When designers take the time to understand and master the new visual levers at their disposal (depth, lighting, animation, cameras, physics and materials) really exciting and delightful experiences can be created that give user experience designers new ways to engage and delight users as they interact with digital products of all kinds. In addition he’ll argue that various technologies are going to bring 3D UX to the mainstream in the very near future so we’d better start some kind of discourse about them. [Link]
Jennifer Darmour, would like to offer a sneak peak at what the future holds for retail user experiences, particularly as retailers attempt to bridge the gap between online and in-store purchases. Artefact believes that in-store and online shopping experiences will become much more integrated — especially for shopping experiences that involve a great deal of research.
In addition, Jennifer will speak about how many companies, particularly retailers, are looking for ways to create relevant/personalized feeds for their target customers that go beyond Facebook and Twitter. Jennifer can speak about what companies need to consider when developing personalized feeds for its target audiences, why they have become a point of interest particularly for retailers and what makes feeds one of the most relevant and effective ways to reach target audiences. [Link]
Dave will share multiple audience activities and demonstrations of perceptual abilities and limitations paired with their related rules of thumb. He will address the use of dimension, color, motion, symbols, and contrast for design, e.g.:
How detailed images of our retinas show us the best uses of color and contrast
How we direct our gaze and attention and what it means for interface layouts
Our “sliding window” of temporal processing and implications for motion design
What optical illusions teach us about 3D and eye movement
How low-level processing of certain visual attributes make them “pop”
How we process depth and which are the strongest cues
Why your volume and brightness adjustments use a non-linear scale
We need to challenge our assumptions about emerging economies. We must take a harder look at the unique cultural characteristics. We need to learn from the good design examples already being used.
From this talk, you’ll walk away with surprising examples of good design and an understanding of why these products succeeded in emerging markets. Learn about techniques for uncovering insights that will foster new design ideas and innovation. And lastly, become familiar with exciting technology innovations that demonstrate hot opportunity areas…..from mobile banking to matchmaking. [Link]
Technology is rapidly changing the way we interact with our world. It is becoming woven into the products and environments all around us — cars, devices, clothing, accessories — even in the surfaces of homes and public spaces.
Speaking to Artefact’s experience and collaborations, Olen will present examples of these future interactions as well as opportunities for UX design methods — active research, experiential prototyping and multi-sensory design — to define these experiences. [Link]
Martijn will delve into what these conversation trends mean for the mobile phone industry and the interaction design community, as well as how the phone can become the integrated center and unifying element for communication and collaboration, creating a much more positive user experience.
Martijn will also share future concepts and demos illustrating how interaction designers can help combine all types of conversations on the mobile phone in a user friendly manner. Lastly, Martijn will show how the phone, specifically the “address book” can become the integrated center and unifying element for communication. [Link]
Heads up guys, Gabe and I will be attending the Design Research Conference on October 1st through the 2nd. For those of you who are also attending, or thinking of attending, let us know! This is going to be a great trip with an impressive line up of speakers and delicious deep dish pizza close by.
We’re looking forward to Marc Rettig’s talk on Data to Difference. I’m interested in hearing more examples on the application of research that impacts a design solution. At Artefact, we constantly want to push the way we use research to not just provide an explanation, but to take the next step and take what we understand and create something better. Something next generation. The other fun part about this workshop is that it sounds like it will be interactive. Always a plus!
The Design Research Conference (DRC), hosted by the IIT Institute of Design, brings together a growing community of design professionals advancing the role of design research in innovation.
The conference strives to spread knowledge through the discussion of compelling experiences and case studies, innovative methods and approaches, and the future and sustainability of design research.
Enthusiastic speakers interested in sharing their knowledge take the stage, enchanting the audience with best practices of design research and enthralling stories. The audience, two-thirds professionals and a third students, leaves with key takeaways: new ideas for further discussion and methods to throw into their own toolkits.
In its eighth year, DRC (formally About, With and For) will be more participatory in nature. Workshops, student presentations, twenty-minute lightning round TED style talks, and other group activities and networking opportunities will fill the two days.
You can find us on Twitter @kvwong and @gbiller. See you soon!
How are Industrial Design and Interaction Design different? Is it true that Industrial Designers drink more during work hours? Are Interaction Designers better looking?
Tomorrow night: Artefact will be presenting with Carbon alongside frog design, Microsoft Hardware, Fluke, and Hornall at frog design in Seattle. If you’re a fan of game shows, in flight entertainment, or Christopher Konrad, then you will love this event.
Learn more about the “soft” and “hard” sides of product design. See work that was designed by Artefact and Carbon working together.
Event Details When: Wednesday, July 22nd. Doors open at 6:30, presentation starts at 7:00. Where: frog design at 5th and Pine in Seattle - 413 Pine Street, Seattle, WA 98101 [map link] Fee: Free!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for the play by play @artefactgroup
The 2009 IDSA Northwest Junior Industrial Design Show is tonight in Everett at BUiLT design. Junior ID students from WWU, UW, and Emily Carr will be presenting their projects from this year. This includes the Artefact+Carbon sponsored project with the WWU industrial design students.
We will be posting details of their work on the education project on the blog following their final presentation in June, here at Artefact.
by Kevin Wong, posted October 15th, 2009
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