artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
David Moorhead 1756036 Masters of Industrial Design MID YEAR WORK AND IDEAS
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Project Goals Types of Engagement What’s an Artisan What’s a Designer What is Co-Design? Ethical Engagements Co-Design as a Service AIACA
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Project Goals and Focus Exploration of
Draft proposal of
codesign as a service for artisans delivered by designers
principals for ethical engagements by designers With artisans Exploration of
designing for artisan focused ecommerce
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Types of Artisan Designer Engagements Each type of engagement a person or designer undertakes with another has an intent, power arrangement and set of expectations. Each individual application of a type of engagement will have social impact and personal impact.
Partnership
collaboration
intervention
education
salvation
cultural record restoration tourism experience
service
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Service and Co-Design?
To answer this question the characteristics of all engagements as posed on the previous page need to be considered first. A SERVICE Intent - to apply a set of understandings, skills and experiences that I or my organisation has to an identified issue (partially or fully developed) of someone or some organisation with a view to providing an outcome (not necessarily a solution). This application is offered as a ‘product’ that has some form of recompense. Power - this can vary, the requesting agency has the power of being the initiator of the service arrangement to treat an identified issue. The service is provided on the basis of ‘an expertise’ that is not held by the customer this means the service provider has power in the control of the application of that expertise and ultimately the content of the resulting outcome. Whilst the customer has a say and a contribution in the outcome the basis of a service as a product is the uniqueness and authority of the outcome. Expectations - in this form of engagement the expectations of each party can be quite fluid throughout the life of the engagement and therefore must be managed and communicated. Each party will have a starting set of expectations and perceptions about all elements of the ‘service’ these will inevitably be negotiated, compromised and to a degree agreed upon or the engagement will be untenable.
How does Co-Design fit into this idea of service? Can it be a service in its own right? CO-DESIGN AS A SERVICE Co-Design traditionally is a method employed by design organisations to remove some of the constraints that being a professional designer adds to conducting design i.e. control, formalised methods, formalised thinking, control and the myth that as a designer you will find the ‘best’ solution to a design brief (whatever that may be). Co-Design does this by taking away the professional designer’s complete control over the process of designing and handing authority and design ‘power’ to a nonprofessional who has a connection in some form to the focus of the design brief. This approach is more than design research in which case ultimately the designer takes the research and has final word on the design outcome. My gut feeling is that Co-Design could be an effective part of a design service whose intent was to train, educate or transfer information in addition to inspiring confidence through supervised and safe ‘experience’ building. I feel that its critical that Co-Design as a service has those two halves to its intended offering: knowledge transfer and experience building. My other sense or gut feeling is that Co-Design is limited in its impact so could only ever be a ‘part’ of an over arching service or development.
is codesign just a method that could be applied by a design service or a service in its own right
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
What’s an Artisan? Who is this Person?
Wikipedia Artisan An artisan[1] (from French: artisan, Italian: artigiano) or craftsman (craftsperson)[2] is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, sculpture, clothing, jewellery, household items and tools or even machines such as the handmade devices of a watchmaker. Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artist. The adjective “artisanal” is sometimes used in describing hand-processing in what is usually viewed as an industrial process, such as in the phrase artisanal mining. Thus, “artisanal” is sometimes used in marketing and advertising as a buzz word to describe or imply some relation with the crafting of handmade food products, such as bread, beverages or cheese. Many of these have traditionally been handmade, rural or pastoral goods but are also now commonly made on a larger scale with automated mechanization in factories and other industrial areas.
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
What’s a Designer? Who is this Person?
(http://www.design.org.au/index.cfm?id=186) Designer A designer is a business professional who develops solutions to commercial needs that require the balancing of technical, commercial, human and aesthetic requirements. A designer can be said to be both technician and artist. A designer plans things for manufacture or construction. The difference between a designer and a craftsperson or artist is that designers usually develop things that have requirements set by others and will ultimately be produced by others. (http://bopdesigner.com/what-is-design/) Designer What is “Design”? Design is a process especially suited to divergent thinking—the exploration of new choices and alternative solutions. – Tim Brown, IDEO Most basically put, “design” = creative problem-solving. And it can be applied to any challenge to come up with a solution. Good design creates appropriate, sustainable and effective solutions. Good design applied to meaningful problems—like those facing people and issues in serious need—creates meaningful solutions. Anyone can be a designer. In fact, most people design stuff all the time. Some people get formal training and learn much more about the ins and outs, tips and tricks of the trade. And designers’ advanced skills and talents can be very useful in a variety of applications. At its core, “designing” something involves analyzing a problem, identifying the root cause and contributing factors, coming up with an idea to solve it, and executing that idea. The idea doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated, but the more contributing factors and parties affected by the problem and the potential solution, the more moving pieces a person has to juggle and account for. And then, designing solutions requires thinking in systems.
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
What is Co-Design?
Wikipedia codesign Co-design or codesign is a product, service, or organization development process where design professionals empower, encourage, and guide users to develop solutions for themselves. Co-design encourages the blurring of the role between user and designer, focusing on the process by which the design objective is created. (http://www.tacsi.org.au/services/co-design/) OUR CO-DESIGN APPROACH The ‘co’ in co-design stands for collaborative and community. Co-design is about working with people to develop solutions for them. By better understanding people’s needs and challenges, and trying out new solutions with them in context, we will be more likely to create solutions that create impact. We always adapt our co-design process to fit the project in hand but the underlying principles of the process always remain the same: • Start with a question • Everything is an assumption • Learn from people in context • Learn through making and testing
(http://www.dcdr.dk/uk/menu/update/webzine/articles/ what-is-co-design) What is Co-design? Co-design is a design approach where stakeholders meet and improve on each other’s ideas while “rehearsing the future” together. In this process, the designers’ visualisation skills play a crucial role.
(http://uxmag.com/articles/creativity-based-researchthe-process-of-co-designing-with-users) Creativity-based Research: The Process of CoDesigning with Users The practice of co-design allows users to become an active part of the creative development of a product by interacting directly with design and research teams. It is grounded in the belief that all people are creative and that users, as experts of their own experiences, bring different points of view that inform design and innovation direction. Co-design is a method that can be used in all stages of the design process, but especially in the ideation or concepting phases. Partnering with users ensures their inclusion in knowledge development, idea generation, and concept development on products whose ultimate goal is to best serve these same users.
(Sanders, E. B. N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. Co-design, 4(1), 5-18.) Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. “...co-creation is any act of collective creativity i.e. creativity that is shared by two or more people.” “By co-design we indicate collective creativity as it is applied across the whole span of a design process...” “Thus co-design is a specific instance of co-creation. Codesign refers, for some people, to the collective creativity of collaborating designers. We use co-design in a broader sense to refer to the creativity of designers and people not trained in design working together in the design development process.”
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Considerations for Ethical Design Engagements
power
understanding
ownership
interpersonal respect
intention
outcomes
expectations
protection and respect for culture and tradition
relationship
length of engagement
needs contingencies realities
recognition
cultural context perspective and understanding
type of engagement
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Co-Design as a Service
Co-Design Tools & Methods: - Review UCD and IDEO toolkit etc
This service should not be offered or applied as a ‘single’ service it should be part of a holistic development approach and can be applied as a technique to many of the needs of a craft group to build businesses.
- Factors to explore in Co-Design,
Co-Design will be a ‘key’ method of service delivery but isn’t the whole story.
+ defining and understanding markets
+ identifying value offering
+ costing, costs and production issues
Explicit in this form of engagement is the mentality of service, the designer providing the service does not own any part of what is produced - ideas, products, innovations. IP belongs completely to the person or organisation who is the subject of the service.
+ financial considerations (how to get paid)
+ universal product value (what’s it worth?)
+ marketing, message, perception
+ ownership, IP, exclusivity, dealing with markets and middle men
+ design style and aesthetic
+ product type and customer
This service will not provide all the answers, the perfect solution or result in instantly successful products or designs. Nor will the service result in the customers becoming ‘professional’ designers. The service will bring to bear professional design knowledge, methods and perspectives to each customers situation and needs. The service will bring knowledge of markets, processes, strategies and what to do when and why. Each clients situation and goals are unique so each implementation of the service will be unique within a consistent broad framework of the design and production of products.
+ artisan bio and comms; pictures, videos and promotion
Whilst not an educational syllabus or course for design the key goals of the service in every case is on ‘information transfer’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘education’ through a process of experiential learning. This is learning that comes to you and adapts to your situation rather than asking you to come to it and adapt to its form.
By nature Co-Design is an act of collaboration and equity of roles.
+ product presentation
The engagement must start with relationship building, expectation development and sharing, definition of roles and interactions, and, development, definition and agreement on the shared goals of the service.
Who am I? Who are you?
Why am I here? Why are you here?
What do you want to achieve?
What do I think we should seek to achieve?
How is this going to work? How should we change it?
What is your craft/art? What does it mean to you? What do you want it to mean to others?
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
Scenarios of Co-Design as an Artisan Service I met up with Kevin Murray in late June about Sangam, but at the end of our discussion he asked me a good question that I couldn’t answer directly. This was in regards to my intentions for embarking on some experiential study of Co-Design...he asked me “have you worked out some scenarios?”...what he meant by this was - what scenarios of Co-Design are you going to test or prototype or experience via the Co-Design experiences? I couldn’t answer this question directly because all of my thinking to date has been at a higher academic level of the ‘topic’ and methods for exploring it. This thinking hadn’t quite got to the cold hard realities of implementation. So with some thought on this topic my first thoughts on scenarios for Co-Design as a service which are based on the approach I defined on the previous page are defined on this page. One of them will be a trial and a simple test of the process and experience with my sister and my cousin who are seeking to make and sell their crochet designs for a small profit as a hobby/side-enterprise. This will not be the end of this process...but more opportunities need to be found that will test the scenarios I propose here...
POSSIBLE SPONSORS OF A CODESIGN SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS OF THAT SERVICE
DEVELOPMENT NGO
ECOMMERCE PROVIDERS
FAMILY OR SMALL BUSINESS
INDUSTRY SUPPORT ORGANISATION
EDUCATION INSTITUTE OR ORGINISATION
POSSIBLE PARTICIPANTS OR CUSTOMERS WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM CODESIGN AS A SERVICE
ARTISAN COOP
COMMUNITY GROUP
FAMILY OR SMALL BUSINESS
INDIVIDUAL ARTISAN
EDUCATIONAL CL ASS
artisan designer codesign in the age of
ecommerce
AIACA - Organisation of Interest D
C E CO U L D B
(http://www.aiacaonline.org/index.asp)
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It’s this sort of organisation that might offer a design education service based around a model of co-design?
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These guys would be really good to talk to and to use as a case study or example of an organisation that is seeking to promote the whole industry at a policy level and to provide services to craft groups and small businesses to help them develop. They are seeking to raise the profile of artisans and craftworkers in india an industry that is the second largest employer in india behind agriculture!
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ALL INDIA ARTISANS AND CRAFTWORKERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION
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PROCESS FOR GETTING SUPPORT FROM AIACA AS A CRAFT GROUP How to Apply We are currently seeking new applications from craft based enterprises looking for business development and capacity building support. The following steps will guide you through the application process. Step I Fill in the Preliminary Assessment Form [PAF] - It functions as the application form and also provides us information to better understand your organization. You can submit the Preliminary Assessment Form (PAF) online, or download the PAF and mail the completed form at our office address. Step II AIACA recommendation - Based on the PAF, AIACA recommends a way forward determining the mode of intervention. Step III Diagnostic Study - For interventions through long and short term consulting, an initial diagnostic study of the enterprise is conducted which determine key areas of concern and the scope of intervention. At this stage, the applicant enterprise is expected to share with AIACA the travel and boarding expenses of our staff members (usually 2), conducting the diagnostic study. Step IV Action Plan - Based on the diagnostic study an Action Plan is drawn up highlighting the key areas of support required by the organization, detailing the timelines and cost involved for each intervention. Once this Action Plan is agreed upon by both the applicant and AIACA, an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) is signed to begin the implementation of various support activities. Step V Implementation of support activities - The implementation is conducted both through AIACA staff as well as consultants who have expertise in different functions. The applicant enterprise needs to report regularly on the activity progress.