Network and Services

NET WOR K A ND SERV ICES Critical reading

& Design-Driven innovation roberto verganti Designing interaction bill MoggriDge behaviour change house of lorDs May 2012 Juliana Tuhkanen matricola: 779717 POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Master of Product Service System Design | Networks and Services || course by: Proff. Anna Meroni and Mark Vanderbeeken

Design-Driven Innovation Roberto Verganti Roberto Verganti is Professor of Management of Innovation at Politecnico di Milano, and is visiting professor at Mälardalen University in Sweden. He has been a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School twice, and at the Copenhagen Business School. Roberto’s research on management of design and design clusters has been awarded with Compasso d’Oro. He has issued more than 150 publications, which constitute from strategy, design and technology management.

Since the author of the book has a strong Italian background, big part of research has taken its place in Italian industries. Roberto explores how to radically innovate for the companies, in order to compete sufficiently, by creating long-lasting products that carry completely new meanings, and are also difficult to be repeated by other business companies. The process of many companies is tacit, so to get into trusted circle of company where from further studies could accrue required strong commitment and plenty of his time.

The development and research steps are the most crucial for creating new meaning.

Attracting right interpreters in the team to achieve high quality results, that will be noticed on market and drag attention of both users and competitors. At one point Verganti even states that radical innovation does not come from user-centered approach, he rather concludes that when a radical change appears in discussion, it is more likely to be rejected as an absurd idea.

2

In this book Verganti defines radical innovation through the two dimensions; technology and creating new meanings, where both has incremental and radical change axis.

pic 1. Roberto Verganti incremental and radical change axis of technology and meaning

Divided in market-pull, technology-push, driven by meaning and technology epiphanies; strongly emphasizing on technology epiphanies, which are an intersection of technology-driven innovation and design-driven innovation of meaning.

For me, what can be withdrawn from here in benefit for Service Design is not much, most likely the observation, general research and sense people give to things in life. Creating new meanings is about giving value to certain objects. But since service is about communication and interaction, the concept of creating new meanings is not so crucial in designing experiences. It rather comes in contradictory with opinion that user-centred design approach is crucial when designing radical innovation.

The book was very useful; while I was reading it I got inspired so many times from the talk between designers and executive managers that I had to stop reading for a while to sketch my ideas to save them for later. So far I still have not realized any of them, but they are in my sketch book waiting for a perfect solution. Since recently I have become more interested in strategy and design research, I have planned to read Norman and Verganti latest publication about design research versus technology and meaning change.

3

Designing Interaction Bill Moggridge A founder of IDEO, an award-winning British industrial and interaction designer of first laptop computer Bill Moggridge works now as a communicator; writing, making videos and graphic designs. Bill has taught at the Royal College of Art, the London Business School and Stanford University, and sits on the board at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. He has been also honored with the lifetime achievement award at the National Design Awards at the White House in 2009.

For the book Bill Moggridge holds 37 interviews with inventors of the most important tools for interaction design, that he carefully selected and writes true stories from the very inside industries from his own and co-workers experiences. He gives main overlook on environment where innovations has been born, the creativity at workplace and backgrounds of professionals who have contributed profoundly into their projects, who were interested in creating something new and developing it further until it will reach out even for the most common user. In this book we see how many superior outcomes were born in trial and error, by coincidence or by twist of fate during the conception, development or prototyping phases. How human needs and wishes inspired and navigated the change of design over time. In the end you can count very few major influential innovators, and the fact that they all have heard or know about each other surprised me.

4

A very beautiful book about interaction design, I really enjoyed the way Bill Moggridge introduce you to the practical side of designing process and construct a discipline on creating interaction design. In the end, practice of interaction design is knowledge-demanding and multidisciplinary.

When designing interaction, users must be considered throughout all the process and concentrating on the behaviour, so the design process become over all user-centred in terms to satisfy the needs of people who will use the product. Otherwise, if the device is too difficult to use, the users will not understand the beneficial facts of the product.

The interaction between service provider and its user is considered to be clear and straightforward to explore and shape the future. As soon as the interaction product is out on market, the further development and investigation should structure new forces, since the user is no longer situated in lab to examine and try the product. Product will be most likely to face new challenges and they are the new problems to be solved for adaptation of a product to the user that needs it most.

Personally, it was very fascinating to read about each step of the development process of tools, that now-a-days are taken for granted. For example, the design of a first laptop computer was so well thought and researched around and for the user, where result of the final product also sparkled into a new Interaction design field, which was rediscovered by other designers ten years after. I am fascinated with the work that Bill Atkinson has conducted while designing interaction user interface for Apple Lisa. Quoting Moggridge what he writes about Bill Atkinson “Perhaps that dichotomy was a sign of his design talent, as he was habituated to both problem solving and aesthetic values.� This book has inspired me to go deeper with my studies and now I am looking forward to study cognitive and cultural neuroscience in near future. Bill Moggridge, gives a good view on a service design discipline in early 80’s. Bill describes tacit knowledge and learning environment of a designer in the last chapter and it seems more like a handbook that should be read by every designer. Also, as I designer myself, I understood that I have to create a deeper bound with people that I rely on, since they are my sources of inspiration and possible partners whom to work with.

5

Behaviour change report House of Lords, Science and Technology Select Committee The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament. It is independent from, and complements the work of, the elected House of Commons. The Lords shares the task of making and shaping laws and checking and challenging the work of the government. Members spend almost half of the time in the House considering bills (draft laws). All bills have to be considered by both Houses of Parliament before they can become law. During several stages, members examine each bill, line-by-line, before it becomes an Act of Parliament.

First of all the booklet was so difficult to read, since it is a report from a long-term research where professional literature and terms are applied through all text. The author state that even though their conclusions are based on knowledge acquired from professional highquality researches, which are supported by various literatures, case studies and sciences of changing behaviours; still the report is purely a recommendations and suggestions of House of Lords the Science and Technology Select Committee to understand behaviour and behaviour change to create efficient policies across all areas.

The report is about utilizing productive behaviour change interventions through government policies, meanwhile avoiding significant disadvantageous side effects.

Recommendations, about how does evidence carried out from human behaviour research, can be applied in attempt to change behaviour of population. Report aims to estimate the value of evidence-based for nudge intervention, which Government has recently taken interest into, and other types of regulatory and non-regulatory policy interventions.

6

The report states that using a range of interventions, like range of policy tools, both regulatory and non-regulatory, is more often found as effective method in changing behavior at a population level than using a single intervention in isolation. But miscellaneous interventions can make evaluation more knotty because of the difficulty in discriminating the relative effectiveness of the components of such interventions.

The problem has to be understood and well-defined by means of ministers, for example by conducting behavior research concerned at a population level, since it is often debatable when the government has found necessary to influence people’s behavior where argumentative discourse is applied. The consultation and reaching out for the right people is crucial in the process development of behavior change interventions. Information withdrawn is highly recommended to be shared and contributions archived for further evaluation. Collaboration is also important in prototyping process, where voluntary work is always welcomed, but it has to be steadily linear without holding possible conflicts of other interests. Necessity of evaluation is mostly important to understand what works in long-term and why for possible improvements. Like in this booklet of changing behaviours also in service design the same methods apply throughout the whole process.

For me it was very educational to see how an evidence-based research with case studies was carried out and lead into a clear report with discerning conclusions from a writer.

When designing for services, the scheme, described in booklet, becomes valuable when having an overall look at the service and applying science of humankind facets. When targeting challenge such as changing behaviour in larger scales, combination of co-creation and empathy let people adopt and accept interventions much faster and in some cases by their own choice, which I think is the most successful tactical outcome.

7

Comparison

These two books “Design-Driven Innovation”, “Designing Interaction” and a booklet about Behaviour Change, previously cogitated, form a diverse challenge ground for a designer to contend with main goal: designing for future human beings. It is a responsible and sensitive task, where sometimes guidelines do not exist. In the booklet is stated the “some witnesses argued that the most intrusive interventions would require the most justification and should be deployed with particular care because they restrict or eliminate choice” ethical acceptability and moral behaviour change in this case will be in some circumstances a controversial issue. Where rise a substantial question for me; how to innovate radical meaning carrying intervention for smooth adaptation of new behaviour by emerging societies and cultures in era of globalization without eliminating existing choices?

Verganti claims that radical innovation does not come from user-centered approach, when as Moggridge writes about how the design process was build around the common user and about new solutions to overcome obstacles and how wicked problems have being solved, based on what is wanted and needed from design. Still, starting point is very different when comparing between creating new meanings for things and developing new interaction design. So the basic understanding of a design purpose must be studied carefully, like in Behaviour change report, first setting down the right goals followed by needed research and explored further when needed. So called tacit knowledge brings design to its final destination, like in Designing Interaction where Moggridge agrees with Charles Eames about constraints and even settles down a hierarchy of complexity for an Interaction design discipline based on types of human factors (anthropometrics, physiology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, ecology).

8

pic 2. Bill Moggridge hierarchy of complexity for an Interaction design

9

pic 3. Roberto Verganti Design Direction Workshop five steps

Verganti also introduces Design Direction Workshop approach to create new vision in five steps; envision, share, connect, select and embody, where participants form their insights through metaphors, analogies, stories or prototypes and build four scenarios from most clustered dimensions and extreme opposing polarities.

10

pic 4. Bill Moggridge design process

In Interaction Design process introduced by Moggridge, the second step about creating meaning through metaphors and scenarios is exactly the same method used in Design Direction Workshop.

11

Authors of these publications talk about the importance to obtain comprehendible tacit knowledge behind a project. Talking about neuroscience and quoting from Bill Moggridge book to quote Malcom Gladwell in his book Blink (New York: Little, Brown, 2005); “If a problem has a large number of constraints, the conscious mind starts to get confused, but the subconscious mind has a much larger capacity.�

Meaning that some of decisions are made under certain circumstances where the core is more than invisible. Behaviour change report is solely based on research and acknowledgments that are made by Science and Technology Select Committee, for example, Future Concept Lab is a research Institute that concentrates profoundly on discovering tacit knowledge, where multiply tools are used. Genius Loci is an approach, also mentioned in Design Driven Innovation book, where the discourse is both local and global. From one point of view local compactness of the network is vitally necessary, because interactions settled on tacit knowledge derive from geographic closeness. From other point of view interactions among interpreters worldwide allow them to widen the amount and range of their perceptions and supply a global position on the development of meanings. All authors mention the necessity of attracting the right interpreters, in other words the most suitable professional for the task.

12

Even thought Microsoft has the most highly qualified staff, still the culture at Apple is what makes it one of a kind in the industry. Changing the way people see things and influencing their behaviour, like designing a laptop that can be used by businessperson without looking like their secretary, by constructing a new tool that they will prefer to use over existing ones. In my opinion, since the investors and businesspeople are the first one to come across with new inventions and they are the ones who actually need these tools in first place to ease and improve their work output. The better the design is displayed for a salesperson the better chances it has to find full funding for a project that has to pass many stages from meeting head of business industry before arriving to the final target: consumers. I find this design philosophy incomplete, especially because the biggest user groups are consumers and that is why I believe that co-creation is a best method to be followed at the moment by many organizations to achieve even better results.

13

Reached conclusion in terms of Service Design

With a background of an undergraduate bachelor student of Culture & Arts, who will follow a higher education in service design I aim to create services that people will fall in love with to produce lasting bonds between companies and their customers. I here withdraw a conclusion and emerge my personal view on designing for services.

Service design is about building communities, where underlying principles differ from other sort of design aiming mainly for permanency, that will develop and renew in period of time. Productive service design changes in three ways 1. By itself and improvements over time, 2. through feedbacks from users and similar or related service systems, and 3. according to expectations and possible needs.

I am not saying that the design of services should be perceived as finer or of greater significance than other forms of design. It is just different. It has several dimensions, and it demands other kind of approach and skill set.

Rather than seeing service design output as an industrial act I would like to compare services to relations between people. The way people relate with the services is the same as relationship with people. To engage with the service users go through different phases, and long-lasting bonds of trust are created with service being great, which might even make one to fall in love with. When the service become intimate with the user, one might feel incomplete or cut off without their gadgets and services.

14

When designing services that one should fall in love with, it is more a design for an emotional linkage than for the cognitive mind. In other words - creating value through relationship.

For example when comparing a brands like Swatch and Casio or Seiko watches where functionality is the same, but people prefer pay more for Swatch products that were designed with passion and created value through relationship. Artemides’ Metamorfosi lamp that is not physically the most attractive object in comparison with any regular lamp which main task is just to deliver light in specific environment, we clearly see that the meaning has being changed in terms to add emotional value.

While I was reading these book combinations, my recent observation was dragged by Facebook that bought Instagram for about one billion dollars. Zuckerberg gives an answer in his own blog post for acquiring such a service (http://www.facebook.com/zuck/ posts/10100318398827991); “Providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together. We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.” where people are emotionally connected with the service and their individualistic relationship is involved.

Good service design starts with introducing itself to people, where discovering and understanding of the service in the first place is essential. Services must be designed in a way that even most uncommon user will adapt to it easily. Reducing all possible barriers to make service as easy as possible to use. By adding the emotional values to make people engage better with the service, practical applications like game dynamics, social components, and eye-catching beauty can be very potential at this stage. All together starting from good content, personality of service and touch of fun are the main key to successful service design.

Consistent and trusted service that user can always rely on is essential during the stage of use. As well is important that user will find it easy to share personal experience and allows service to be part of life without doubting about privacy or the true intentions of the service provider. Possibility to flawlessly use the service across different platforms and locations is significant. Arranging complex digital systems into simple and elegant ones, the companies that design seductive services will be the ones that create the most favored and long-lasting bonds with their customers.

15