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TABLE OF CONTENTS page 6 The Team Introductions to the six designers who set out to define their industry
page 10 Executive Summary Establishing the current state of the industry
page 14 The Challenge Description of the problem we set out to solve
page 18 Research Our journey exploring what others have created and discovered along the way
Persona Journey Maps page 27
Who our customers are
Additional Research page 36 4
Where else we could look
page 39 Synthesis Bringing the research together with our ideas to specifically address our problem
The Conclusion page 46 How we came up with our solution
The Toolkit page 52 Several methods of communicating our message to several users
page Video
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page Game
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page Booklet
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for your Grandma for your Friends for your Boss
page 70 Outcomes What we expected to find
page 72 References Help along the way
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THE TEAM
Regina Law is the program director for Corporate Partnerships at The New School, helping corporations imagine their futures in a rapidly changing world through design. Prior to joining The New School, Regina work in strategic planning roles at American Express. Marco Maria is a trained architect, licensed engineer and strategic designer operating in Italy. He is currently Head of BD in a design innovation firm and actively researches in academia on computational design. Terry Behan is a strategic designer operating from Johannesburg South Africa. He works with commercial & social businesses using a tailored approach to complex solving. He has worked in over 15 emerging markets across Africa, Asia & the Middle East. 6
Caitlin Davis is a graphic artist for Tiffany & Co in crystal and silver etching. In this position she personalizes merchandise for retail and corporate clients. She also does freelance design work from her New Jersey home. Hind Al-Selmi is an Interior Designer and Artist. She is the CEO and Executive Creative Director of HANDASAH the Inclusive Design Studios. Hind has created HANDASAH in 2015 and still working on its success until the moment. Jaime Horak is a fashion buyer living in Columbus, Ohio. She is currently working in product development at a company who is working to revive its brand image. This opportunity is a true test of creating well designed product to get the customer back. 7
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sciences are concerned with how things are. . . design on the other hand is concerned with how things ought to be -HERBERT A. SIMON
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Innovation, the pillar of the contemporary economy, comes in different forms. While applied science and engineering is rooted in the incremental understanding of how things are and its optimization, design is concerned on how thing ought to or could be, leading to evolutionary jumps in technology, products, services and the systems that govern our lives. Design, therefore, is both the manifestation of
innovation in our world, and the process by which we can continue to innovate. In order to shape our future and innovate meaningfully, we have to understand design and use it to positively advance the world which we live in. We live in an increasingly complex world and face increasingly wicked problems. The old ways of thinking are no longer fit for purpose.
We live in an increasingly complex world and face increasingly wicked problems. The old ways of thinking are no longer fit for purpose 10
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The process of design helps us understand how we can create better solutions that can have a positive impact on mankind, by embedding in our thinking the pillars of design which we have found to be consistent throughout time and across industry: • Creativity, as the base for problemsolving • Empathy, as a fundamental twist of perspective from technology-driven to human-centric solutions • Intuition, the genius arising from deep understanding, hard work and trial-anderror processes. These pillars have helped shape the products, services, and systems we encounter every day. Yet despite the importance of design in our day to day lives and its strategic importance in creating a better future for our planet and all who live on it, there are still many misconceptions about it. The confusion
about design is exacerbated by the fact that there is no universal language, overarching definition or understanding of design, even amongst prominent designers. There are many philosophies and approaches toward the subject but each individual or institution perspective influences their understanding and comprehension on the subject. Through a process of immersive research, our team set out to understand and try to explain “What is design and why is it important?”. On behalf of the funding institution and project sponsor - Parsons - our team sought to ensure that the outcome of this work would result in a product allowing all Parsons stakeholders, without any formal training or previous experience on the subject to better understand the value and importance of design in today’s complex world.
“the best way to predict the future is to invent it” -Alan Curtis Kay
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THE CHALLENGE We all consume design in its many forms on a daily basis, design is for everyone one, but not everyone is involved in the process. Design is widely accepted and commonly exploited: it has been used to describe everything from producing a “designer dress” that involves fabric, thread and a good scissors to “designing systemic solutions” that might better educate millions of children across the world. Ordinarily, one perceives design as an object, a thing that exists like a logo, a dress, or a house. It is not uncommon for design to be further affiliated with the superficial - the cosmetic layer, like the selection of color or font for a document. Design is not a result, it is a process to solve problems that improves the human condition. The process of design not only puts functional cars on the street, it also creates an effective transportation network. It not only helps us build hospitals that are effective but also creates a friendly environment for sick children. These are both examples of systems with increasingly changing technological challenges that cannot be solved without a deep understanding of human beings, our evolving expectations, our social and working structures, and our habits. Design has gone through a rapid evolution and has been expanded to incorporate a growing number of activities and processes that affect the systems and networks that govern our lives. This has resulted in 14
The challenge is to create an understanding of “design” that is inclusive enough to be understood by anyone a hybridization of the discipline, moving it from an art and craft to a standardized and replicable process, mainly for low end business innovation. While this shift has the positive impact of framing a scientific background of design and an increased usage of the design process in broader industries, the definition of design is still uncertain and the value of design thinking still unclear to the average person. The growing interest in design and the expansion in the role of design makes it easier to understand why no general or simple meaning of the term is commonly agreed on, and how the boundaries separating what is design and what is not have blurred. However, the importance of design makes it even more imperative for Parsons to identify, understand, and communicate what is core to design, what is an accessory, and what falls outside of it. The challenge is to create an understanding of “design” that is inclusive enough to be understood by anyone who may be inclined to ask the question, independent from the need to cite “a product as example”, but focusing on the general and absolute (in the Latin sense of absolutus ‘freed, unrestricted’) value of it. Moreover such a definition should help us understand the evolving nature of design, rather than just the historical context. 15
We are interpreters – not merely translators between sender and receiver. What we say and how we say it makes a difference. If we want to speak to people, we need to know their language. In order to design for understanding, we need to understand design.
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-ERIK SPIEKERMANN
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RESEARCH Exploration of Definitions
One-on-One’s
Industry Immersion
Out of Category Experts
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Our research was at times both concurrent and sequential as outlined in the below graphic.
Quantitative Survey
Mediums & Tools
Design Research Conclusions
A number of different resources and research types were used to establish a hypothesis from which to operate. With the intention of maximizing the reach (spanning four continents) and the volume while keeping the necessary granularity, we employed multiple research methods to understand the current state of design. In particular, we focused on understanding the existing definitions for design, the current preconceptions, and the best tools to communicate complex ideas.
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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Our qualitative research was designed to provide a number of different data points that would provide us with a wide variety of rich inputs from different sources. The objective of the qualitative process was to establish if there was any commonality amongst the design profession, stretching from grad students to design firms and academic design institutions . The sources of our qualitative research are indicated in the below model.
This research aimed at reaching a wide number of data entries, privileging volume over depth to formulate the key questions for our secondary research process. Given this widespread nature, it was considered to best fit the wide public, including design professionals only in their natural share across the population quantitative process, explicitly avoided design professionals. An online survey was set up to gather data from 90 members of the public, as well as scraping tools were used to infer what the rest of the lay community was saying and thinking about design. The sources of our quantitative research are indicated in the below model.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESEARCH While bibliography usually comes first in every research process, it was considered more suitable to approach the wide public with minds unframed on the specific topic. Nevertheless, post our qualitative and our quantitative process and due to the specific challenge of communicating an abstract concept (design) in a clear and succinct manner, a structured approach was used to investigate how previous designers, architects, scientists writers and philosophers dealt with similar challenges. The sources of our bibliographic research are indicated in the below model.
OBSERVATIONS FROM EXPERT INTERVIEWS “Design fixes a problem, a previous failure or mistake.” “Design fulfills the wants and needs of everyday life, it is human centered.” “Design is a process of making things better” “Design translates ideas into concrete products or services to satisfy human needs” “Design is a Process with human experience at the center while developing a solution” “Design is: creative, innovative, functional, it creates something new, it is a system, a process” “Designers, wherever focusing on a city or a light bulb, aims at improving. While the designer will go through primary stages in the similar way to strategist by analyzing and trying to understand the context of the given thing or space, their aim will always be to create better and new.” 21
-KYLE MEYER
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What makes great design great is not a trendy technique, but the logic and conceptual aspect that were figured out in the designer’s mind – or on more likely, on paper – before a mouse cursor ever opened Photoshop.
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RESEARCH SUMMARY Research started by interviewing industry professionals to gain insights on what they thought design is. It was immediately clear how there are a number of differing opinions regarding not only terminology but contents as well, even amongst those who practice design day to day.
Inferred Interviews
MASSIMO CAMASSO
Coordinator of the interior design program IED (European Design Institute), Turin
KELLY HORAK
Associate Tech Designer Abercrombie&Fitch, New York
JANET KINGHORN
Brand Identity Consultant The Brand Union, Johannesburg
PAOLA ANTONELLI
DEBBIE GIBB
ISAAC MIZRAHI
ANDREW HASKIN
TONY FADELL
LUKE WATKINS
Museum of Modern Art Senior Curator
Fashion Designer
Product Creator
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One-on-One’s
VP of Corporate Partnerships The New School, New York
Senior Interactive Designer Frog, San Francisco
Freelance Designer New Jersey / New York
In addition to our exploration on the state of design, we also looked to external industries to find best practices for communicating complex ideas and concepts. One key resource was a not for profit called The School of Life. They focus on developing emotional intelligence and ways to explore philosophical questions including “what should you do for the rest of your life”, or “who you should you be with for the rest of your life”. We also looked at how other companies effectively communicated their message by exploring the commonalities of top advertisements of the 21st century and insights from top business insiders on effective communications. These best practice insights were critical in the synthesis of our research into workable prototypes.
emerging themes included human-centric and problem solving
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We also sought to understand the definition of design from the people selling design as a service, including prominent design firms and design universities. This provided a narrative of the expansion of design - both in the role of business today, and as a discipline for students in the future. Even in this case, we found differing opinions but started to see some emerging themes across the board such as the human-centric nature of design, and the problem solving aim. To effectively communicate the meaning of design, we examined our primary stakeholders and developed three personas that allow us to efficiently segment our users into three distinct groups. The clients of these design firms and the corporate partners of these universities shaped our understanding of the group of professionals we call, “Our Boss”
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Once we understood the state of the art of design definitions and meanings, our attention was focused on the other side of the coin: from industry professionals, firms, and schools to everyday people. A quantitative survey was completed by around 100 people, carrying some very interesting insights. The general public ties design to a specific class of products, outcomes or problems rather than to the general problem solving activity. They understood design as an artistic medium and used words like “creative”, “aesthetic” and “beauty” to describe design. More indepth conversations with these participants helped shape our understanding of the public persona, whom we affectionately dubbed “Our Friend”. We also recognized there were many people with very little understanding of design, who were at a loss when faced with the survey. These conversations helped shape our understanding of “Our Grandma”.
PERSONA JOURNEY MAPS To understand how our users in each of the three categories experienced design, we wanted to understand how they might cognitively and emotively go through a process of understanding design. Through a moderated interview process, we walked sample users through a design journey and mapped their experience. 27
My Boss
These are Industry professionals, post graduate students, other professionals, liberal parents and donors & New School staff. They live design and understand its value. They need a concise way to explain why design is important and the impact designing a company or service (not just a product) can have on society and business. From our interviews with these professionals, we uncovered the need for a tool they could use to shift the perspective of their stakeholders on design from an accessory cosmetic - to a global approach to solving key problems. These professionals might intuit this concept but they struggle to explain and communicate design and the importance of design succinctly and consistently.
Anne is a 32 year old Merchandise Manager at a major Fashion Retailer. Her focus is on clothing as the physical product designed, but she must design and implement strategies for her team as well. She needs to easily be able to explain the importance of design and its impact directly on the business. 28
CO N S U M E R E M OT I O N A L J O U R N E Y
How would you define design?
Category Selection
Sensory Absorption
Tactical Engagement
Residual Experience
Excitement builds as she brainstorms
Excitement continues and she gains confidence in what she will say
She starts to feel nervous and anxious because she knows she is deep in the weeds explaining design
Frustration
Thinks about what she already knows about design
Organizes her thoughts so she can explain clearly her views
Explains what design is, but realizes she needs help to narrow her thoughts so design is more easily understood
She is frustrated she could not concisely get her point across on such an important subject to her and her job.
Contemplation
Preparation
Action
Result
CO N S U M E R CO G N I T I V E J O U R N E Y What we learned from Anne: • She is smart and understands what she needs to say, but has trouble gathering all of her ideas together in one cohesive statement for such a complex definition. •
Anne could use the support of a document with graphics to help her explain design and translate the importance of it to her job in both physical design of a product and systematic design of her strategies. 29
My Grandma
This persona represents everyday people including Non-Design professionals, conservative parents, relatives, & the public at large. They have very little knowledge of design and the impact of design on their daily lives. They see design, in the best case scenario, as a product shell, like the iPhone. They have limited attention span and struggle to understand highly theoretical concepts. In order to get them through how design is central to our world, the diversity of design, and the impact it can have on society and business we need to exploit quickness, simplicity, and entertainment.
Doreen is 84 years old and has lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin her entire life. When she thinks of design she goes directly to a product, specifically clothing because she has two granddaughters working in the fashion industry. She needs an easy way to understand the importance of design, the different types of design, and the impact it has on our world. 30
CO N S U M E R E M OT I O N A L J O U R N E Y
How would you define design?
Category Selection
Sensory Absorption
Tactical Engagement
Residual Experience
Excitement builds as she brainstorms
Excitement continues and she gains confidence in what she will say
She feels confident in her examples of design
She feels confused and worried that she has such a narrow view on something so broad.
Thinks about what she already knows about design
Organizes her thoughts so she can explain clearly her views
Starts to give examples like clothes and furniture as what design is.
She realizes she has a single view and wants to understand what other forms of design there are and their importance
Contemplation
Preparation
Action
Result
CO N S U M E R CO G N I T I V E J O U R N E Y What we learned from Doreen: • She has a very singular view on what design is; she gives examples of physical products. • She knows there are probably other things that are designed, and even questions that, but is not sure what they are or how to explain what that type of design is. • Doreen would benefit from a short video with examples of different types of design and designers in different industries to better understand there are more than just products that can be designed. 31
My Friend
Students, prospective students and friends of designers. They are interested in design, but usually just see design as a narrow field for people with strong artistic skills, based on the media communication and what they’ve heard from their designer friends or through their personal interests. They have to be engaged in a fun but informative way, using infotainment to help them understand the big picture, the breadth of design, and how design is central to our technological and business world.
Ben is 28 years old and works in marketing. He creates social media campaigns for his company. He uses design day to day but wants to understand it more. He knows there is more to design than just a physical product and wants to explore that aspect as well as understand the larger impact design has on the world. 32
CO N S U M E R E M OT I O N A L J O U R N E Y
How would you define design?
Category Selection
Sensory Absorption
Tactical Engagement
Residual Experience
Excitement builds as he brainstorms
Excitement continues and he gains confidence in what she will say
He is confident in the way he uses design every day but curious on the big picture
Curiosity, wanting more
Thinks about what he already knows about design
Organizes his thoughts so she can explain clearly her views
He explains design is a process and something he does daily, but questions what the larger impact is
He is left now questioning bigger impacts of design and wonders how others view the subject
Contemplation
Preparation
Action
Result
CO N S U M E R CO G N I T I V E J O U R N E Y What we learned from Ben: • He has an opinion of what good design looks like, and what bad design looks like. • He feels confident in defining good/bad design himself but is curious what others think as well as what the bigger picture/impact of design is. • Ben could use a card game to play with others that show examples of good or bad design so he can hear other’s opinions. This can also get the conversation going of what other types of design there are and how they impact other companies and industries. 33
I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
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-SHERLOCK HOLMES
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POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL RESEARCH ADDITIONAL RESEARCH While the research developed within the scope of this document fully informs the subsequent project development, during this phase a series of further fields of exploration emerged. Given more time, these explorations can provide a deeper understanding on the definition of design and the best modes to communicate these definitions. The table on page 38 details what they are, why they could be of the Client interest and which methods could be applied to tap them and provide insights for additional services. 36
Is design a noun or a verb? We started our research project with the hope of creating a singular definition for design. We do not believe a singular definition is possible, but perhaps it is possible to narrow the definition of design. Our conversations found that design was understood to be both a noun, something that is created, and a verb, a process to create something to solve a problem. While there will always be some subjectivity on design, a narrow definition could make the understanding of design less
narrowing the definition of design can provide Parsons with a simpler pitch when speaking to parents and potential corporate partners confusing. More detailed interviews with industry experts and further exploration of academic papers and articles with the specific goal of narrowing the definition of design can provide Parsons with a simpler pitch when speaking to parents and potential corporate partners. What is the role of design education? In our research of academic institutions, it became clear there is very little commonality about the philosophy of design and design education. Our explorations focused on a broad industry definition, but an academic perspective on how design can be taught
has broad implications on the impact of design in the world. It will also help shape the view parents and prospective students on the relevance of designers in the new economy. We recommend interviews with deans and faculty from leading design schools and facilitated focus groups with prospective and existing students as well as corporate recruiters. What makes design obsolete? Our research focused along the spectrum of those who understood and loved design, and those who didn’t understand design. Our scope did not extend to design skeptics, either those who believe design is not critical in the development of our future, or those who believe design is just a fad. If design’s critical task is to solve problems, then speaking with critics may provide insight into the opportunities that could exist when designers have solved all problems. Interesting insight can be found from interviews with deans or faculty from traditional business schools, interviews with traditional consulting companies, and focus groups from students that declined their acceptance to Parsons. 37
RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS A MORAL FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN
A PHILOSOPHY OF DESIGN
OPPOSING VIEWS/ OPINIONS ON DESIGN
While there will always be subjectivity in relation to how people feel about design, it is worth exploring a moral framework that helps us to understand the boundaries in which can and should function
What was clear from the research is that, specifically amongst academic institutions there is very little commonality about the meaning or philosophy of design. This is an underexplored and under developed aspect of our industry that warrants further examination
While there may be very little common understanding of design, there are a lot of views out there, including opposing ones. It could be interesting to help us define design, speak with people/ companies who do not think they use design nor think it is important.
Recommended methods • Interviews with Design Schools’ Faculty, Deans • Inter school debates • Published papers
Recommended methods • A design sprint to create a system of understanding for design • Thesis papers on the subject
Recommended methods • Interviews • Scholarly Articles/ Academic Papers • Public debates
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SYNTHESIS The enquiry in the field of design lead us to establish a broad design research process. Covering a number of disciplines including architecture, industrial, fashion, consumer experience and UX design, we searched for commonality in understanding and approach. Additionally quantitative research sampling of 100 people helped us formulate a baseline public understanding of design. This research established a series of recurring patterns that set the framework for our concept developments. First of all, it was confirmed that there was very little common understanding of design at the level of definition. This was supported by our research. Secondly, meaning and purpose are often misconceived by the wide public. Our extensive research concluded that neither
the design industry or design professionals have a common understanding on the meaning of design, nor did the primary academic institutions. Considering the impossibility of communicating a topic not fully owned, it is easy to understand why no successful attempts have been carried out. Furthermore, while our in depth interviewees agreed that they believed that what they did and what other designers did was important, they each shared a different understanding of that importance. Our quantitative design corroborated these findings. Eventually, expert interviews highlighted how pushing a unique, synthetic definition while being practical was an attempt set to failure due to the highly impalpable nature of design. On the contrary, it was possible 39
to infer a series of subsequent layers of understanding supported by practical tools to pull different stakeholders to a level of knowledge sufficient for the Clients’ needs, while stimulating their knowledge to know more. The final direction of the project was eventually informed by the mash up exercise, where the value of applying our thinking into real life situations emerged and where the team could provide context and meaning to the question, “what is design?�.
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We aimed at allowing our users to come to understand design on their own terms while leading them to share common purpose on the relevance and importance of design in the modern world.
This inspired the contextualization of design into a different set of tools featuring different balance of information and entertainment, allowing us to explain the idea, meaning, ethos, and importance of design to a wide field of users.
This is more true when it comes to its value and purpose: each and every person can benefit design in a different way.
There are many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject. Each individual or institution perspective influences their understanding and comprehension on the subject. So how one looks at design defines the definition.
Understanding there is no universal language or overarching definition of design, and there never will possibly be, guided the project towards an incremental rather than one-fits-all result, exploiting rather than suffering the diverse nature of design.
At Parsons we believe that design is fundamental to improving the world and the well being of the people who live in it. We see design as an act, an act of improving or creating products, services and experiences that move humanity forward and we also seek to redress the imbalances of the past. 41
The approach shifted to address the question “what is design?” from a fresh perspective. The conclusion that design requires context to make sense would be raising a white flag towards the impossibility to answer, so therefore the team considered it a new project constraint and proceeded over creating products which adapt to the context. While everyone’s context is different, the target audience could buy into a common narrative that may open up to fill in and realize such a context only if the provided tools featured a sufficient number of pinpoints with which to engage. Our users should come to understand design not just on their own terms but to lead them to share common purpose on the relevance and importance of design in the modern world. What were the major questions that resulted from this process? Our initial research process generated more questions than it answered. We 42
debated different sides of the argument and reached no conclusion. In developing the concept, we had to decide: • Is there a singular definition for design? • Is design a noun or a verb? A product or a process? The more information we gathered, the more we realized design can be a noun, a verb, a product, and a process depending on one’s point of view. The process led us to conclude that there were four key questions that needed to be addressed through our process. Can one create a universal definition? Unfortunately no, design is a highly subjective field, with each of the subordinating disciplines claiming ownership of the unifying term and thus confusing the market and professionals alike. Moreover, it is the impact of design good or bad that most people experience and not the definition.
What is design? The definition of design is not as important as understanding the impact of design. Defining design is highly problematic, taking a view on its importance is not, we have framed up a response to the question “What is design?” by highlighting the relevance and importance of the discipline by deciding to take a philosophical view of design on behalf of our client. What position would our client take? We believe that for Parsons, design is an act of improving or creating products services and experiences that move humanity forward.
At the risk of defining a narrow and subjective view on design that might alienate our users, on behalf of our client, we choose to formulate a clear view on the meaning and importance of design: “At Parsons we believe that design is fundamental to improving the world and the well being of the people who live in it. At Parsons, we see design as an act, an act of improving or creating products, services and experiences that move humanity forward and redress the imbalances of the past”. What view would help move the world forward? A human centered approach would be best. In defining design for Parsons, we have taken the moral high ground by ensuring our clients “human centric” approach to design is evident in our statement on design. Profiling design is important, design has a significant value to offer to humanity if pitched correctly. Specifically human centered design applied to system level thinking can add the most value. 43
-ELLEN LUPTON
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Design is an art of situations. Designers respond to a need, a problem, a circumstance, that arises in the world. The best work is produced in relation to interesting situations – an open-minded client, a good cause, or great content
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THE CONCLUSION We began this journey with an understanding that there would be no existing universal language or overarching definition of design. Our goal was to answer the question, “What is Design� but our research made us realize that perhaps there never will be an easy answer. There are many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject. Each individual or institution’s perspective influences their understanding and comprehension on the subject and so broadening the narrow view of design became our new goal. Design today is not exclusively a noun or a verb, but a fluctuation depending on the situation and the person. While we decided to provide a philosophical view and definition of design, we have not shied away from highlighting its 46
importance. Our research confirmed that design is important because creativity, empathy, and intuition are essential to the positive development of products, services, experiences, and ultimately the systems that govern our lives. We have focused our outcomes with the intention to develop tools that will help various users understand how design can help them create a better future. Our hypothesis is deeply rooted in the idea that multiple tools are required to explain design and we selected our tools based on best practices from other industries and what could be reasonably tested in the time frame. Our prototype scope was limited but further exploration into other channels, including additional video episodes and
WE WISH TO ALLOW OU R USE RS TO COM E TO
U NDE RSTAND
DESIGN ON TH E IR OWN TE RM S BUT TO LE AD TH E M TO
SHARE COM MON
PU RPOSE ON TH E RE LEVANCE AN D IM PORTANCE OF DESIG N IN THE MODE RN WORLD.
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a social media strategy, could provide valuable reach to a broader audience. Additionally, the breadth of our research led us to develop broad, introductory tools into the importance of design. Further opportunities could exist in providing deeper knowledge through a dedicated design blog or book. CREATING TOOLS FOR OUR USERS Our multichannel approach is intended to provide a sufficient number of tools for our broad target audience to engage with. Each stakeholder group has different contexts and preconceptions and a diverse set of tools will cater to each person’s needs. Our objective is to help our target audience understand design through different mediums, we call this our toolkit to explain design.
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Target Audience
Parsons Stakeholders
Segment Title
Segment Description
Communication Mediums
My Boss
These are Industry professionals, post graduate students, other professionals, liberal parents and donors & New School staff. They live design and understand its value. They need a concise way to explain why design is important and the impact designing a company or service (not just a product) can have on society and business.
Primary: Booklet Secondary: Video
My Friend
These are students, prospective students and friends of designers. They are interested in design, but usually just see design as a narrow field based on what they’ve heard from their designer friends or through their personal interests. We want to engage them in a fun way to help them understand the breadth of design, and how design is central to our world.
Primary: Game Secondary: Video
My Grandma
These are everyday people. Non-Design professionals, conservative parents, relatives & the public at large. They have very little knowledge of design and the impact of design on their daily lives. They see design, usually, as a product, like the iPhone. We want to share with them in a quick, easy, and funny way, how design is central to our world, the diversity of design, and the impact it can have on society and business.
Primary: Video Secondary: Game
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Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.
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-CHARLES EAMES
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A TOOLKIT TO THE EXPLAIN DESIGN TOOLKIT THE CONCEPT We discovered in our research and brainstorming that our biggest challenge in creating a unifying definition of design was in fact communicating it. Since design is not a simple concept it requires a way for us to break it down into a manageable component. Different people prefer different tools to help them understand information so we inevitably needed to create several different tools for various scenarios; if you will, a complete toolkit to explain design.
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THE WEB - What is design? An exploration into the meaning and importance of design
THE VIDEO - What Do Designers Do? A looking into the day to day world of the designer
“The Complete Toolkit”
“The Glue”
User: All
User: My Grandma
THE CARDS - What is Good Design? See design from another perspective
THE BOOKLET - Why Do We Design? An exploration into the meaning and importance of design
“The Hammer”
“The Screwdriver”
User: My Friend
User: My Boss
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PROTOTYPES
Assess Assumptions
Pivot 54
Divide Tasks Revise
Test
We begun our prototyping processing with assumption that we could utilize a singular medium to communicate design to our users. Through the storyboarding process and after connecting with an initial sample group, we quickly realized that our users would not be satisfied with a singular medium, but would need to use a combination of mediums to understand the subject matter. We then prototyped all of the elements of the toolkit, testing each one out with sample users. To provide a truly “global experience� we took
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advantage of the fact the team worked in different countries. We broke up the team into groups and worked on developing each of the toolkit elements and testing them with different user types in our respective markets. Aligning the different prototypes with different skill sets. The video was developed and prototyped in Italy, the card game was developed and prototyped in the USA and the booklet was developed and prototyped in Africa & the Middle East. We found that different user personas gravitated towards the
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different prototypes. This was valuable in that it validated our decisions to test 3 different mediums and gave us useful feedback on each one. Once the initial prototypes were developed they were tested and refined in market. Thereafter we shared prototypes across all markets to ensure that the respective tools would be applicable to both the local and international markets for Parsons stakeholders.
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-MICHAEL BIERUT
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Most of the mediocre design today comes from designers who are faithfully doing as they were taught in school: they worship at the altar of the visual.
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THE VIDEO
VIDEO
If the card game serves the “hammer” function, targeting the youngest segment of users exploiting fun as a mean to convey the message, and the booklet serve as a “screwdriver” targeting the most educated segment using formal communication to convey information with a higher precision degree, the idea of the video fits into the definition of “the glue”. It in fact addresses a sufficiently broad category, and passive media users especially, by merging the entertainment aspect and the informational one. The concept for the video is juxtaposition. One group, the public, asks questions regarding use and habits of the other group, the designers, resulting in a series of humorous questions and serious answers highlighting behaviors that are normal inside the design community but weird in the minds of the general public. We started creating a storyboard of the video to use as a low-fidelity prototype including questions, using an already known reference format, where we addressed different reallife scenarios using a diverse population in terms of gender, age and profession. The video was shot in five cities across three continents. Common understanding on the questions was initially challenging for our users. This required us to reframe some of the questions and reshoot some of the scenes. What we wanted to test: Is the importance of design conveyed? Does the flow make sense? Is the video funny in a good way? 60
“Wait, I use Arial...what is wrong with it?” “I like how you placed design in varying areas and different jobs”
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THE GAME GAME We knew we wanted to come up with a simple game that people could learn quickly and would be enjoyable while effectively opening up a line of communication among friends in a casual social setting. After doing some research on popular card games we decided to branch off of the basic matching principles of “Apples to Apples” & “Cards Against Humanity”. These games operate through several rounds whereby players choose something in their hand of cards to match with a category the dealer has shown. The dealer decides which card is most appropriate and friendly debate is inevitable. To adapt this model to a game about design we created cards with photos of various samples of design: a dress, a shoe, a car, an interior, stationary graphics, etc. These would be the dealer cards. We then created another set of cards with written reactions one might verbalize in response to an experience of either a bad, good, or decent design. We tried to be comical in many of these responses to make the game more enjoyable. Our initial tests revealed that the choices on the cards had to be fairly obvious, otherwise the user and the tester would become confused. We resolved this is the second and third round of testing and refined the content on the cards. What we wanted to test: Does it make sense? Is it fun to play? Does it convey that design is based? 62
“This is fun! I would play it again” “What is that image?” “I can’t believe you actually liked that chair. I don’t know you at all!”
So hot right now Sexy
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THE BOOKLET BOOKLET To talk to the specific segments of our target audience, we took the view that we needed to develop a leave behind thought leadership manifesto, a booklet that would unpack the key ideas and take a view on design on behalf of our clients focused at a mature audience. Targeting industry professionals, post graduate students, other professionals, liberal parents and donors & New School staff, the booklet unpacks the key themes, explains why design is important and explains at a high level what designers do. The booklet also highlights how design creates impact and solves problems. We encountered some initial challenges with the booklet, our visual language was too cerebral and our users were unable to connect with the content. We resolved this on our second round of testing by altering the images and making them more explanatory and narrative based. What we wanted to test: Is the definition of design clear? Is it easy to read? Does this format work? 64
“I want to see more examples of design case studies�
WHY DO WE DESIGN? AN EXPLORATION INTO THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN.
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CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED DURING THE PROTOTYPING Our first round of testing focused on the efficacy of the individual tools respectively, thereafter we tested the toolkit as a whole:
Challenge 1: What do I use, when? The immediate challenge with three prototypes became evident: our users, who had little understanding of design, were confused by the multiple tools. Each tool tested alone didn’t make sense but when presented with a set, there was not a way for the user to select the tool that would be right for them, in the right context. To gain the reach that would be required for these prototypes to become usable products, we addressed this challenge by creating a webpage that describes each element of the toolkit and the context in which each tool should be leveraged. Further rounds of testing showed the guidance was critical to the success of the toolkit, eliminating the immediate panic from information overload. 66
“Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” - Coco Chanel Challenge 2: Familiarity versus usability Our initial prototypes, particularly the game, were modeled after existing games available, such as Cards against Humanity, to increase the initial comfort level with the game. Upon testing, we realized some design choices to replicate existing games actually interfered with the ability for our users to understand that information. For example, the card game was printed to be the size of playing cards, but after repeatedly observing players squinting at cards and picking the pictures up, we realized the pictures needed to be printed bigger. As we progressed through the testing process our testers became our cocreators as we redesigned the prototypes to be more user friendly.
Challenge 3: Brand identity Because our prototypes were designed by different teams, each tool had a different tone of voice. Although each individual tool tested successfully in meeting the objective, as a toolkit, the conflicting designs created brand confusion. In subsequent iterations, we adjusted the design to ensure a commonality of language and imagery. Despite our challenges, the prototypes were very successful in accomplishing the tool’s individual task.
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Design is intelligence made visible.
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-ALINA WHEELER
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OUTCOMES
Our initial brief was to create a definition of “design” that was inclusive enough to be understood by anyone who may be inclined to ask the question. We wanted to create a singular definition that could communicate to the average person to understand the evolving nature of design; this was our starting point. The goal was to help a broad range of Parsons stakeholders understand and in turn communicate “what is design?” The initial hypothesis was to answer the question “What is Design?” with a single succinct definition of design that would clearly 70
convey its meaning to the target audience. As research progressed, it became clear that providing a single definition was insufficient to help our users understand the question. Our first pivot was a recognition that to meet to the objective of engaging the average Parsons stakeholder, it was more critical to convey the importance and pervasiveness of design in everyday life that to provide a singular definition. Our second pivot occurred as we began to synthesize our research results and test our prototypes. This required us to
explore using a number of mediums to communicate design. With all the different levels of understanding and contexts, one tool could not do justice to explaining the importance of design. This shift to create multiple tools proved to be effective and important through the prototype testing and interactions. Our users gained a better understanding of the meaning and nature of design through the use of multiple mediums. The addition of more than one medium and the final utilization of a booklet, a video and a card game was pivotal to our success. Design is many things, to many people, and it has the power to embed human understanding at the center of the products, services, and systems of our future. Broadening the approachability of design to a wider audience will increase design’s ability to create and impact positive change in society. We are confident the mediums we selected and developed can be an used as an effective toolkit and shared with a wide audience to help them better understand design. 71
REFERENCES https://canvas.newschool.edu/ courses/1324383/discussion_ topics/4242988 www.theschooloflife.com https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1 R1GvTkb1TBbRCVVqFkYjnY1yPnfn2blNaLBI YPM2rS4/edit#gid=0 Rksdesign.com Hermanmiller.com Pininfarina.com Woodsbagot.com Zaha-hadid.com Frogdesign.com Bmwgroupdesignworks.com 72
Ideo.com Pentagram.com http://www.freepik.com https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=C5CY6OCtsUA https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zYoJTF2Cgx4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0_ UbNzh39U&list=RDzYoJTF2Cgx4 Liedtka, Jeanne and Tim Ogilvie. Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. Print. The Sciences of the Artificial (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969)
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Website
Video 1
Cards
Video 2
Booklet
THANK YOU 73
Created By: Hind Alselmi, Terry Behan, Caitlin Davis, Jaime Horak, Regina Law, & Marco Maria Pedrazzo
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