CLASS READER 2
Facilitator | Yiching Sung Note Taker | Cristina Latina Editor/Publisher | Ryan Magee
What is the value of utilizing an ethnographic approach in design? Ethnography is really about trying to understand the audience and their needs, in order to produce something useful for them. In simple, designing to meet specific need of a specific audience. It is about helping evoke a meaningful experience. Design isn’t just about communication with yourself, it’s about the clients and audience. Designers are suppose to bridge the gap between the clients and the audience. By focusing on human behaviors, ethnography can pinpoint problems and more complete solutions. People have access to so much that, is designer don’t create useful solutions, people will look elsewhere. What are the inherent problems associated with and ethnographic approach? Too much research can be problematic, research gets away from the initial problem, and it limits the ways in which a problem can be solved. Research can lead to stereotyping and unrealistic patterns of behavior, which doesn’t allow designers to create a useful solution. What does Wurman mean when he says ‘Understanding is the first part of communication’ and how does it relate to design?
READINGS Design’s Ethonographic Turn | Andrew Blauvelt Hats | Richard Saul Wurman
Communication happen on various levels in design, but first their needs to be communication between the client and the designer. The designer needs to understand what the client wants to communicate to their audience. The designer needs to ask questions, a lot of questions. Wurman introduces the idea of ‘architecture of information’, the way people will perceive information. Wurman believes all designers should design with this in mind in order to communicate with their audience. It’s like a building, the content is the foundation, then the structure is the organization (hierarchy) and the external design is the aesthetics. A designer needs understand the information and the best way that it should be presented without assumption. What is technology’s role in “telling people how to do something?” This goes back to the idea of ‘default systems’. When we use those systems we are playing by those rules and we have to abide by this rules to use the system. It telling people, if you want to use me, then you have to follow my rules; if you don’t like use something else. Reference: Default Systems in Graphic Design, Rob Giampietro and Rudy VanDerLans How might concepts such as ‘anthropocene’ be constructured from, as well as? Digital technologies evolution can be described as an explosion. It happens in an instant, and keeps happening at an accelerated rate. There are new ways to design new systems. It has redefined notions of design. Today’s designer has to redefine every single object (client, deliverable, process) and it changes our perspective on design. We only focused on human-centered design(so far)—for humans well-being. Where will this take design, only time can tell. There is perpetual radical changes in design processes and concepts.
What are some cultural influences of technology? The development of human-centered design. Another field called emotional design, that creates different vibes and different atmosphere. Coming from Asia, everything feels bigger. American tissue paper is thick. Cousin broke the toilet with the thick tissue paper from America. It reflects cultural sensibilities. Contemporary design has reached a consensus on ‘design thinking’ that is to review. Ethnographic approach is similar. International design, presents a communal language that allows people to talk together. If every country would present their own uniqueness, how can they judge what is better and what is worse? Some kind of objectivity??? Is their away to critique work on a global scale? How can work form other cultures be assed, when design work is very culture specific. How to asses work from other cultures? If a design functions on an international level, but fails aesthetically, is that successful? If we set up a communal language for the whole world, everything would get too similar. Blue dress/white dress examples—internet and social network is our way to breach cultures and penetrate cultures. Is there a platform where we all stand as equals. Did Zuckerberg know that the network would have such influence? Is Facebook really useful, there is little individuality, everyone begins to cultivate the same taste. Apple is in the hands of a lot of people, it has universally beautiful design, but maybe they will fail. It will be interestnig to see as we go forward in the future if it will become a monopoly. Microsoft is the other big name in the game; in the future will both still exist or will one overtake the other, so that there will be one platform, a universal platform. What are some connections within the readings? Default systems | Design criticism | How design functions | Organization ordering and parsing | Understanding How did you feel about these writings and how might they have influenced new work or let your reflect on past work? I wanted to create a campaign that gave the sensation of ‘Alzheimer’s;’ to create an understandable language. I wanted people feel what it would be like to have alzheimers. It was difficult. When you talk about audience, you want to meet them in a space that they can understand the message. I did a project, where I used diagrams, but I think it would benefit from having more techniques. I saw an interesting poster show titled ‘art in the anthropocene’. I found it interesting, it created a lot of new inquiries and questions about what it is to be human. It challenged the way we defined something as living and non-living. Anthropocene is a buzz-word, but there is a history about “if i’m not a fish, how do i know that fish is happy?” It related to my design fiction projects. Insights to not just speculate, but to introspect whats really happening and how to apply. Design fiction projects (how might you do them differently) I started with subjective points of view to describe ‘what would people believe in the future’ the projects are very formal. I didn’t think it was very effective to communicate with my audience. You can deconstruct some elements from the culture and rearrange them. There are universals in human nature, things that are and will always be. This kind of field work is much more of a survey, you have to interact with people, see it in a way you wouldn’t have see it before.
What methods are there for understanding people? Communicating with various people to think about things in very different ways. Sharing experiences, anecdotes—quick way to understand others. By listening and observing one can begin to have a more objective point of view. You have to be active to understand, just thinking won’t help much. Thinking through making? That can mean many different things to different people. You have to find what works for you. Psychology, sociology, and anthroplogy are ways to understand human universals. People are predictable but often unexpected; we can always speculate, but people often surprise us. How did you feel about these writings and how might they have influenced new work or let your reflect on past work? I wanted to create a campaign that gave the sensation of ‘Alzheimer’s’ to create a language that is relatable. Show them what it’s like to have alzheimers. It was difficult. When you talk about audience, you want to meet them in a space that they can understand the message. I did a project, where I used diagrams, but I think it would benefit from having more techniques. Once I had an internship, I did a poster. I saw an interesting poster show titled ‘art in the anthropocene’ i found it interesting, it created a lot of new inquiries. Questions about what it is to be human, it challenged the way we defined something as living and non-living. Anthropocene is a buzz-word, but there is a history about “if i’m not a fish, how do i know that fish is happy?” It related to my design fiction projects. Insights to not just speculate, but to introspect whats really happening and how to apply. Design fiction projects (how might you do them differently) I started with subjective points of view to describe ‘what would people believe in the future’ the projects are very formal. I didn’t think it was very effective to communicate with my audience. You can deconstruct some elements from the culture and rearrange them. Universals in human nature? Things are are and will always be. This kind of field work is much more of a survey, you have to interact with people, see it in a way you wouldn’t have see it before. What methods are there for understanding people? Communicating with various people to think about things in very different ways. Sharing experiences, anecdotes—quick way to understand others. By listening and observing one can begin to have a more objective point of view. You have to be active to understanding, just thinking won’t help much. Thinking through making? That can mean many different things to different people. You have to find what works for you. Psychology, sociology, and anthroplogy are ways to understand human universals. People are predictable but often unexpected; we can always speculate, but people often surprise us.