creative disruption
Posted: May 4, 2012 Filed under: art, community, design, engagement, process, reflection, Uncategorized | Tags: curating, Dundee, service design Leave a comment »
Two events in two days that on the surface seem quite different, but on closer examination are interestingly linked.
On Tuesday I went along to Whitfield shopping centre in Dundee, the venue for a community showcase, presenting the recent work carried out in the area by service design company Snook. On Wednesday I was up in Aberdeen at a seminar about the practice of curating, hearing from Iain Irving (Gray’s), Andrew Patrizio (ECA) and Emma Nicolson (Atlas Arts).
Having a design background, curation is an area I am not familiar with, but I was struck by the parallels with service design (if I’m oversimplifying curation, please forgive me!) The word ‘curation’ comes from the Latin ‘curare’ meaning ‘to care’, and as such is about the presentation and sharing of ‘things’ in order to create meaning. If these ‘things’ are thoughts and ideas, then you could argue that service designers are actively engaged in assembling, or curating these ideas. In his presentation, Iain Irving spoke about curation as more than mere knowledge management, but an act of ‘creative disruption’, a term which seems to be an appropriate description of service design: as designers, we often take an unorthodox approach to a situation, to make visible the intangible.
Obviously when engaging with a community, a lot can happen, and a huge amount of information is generated, whether ideas, memories or feelings. It is the role of the designer to sift through this multi-layered, complex material, to find the key insights, working towards a creative solution and to find ways of presenting to multiple stakeholders.
From the seminar, there were a few factors that emerged that appear to be of relevance to service design.
We have a duty to care for the stories we collect otherwise we risk steeping into an exploitative relationship. If we accept the role of curator, then with this comes power as we effectively become the gatekeepers. Therefore I believe it is incredibly important that we act with integrity, being clear about the role the participants have in the process, taking the time to honour their contributions and making sure that the work we do contributes real value to the community. Design research is often ‘quick and dirty’, but it needs to have depth and sensitivity – we can bring a fresh approach to a complex situation, but there is always a danger of oversimplifying, or failing to see the bigger picture.
Thinking about curatorial practice has shed some light on some thoughts I have been having around the service design knife-edge, where our greatest strength is also potentially our biggest challenge. We just need to ensure that our ‘creative disruption’ has the real lasting value that we aspire to.
(above image: work by Sharon Woods)
meaning, objects and place
Posted: March 15, 2011 Filed under: design, innovation, master of design, place, prototyping, reflection | Tags: meaning, nature, propositional design, Stuart Walker, technology Leave a comment »Very interesting talk last week from Stuart Walker of Imagination Lancaster. He was talking about the work he does in the field of design research and specifically propositional design – the design of objects that ask a question rather than propose a solution. His research centres on the issue of personal meaning – how this fits with the three modes of sustainability (environmental, social and economic) – and investigates the possible ways in which meaning can bring about a deeper connection between people and technology, and thus counteract the disposable nature of these objects. The objects he makes are beautiful, expressing elements of impermanence, tactility and nature.
Not only are they gorgeous, but they embody the values that he believes are needed for a sustainable material culture: they are evolving, can accommodate change and are made of materials that lend themselves to local production. By using local natural materials, these ‘placeless’ objects (phone, ipod, usb etc.) become anchored in place which gives them greater meaning. I have recently looked at the way design can be informed by place – by the connections we have to the areas we live, work and play – and how these experiences can play a vital role in the development of community services. I have been mainly focusing on the experiential, so it was fascinating to see how these connections and layers of meaning can be expressed in the physical. Perhaps there is some way I can transfer some of these ideas when working with local community groups? I have previously also used objects (relating to tea) to prompt discussion and think this is an area than holds much promise when initiating dialogue.
personas and scenarios
Posted: March 2, 2011 Filed under: design, knowledge, process, reflection, Uncategorized | Tags: characters, drawing, personas, scenarios, visioning 1 Comment »
Persona: An imaginable or fictional description of a character created to represent different user types – a character in a story.
Scenario: A description of an everyday situation (an event or action i.e. something that happens)
This was our task on Monday, to develop some personas and scenarios. It can be a way of exposing problems and open up opportunites, as well as being a good way of presenting our findings. I have based the personas on real people I have met and spoken to, but used my imagination to pad out the details – so I suppose they are ‘semi fictional’ characters. I could imagine this also being a good excercise to do in a workshop, especially thinking up possible ‘solution scenarios’.
my reflections
Posted: October 1, 2010 Filed under: design, knowledge, master of design, process, reflection | Tags: Buddhism, mindfulness, Strategic design thinking, Suzuki Roshi, Tom Inns Leave a comment »
The Thursday afternoon session was about being reflective. This is not a new concept for me – having a background in Buddhist and Shiatsu practice, I am used to this aspect of life and work, but what I found interesting was the whole idea of pushing forward knowledge. I have always been keen to cover new ground and make new connections, but it has never been explicit in my thinking and work.
I was particularly interested in the difference between reflection in action and deflection on action. The first is all about being aware of what you are doing while you are doing it, thus having the ability to change your behaviour. As Tom said himself, it is being mindful – again a term used frequently in Buddhism and something that requires regular practice as so much of our daily life happens out of awareness. The example of a golfer adjusting their grip gives a lovely clean, clear example of reflection in action, but in modern, busy lives, it often doesn’t feel this way – when doing umpteen things at the same time or rushing from task to task, how can we be fully aware of just what we are doing?
Reflection on action – reflection after the event – has its own challenges including complete honesty, which is where seeking feedback and keeping an open mind is so important. Having the ability to change our habits and accept when we might be wrong. Buddhism uses the phrase ‘beginner’s mind’ to suggest a way of approaching something without any preconceived ideas or judgements – as Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi said “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” Hmm, very wise…
trees of knowledge
Posted: September 17, 2010 Filed under: design, ethnography, knowledge, mapping, master of design, process, reflection | Tags: metaphor, Trees, workshop Leave a comment »
On Thursday we were invited to create our very own Tree of knowledge. Tom Inns and Fan Xia led a really interesting session to understand ourselves a bit better and to see where our new classmates interests and influences lie – another process to fast-track the exchange of information.
We were to think of the tree as a metaphor for ourselves – the roots delivering our nourishment and support; the branches representing our main questions, interests and obsessions; leaves for current projects; buds for potential projects and fruit/nut/berries to show the fruits of our labours. I personally loved this exercise.
I felt it gave me the opportunity to get a lot of what I sometimes feel are diverse interests mapped out in one place, and although my tree ended up looking more like some tangled, unruly bush I did feel more focused.
It was great seeing how diverse all the other trees were – you really couldn’t get a better overview of the range of personalities and experiences that our new forest contains! The final stage in the process was pollination – we got to be bees and tagged themes/words/questions that others had in their trees – our points of common interest. This should hopefully lead to much fertile ground and bountiful collaborations!
