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Toolkit
Design Thinking made available for Creative Collaborations
Fee Schmidt-Soltau
Major | Written Piece
Master of European Design
Glasgow School of Art 2010
Fee Schmidt-Soltau
Glasgow School of Art
Master of European Design
Year 5 Dissertation
2009/2010
Supervisors
Historical & Critical Studies: David Sweeney
Design: Mil Stricevic
Synopsis
The world is becoming increasingly more social with expanding social networks,
The individual will gain a greater role to contribute their time, skills and creativity in the
spreading open source projects and wider involvement of users in the development of
realms of less hierarchal structures within this movement towards more creative local
products and services under the label of cocreation, co-design and co-production. It is
and small scale social innovations around their domain of expertise. Therefore also the
empowerment to initiate, facilitate, design and implement small social innovations becomes necessary. This thesis suggests the need of according tools that can be deployed
This conditions the increasing interest in design thinking and the labeling of ordinary
people as the real experts to primarily align the product development outcome with
collaborations.
the endusers desirability. Therefore user engagement methods became already core
skills of the design process and are increasingly spreading outside the design consul-
Therefore this thesis will explore tools currently applied in user design research to learn
tancies, towards business schools and corporate management, who adopts these
from and adopt them with the aim to derive at characteristics for an autonomous tool-
processes in the business strategy. Eventually politics and by that the society - or is it
kit, which foster grassroots initiated community activities to gain momentum without
vice versa? - is acknowledging the benefits of enabling and empowering active user
external forces and facilitation. This theoretical research shall be used as a foundation
in the further studio work, to eventually design a toolkit which is appropriate for the
A recent article in the Financial Times confirms the support of mutualism as a core
election campaign strategy. The most ambitious aim of some Labour MPs has been for
a return to more building societies [...] to allow parents to get involved with running
networks of childrens centre. 1
1 Pickard, Jim, Labour seeks to lead cooperative agenda Financial Times, London
(05.04. 2010)
Content
Definitions
Creative Collaborations
22
Designing Autonomy
30
Discovery Tools
34
Synthesis Tools
40
Storytelling Tools
48
Beyond Tools
54
Conclusion
57
Bibliography
Definitions
User Centred Design (UCD) research process concentrates on the interaction between
Ideation is the process of brainstorming and coming up with ideas. The ideation process
humans and products and services in order to gain understanding, information, inspi-
can either be a pure brainstorming session, where wild ideas are encouraged to lead
ration and empathy to derive at improved services and innovations. The research is
Design Thinking is the discipline that uses the designers sensibility and skills to match
entities into a single or unified entity. Synthesis in design research provides meaning
peoples needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy
and direction for the ideation stage, by making sense of the gathered materials in the
form of observation and dialogue. This aids interpretation and thus the extraction of key
insights and opportunities. Synthesis is the the key to make sense of gathered research
Co-creation involves users and participants within the idea generation phase or
data to derive insights and interpretations. This is vital to inspire the next stage of the
throughout the entire design process. Within this setting, designers act as facilitators to
design process, the ideation, or to communicate to the client. It identifies the projects
opportunities.
Co-Production means within the context of public services and social design, the
Design Research Tools can be applied at two stages of the design process. Tools are con-
versation guides or interactive material which aid a conversation or ask the participants
to respond in a personal manner. The purpose is to gain understanding, empathy, insights and inspiration for the next stage of the design process. Many design consultan-
cies such as Ideo or Engine establish their own tool sets, some of which are published
together out of their own accord to change or challenge existing local problems.
online. For the purpose of the thesis the tools will be closer examined which I will refer
to as Discovery Tools, Synthesis Tools and Storytelling Tools.
2 Tim Brown quoted in Martin, The Design
of Business, (Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Press, 2009) p.62
3 Boyle, David,The Challenge of Co-Production, London, Nesta (2009) p.113
Creative
Collaborations
There is strong evidence within the design landscape, as well as out with it, that suggests an increase in collaborations which use creative thinking in order to produce innovation on a local level. This evidence can be seen in
both the business and the public sectors. This section draws out the current development of cocreation, co-design and co-production.
Creative Collaborations
Co-creation
Business/Users
Advertisement headlines such as Creative Thinking meets Business Logic 4, Continuum, one of the largest design consultancies globally, makes a strong statement about
the increasing relevance within businesses of employing creative thinking. On a consultancy level, designers solve complex problems by understanding what is meaningful
to people 5 using a human centred design process. This can reveal profitable innovation possibilities. The advertising headline also reveals another setting in which design-
Business
ers are increasingly becoming relevant, removed from the traditional realm of research
People
for new products or services and into other business sectors. Designers are beginning
to teach the design process to business employees, so that they can increasingly use
creative thinking internally. This can be used to improve communications, strategy
alignment or to promote quick problem solving. These employees are also referred
to as silent designers. 6 However, this concept of silent design is not new, the term
having been coined already in a business school study from 1987 by Peter Gorb and
Angela Dumas. 7 The study states that employees have ideas and suggestions on what
to improve, whilst managers have the responsibility to encourage greater confidence
Silent Design
Designers
in exploring and expressing such ideas. This clearly runs along the same hierarchy as
Co-design
Design/Users
Design thinking can help silent designers to find their voices. 8 This understanding of
design thinking could be seen as downgrading design. However the diversifying role of
the designer to facilitator and teaching the process shows the changing mindset of creative thinking within business. Designers are increasingly called on to work on business
strategy as well as user centred innovations. The recent Guardian supplement from the
10
15th March 2010 on service design highlights the changing perception and role from
that intuitive thinking misses opportunities for innovations in order to keep business
sustained. Thus, Martin suggests that there is a significant difference between analytical and intuitive thinkers and that the two thinking processes do not match, which can
The notion of the silent designer and their increasing voice within business structures
result in the predilection gap thus communication conflicts. However in his book The
has developed considerably since its first appearance in the late 1980s. Practice today
Design of Business he states that design thinking will balance analytical mastery and in-
could be seen to suggest a shift in hierarchy towards mutualism, at least within the UK
tuitive originality in a dynamic interplay causing a movement along the funnel. Design
thinking firms will stand apart in their willingness to engage in the task of continuously
bility and ownership over their work to be active agents for change. 10 Such employees
are able to create value themselves, as ... the important innovation that creates real
value is found all over the place at all the different points where employees interact
This view contradicts that of Cross, who states that the creative leap is merely crossing
the gap between functional design requirements and the formal design structure of a
potential new product. Cross argues that the creative cognitive act is not so much tak-
The perception of creative thinking is changing and has changed over the last decade.
ing a leap, but building a bridge between problem requirements and solution propos-
According to Roger Martin, the designers asset is abductive logic. 12 This he sees as
als. 14 This follows the notion that everything new is a modification of something that
being a kind of logic that does not reflect on the past but rather creates logical leaps
into innovations. He continues that analytical thinking, associated with the business
other uses, Eliminate, Rearrange). He explains further that this perceived leap can be
mind, holds its strengths in honing and refining existing structures, but lacks abductive
logic, which creates innovation. This is a skill designers are trained for, which enables
them to move through a cognitive process, which Martin refers to as the knowledge
funnel. This funnel has three stages of mystery, heuristic and algorithm. The business
mind is good at refining within each of these stages to derive at higher efficiency,
however the designer is able to take creative leaps across into the next stage. This is
where the benefit of design for business is stemming from, associated with the idea
11
modelled by procedures and is therefore learnable. This falls in place with productive
9 Pickard, Jim, Labour seeks to lead
co-operative agenda in Financial Times
05.04.2010
10 catalysts of change refer to external
factors that initiate change. This can be a
system, an organisation or an initiative
11 Nick Marsh, In celebration of silent
designers in Guardian Supplement p.2
12 Martin, Roger, The Design of Business:
Roger Martin in Conversation with Bruce
Nussbaum (Youtube, 12.3.2010)
13 Martin, The Design of Business, pp. 6-7
14 Cross, Nigel, Designerly Ways of Knowing, (London, Springer-Verlag, 2006) p.44
15 Cross, Designerly Ways of Knowing, p.27
12
stances without faltering. But learning is not the same as performing, and under-
living through the largest increase in expressive capacity in human history 17 voiced
One can therefore conclude that design is a skill that can be performed through con-
tween brands and customers. The terms collaboration and the wisdom of crowds are
trolling cognitive processes, which designers are better at because they are trained to
associated with websites, which enable people to be involved in the brands experienc-
do it. However, as they are increasingly passing on their methods to silent designers
it is important to consider the reasons for this development. It could be seen to either
be caused by the positive attitude associated with designers or the pragmatism that is
perceived through solution focused outcomes. It could be argued that analytical think-
Here, collaboration and wisdom of crowds could be perceived as simply buzz words.
ing is losing its weight as the world becomes more social. Employers increasingly look
In the given examples, the amount of creative contribution is actually very limited
for enthusiastic and sociable people rather than focusing on the excellence of grades as
through the offered tools. Considering Design by Community, the user interface con-
social skills are extremely important when networking, honing business relations and
sists of five sliders with different attributes showing this weeks specification sources
team working. Analytical thinking is a reflective cognitive process that focuses on the
for material preferences of mobile phones. Therefore, the users choices are very
past in order to derive at decisions for future actions. This is the scientific convergent
limited. The overall selection affects a traffic light indicator ranging from not ambitious
left side of the brain, which tries to derive at one identifiable correct answer.16 The
enough, perfect mix to too way out there. To get the green light to proceed, the sliders
divergent right side of the brain (associated with creativity) on the other hand seeks
need to be positioned centrally, resembling the average phone of today. Therefore, the
alternatives and is generally optimistic. It promotes action rather than getting weighed
real goal of Nokias intention can be questioned. They reach a lot of their users through
down by existing problems. This is the value of creative thinking. This can be seen
this medium and collect quantitative data based on pre-determined settings. The
limitation of the sliders is criticised in comments on the web page, but nevertheless
increased problem solving on a personal level, and thus a higher degree of flexibility
within business, which is considered to be closely connected with innovation.
13
14
phones to come and creating curiosity about what is coming, for example new material
finishes such as liquid metal.This kind of perceived freedom is a marketing strategy to
create greater brand loyalty. The creative aspect provides consumers with the impression that they can influence their future and their experiences through the marketing
label of co-creation, resembling the current shift in mindset of society. Martin Lindstrom in Brand Sense describes brand loyalty as partially a substitute relationship for
the decrease of faith. The emancipation of users as well as the promotion of a more
social and creative lifestyle crystallises when observing branding of global electronic
companies. New technologies increasingly invite the users to depart reality for an
alternative exciting world that they can shape themselves. For instance, Canons current
slogan is You Can, describing their photos as Great photos more than pictures. Theyre
stories. Cameras can help you take more than pictures. They deserve to be printed,
framed, looked at, discussed and enjoyed. Thats why with Canon you can. 19 It could
be argued that people are given the impression that they can create and, of course by
buying the product shape their futures or recreate their pasts through sharing and reinventing their creations. After all, with increasing resolution and augmented realities,
19 Canon UK, (www.canon.co.uk, 5.3.2010)
20 Cultural and Political Statement (Edinburgh, Scottish Executive, April 2004)
21 Cultural Commissions Remit (www.
scotland.gov.uk, 2004)
22 Scottish Executive Response on Cultural
Review (Edinburgh, Scottish Executive,
2006) p. 9
23 Generation C (www.trendwatching.com,
5.3.2010)
24 Note: refers to as collective generativity
-Designers will transform from being
designers of stuff to being the
builders of scaffolds for experiencing.
And ordinary people will begin to use and
express their latent creativity.
25 Sanders, Research Design Conference
talk, (2008)
15
16
opment and to communicate a vision to aspire to. This continues by defining a creative
community as the outcome of a nation that encourages the habit of creativity through
nary people as real experts, and addressing employees as silent designers, refers to a
the release and celebration of its citizens talents. 21 People who engage with culture
change in attitude, the feeling and ability that people can impact on their life actively
do so because they are stimulated, entertained and challenged by it. 22 In this context
rather than accepting the current conditions. The emphasis on collaboration and thus
psychiatric problems in the UK shows that for an individual, a restricted social network
is a major predictor of mental health problems in the future. 26 This is also confirmed
In the social context, the household economy, users are becoming increasingly rec-
by Csikszentmihalyi in his book Flow, where he states that solitude makes it difficult to
ognised to be the real experts within the provision of social services and publications
keep the order of the mind from within because we need external goals, exter-
such as the Nesta Discussion Paper about Co-production reflects this, shadowing the
nal stimulation, external feedback to keep attention directed to inhibit wander and
current interest in how the real experts can be involved within the design process as
chaotic thoughts. 27
tion within the social sector at present. Sanders sees people as being assets mobilised
average citizen to unleash their creativity to create, produce and share rather than
through designers. However, it could be said that the generalisation of designers taking
the lead in facilitating these collaborations is unrealistic and could be conceived as opposed to bottom-up strategy. True grassroot initiated collaborations need to stem
This goes hand in hand with design thinking and Liz Sanders future vision beyond co-
creation. 24 Sanders, a reknowned speaker within the field of design research, refers to
scaffolds, 25 by which she means platforms of interaction, that amplify the creativity of
everyday people. Sanders vision relies solely on using designers as facilitators. Looking
at the language used within the paper Design Serving People, she depicts designers
as the catalysts for change, enabling and empowering these creative collaborations.
17
18
to improve it. Its really important not to design for people but to design with them.
not understood by the community up to the point of winning. The project was cel-
[] You have to motivate people to become part of social projects to get the com-
munity on board 28 The assumption that this involvement will lead to ownership and
can be said that the project was still top-down and the designers communication skills
change of routine and neglects the fear of losing state benefits if they were to co-proWe (Designers) will help them (the people) balance consumptive with creative
duce. 29
experience. Designers will no longer design for people, they will learn to design
The above is a statement published in response to Social Innovation and the Getgo
with people. Co-designing will require new forms of communication to support the
Glasgow project, a student project by the Glasgow School of Art and national winner
of the Sustain Our Nation Competition set by the Audi Foundation. From my participation in this project I can use it as, a prime example to elaborate on such a criticism. The
The language deployed to explain design in response to social change could be con-
projects objective was to design a social enterprise in a local community over the
strued as self-centred and arrogant. Designers are said to enable and empower people
duration of four months. The design students started work in a community, the Wynd-
to do things they were not able to do by themselves. Both verbs suggest a helping
ford, a housing estate in Maryhill, north Glasgow, and started collecting insights that
outside intervention. It is undeniable that design has a great impact on the worlds
represented the communitys issues, whilst attempting to engage with the community
future by solving (as well as creating new) problems. However, this is not necessarily a
justification to make designers and their tools the key to unleash social capital within
pitch, which was aimed to be in defiance of the local council, community members
grassroot level, autonomously. The question, which will be addressed in the second
on research footage and issues collected prior to the workshop. However, none of the
section of the thesis is: what factors or tools would need to be initially provided to
encourage autonomous working and therefore what would be the role of the designer
project once the national final had been won. However, even though the project was
communicated to be in the co-creation spirit, the majority of the design detailing was
executed external to the community so that the details of the social enterprise were
19
20
Designing
Autonomy
This section will highlight considerations that foster creative collaborations.
For this a process and tools will be suggested. These tools would assist the cognitive and creative process, which deliberately changes perceptions and creates an
environment to harness collaborations and removing the need of a facilitating
designer. These will be referred to as autonomous collaborations henceforth.
21
22
Designing Autonomy
The past section has highlighted the increasing role of design thinking within business
as well as the social sector. Both scenarios provide evidence that people will be encouraged to apply creative and design thinking associated with problem solving to their
everyday lives. This suggests the need for autonomy and autonomous collaborations,
which offer a reliance on the self, giving opportunity for action arising within, without
such an influence from external forces. Considering the teamwork process in design, an
effective collaboration requires the use of a process that guides and visualises goals to
1. INDIVIDUAL
work towards. In order to achieve this within the social context, designing an autono-
2. COLLECTIVE
and in the current practice is achieved through the facilitating designer. The design for
conditions of autonomy requires that participants act out of their own wish to participate and the environment shapes their behaviour. According to Skinner this is achieved
through the control of the environment as everything is a consequence of another. 31
Schuman, in his book Creating a Culture of Collaboration, 32 determines collaboration
criteria as the following: learning space, aligning visions and values, relational quality
and benefit.
3. SPACE
23
social interaction and visible communication, the scope of the thesis will focus on
tangible tools that support individual as well as collective productivity, as referred to
24
by Robert Putnam as one of the core criteria of social capital in his book Bowling Alone.
focus is at the front end of this process: Observe & Understand, Gather & Make, Synthe-
It requires tools and training that enhance individual productivity, social connections
sise & Frame and Generate & Ideate. These are aimed to develop a shared understand-
ing of the context. This is needed due to the lack of resources (capital, surplus time,
through both individual and collective and networks of community engagement that
and organisational capacity) within the household economy that would be needed to
foster sturdy norms. 33 For this, the tools of the user centred design process (UCD) in
discussed. The choice to examine this process in the context is derived from the
examination of the current design research practice, empathy, interpretation and sto-
increasing interest in design thinking and its demystification which suggests that it
rytelling are three factors that can be used to affect the depth of insights. These factors
is adoptable out with the designers facilitation. The necessity for a process as well as
are referred to as discovery tools, synthesis tools and storytelling tools, each of which
tools stems from design practice operated to control cognitive processes and direc-
tional thinking. However, considering the design process is more than design thinking,
there are other factors that need to be addressed for its adaptation, such as team roles,
visual communication, presentation and hands on skills.
The purpose of the UCD process is empathy, gathering insights and thus a thorough
understanding to develop actionable outcomes. Actionable outcomes refer to improvements, implementations or innovations through a product or a service which
create value. Tamsin Smith from Engine describes Engines process as Insights Ideas
Action, where insights refer to unknown truths, meaning and surprises. 34 The processes models published on design consultancies websites resemble a rationalised depiction for the purpose of communication to clients. However, it provides a step by step
instruction with separated stages that suggest that non designers can easily follow the
process. Whereas the UCD process tries to derive at actionable outcomes, the toolkits
25
26
Discovery Tools
Storytelling Tools
Observe &
Understand
Gather &
Make
Frame &
Synthesise
Ideate &
Generate
Vote &
Develope
Test &
Feedback
Action &
Planning
Synthesis Tools
27
28
Discovery Tools
One can travel the world and see nothing. To achieve understanding it is necessary
not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see. 36 (Giorgio Morandi)
Discovery Tools refers to a range of tools employed to gather data in the form of photos, quotes and video, collected through means of varying degrees of participation,
ranging from observation to participatory approaches, such as shadowing and cultural
probes. It can be said that these methods are deployed to gain an overall understanding of the context, identifying initial issues in preparation for more in-depth questions
that look for peoples underlying motivations. For this purpose, preconditioning
tools are used. For instance cultural probes 37 or participant journals. 38 These packs,
containing a diary or a disposable camera, are provided to the participants prior to a
contextual interview or workshop, in order to gear the participants attention and consciousness towards the examined experience. The probe pack aims to provide means
of communication to derive at peoples past experience through thoughts, notes and
photos so that they are not taken off guard in the contextual interview. The indefinite
use of non-verbal media provides a wider possibility of expression as well as interpretation and thus discourse. It could be said that in this stage the participants act as the
designers muse and are rarely involved on equal terms. This can partly be explained
through logistics and increased costs to the client.
In the context of community participatory action research (PAR), however, a method
36 Giorgio Morandi quoted in Universal
Experience, p.23
37 See Mattelmki Cultural Probes
38 Engine Tool (www.enginegroup.org,
22.3.2010)
7
29
called photo novella which is part of the methodology photovoice (Wang and Burris),
enables participants to tell their stories themselves. This method is associated with
30
boring and their universe had duly fallen into line with their expectations. 42
Costs and equipment need to be taken into consideration in the construction of such
estate which was perceived by the design team. These insights were collected using
kits. Methods, such as Room Travel 43 may provide inspiring opportunities. Maistre
describes this as ...a way of travelling that might be infinitely more practical for those
through sketchy camera movement, transition and pop music. This was aimed to de-
neither as brave nor as wealthy as those explorers. 44 Room travel encourages to look
crease the gap between the community members and the designers. The participants
at the known with fresh eyes to rediscovers some of its qualities. Ultimately, this plays
were surprised and met the video with enthusiasm, even requesting to have a copy
on the notion that the pleasure we derive from a journey may be dependent more on
themselves.
the mindset we travel with than on the destination we travel to. Applying this thinking
to a local surrounding may encourage a change in mindset but it also requires partici-
One of the purposes of discovery tools is to create a critical consciousness. Paulo Freire
pants to look in places the eye may be blind. Tools need to encourage exploration and
(1970) suggests that we become blind to what is immediately in front of us. This can
invite the sharing of perspectives in an engaging and interesting way. This also refers to
be based on the hermeneutical circle (Schn), which states that experience structures
discovery out with the immediate surrounding. In service design this would be referred
expression and expression structures experience. This means that associations are
to as benchmarking. By looking at other solutions, myths are created which make them
culturally conditioned and so are the afterthoughts that form the reflection expressing
seem more achievable. Myths assure text with a gaze man what he is about to do has
31
already been done; in other words, it helps him overcome doubts as to the
result of his undertaking. There is no reason to hesitate before setting out on a sea voyage, because the mythical hero has already made it in a fabulous time. 45
32
Synthesis Tools
Interpretation functions as the glue that binds together realism and fiction observation and vision. The fundamental paradox in design interpretation is that it needs
to build both on what exists and what does not yet exist. 46
In design consultancies, the process of synthesis is not well documented, 47 referred to
as the magic of design, 48 it is a time consuming process involving iterate arranging to
extract patterns and categories. The process cannot be solved through a quantitative
process or a systematic structuring as this would over look insightful details. The value
stems from the interpreters meaning by empathising and imagining 49 and is a skill
that is learnt through repetition of the process. There are two basic approaches to interpretation. Salu Ylirisku, in his book Designing with Video, refers to them as the grounded
and the framed approach. The grounded is based on the assumption that meaning and
structure of the interpretation must emerge from the data itself. The framed analysis
grows out of pre-conceived understandings and is therefore highly
subjective. 50 In design, the frames approach, would be aimed for as it requires less
time and therefore would be less labour intensive whilst a narrower focus would
provide more relevance. It can be said that synthesis is highly dependent on the interpreters subjective experience, responding to the data and the method adopted to
gather insights. Therefore, it is strongly interlinked with the stage of discovery. For the
46 Salu Ylirisku, Designing with Video, p.101
47 Tamsin Smith (Engine Phone Interview,
1.4.2010)
48 Jon Kolko (Email correspondence,
3.4.2010)
49 Mattekmki, Design Probes, p43
50 Salu Ylirisku, Designing with Video,
pp.102-3
7
33
autonomous toolkit this means that it would need to cater for a range of media whilst
containing matrix and sorting structures, for example 2by2 or spider diagrams; trying
to imitate the process as employed in design consultancies minus the predetermined
experience. However, it is difficult to imagine this to be an engaging collaborative
34
process and the likelihood that it may appear to be an intimidating task, if participants
Design from Life, 55 in which the ToE process was deployed was skeptical. 56 The
were faced with a large amount of photos, notes or video and a grid that is supposed to
data is captured from of notes, subsequently put into Excel, grouped and clustered
in different ways until four words filter out as the superordinary summary which are
then elaborated upon in a poetic manner. Unfortunately, the project did not lead into
However, Tom Kelly in his book The 10 Faces of Innovation, describes the concept of
ideation to judge its response in a new context. However, the indepth understanding of
an Idea Wallet, in which human factors specialists 51 collect their insights as they go
the experience can be questioned as the verbalisation abstracts it beyond its subjective
along executing the research. This suggests that it is a continuous process that starts in
and condenses its richness experience to quantifying data. However, taking into con-
the discovery phase and leads to ideas and insights as the process continues. Further
sideration the notion of association and inspiration, the abstracted medium of poetry
discussions with designers have also revealed that after interviews with stakeholders
could create a valuable dialectic response that removes the finding from its original
or users they execute a download session in which they write all their impressions
context. However, this still needs to ground itself sufficiently to provide clues of mean-
down, rather than looking through the notes or listening to the recording. It can also be
ing to remain relevant. This refers back to the idea of Roger Martin of design thinking of
argued that transcripts of interviews are primarily written for the viability of the client
rather, and aid the detailing process of impressions if needed, than creating insights.
52 Therefore, this particular toolkit needs to be an interlinked system, that sits between
the other kits by creating value which builds a bridge between findings and storytelling.
There have been attempts at automating and structuring the synthesis process for
example through the use of Excel spread sheets. Mind Models by Indi Young, group
and categorise peoples quotes into a visual matrix diagram trying to highlight beliefs,
drives and what makes them tick. 53 The method, Taxonomy of Experience (ToE), 54 by
Ian Coxen attempts to arrive at superordinary descriptions of an experience through
a nine stage process. However, the feedback of students, who attended the project
35
51 Note: in this case refers to anthropologists who execute UCD Research at Ideo as
part of the Design Team
52 Manoj Kothari, Onio Design, (Pune,
July, 2009)
53 Indi Young, Design Research Conference
Talk (2007)
54 Ian Coxen, Website & Email correspondence (www.bluearth.net, 10.3.2010)
55 KISD, International School of Design in
Cologne, Germany, Project Autumn 2007
56 Eeva Campbell, Lukas Golyszny, Students who attended Design for Life Project
57 Bas Raijmakers, Design Documentaries:
Inspiring Design Research Through Documentary Film, (London,
Goldmiths Collage, 2008) p. 2
58 Kroker, Arthur, 21st Century Graffiti
Detroit Tagging in 1000 Days of Theory,
(Ctheory, 6/7/2005)
59 Partington, Angela referring to Negus in
The best bits: Non-narrative pleasures and
creative practice in Journal of
Media Practice Volume 9, University of West
of England (2008)
36
37
38
Storytelling Tools
An event is not what happened but what can be narrated. 62 Storytelling itself is a
discovery for the teller. Stories can be important modes for storing knowledge and
assigning meaning to our experiences whilst the storyteller, himself performs an
investigative function. 63
Experience
Storytelling
Experience
Experience
Narrative
Cognition
experiences. These details are picked up upon and investigated further by the design
researcher. On the other hand, storytelling also aids the process of self understanding.
That is why experiences which are shared with others appear more vivid. It may also
highlight aspects which were neglected as unimportant but are highly relevant to the
understanding of the context. This learning refers to Forlizzi and Fords model 64 of
Sub-consciousness
the user experience. It defines the gap between the sub-conscious and the storytell-
Storytelling
ing experience as the experience that has cognitive attention, which differentiates the
Meaning
experience from the meta-experience. 65 This gap suggests that the teller tells an experience that does not necessarily depict the truth. However, audiences listen to these
Forlizzi and Ford on User Experience in
Koskinen, Empathic Design
39
stories and share them through imagination. For a moment they share the lives of the
unknown people, feel part of the same world, and forget about the other worlds that
they have left behind. 66
Forlizzi and Ford suggest that the goal in design research is to arrive closer at the meaning of an experience. This point in their model is represented by where the experience
40
and the storytelling curve meet. This means that they try to derive at the experiences
One could say that these types of tools are conversational guides, which invite con-
which are meta and therefore acted upon spontaneously, not affecting conscious
thought but meeting expectations and past experience. Their point is that metaexperi-
ences can be subject to thinking, discussion, writing and other forms of secondary ac-
tivities, referring to this as a constructive process which may lead to artistic inventions.
talk. 68 In the design context, the former is associated with non constructive conver-
However, considering human responses and the likelihood that they attempt to adapt
sation and thus aimed to be avoided. For this purpose tools, which engage and keep
to their surrounding this may cause findings from research methods to be biased, for
peoples interest and provide a goal to work towards are deployed. Visual stimuli such
example from focus groups and opinion polls, which are traditionally based on the
as inspiration cards can also bridge communication difficulties and memory blocks.
commentary given by participants. It is often the case what people say and do are very
69 They try to evoke people to talk, think and feel about subjects intuitively, creatively
and personally, by using a large set of images which do not have a univocal meaning,
so that the person creates their own meaning. They provide a basis for open responses,
which avoid straight forward answers, which are prone to leave out important informa-
easily change depending upon context and circumstances. These considerations are
tion as people try to recall the medium and the reoccurring details in every experience
tionship with participants. Especially in service design, research tools do not ask for
personal motivations, instead being directed at responses to the service. Examples of
Lastly, there is the storytelling that refers to the conversation internal to the designer,
this are, the journey map or service prototyping, 67 which let people plot out their
through the means of drawing to exploring and developing ideas. This is why stories
journey through space and time in correlation to the service on offer. The use of strong,
can be seen as a form of inquiry in which, rather than dissecting insights through
ambiguous and contradicting images and objects arouse opinions and stories about
analysis, one brings elements of the world together in the imagination to discover the
potentialities of their interaction. In co-design settings, non verbal representations,
attitudes. Pictures serve as projective impulses into subjective memories and experiences, and facilitated storytelling.
41
such as collages with pictures and words, are used to let participants express themselves on a visual level.
42
Tools for the autonomous toolkit need to enable people to tell stories in a rich and
These are aspects associated with the front end of design research. This is aimed to
imaginative way. These storytelling tools need to not only incorporate verbal but also
visual aspects of expression. Oscar Wilde said ...give a man a mask and hell tell you the
ting though which the designer is able to weight the options of actionable outcomes.
truth but one could argue that rather than about recounting the truth, the primary
Problems within the social sector are largely based on lack of communication and in-
goal is to make people feel comfortable so that they open up and socially interact.
formation provision causing negative attitudes. This is currently largely tackled through
service design consultancies by designing a website, used as a platform which people
In UCD there are a range of tools that provide a kind of mask through enactment activi-
are supposed to use to exchange and converse. However the lack of use, missing initia-
ties. For instance, the notion of play is used to let people describe possible scenarios of
tives and drivers, cause this to be only little success to initiate change. An activity that
how a service could work by using Playmobil figures and speech bubbles. This method
is related to sequential art. Its core characteristics are speech bubbles and descriptive
scene capture, for instance known from comics and deployed in storyboard construc-
expressing something that is important to them, would remove the question of truth as
tion. If this is a familiar style of reading to the audience, it is likely to be engaging. For
the narrator, the use of highly improbable characters to narrate with, as well as the
creators and readers experience and its plausibility. By the act of reading or listing, it
overall visual language, creates an ironic storytelling that releases anxiety as well as
becomes true as the reader is experiencing the words and imagination related to it. 71
requires stressing of the most relevant aspects of their concept. The use of a mask,
The activities offered by the StreetUniverCity in Berlin 72 can be said that, primarily aim
to harness confidence development through the acquisition of new skills as well as self
with video games and online avatars, enables untrained actors or shy people to interact
expression. It is exciting and appears to appeal to the target group. The course duration
sets an achievable goal of three months.
without revealing their feelings in an open manner. 70 Puppet and mask scenarios
also foster verbalisation as this requires emphasis, as less is expressed through body
gestures. This has the potential to lead to new understanding and meaning through
misunderstanding as well as precision.
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tasks which enable people to visualise their meaning. The level of perfection is not
cohesive. Christoph Niemanns example on the other hand provides quick means to
required, however this offers opportunities for a wider range of interpretations, as the
level of abstraction suggests a finished solutions or conceptual ideas, which are used to
which method is best suitable. On the one hand, lack of refinement may create op-
reflect or elaborate upon by reflecting and suggesting alternatives. They work through
portunity for interpretation and further creative thought, whilst the lack of perfection
relaxes the atmosphere. For this reason, in the Getgo Glasgow project the style of the
communication material could be said to be unrefined. However, it suited the drawing
Photomontages are juxtaposed images combined with words and phrases to be found
skills of the audience, whilst communicating that the ideas were not finished and to
in magazines and newspapers from mass culture, which originally emerged in the
be reflected upon and elaborated by them, rather than the students imposing a final
1920s.73 Elements are easily recognisable but sometimes carry too much detail or too
result. The ambiguous character of sketches can assist creativity, as, ...confused things
Niemann,74 creates simple diagrams from lego pieces and simple text. Despite their
level of abstraction, they are clear and compelling. They are quick to make, print and
Forlizzi and Fords model emphasises the importance of affordance. This means that
the tools need to provide sufficient visual clues for users to understand their use. The
subset of affordance they refer to is based on location, context, prior experience and
The choice on realism or abstraction in the visual material should be dependent on the
current emotional state; spontaneous vs cognitive reaction. Tools need to address both
audience and context. Thinkpublic, 75 for instance, prefers to use real photos for clients
to some degree. The immediate reaction on what to do with the tools needs to corre-
such as the NHS, as photos of real experiences rather than sketches or interpretations
spond to spontaneity, however the tasks themselves should challenge, whilst not being
are more engaging. 76 They are easier to understand by an audience who work or act
too demanding, so that a level of motivation is sustained. The tools therefore need to
be a mix of the two. In unintentional design, 78 a creative dialogue emerges when af-
in existing services rather than potential ones. Never the less, the use of photos may
be problematic due to the challenges of composing a visually compelling and clear
picture in the real space. The results are descriptive but lack luster and depth by capturing too much detail. This in turn distracts from the actual storytelling. There needs to
be consideration of technique, screening out visual clutter to make images seem more
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46
Beyond Tools
If you focus only on the innovations (that is an outcome-only focus), you risk killing creativity. But if
you focus on the innovators, one thing Ive learned is you will most likely get both. In the end, creativity may be a latent capacity that is available to all of usthat design thinking may be a kind of
process that can begin to awaken it in more people than we had otherwise realized or imagined.
The transformation to a more innovative culture requires the hard work of reshaping organizations and teams. Less we get overwhelmed by the enormity or the responsibility of the task, let us
always remember that it always begins in our own individual transformation. And that gives us a
place to start. And the rest, I trust, will follow. 79
7
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48
Tools of course are only one factor affecting collaborations and social capital. The above
statement points out the factors that need to be considered in the holistic system be-
yond tools. It can also be said that Design Thinking is not all there is to creative capacity. Tools alone do not provide a platform for effective team working, even once tools
have been adapted to suit their non designer audience, by using a language that
suits their present skill sets. However, effective teamwork roles cannot be ignored as
successful collaboration and self organising requires team roles, accepted by all its
participants. Autonomous collaborations must be self governing with democratic
hierarchies within.
Tom Kelly, in his book The 10 faces of Innovation, describes a range of team roles that
make up an innovative synergy. Similar roles are also described by the Belbin personality types, defining nine distinct roles of Plant, Evaluator, Co-ordinator, Resource Inves-
Constructive Conversation
Feedback / Reflection
Optimism / Inspired
$
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Implementation Factors
e.g. Funding
tor needs to be fulfilled, whilst the moderator works amongst the group, it is his or her
79 George Kembel, Awakening Creativity,
(http://fora.tv/2009/08/14/George_Kembel_Awakening_Creativity 15.3.2010)
80 www.belbin.com (10.4.2010 13:43)
81Rettberg, Scot, All Together now: Collective Knowledge, Collective Narratives,
and Architectures of Participation (College
of New Jersey Capter9) referring to ARG
The beast
82 Ideaplay: The innovation kit for entrepreneurs, Engine (23.3.2010)
responsibility to ensure a task flow. Looking at collaborative games such as table top
role play games and ARG (alternative reality games) it can be suggested that roles such
as the puppet master 81 who write the backstory and provide the puzzles with clues to
prompt the other players, are accepted and part of the game. The social fabric that is
created through the notion of games is an important aspect to consider.
50
their own limits whilst the level structure continuously suits their current abilities. She
The section Synthesis Tools, made mention of a possible need for a platform. Such a
platform could be games because of their engaging social fabric and guided process. In
who, if the real world were anything like the virtual world, would have great capabilities
fact, design games are used for ideation, education purposes or team building exer-
to shift the worlds problems. The ideologies and the realisation of these principles are
cises. Their scope may be questionable at first sight, comparing it to project durations
questionable, however the concepts that the notion of game can cause changes in at-
in design consultancies. However it can be said that games provide a familiar platform
which people are accustomed to already, making use of cards, a board game, stickers,
building blocks and game pieces. Upon familiarising themselves with the instructions
From this it can be deducted that a greater understanding of the self and optimism
people follow the games process. For this process, Ideaplay, 82 a marketing game that
can promote motivation, decision making and independence. However the environ-
takes an idea from scratch through the entire marketing process up to its presentation,
ment needs to be provided to encourage this development. The paper Writing Games
and a game for learning personal health development were more closely looked at.
and Collective Knowledge states that successful collaboration is always built upon
constraints, whether the creators of the collective work explicitly agree upon the con-
straints or they are simply built into the system. This refers to constraints such as spe-
board games predetermines expectations and may not excel beyond their impression
cific tasks that aid governance. In the context of collaborative writing, these rules may
to be fun and used once in a while, so therefore may not be a right platform to foster
shared understanding. On the other hand if people expect to have a good time and
working within the constraints of the skill set. John Wood refers to replicable synergies
provide the spare time to engage, games can be excellent for social fabric 83 whilst
85 between people, which unleash tacit knowledge and skills which people are
learning a new game process quickly. Play brings people together who have the same
unaware that they could be of benefit to the group. Only in relation to other people can
immediate motivations. This creates trust and aids conversation. This consideration ap-
this knowledge be appreciated. This is especially important in the context of heterogenic groups, groups which do not know each other prior to collaboration. Tools would
plies to the second criteria of social capital. Jane McGonigal makes an interesting case
of game characteristics from online games, which can promote understanding and
optimism. She suggests that virtual games can motivate behavioural change through
the removal from reality, drawing on learning opportunities and confidence out with
51
need to cater for skill and knowledge sourcing and make people aware of their assets,
which they can contribute towards the collaboration.
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Conclusion
The study has shown the increasing interest and need in the adoption of design thinking methods in the context of planing, designing and implementing of product and
the risks of failure. Businesses use this, as a tool to justify their investment and create
Vis
ib
tions. This ensures a high probability of end-user desirability and therefore decreases
ilit
empathy throughout the company for their users. At the front end of the design research process this is called co-design and is defined through this thesis as the overlap
between people and designer. This is the phase of exploring, defining and commumostly ends after the synthesis. The second type of involvement (apart from prototype
rt
po
En
up
ga
ge
&S
me
nt
s
ces
Ac
nicating the insights of the users life and behaviour. The participants involvement
tests) at the front end, is co-creation. The notion of co-creation can be translated as the
userbusiness overlap and identified as mainly targeting at the delivery and consumption phase.
Bottom - Up
Bottom-Up
For these user centered design processes tools are to enable the cooperation between
people and designer or people and businesses, but an autonomous people to people
Spreading Word
Grassroot Initiatives
53
action concluded. Therefore first of all design processes were compiled to analyse the
current practice. Gaps were identified, which current UCD tools do not address and
therefore hinder in the application in non-design-expert initiated processes.
54
the motivation for this work and the further studio process, which is aiming at the de-
process outcome were identified as essential aspect of success. This thesis focusses on
the before-implementation phase. For this a further layer of desirability from the users
the designer eventually designs his/her role out of the development process. The
evaluation of the success of the final work therefore has to be judged on how well the
final outcome and therefore motivation to keep the social innovation process alive, as it
has to be carried on by the social group after deployment through continuos care and
iteration. This work has identified the importance in creativity for the rise in confidence
which eventually leads towards action.
Eventually three types of tools were highlighted: Discovery Tools, Synthesis Tools and
Storytelling Tools. Discovery Tools cover the phase at the fuzzy front end, where a problem or an opportunity has to be profoundly observed, researched and understood. The
second phase is the moment of downloading those findings and further specification,
stakeholder consideration, and actionable key findings agreement. Eventually the last
phase is the processing of those insights into communication pieces which can be carried on and act as a discussion starter for further iteration or as a prototyping platform.
The examination has let to the decision that synthesis tools should be a connecting
platform between the other two, whose purpose has been derived to be the development of critical consciousness as well as dialectic responses through storytelling.
Further more the criteria have been derived from analysing the students most recent
teamwork design project, Getgo Glasgow, targeted at implementation of a social service enterprise through a co-design process. The critical evaluation of this underlined
55
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Websites
Service Design Tools: www.servicedesigntools.org
Documentary / Video
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html
KM Library: http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=8152469
Ideaplay www.enginegroup.co.uk/ideaplay/action.html
http://fora.tv/2009/08/14/George_Kembel_Awakening_Creativity
Photovoice, www.photovoice.org
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objects.html
video&Itemid=73
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http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.htmlhttp://www.
ted.com/talks/ lang/eng/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
Jon Kolko, Author of Exposing the Magic of Design, due Autumn 2010 (2.4.2010)
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Fee Schmidt-Soltau
Glasgow School of Art
Master of European Design
Year 5 Dissertation
2009/2010