Why Design is Conversation and Why Conversation for Every Design
Let’s imagine we are the catalyst for starting a new project, some design challenge relating to a new app.
First, we all recognize the value of the participants in a conversation. We all experience the improvement in thinking and outcomes when we work with someone else. This seems to say, “more participants means better outcomes”—hah, you know that’s not such a good idea. Too many voices, too much distraction. So, how would we decide whom to have in that first conversation?
The title of this post and the diagram comes from Hugh Dubberly and his slidedeck about how design is centered on models and conversation and politics. Not kidding.
Continue reading ““How to engage designers to ensure great products””
I was struck by the depth of reaction to mentions of ethics and design at recent presentations at Carnegie Mellon and an IxD conference.
In all four situations, overwhelmingly the group Q&A as well as 1-on-1 follow-up discussions after my talks resonated with the responsibility of designers in navigating between “controlling choices” of users vs. “enabling bad choices”.
How do we help design students understand their responsibility? What historical concepts and values ought we to offer for this “age of tech”? Could there be a design elective on “Ethics and Design”?
When I say I teach Interaction Design, I’m usually asked, “What’s that? What is Interaction Design”—I’m asked right away about the interaction part, as if there’s no question about the design part, about what “design” is.
This is a useful review by Jonathen Franzen called “Sherry Turkle’s ‘Reclaiming Conversation’”, about Turkle’s new book.
PDF: Bio-cost, an economics of human behavior
Businesses talk a lot about the cost of a product or service. Behind the talk is the concept of “value exchange”, that is, giving a benefit in exchange for a cost. We could spend $2.00 on a bus ride but fork over $12.00 for a taxi, because the value to us—convenience, comfort—is at least the difference in price. In both cases we pay to get what we want, which is to get from one place to another. What’s that about?
Bill Gross of Idealab fame reports on his study of 200 startups reviewed from 5 lenses:
The most important feature according to his research? Timing.
Very useful but begs the question: how can we use this finding to execute better startups? In other words, how can we shift our actions to become more “evolutionarily current”, fitting with the times?
[Disclosure: I was founding CTO at one of Idealab’s companies in 2004-2005, Snap.com. It did not succeed in overturning the predominant search UI paradigm of the time then; or of now, for that matter.]
NYTimes recently published a well-composed article on Mattel’s new Barbie, a watershed of interaction design, a Spielberg movie come to life.
Barbie will soon incorporate digital interaction, be connected to the cloud, enable “conversation” via AI and machine learning, and act in a personalized way that recognizes each child and creates a “relationship”.
It raises important questions about technology, designing a world we want to live in, the responsibility of interaction designers, and what we should teach to prepare students for this world.
When we talk about “interaction” and “interaction design”, there is a presumption or a hope that the interactions will be valuable, interesting, engaging—maybe even stronger than all that: that the interaction will be compelling. What can make an interaction compelling? It may be helpful to look back at historically important interaction designs, so we’re not blinded by the amazing technology we have today.
Every year CCS invites a broad range of industry and business professionals to meet and review the work of students in the BFA programs of Product Design, Transportation Design, and Interior Design, as well as all the MFA programs—Color and Materials, Integrated Design, Interaction Design, and Transportation.
We will be posting a growing set of MFA student portfolios in the coming days.
All of the major car companies are here, automotive suppliers, product and furniture designers and makers, electronics firms—everyone you would expect to want to hire the talent of CCS students. Learn more about the MFA programs.
