Pre-seminar thoughts on the literature - 4

Before reading the book my thoughts about the design process were that it is was a fairly straight, well-paved road. Although design is seen as being of differing importance in different places, and the practitioners of it are seldom of similar skill or interest, the process seemed similar.

My view was of something akin to a 50/50 mix of what the book refers to as user-centered design and genius design; that there is one main designer who, although focused on the user experience, has an intuitive knowledge of what good design is.

Reading the book while doing the design project has made me more mindful of the project and the different approaches. They all have their own advantages and some very good end products would not be likely to emerge if a particular approach is chosen (the book mentions the cello as seeming too complicated for a user-centred approach but conceivable using an activity-based approach). This makes it tempting to attempt to try to use all of them at the same time. To what extent is that feasible – is it likely to make you more mindful of all the different aspects or are they in some way mutually exclusive (like the waterfall and agile methods of project management)?

Reading the chapter on design research has made me more aware of important decisions to make during the research process. Seeing as we have limited knowledge of the domain (museums), generative research is needed, with qualitative research being more suited than quantitative research due to our limited time and resources. The book also made me aware of the importance of doing your own research instead of relying on others and to do the research in the subjects’ natural habitat (go to them, talk to them). This allows you to both interview and observe them (to find patterns and phenomena).

The next step in the process is analysing the results and getting structured findings. The models presented seem familiar to most of us but I believe that having a shared vocabulary helps when working in a group. I  think we know of venn diagrams both by name and by shape but I did not personally know what a spider diagram was called.

So far the book has helped but it is more focused on the process itself than I had expected. Getting general best practices and the like would help finding a good starting point. Maybe the process is what is important and nothing can replace experience.