This time our class got introduced to HCI (Human-Computer-Interaction) and Design Methods of User centred Design. Since the user is the person which is going to use the design at the end, it makes clear sense to involve them in the process of creation as much and as early as possible.
Cooperative Design – Good Idea without Outcome?
One method to look at is the cooperative design process. As the name may reveals, the designer tries to force a cooperation between different stakeholders, in order to recognize different point of views.
A very interesting example of the creation of the new city district ‘Zürich West’ in the 1970s got presented to us by Andreas Fürer; The government invited several sections, representing the city’s population in order to get their intention and opinions about the development of that part of the city.
Cultural Probes
Cultural Probes are a nice way to get a overview of a mood of your target group. By giving them little tasks to do, which they’ll return to the research team after a certain time period. Those little tasks can be for example taking photos with a disposable camera, drawings, or just answering question. The intention of the cultural probes is to give get knowledge out of ones mind that you would probably never get when asking them directly. What is important, when setting up those probes is that we as designer have to take in account what we want to ask for and how we ask for it. Open questions for example lead to a more defined answer (by the participant), than non-open-questions (Yes or No – Questions).
Designer don’t have to necessarily design objects
My non-artistic friends may see the job of a designer focused on creating new tools for the consumeristic market like paw-brushes for dogs or toasters that are connected to the internet. But design can be much more than that. Especially when it is about to design a community, specified processes arise are created. Often in those outcomes not only only one person is involved. Therefore it makes sense to split up work, and collaborate.
Interaction Design Blog 