Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology

1. CAREERS IN DESIGN INDUSTRY AND
ANTHROPOLOGY

2.  What is Anthropology?
 Drawing its name from the Greek words anthropos
("human") and logia ("study").
 Anthropology “Science of Humanity”
 It is the study of humans, past and present.
Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology

3. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology

4. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology

5. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
EDUCATION/OUTREACH ADMINISTRATION/MANAGEMENT
ARCHAEOLOGY ETHNOGRAPHY/CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (CRM) EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT
HISTORIC PRESERVATION HEALTH (INTERNATIONAL/PUBLIC HEALTH)
MUSEUM/CURATION/PROJECT DESIGN ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS
ADVOCACY (HUMAN RIGHTS/SOCIAL JUSTICE) TOURISM/HERITAGE
HUMAN/SOCIAL SERVICES HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT/SERVICES/DELIVER
DESIGN (PRODUCTS AND/OR SERVICES) SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT/AFFAIRS MARKET RESEARCH
FORENSICS LAW/CRIMINAL JUSTICE/LAW ENFORCEMENT
MASS COMMUNICATION HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS

6. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
THE GLOBAL “HIT RATE” OF INNOVATIONS EFFORTS IS
AROUND 4 PERCENT
Many companies and other forms of organizations are putting in large amounts of
money in developing new products or service which are not working optimal or are
failing on the market, the main reasons are:
• Lack of deep knowledge and insight about people’s behavior, expressed and
hidden needs, their feelings, their triggers for motivation, their experiences and
expectations in relation to a product or service.
• Late testing of product or service among people, the project period and the
money are almost consumed and it is difficult to re-design.
• Organizational barriers between departments of business, market and R&D,
developers are to far from potential users.
• Both products and services are too similar compared with each other

7. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
HOW TO RAISE YOUR HIT RATE
Is it possible to increase the “hit rate” on the market?
Some companies have raised their “hit rate” on the
market between 34 and 70 percent.
Using Anthropology in combination
with User Driven Innovation and
Design.
These companies are able to get a deeper insight about
potential users or lead users behavior, their expressed
and hidden needs, their feelings, triggers for motivation,
experiences and expectations in relation to a product or
service.

8. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
Anthropology combined with user
driven and participatory innovation
and design is a proven concept to help
companies increase the “hit rate” on
the market and reduce developing
costs.

9. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
• The branch of anthropology combined with
Design was developed in Japan and in the US
by the end of the 1960s.
• The Rank Xerox in the US was one of the first
companies using Design Anthropologists.
• The big green button on their copying machines
is one result of early Design Anthropology.
• Since then the discipline has developed and
today Design Anthropologists are working
directly in innovation processes.
DESIGN
ANTHROPOLOGY

10. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
• Anthropology is the science of Man, attempting to understand
and explain human behavior and social organization.
• The methods developed and used in anthropology are
ethnographic field methods, which are qualitative methods such
as unstructured deep interviews, participatory observation and
other participatory methods.
• Participatory Observation is the superior method in finding
hidden needs
• Participatory Observation is the superior method in finding
hidden needs, needs that we can’t formulate but are unveiling in
our behavior or expressed through deep metaphors.
• Anthropologist lives, without to be a part, together with and in
the real context of the potential users.
DESIGN
ANTHROPOLOGY

11. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
Field team of Anthropologists
Many companies
confronted with strong
competition take
advantage of Design
Anthropology and User
Driven
Innovation/Design. For
example Nokia started
up a field team of
Design Anthropologists
last year, other
companies are
Motorola, Lego,
Electrolux, Boeing and
Honda.

12. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
Some examples of well known products which originate from using Design
Anthropology are:
Lexus, Toyota – Toyota wanted to penetrate the American market with a new car
in the same category as BMW and Mercedes.
Toyota offered middle class families anthropologists as au-pair girls who lived with
the family and observed everything the families did related to cars. The
information obtained was the platform for the Lexus concept.
Lexus became very popular and was once the best selling car in its category. In
Lean Product Development/Innovation the key is deep knowledge and insights
about potential users.
In Lean Product Development/Innovation the key is deep knowledge and insights
about potential users

13. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
Some examples of well known products which originate from using Design
Anthropology are:
Huggies Pull-Ups diapers – Design Anthropologists visited families with
children in diapers. It came out that diapers symbolize parents focus on their
children’s future development and success. Parents felt ashamed if their child
wore diapers too long, the question “is your child still in diapers?” was not well
received. The result is diapers looking more like underpants.
E-trans – a painless injection for local anesthesia through weak electric impulses.
Design Anthropologists visited health clinics and observed children’s painful
reactions on injections.

14. Careers in Design Industry and Anthropology
Thank You
Priyanka Sharma
Course Leader
B.A. (Hons.) Jewelry Design
Pearl Academy, Jaipur
9413332626, 9828331940
Email: ht_priyanka@rediffmail.com