Workshop by Bas Leurs for MediaLAB Amsterdam.

1. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
Creating 010
Design Research
Design as Worldmaking
Bas Leurs (b.l.f.leurs@hr.nl)
Amsterdam, September 11, 2012

2. Design as a black box
INPUT
OUTPU
T

3. what is design?

4. Jot down three keywords
which should be found in
the definition of design

5. Design is about making decisions,
often in the face of uncertainty
Do you like this one?
Joseph Zinter (2012)

6. a bi l i t y?
"Design is the ability to imagine that-
which-does-not-yet-exist, to make it
appear in concrete form as a new,
purposeful addition to the real world."
Do you like this one?
Harold Nelson & Erik Stolterman (2002)

7. Designers typically produce novel
unexpected solutions, tolerate uncertainty,
work with incomplete information, apply
imagination and constructive forethought
to practical problems and use drawings
ans other modelling media as means of
problem solving'
Do you like this one?
Bryan Lawson & Kees Dorst (2009)

8. Design is to initiate
change in man-made
things
John Chris Jones
Design Methods
Seeds of human future
1970

9. satisfy
innovative aims people
purposeful
improve
plans human
intentions
users
imaginative
uncertainty
present
existing situation
future
problem
prefered situation
solution
new
creating
problem solving Changing an existing situation into a
preferred situation, requires imagination
changing to formulate a plan that deals with
uncertainty that the future holds.
decision making

10. Design as...
a creative process...
an artefact...
a way of thinking...
a way of doing...
a way of living...
a cultural phenomena
a fundamental human activity...
the creation of value...
problem solving...
[...]
a learning process...

11. Science vs Design
“The natural sciences “Design is concerned with
are concerned with how things ought to be,
how things are.” with devising artifices to
attain goals.”
Herbert Simon (1969)

12. "Everyone designs who
devises courses of action
aimed at changing existing
situations into preferred
ones."
Herbert Simon (1969)

13. initial process future
state state
current situation transformation function desired situation

14. initial process future
state state
current situation transformation function desired situation
feeling of design feeling
insecurity process more safe
designing an
intervention that
has an effect

15. binson@dcontinuum.com
The analysis-synthesis bridge model
e the design process
s: analysis and syn-
Researching Prototyping
nspiration. But those
Interpret Abstract
element—the con-
e active move from
nsition or transfor- suggest Model of
Model of what
f designing. How do what “is” “could be”
is to synthesis? From
urrent situation to
manifes
to
distilled
arch to concept? From Describe Concrete
t as
ed response? From
he gap?
What
es one way of think- What “is” “could be”
ysis to synthesis—the
els to frame research
Existing – Implicit Preferred – Explicit
ming possible futures. (Current) (Future)
“then the other thing Permission to make digital
or hard copies of all or part
gners and research- of this work for personal or
classroom use is granted
Analysis-synthesis bridge model without the fee, provided
of analysis in order that copies are not made
or distributed for profit or
me to the next desired Hugh Dubberly, Shelley Evenson & Rick Robinson (2008) commercial advantage,
and that copies bear this
vehicle for that move. notice and the full citation

16. what is research?

17. Research is an organized
and systematic way of finding
answers to questions.

18. ? ?
?
? Questions
ntal
king is a fundame
Answer(s) “Q uestion as
design
ec hanism in
cognitive m
003)
thinkin g” (Eris, 2

19. The Big6
1
Defining the question
Define the information problem / Identify information needed
What's the main question? What are the subquestions?
2
Information Seeking Strategies
Determine the range of possible sources
Select the best sources
3
Locate and access the information
Locate sources (intellectually and physically)
Find information within sources (references)
4
Getting the information
Extract the information from a source (books, websites, users, experts etc):
read, listen, observe
5
Putting it all together
Organize the information which you obtained from multiple sources
Present the information
6
Evaluation
Judge the answers
Did the information lead to an answer of the question?
If not, sta
r t with ste
refine or p 1 again
redefine y and
our questi
on

20. feedback of future users.
However, designers do not
(always)process has been growing as designers move closer to the future users
Figure 2: The front end of the design
follow a step by step
approach during their research
of what they design.
2. A quick glance at history Diagram by Elizabeth Sanders & Pieter Jan Stappers (2008)

21. what are we
looking for when
we research for
design?

22. About Context Mapping
Story A Story B
Robert pushed the print button 23 times. It Robert pushed the print button repeatedly.
was the third time that week that Robert With every push he used more force, getting
was using the printer. Till so far he has more and more irritated. Robert considers the
printed 23.000 pages this year. Today is printer as an unreliable piece of equipment: it
the first time that Robert will meet the new always failed to deliver when the tensions are
CEO. Robert currently earns $ 23,000. high. Especially today, when he is going to
When he is a senior manager he will make meet with the new CEO. Robert has heard
$ 34,000. He currently rents a house for some stories about this new CEO, that he
$1,000 a month. Robert has one wife and doesn’t want to waste his time. And Robert
two children. doesn’t want to be the reason that the CEO is
wasting his time, because Robert is trying to
move up towards a senior management
position. Once he has obtained this position,
Robert hopes that he can finally rent a bigger
house for his family.
If you have to make a
design for Robert, which
story would you choose?

23. About Context Mapping
s This is wha
This is what busines t
designers
people like like
quantitative vs qualitative
Quantitative research is about Qualitative research deals with
numbers. It is mostly carried out words and images. These words
through questionaires. and images are often ambiguous.
Response rate is often low, and
the results are not always useful to
start a design process with.

24. What do you see?
What is going on here?

25. About Context Mapping
design decisions should be
grounded in facts, not in
assumptions

26. About Context Mapping
f this
Parts o are
image ally
i on
intent
d or
blurre d
e
obscur
There is nothing wrong with assumptions, you have
to validate them though.
It is recommended to start with a assumption map

27. What do you see?
What is going on here?

28. About Context Mapping
Research for design must
rely on objective rather than
subjective observations

29. About Context Mapping
Triangulation
Is it still subjective if three (or more) designers share the same conclusion?

30. when we are researching for design,
we are looking for...
information, insights and inspiration?

31. and
Three perspectives on We design the interaction between people
and
products, people and brands and people
Human Centered Design people. Thereby we design behaviour.
Bas Leurs (b.l.f.leurs@hr.nl) Behaviour is the effect of our intervention
humans
INTERACTION
TE
GY
CH
LO
NO
NO
LO
TECH
GY
N human IN
C TIO TE
RA
RA CT
TE IO
IN N
TECH
NOLOGY
products / artefacts / environments brands / organisations / companies

32. What kind of knowledge do we need?
Or what kind of (research) questions should we ask?

33. why?

36. why do designers want to
understand ‘the why’?

38. Parts of this image a
re intentio nally blurred or obsc
interviews: help to
understand the context
ured
38

39. to
ob servations: help
text
und erstand the con
or to find peculiar habits.
Parts of this image a
re intentio nally blurred or obsc
ured

40. probes: to
sensitize th
par ticipant e
s and to el
stories and icit
experience
s
40

41. generative
session: to
stories and elicit
experience
s
41

42. why, why, why...

43. Theory of Planned Behavior
Icek Ajzen (2006)

44. Design for Emotion
emotion
appraisal
concern stimuli
Pieter Desmet (2002)

45. About Context Mapping
What are we looking for when we research for design?
Stories are carriers of
experiences and values. Stories
help designers understand what
motivates peoples and how the
context influences the
interaction.

46. what is design
research?

47. Design research is the act of investigating,
through various means, a product's or
service's potential or existing users and the
context of use.
Dan Saffer (2007)

48. Designers use these research methods to obtain information about
the subjects and their environment that the designers might
otherwise not have known and are thus better able to design for
those subjects and environments. It behooves designers to
understand the emotional, cultural, and aesthetic context that the
product or service will exist in. Only through research can
designers find out.
Dan Saffer (2007)

49. let’s have a break?

50. the problem with design
what makes it so complicated?

51. Design is a future
oriented activity
John Christopher Jones (1970)
“The fundamental problem is
that designers are obliged to
use current information to
predict a future state that will
not come about unless their
predictions are correct.”
51

52. initial state transformation function future state
However, because of the very nature of design problems,
there is very often very little information about the problem,
even less information about the goal (solution) and absolutely
no information about the transformation function.
John Restrepo, Henri Christiaans (2003)

53. From prediction to exploration
Design is involved in proposing the new, which, by
definition, is not predictable. Early Futures Studies were
still aimed at prediction, today there are projective and
evolutionary approaches, which explore multiple futures
and take the methods rather as learning devices than as
forecasting tools.
Wolfgang Jonas (2006)

54. Learning is the acquisition of
knowledge (or skills) through
experience, practice or study.
Learning is making sense or
abstracting meaning.
Learning is interpreting and
understanding reality in a
different way.

55. rn
lea i ng
taking an action that transforms
the internal (knowledge, beliefs)
designing
doing an intervention
that transforms the
external (world, context)

56. From prediction to exploration
Design is involved in proposing the new, which, by
definition, is not predictable. Early Futures Studies were
still aimed at prediction, today there are projective and
evolutionary approaches, which explore multiple futures
and take the methods rather as learning devices than as
forecasting tools.
Wolfgang Jonas (2006)

57. Nelson Goodman (1978)

58. World
D ymaxion
Fuller’s
Buc kminster

59. Design as a process of Worldmaking
Principles Theories
Facts Knowledge
Phenomena Assumptions
Stories
Interventions
Values
Models
Learning devices Representations
Inspiration Information
Experiences
Questioning Prototypes
Reading Trends Posters Activities
Observations
and t
heir Using Sketches Interactions
s Insights
People value Products
Listening Stories
Activities Observing Movies Artefacts
Interactions Watching Diagrams Business
Products Analysing Worldmaking is a process of forming
Personas Technology
an idiosyncratic mental model in
Artefacts Making order to understanding the factors Fact sheets Etc...
Context Evaluating that drive the transformation from the
Capture cards The intervention
current state to the desired state. ultimately leads to a
Business Simulating Presentations change in the world
Technology Discussing Reports
Stories Critiquing Etc.
Effects Etc... These representations are used to
Etc... Design methods and techniques
share the mental model with stake-
holders or to supprt the inner
are are learning devices that
dialogue of the designer.
support these activities.

60. binson@dcontinuum.com
e the design process
s: analysis and syn-
Researching Prototyping
nspiration. But those
Interpret Abstract
element—the con-
e active move from
nsition or transfor- suggest Model of
Model of what
f designing. How do what “is” “could be”
is to synthesis? From
urrent situation to
manifes
to
distilled
arch to concept? From Describe Concrete
t as
ed response? From
he gap?
What
es one way of think- What “is” “could be”
ysis to synthesis—the
els to frame research
Existing – Implicit Preferred – Explicit
ming possible futures. (Current) (Future)
“then the other thing Permission to make digital
or hard copies of all or part
gners and research- of this work for personal or
classroom use is granted
Analysis-synthesis bridge model without the fee, provided
of analysis in order that copies are not made
or distributed for profit or
me to the next desired Hugh Dubberly, Shelley Evenson & Rick Robinson (2008) commercial advantage,
and that copies bear this
vehicle for that move. notice and the full citation

61. Quick and dirty, map out all that you know...
Models Theories
Inspiration
Experiences
Assumptions
Facts
Stories
Stories
Information
Principles
Observations
Trends

62. design methods
devices of learning

63. Figure 1. The current landscape of human-centered design research as practiced in the design and
development of products and services.
Within this landscape, in the area of participatory&design, the notions of co-creation and co-design
Elizabeth Sanders Pieter Jan Stappers (2008)
have been growing. The terms co-design and co-creation are today often confused and/or treated

64. Human Centered ICT Toolkit
project.cmd.hro.nl/cmi/hci/toolkit/index.php

65. www.servicedesigntools.org
www.ideo.com/work/method-cards/

66. About Context Mapping
Triangulation
Using several methods provide you with richer insights
Cultural
Probes
Laddering
Observations
Interviews

67. Learning by making
C#
Java
Working Beta version
Very detailed visuals. Fully functional product. High Fidility a few days to a few weeks
(or even months)
Flash Good skills of programming required
Flash Catalyst
VVVV
1 hour to a few days
Axure
Max / MSP
Arduino Dreamweaver Stop motion
Wireframes Wizard of Oz
Role playing Powerpoint
Enactment
Sketches Crude sketches
Few visual details, mimicked behaviour Low Fidility a few seconds to 10 minutes
Not many skills required (sketching)

68. design methods
mapping and sharing your insights

69. Parts of this
image are
intentionally
blurred or
obscured
Capture as much data as
possible (photographs,
video, audio recordings)

70. Capture Cards
'is'
W ai$ng'in'line
e
'in'line'
waste'of'$mwhen'she'is'
'standing
at' ed'th
“I'hate
Lucy'explain s'to'
hat'she'hate
don e'shopping't e'
heck'out.'Sh
finish'my'
w ait'in'line'to'c 'scanners'tha
t'
d'wait'to'
no$ced 'the'barcode
'month,'that'
'installed'last
an er'$me'and'
were
would'pro bably'save'h
’t'thought'of'
frustra$ on.'She'hasn
oppings”
using'it'yet.
sh
Well'organised'
fresh'departmen
The'vegetables'a
t'
re'presented'in'a
very'well'organis '
ed'fashion.'A'lot'
of'aFen$on'has'
been'paid'to'how
'
Bas$&$Maria day,(december(2,(2012(
the'vegetables'is
'presented,'to'
Lucy urs make'it'look'at'its
Walmart,(Th 'best.'
Picture/Quote
Capture cards help you record
your data from field research
(observations, quotes) quick and Bas$&$Maria
dirty... but very effectively Walmart,(Thursd
ay,(december(2,(2
012(
Highlight salien
t details

71. Capture Cards
Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

72. Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

73. About Context Mapping
Use Powe rpoint (or
Keynote) to quickly
capture your findings
You can easily drag and drop
different types of media (text,
images, movies) on to a slide

74. W ould you like to
dio?
work at this stu

75. As designers, we know that we must
augment our short-term memories
with external aids. Historically, the
most important of these is the 1995
drawing on a drawing board. Today,
a computer screen often replaces the
drawing board.
Herbert Simon (1995)

76. The problem with storing knowledge on a computer
Computers and servers are excellent devices to
store knowledge on. However, retreiving the
knowledge might take some (or too much) effort.
For example... in order to share your insights with
your teammates during a meeting you have to
switch on your computer, open the document or a
webbrowser, navigate to the specific page.

77. Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

78. Make posters to convey
your knowledge.
78

80. 80

81. Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

82. Make posters that represent
your results and conclusions
Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

83. 3-30-300 seconds
ma
Principle
in m
headlines
ess
age
salient facts, figures
su
mm
and conclusions
ar
y
det
data / evidence
ail
s

84. Poster template
3 se c o n ds
S u bje ct (m a in m e s s a g e)
300 c o n ds
s econ 300 se
ds
nd s
3/3 0 se c o Resu lts of you r
rese arch, deta ils,
Resu lts of you r
rese arch, deta ils,
A visu al th at expl ai ns or argu ments that
supp ort you r
or argu ments that yo ur re se arch fi ndin gs or conc ept
supp ort you r
conc ept
co nc ept (n ot m an dato ry,
bu t hi gh ly re co m m en de d)
300 se c
o n ds
ds
300 se c o n Resu lts of you r
Resu lts of you r 30 se c o n ds rese arch, deta ils,
or argu ments that
Su m m ar y of yo ur re se arch/c on cept
rese arch, deta ils,
or argu ments that supp ort you r
supp ort you r (th e expres s-elevato r-pi tc h) conc ept
conc ept
your name and affiliations
note: this template is just an example layout, feel free to make changes.

85. Use your research findings to
bring your personas to life.
Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

86. Scenario
Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

87. Movies / Diagrams
http://braindoodles.net
Visual vocabu lary
object/p roduct interacti on steps / process
play-man star-ma n card-ma n
cell phone quadrants or venn diagrams are good
arrows laptop / computer for showing relations between entities
basic shapes
lines devices document / documents
emotions internet / cloud
home stretched limo
money
office

88. Movies
http://vimeo.com/36001036

89. Movies
Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

90. d or ob scured
ge are int entionally blurre
Parts of this ima

91. to conclude...

92. About Context Mapping
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/how-do-you-design.html

93. About Context Mapping
By externalizing your
knowledge it becomes explicit
s and
ur insight
Share yo cal
our physi
ideas in y pace.
a l) studio s
Ikujiru Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (1995) (not vir tu

94. Listen to people their stories,
capture and share these stories.
Stories are carriers of experiences and values.
Parts of this image a
re inten tionally blurred or o
bscured

95. Listen to people their stories,
Worldmaking is an collaborative activity
capture and share these stories.
Stories are carriers of experiences and values.
Models Theories
Inspiration
Experiences
Assumptions Facts
Stories
Stories
Information
Principles
Observations
Trends

96. hoe doe je een interview:
vragen stellen
paper over interviews You always design with
the knowledge that is
available
Design projects are always
restricted by time.
Therefore you will never
find all the answers that
you need. However you
don’t always need to finish
the whole jigsaw puzzle to
form a mental picture
about its theme or final
state.

97. About Context Mapping
Question everything

98. thank you...