Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The craft of interaction design and service design

Interesting how the craft of website wireframing or app wireframing appears to have much in common with service blueprint and customer journeys. It's an art to make it work well, and there is not one perfect solution that fits all cases?

http://maquinastudio.com/blog/2009/08/the-fine-art-of-wireframing/





Monday, November 19, 2012

Reflective and enabling design

Just read a nice article discussing the importance of understanding what you design for and why. Even if the goal is to make people happier, healtier etc it is important to acknowledge the difference of supporting people by providing different options that fit their needs, as opposed to locking them into a solution that someone else decided to be "the" best (only) alternative.

Design can be enablers of more sustainable practices and also support reflective behaviour. By providing things that make people reflect on for example their use of water or garbage, they can start to see things and realize how their actions affect for example the overall waste care in their country. Then they may also change their behaviour, because they desire to do so, not because they are forced to. A bit like the Hans Rosling effect :-) When we get new perspectives that relate ourselves to a global world, we learn something about ourselves and we start to reflect. Then we can start to act. 

This suggests the importance of separating beetween what is designed and the designers motivation behind the design. Even if the designer wants to save the world, the users have to get different enablers and alternatives and then decide what to do. At least if there is a humanistic perspective in the design? Supporting people to make sustainable choises (by providing such choices)  is very different from forcing people into a specific solution. Moreover, sustanability is about a longlasting perspective, thus it must come from a human desire and motivation.

http://www.rioleo.org/a-worrying-trend-in-behavior-change-in-human-computer-interaction.php

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The relation between practice knowledge and academic knowledge

Today I listened to Ingela Josefson (Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts) describing philosphy of knowing. She discussed our relation to knowledge, and the history of separation beween theoretical knowledge and practice knowledge. Absolutely lovely seminar. Highlighting the importance of practice knowledge in academia.

http://www.hdk.gu.se/sv/nyheter/2012/vad-ar-kunskap-lunchforelasning-med-ingela-josefsson

Yesterday I visited the "Interaction and service design research group" (IxS) at Linköping University. I held a seminar about my current research and research environment, and presented a case describing how some industrial design practioners were working in a service design project.

We had a long discussion on blueprints and customer journeys. Apparently, many service designers are finding their own ways of representing different aspects of services, and create different visualizations that fit their needs in a given situation. The intereseting point here is what kind of knowledge that research should contribute to here?  The practitioners are creating their own tools.

What is the role for academic knowledge? Who creates the knowledge and for which reasons?












Monday, November 5, 2012

What is academic knowledge? What could it be?

Doing research at a designfirm is supporting me to get some distance to the academic environment. I'm still hanging out with researchers, but not every second everyday ;-) At least I imagine that I get to see research as bit more marginalised practice than I used too... :-)

Also, I find myself becoming more and more intrested in what research and education is - and what it could be. How should it support society and industri? Overall, it appears that there is a need for design thinking as well as visualizations of complex data... and much more. Need to care for the craft of education as well as for research.

Nice article in Swedish news, DN nov 2, 2012:

http://www.dn.se/debatt/hogskolan-maste-satsa-pa-tankandets-hantverk