design research

Design Research

Nov. 16th Readings

Thoughtless Acts?Observations on Intuitive Design

by: Jane Fulton Suri and IDEO

“I wondered about how designers might be influenced by images like it (boy swinging on a door): evidence of the realities of everyday behavior, of design in use.”



Things used in unintended ways…. usually indicate something about people’s needs.



We develop an exquisite awareness of the possibilities and sensory qualities of different materials, forms, and textures. This awareness is evident from our actions, even when we are not conscious of them - these are our “thoughtless acts,”



The idea is to reveal how unexceptional incidents, looked at from an inquisitive stance, can inspire thoughts about design opportunities and consequences.



The world doesn’t need a unique design solution for every creative adaptation we see…..

we should look for patterns that point to more universal needs.



“… we perceive the environment in terms of its possibilities for action - in other words, what objects or spaces afford.”

- James J. Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception



“Everybody’s had the frustrating experience of trying to pull a ‘push’ door or twist off a ‘pull’ cap! This happens when perceived affordances, cues, are misleading or unclear.”

- Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things

Evenflo Stroller:…a key innovation, a higher seat for better interaction with the child, came about through recognition of the emotional experience of the parents and children, observed from their behavior.



Thoughtless Acts:….we do most of the everyday things we do without consciously thinking about them.



Thoughtless Acts:….we do most of the everyday things we do without consciously thinking about them.

…the discipline of routinely looking and noticing involves deliberately attending to things that we normally take for granted.

Stanford Reimagines the College Lecture Hall by: Christopher Hawthorne, Metropolis Magazine

Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning:

…a working laboratory where the learning tools of the future will be charged.


…classrooms don’t always act like classrooms and hallways don’t always act like hallways. They actually act like each other.


…every big classroom in the building needed a kind of front-porch space.

Design Is More Than Packaging by: Janet Rae-Dupree, NY Times

So pervasive has design thinking become in the last five years that Stanford University has created an elective program it calls d.school - more formally known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.

Design Is More Than Packaging by: Janet Rae-Dupree, NY Times

“Design thinking is inherently about creating new choices, about divergence. Most business processes are about making choices from a set of existing alternatives. Clearly, if all your competition is doing the same, then differentiation is tough. In order to innovate, we have to have new alternatives and new solutions to problems, and that is what design can do.”

- Tim Brown, Chief Executive of IDEO

design research

Documents

intuitive designby

jane fulton suri

ideothoughtless acts

readingsthoughtless

design thinking

design opportunities

design researchnov

christopher hawthorne