designapproaches

[designapproaches]

References

Elizarova, O., Briselli, J. and Dowd, K., 2017. Participatory Design In Practice | UX Magazine. [online] UX Magazine. Available at: <https://uxmag.com/articles/participatory-design-in-practice> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

Harrabin, R., 2018. Fast Fashion Is Harming The Planet, Mps Say. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45745242> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

Hughes, H., 2019. Future Of Fashion: Production - Sustainable, High-Tech And On-Demand. [online] Fashionunited.uk. Available at: <https://fashionunited.uk/case/future-of-fashion-production-sustainable-high-tech-and-on-demand#materials> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

IDEO U. n.d. What Is Design Thinking?. [online] Available at: <https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

Koschei, J., 2016. What Exactly Is A Design Culture? | Inside Design Blog. [online] Invisionapp.com. Available at: <https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/what-is-a-design-culture/> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

Nooyi, I., 2015. How Indra Nooyi Turned Design Thinking Into Strategy: An Interview With Pepsico’S CEO.

Sillver, K., 2007. What Puts The Design In Interaction Design. [online] Uxmatters.com. Available at: <https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2007/07/what-puts-the-design-in-interaction-design.php> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

Spacey, J., 2018. 4 Types Of Critical Design. [online] Simplicable. Available at: <https://simplicable.com/new/critical-design> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

Usability.gov. n.d. Interaction Design Basics | Usability.Gov. [online] Available at: <https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/interaction-design.html> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

World Wildlife Fund. n.d. Cotton | Industries | WWF. [online] Available at: <https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[designapproaches]

Design Interaction

The classic definition of interactive design is that it is the practise of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems and services. In which the designers focus goes beyond the item in development to include the way users interact with it. Understanding how humans and technology communicate with each other is fundamental to this field. [9]IxD involves five dimensions: words (1D), visual representations (2D), physical objects/space (3D), time (4D) and behaviour (5D). They are used to help designers envision real-world demand of a usership in relation to a design not yet introduced. For example, designers of an app that must process data at a high speed in order to find results, inside a mass-transit system (subway/metro), will face accommodating the constraints of underground commuters-cramped spaces, fast journeys, dead zones etc.

 When designing for interaction there is some key points to consider; e.g. [10]Define how users can interact with the interface, what can the user do with their mouse, finger, or stylus to physically interact? This includes pushing buttons, dragging and dropping across the interface etc. What commands can the user give? When a user hits “Ctrl+C” they expect to be able to copy a piece of content, this is an example of ‘indirect manipulation’. Another point to consider is giving users clues about behaviour before actions are taken, for example; the appearance (colour, shape, size), gives the user a clue about how it may function which helps to understand how it may be used. Also consider what information do you provide to let a user know what will happen before they perform an action? This could include meaningful labels on a button. Other areas to consider include; anticipating and mitigating errors along with feedback and response time.

[9] Sillver, K., 2007. What Puts The Design In Interaction Design. [online] Uxmatters.com. Available at: <https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2007/07/what-puts-the-design-in-interaction-design.php> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[10] Usability.gov. n.d. Interaction Design Basics | Usability.Gov. [online] Available at: <https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/interaction-design.html> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[designapproaches]

The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn’t something you await, but rather create.

H Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai

[designapproaches]

Critical Design

Critical design is a theory based approach to design. It is the development of non-obvious design concepts that challenge the status quo. Critical designs aren’t typically useful or commercially viable but may serve to inspire a leap forward in value with completely new ideas. Speculation, speculating about the future, is a big part of critical design. This can involve projections based on current trends are about to suddenly end or reverse, it can also involve though experiments such as how the future will view current designs. 

Technology trends are a strong and clear direction of technological change which is accelerating. This idea stems from the observation that each decade appears to change at an increased rate. According to the theory, [8]“life changed more between 2000 and 2010 than between 1900 and 1910.” A prime example of this is the doubling of computing speed every 18 months that began in the 1960s explained by Moore’s Law. This in turn sparked the commercialization of the internet and leaps forward in research areas such as biotechnology which creates speculation about what will come next, therefore driving critical design.

Critical design raises ‘what if?’ questions about the future. In Dubai ‘The Museum of the Future’ was opened in 2018, it exhibits and demonstrates examples of futuristic products that have been designed. It offers an experience of the world in 2035 with displays featuring artificial intelligence systems as well as theoretical devices such as mind-linking brain implant devices, this is an amazing example of how critical design is speculative and fun but less practical than other approaches. 

[8] Spacey, J., 2018. 4 Types Of Critical Design. [online] Simplicable. Available at: <https://simplicable.com/new/critical-design> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[designapproaches]

20,000 litres of water is needed to produce one kilogram of cotton, equivalent to s dingle t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

World Wildlife Fund

[designapproaches]

The environment under stress

Our appetite for natural resources and large scale industrial activity is eradicating species, warming the oceans and disrupting the global climate balance on an unprecedented scale. The fashion industry is a major source of the greenhouse gases that are overheating the planet. Discarded clothes are piling up in landfill sites and fibre fragments are flowing into the sea when garments are washed. Half a million tonnes of microfibres a year enter the ocean. If current clothes consumption continues [6]“...they will account for more than a quarter of our total impact on climate change by 2050.”

One particularly harmful aspect of the fashion industry upon the planet is cotton. Cotton is the most widespread profitable non-food crop in the world, providing income for more than 250 million people worldwide and employs 7% of all labour in developing countries. Approximately half of all textiles are made of cotton. 

Current cotton production methods are environmentally unsustainable. [7]“20,000 litres of water is needed to produce one kilogram of cotton, equivalent to s dingle t-shirt and a pair of jeans.” Along with the vast consumption of water, pollution is another significant problem created, cotton production practises involve the application of fertilizers and pesticides, pesticides threaten the quality of soil and water, as well as the health of biodiversity. Then the runoff from cotton fields contaminates rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers.

Subsequently when this cotton is used to create garments, the fast fashion industry uses large amounts of transport within delivery which releases large amounts of co2, contributing largely to air pollution and the progression of climate change.

[6] Harrabin, R., 2018. Fast Fashion Is Harming The Planet, Mps Say. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45745242> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[7] World Wildlife Fund. n.d. Cotton | Industries | WWF. [online] Available at: <https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[designapproaches]

Thinking differently about fashion

There is constantly innovative new textiles and materials being experimented with and used in the fashion industry.

 [5]Atelier La Gadoue, a Brussel-based company founded by designers Audrey Werthle and Eloise Maes created their Tchouc bag collections made from Tchouc textile – a vegetable based composite material and an alternative to leather. The material is the outcome of the pair’s research into natural rubber coating on a linen canvas. 

Swiss brand Qwstion created Bananatex using the fibres of the stem of the abaca tree – a tree of the banana family. They cultivate plants of the banana tree family known locally as “Banana Hemp” in the Philippines within a natural ecosystem of sustainable forestry. They then process them into a material that is a viable alternative to synthetic fabric. The fabric is made from 100% natural banana fibres and is topped with a natural beeswax coating for a water-resistant finish. These new materials show an answer to the growing popularity of the vegetarian lifestyle and a need for non-leather alternatives. 

Another example of thinking differently about fashion is 3D printing. Nike are experimenting with this concept, the sportswear giant teamed up with silicon valley based startup Grabit for an auto-layering robot that uses electro adhesion to manufacture shoe uppers in just 50 seconds, 20 times faster than it takes a human. 

American fashion designer Zac Posen showcased how 3d printing adds a new level of design opportunities allowing for complex shapes and designs to be created at the 2019 Met Gala. He teamed up with US 3D printing company Protolabs to create dresses inspired by a vision of freezing objects in motion. His rose gown dress was worn by British model Jourdan Dunn which was made of 21 unique petals weighing a pound each. The petals, which took approximately 100 hours each to print, were made of Accura Xtreme White 200 durable plastic and printed on stereolithography machine.

[5] Hughes, H., 2019. Future Of Fashion: Production - Sustainable, High-Tech And On-Demand. [online] Fashionunited.uk. Available at: <https://fashionunited.uk/case/future-of-fashion-production-sustainable-high-tech-and-on-demand#materials> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[designapproaches]

Design Thinking

[3]Design thinking is a process for creative problem solving. It encourages organizations to focus on the people they’re creating for. It is a process which seeks to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. There is three essential pillars of design thinking; empathy – understanding the needs of those being designed for, ideation – generating a lot of ideas, brainstorming Is one technique, and experimentation- testing those ideas with prototyping. 

If done right, design thinking captures the mindsets of people you’re creating for, paints a picture of opportunities based on their needs and leads you to innovative new solutions. The design thinking process has become increasingly popular over the last few decades because it was key to the success of many high-profile, global organizations- companies such as Google, Apple and Airbnb have used it to notable effect.

One example of how businesses is adapting design thinking is Pepsi. PepsiCo’s CEO Indra Nooyi has seen the company enjoy steady revenue growth during her nine years in the top job. Nooyi now focuses on what she says is driving innovation in the company: design thinking. In 2012 she brought in Mauro Porcini as Pepsi’s first-ever chief design officer and she says design has a voice in nearly every important decision that the company makes. 

Nooyi states when visiting stores [4]“the shelves just seem more and more cluttered, so I thought we had to rethink our innovation process and design experiences for our consumers-from conception to what’s on the shelf”. She did this by giving her direct reports an empty photo album and a camera, asking them to take pictures of anything they thought represented a good design but most failed to interact or understand the task and what design was, that’s when she brought in Mauro.  And now how consumers interact with the product is pushed through by design and now they don’t sell products based on the manufacturing they have, but on how their target consumers can fall in love with them. For example, SunChips, the original size was one-inch by one inch and when you bit into the chip, it would break into pieces. In focus groups consumers told them they went to another product that was instead bite size and Nooyi stated they had to change their product even if their current mould could only cut that big size.

[3] IDEO U. n.d. What Is Design Thinking?. [online] Available at: <https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[4] Nooyi, I., 2015. How Indra Nooyi Turned Design Thinking Into Strategy: An Interview With Pepsico’S CEO

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[designapproaches]

Design Culture

[2]Design culture is about rediscovering the human side of business. In an organization with a healthy design culture, everyone in the company is taught to understand and respect the value of design. When design isn’t properly understood or respected, it often plays second fiddle to engineering and business decisions, resulting in poorer outcomes. In a healthy design culture, design is applied not only to the product or service an organization produces, but also to the organization itself. Seemingly small details—the lighting, the communication tools, the placement of the coffee machines—are thoughtfully considered. It improves and prioritises customer experiences through design. An organization with a strong design culture focuses on creating experiences that add value to their users’ lives. In general, design culture entails undertaking design as the forefront of every operation in the organisation, from strategy formulation to execution. One example of design culture is creativity; a willingness to pitch brave ideas that might get shot down versus a culture where everyone is conservative out of fear of saying something that could be criticised. Design cultures have a high tolerance for failure. Employees are encouraged to experiment and iterate, with the understanding that this will occasionally lead to mistakes. They should feel free to take risks when appropriate and learn from their mistakes, without fear of being reprimanded or fired. Another example of design culture is leadership, it can be a command and control-style organization with everything requiring the approval of a creative director, or alternatively an organisation may have a more laid back style of leadership whereby designers do what they want as long as they keep their clients happy.

[2] Koschei, J., 2016. What Exactly Is A Design Culture? | Inside Design Blog. [online] Invisionapp.com. Available at: <https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/what-is-a-design-culture/> [Accessed 23 March 2020].

[designapproaches]

Participatory Design

Participatory design, also known as co-design, is a collaborative approach to designing products which successfully involves the stakeholders, designers, researchers and end-users in the design process to help ensure that the end product meets the needs of its intended user base. The approach of PD is based around the idea that consumers believed they were not being designed “for” but designed “at” by the companies they bought their products from, therefore being forced to adapt and to the ideas and principles of the product. An example of how the consumers contribute is through PD sessions, companies give their users simple tools to create and design mock-ups of a products they would love to use in their “perfect world” scenario why also asking them to explain why they created it in a certain way. Another approach of PD is ‘Circles of Me’ rather than just asking customers what is important to them, this method visually captures their needs and desires in a hierarchical manner. Created as a bullseye, in the innermost circle participants include things and relationships they value the most. In the subsequent circles, they put other people/things/relationships important to them in descending order. This method is used to identify what participants really value, helping the company better understand their needs and desires in order to design with them.

[1]Behavioral Health Innovators (BHI) sought to create a series of participatory design workshops by partnering with high school students in recovery from addiction. Mad*Pow worked closely with these students to understand and document the underlying causes of their substance abuse, map their journeys through addiction and recovery, and facilitate the creation of several prototypes of interventions that could help other young adults.

[1] Elizarova, O., Briselli, J. and Dowd, K., 2017. Participatory Design In Practice | UX Magazine. [online] UX Magazine. Available at: <https://uxmag.com/articles/participatory-design-in-practice> [Accessed 23 March 2020].