#ThoughtlessActions

[realtalkwithmattycom]

Logical thinking is the lighthouse that shines

#ClearThinkingWins  #LogicOverEmotion#IrrationalityBeware #IllogicalChoices#realtalkwithmatty #mattyfeaturepost#IrrationalBeliefs #EmotionallyDriven #RationalThoughts #SoundReasoning#IrrationalThinking #ThoughtlessActions#logicalthinkingtoday #mindfullivingcoach#logicalmindset #mindsetcoachtraining#criticalevaluation #thoughtlessmistakes#mindsetcoachmindset #emotionallybiased#mindsetcoachlife…

[n9949542]

Thoughtless Acts?

Thoughtless Acts. The things we do without even realising it. From walking around puddles or grates on the floor, to shoving rubbish wherever it will fit, we react to our environment without even realising it. This week we looked at the book “Thoughtless Acts” by Jane Fulton Suri (2005) in which she details the subtle, thoughtless ways we interact with the world. These 'thoughtless acts' that Suri documents reveal how people's behaviour shifts as they interact with the world not perfectly tailored to them. When designers adapt this kind of observational approach it gives us a better look into the people around us and those involved in our creative endeavours. (IDEO, 2017).

To put this into practice we ventured down to sunny Southbank, where many a thoughtless act can be seen in action, and attempted to capture photos of people committing these acts. The sunny weather during the day meant the park was filled with tourists and families alike and meant that there was no issue finding the images needed.

- A little girl reacts to the birds around her and runs at them to cause them to fly away.

- A woman reacts to the elevated step and uses it to tie her shoe.

- A group of people react to the muddy puddle on the floor and move around it.

- People respond to the platforms and stairs and use them as seats.

- A person responds to the perfectly sized gap in the plants and puts their stroller there while they eat.

- People respond to the bicycle basket and leave their rubbish there when a bin is not near.

- Some people co-opt a cold drink to cool themselves on a hot day.

- People co-opt the pillar by leaning a wonky railing on it.

- Someone exploits the buildings pole to tie their dog off while they go inside.

- People exploit the platform to hide light cables behind it.

- A boy exploits the shape of a tree to use it as a play toy.

- A boy adapts a bollard to use it as an object to rest on.

- Children adapt the stream and its rocks to use it as a playground.

- Children adapt the 'Brisbane' sign climbing on top of it and using it as a playground.

- People see that others have left their cup in an area and put theirs there as well, conforming to a group.

- People notice that someone has left their bike here and conform and leave theirs there as well.

- People conform to the idea that this hill is for sun-baking.

-  A sign signals people as to what is not allowed in the area.

-  A ribbon signals that the ladder is not to be used.

-  A woman signals her friend over to her by waving her hand.

To add to our findings we were also asked to sketch two things we found interesting within Southbank and write some observations about the day.

This first sketch was of an installation of a man on a unicycle suspended above one of Southbank's market squares. I found this particularly interesting as it is not something that you expect to find when you go to visit Southbank and it caught my attention as a unique experience. On top of its interesting appearance of a stone man on a unicycle, it was suspended at roof height above the square where I did not expect to see anything at all, let alone an artistic man.

My second sketch was of people walking around a grate on the floor. I found it interesting to watch as the interaction between the grate and the people depended on age, gender, race and how large a group was. Some people swerved to avoid it, some people swerved to step onto of it, some people didn’t react to it and I saw a kid run over to it just to jump on it.  I found it extremely interesting to see how different people reacted to the same object in vastly different ways just based on who they were.

During the day I noticed three main groups of people at Southbank. Those there as tourists, enjoying the experience of Southbank, those there as families, enjoying spending time together and letting the children play in the park, and those there as groups of friends, enjoying the warm day down by the river. People seemed to be mostly taking the time to relax and enjoy the warm atmosphere that Southbank creates. With large sections of plants and flowers and the nearby river the park smelt of outdoors and people enjoyed the environment. With all of the family, friends and tourists there the park had a very lively and upbeat mood of people just enjoying their day out with each other.

While initially I found the idea of in-depth observation of others to be weird and uncomfortable and didn’t really know why I had to do it and what help it would bring me, I slowly started to realise just what I was doing and seeing. When you watch the thoughtless actions of someone you get a far deeper understanding of who they are and what their motives are. This itself can help designers better understand the people they are designing for and make the thing we design so much better. With a look inside the mind of the people we design for, we get an in-depth personal understanding of our user base and that is something so important to design, something I now realise can be gained from spending an afternoon observing people.

References

Suri, Jane F. 2005. Thoughtless acts? 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

IDEO. "Thoughtless Acts?" Accessed April 20, 2017. https://www.ideo.com/post/thoughtless-acts