Future of Design Research: 5 Key Themes (Part 1)
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The document discusses the evolving landscape of design research, highlighting its growing recognition as a distinct discipline and the opportunities for its integration into various sectors. It identifies five key opportunities for the field: strategic leadership, education, dynamic practice, integration of analytics, and storytelling. The text emphasizes the importance of adapting practices, educating stakeholders, and fostering collaboration between design researchers and data scientists to enhance the impact of design research.
![8
DYNAMIC PRACTICE
FASTER, MORE ITERATIVEAND
INTEGRATED DESIGN PROCESSES
RAPIDLYCHANGING WAYS FOR
COLLABORATION
CONTINUALINFUSION OF CROSS
DISCIPLINARYINFLUENCES
[Most exci;ng development] “The
con;nuous cross disciplinary inspira;ons
from domains like social science,
psychology, technology, philosophy, etc.
and further integra;on of different
methodologies.”
- Helen Zhao, Researcher, Shanghai
“It’s an ongoing vs a stage of the
process, the cyclic and con;nuous
nature of dynamic design research, as
it should be.”
- Sonia Manchanda, Design
Strategist, India
CURIOSITYLABS
www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/curiositylabsfdr5oppsaug16-160805205605/85/Future-of-Design-Research-5-Key-Themes-Part-1-8-320.jpg)
![11
EDUCATION
“Scaling design research throughout the
organiza;on is a major challenge. IBM has
close to 400K employees, over 1000
designers, geang all those teams to do
quality research and strategy is a big
challenge.“
Adam Cutler, IBM Design
[On what’s exci;ng] “The democra;za;on of
design research. In the past, it was a skill
only a few could do. We believe that you can
teach this to many people and that all people
should be exposed to the ideas. I think
there's momentum for this view.”
Brant Cooper, Author, The Lean
Entrepreneur
FROM BASIC LITERACY…
…TO SCALINGACROSS LARGE
ORGANIZATIONS
Aroundwhatdesignresearchisandwhyuseitfordecision-
makersorotherkeystakeholdergroups
Many(larger)organizationsaretryingtofigureouthowtomost
effectivelyscaledesign/researcheducationprograms
…TO HIGH QUALITYTRAINING
Therearefewtrainingsdesignedspecificallyforgraduatesor
early-to-middesignanduserresearchprofessionals
CURIOSITYLABS
www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/curiositylabsfdr5oppsaug16-160805205605/85/Future-of-Design-Research-5-Key-Themes-Part-1-11-320.jpg)
Future of Design Research: 5 Key Themes (Part 1)
- 1. 1 FUTURE OF DESIGN RESEARCH Fiveopportunitiestoshapethefutureofthepractice AUGUST2016CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 2. 2 AGENDA NEXT STEPS / GET INVOLVED CONTEXT WHAT IS DESIGN RESEARCH? 5 OPPORTUNITIES OBJECTIVES &APPROACH CONTACT CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 3. 3 WHAT IS DESIGN RESEARCH? The practice of understanding humans and contexts to inform and inspire design Appliestoanykindofhuman-centered designinanysector,fromtechproductsto smartcitiestosalesstrategies Additional notes: Includes innovation research. Shares many similarities in principles and practices to qualitative research Includes user research if the intent is to inspire UX design CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 4. 4 CONTEXT: DESIGN RESEARCH ISAN EMERGING PRACTICE… “It is becoming a discipline in its own right. Companies are more aware of it's value and giving it more resource. Communi;es and thought leaders are emerging.” - Dr Andrew Muir Wood, Customer Insights Lead, London “By singling out Design Research/User Research as a defined discipline within broader qualita;ve research skills, it has provided a more focused entry point for many more, younger, smart people to expand the discipline." - Janet Standen, Scoot Insights, San Francisco CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 5. 5 …THAT IS STARTING TO SPREADACROSS ORGANIZATIONS, SECTORSAND INTO NEW GEOGRAPHIES “Design thinking is well known in South East Asia. I travel for Google in the region and everywhere students are talking about design as key in their problem solving.” - Sacha Carina van Ginhoven, MrLeopard, Singapore “Design research is s;ll in its infancy, as a professional prac;ce in Brazil, even though it is slowly growing.” - Patricia Mourthe, Sao Paulo, Brazil Itsrecentriseisinpartthankstothegrowthindesign-ledcultureslikeAppleandhuman-centeredapproacheslikeDesignThinkingand Lean,aswellasthroughthegrowthofthetechsectorandtheemergenceofuserresearch CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 6. 6 5 OPPORTUNITIES Tosparkideasandigniteconversations STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP EDUCATION DYNAMIC PRACTICE INTEGRATION OFANALYTICS STORYTELLING CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 7. 7 DYNAMIC PRACTICE Adaptingmindsetsandpracticestofaster,morefluid andexperimentalwaysofworkingwillbecriticalover thenextfewyears Tom Chi’s Prototype Thinking integrates user research into a rapid prototyping process CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 8. 8 DYNAMIC PRACTICE FASTER, MORE ITERATIVEAND INTEGRATED DESIGN PROCESSES RAPIDLYCHANGING WAYS FOR COLLABORATION CONTINUALINFUSION OF CROSS DISCIPLINARYINFLUENCES [Most exci;ng development] “The con;nuous cross disciplinary inspira;ons from domains like social science, psychology, technology, philosophy, etc. and further integra;on of different methodologies.” - Helen Zhao, Researcher, Shanghai “It’s an ongoing vs a stage of the process, the cyclic and con;nuous nature of dynamic design research, as it should be.” - Sonia Manchanda, Design Strategist, India CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 9. 9 DYNAMIC PRACTICE: THE INNOVATORS MURAL Mural, founded by Mariano Suarez- Battan, is highly rated by several leaders in the community as an online collaboration tool (for Design Thinking) that actually works THEDESIGNSPRINT The 5-day problem solving intensive, developed at Google, is a practical application of design thinking and lean and has quickly gained traction in the tech industry and beyond over the past few months TOMCHI’SPROTOTYPETHINKING “FactoryX/Tom Chi's Prototype Thinking is by far my favorite way of getting into action and making things happen, seeing change occur around you. It's SO fast, incisive, and capable of making an impact on a problem in new ways, every time.” - Megan Goering, San FranciscoCURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 10. 10 EDUCATION Educatingstakeholdersonthebasicsofwhatdesignresearchis andwhyitisused,totrainingthenextgenerationofworld-class designanduserresearchers,areamongsignificantchallengeswe arefacing Pittsburgh, USA is home to both Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design and LUMA Institute CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 11. 11 EDUCATION “Scaling design research throughout the organiza;on is a major challenge. IBM has close to 400K employees, over 1000 designers, geang all those teams to do quality research and strategy is a big challenge.“ Adam Cutler, IBM Design [On what’s exci;ng] “The democra;za;on of design research. In the past, it was a skill only a few could do. We believe that you can teach this to many people and that all people should be exposed to the ideas. I think there's momentum for this view.” Brant Cooper, Author, The Lean Entrepreneur FROM BASIC LITERACY… …TO SCALINGACROSS LARGE ORGANIZATIONS Aroundwhatdesignresearchisandwhyuseitfordecision- makersorotherkeystakeholdergroups Many(larger)organizationsaretryingtofigureouthowtomost effectivelyscaledesign/researcheducationprograms …TO HIGH QUALITYTRAINING Therearefewtrainingsdesignedspecificallyforgraduatesor early-to-middesignanduserresearchprofessionals CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 12. 12 EDUCATION: THE INNOVATORS THELUMAINSTITUTE THEDESIGNEXCHANGE Co-founded by Pete Mayer, the LUMA Institute has established itself as a highly respected institution by some of the Bay Area’s leading technology companies, advancing innovation through human-centered design Conceived at UC Berkeley, the Design Exchange is an online platform led by Celeste Roschuni currently in beta where designers and researchers can share methods and best practices CARNEGIEMELLON: SCHOOLOFDESIGN Several contributors mentioned CMU’s Transitional Design program as an exciting development. Terry Irwin heads the School of Design @ CMU. CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 13. 13 INTEGRATION OFANALYTICS There’shugeinterestinbigdata;specifically,waysinwhichitcan mosteffectivelybeintegratedwithdesignresearch.However, manydesignresearcherslackbasicliteracyinstatisticsanddata science. Afewleadingorganizationsintechandfinancehavefully integratedDRwithanalyticsonarangeofproblems;othersare justbeginning. Data-driven music companies Spotify and Soundcloud are among the leaders integrating DR with analytics CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 15. 15 INTEGRATION OFANALYTICS: 3 USE CASES Design researchers and data scien;sts each have a seat at the table and collaborate strategically; evidenced in the tech, financial and retail sectors in par;cular, in companies like Google and Wells Fargo BASIC,ADHOC ACCESSTODATA BEHAVIORALDATAWITH QUALITATIVEOUTPUTS FULLYINTEGRATED TEAMS Accessing basic usage data to answer, for example: “are people actually using this product?” Knowing what data to pull and from where is a challenge for some internal teams Data Scien;sts and design researchers add addi;onal layers of data and informa;on to strategic projects like personas or customer journey maps CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 18. 18 STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP: THE INNOVATORS Of 3 key questions to be discussed, “How can design research frame and address societal problems that face us?” Robin Beers built an leading research team at Wells Fargo to over 30 people, integrating analytics and design research.. STANFORDD.SCHOOL The d.School has been hugely successful in branding Design Thinking over the past few years – driving design-led cultures across sectors DRS2016, BRIGHTON,UK INSIGHTSTEAM@ WELLSFARGO CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 21. 21 NEXT STEPS / GET INVOLVED CONTACT PROTOTYPING WORKSHOPS JOINTHE UDR COMMUNITY WorkshopsinSanFranciscoandBouldertoexplore opportunityareasandprototypenewsolutions 1stAugust2016:“Howmightweeducatethenextgenerationof designresearchers?” JoinCuriosityLabsemaillistheretostayupdated: www.c-lab.space/future-of-design-research/ UserandDesignResearchGoogleGroup AndrewBrown 415-657-6473 andrew@c-lab.space www.linkedin.com/in/andykbrown
- 22. 22 OBJECTIVES &APPROACH Growing global community, yet little open discussion on the current state of the practice or where it’s going Community appetite to understand the greatest opportunities and challenges WHAT WHY An exploration of attitudes and practices in relation to design research CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 23. 23 OBJECTIVES &APPROACH 3 workshops with core team of 8 people 130 people from the global community contributed via a survey* Themes are based on qualitative research for directional use. *Around 4/5 contributors to survey from North America; 4/5 currently working in tech (software or hardware); two-thirds design researchers one-third designers, product or innovation, academics, thought leaders or analysts 20 interviews with design, research & thought leaders WHO HOW DesignResearchers(inc.UserResearchers) Designers Product,Innovation,BrandManagers/Leaders Analysts DataScientists AuthorsandThoughtLeaders Academics CURIOSITYLABS www.c-lab.space | andrew@c-lab.space
- 24. 24 CURIOSITY LABS SAN FRANCISCO, USA BOULDER, USA www.c-lab.space N.B. Images are either part of the Creative Commons or sourced with permission from owner AndrewBrown +14156576473 andrew@c-lab.space www.linkedin.com/in/andykbrown