This past week I gave a presentation on ethnographic research at GE Healthcare Research Park. The Diagnostic Cardiology Systems Team invited me as part of their Global Engineer’s Week - a series of events centered around delivering innovative customer value. There was a personal message I decided to fit in as part of that presentation...
When I came on board with Brooks Stevens Inc. many years ago, we were still very much the small ID-centric firm we were during our founder’s time. Since then, we’ve expanded to include mechanical engineering, FEA, prototyping, and ethnographic research. I can say that each of these additions – which made ID a smaller portion of our culture and business – have contributed significantly to my growth towards being a better designer today. These additions didn’t diminish design’s role, they enhanced design's capability to succeed.
Incorporation of design research in earnest changes things, and it makes some designers uncomfortable. They fear that the creative aspect of their job is somehow being fenced-in; the fun being squeezed out of it. But the reality is that design research doesn’t tie your hands or restrict your creativity – it enables you to be better at what you love to do, with insights and opportunities for you to capitalize upon.
My background is firmly within ID, and I still am a designer at heart to this day. If I was solely an ethnographer by training and career path, you’d have reason to look at my praises of design research with a jaundiced eye. But I’m not that guy. I’ve done a lot of ethnography, and collaborated with some great researchers over the years.
When I came on board with Brooks Stevens Inc. many years ago, we were still very much the small ID-centric firm we were during our founder’s time. Since then, we’ve expanded to include mechanical engineering, FEA, prototyping, and ethnographic research. I can say that each of these additions – which made ID a smaller portion of our culture and business – have contributed significantly to my growth towards being a better designer today. These additions didn’t diminish design’s role, they enhanced design's capability to succeed.
Incorporation of design research in earnest changes things, and it makes some designers uncomfortable. They fear that the creative aspect of their job is somehow being fenced-in; the fun being squeezed out of it. But the reality is that design research doesn’t tie your hands or restrict your creativity – it enables you to be better at what you love to do, with insights and opportunities for you to capitalize upon.
My background is firmly within ID, and I still am a designer at heart to this day. If I was solely an ethnographer by training and career path, you’d have reason to look at my praises of design research with a jaundiced eye. But I’m not that guy. I’ve done a lot of ethnography, and collaborated with some great researchers over the years.
Come on baby...don't fear the researcher.
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