Insight Steering The Ship

Last week I attended a talk by James Ludwig of Steelcase.  This event was presented as part of the MIAD Creativity Series, and it was a wonderful opportunity to hear a design leader share some insights.  Discovery World's inspiring surroundings and mission certainly didn't hurt the evening's proceedings...

While James shared several interesting principles that evening, two in particular piqued my interest.  Intentionally or not, I believe these two guiding lights are intertwined.

If There Is No Insight, There Is No Project:
Before commencing with the "what's" and "how's" of NPD, make sure you have a firm grasp on the "why's".  In supporting this point he stressed the value of synthesis in research, not mere observation.  It can be overwhelmingly tempting for designers to immediately jump to direct solutions for the numerous small issues they observe in the field.  Doing so before they have enough inputs to understand the interrelations and complexities of why the user is doing something can lead to a perpetual game of NPD "Whack-A-Mole"; a never-ending chase for incremental changes.

Invention Happens At The Programmatic Level:
I found this principle particularly interesting from a selfish standpoint.  Creativity often is pigeon-holed as the activity of designers, who wield their markers like magic wands as they solve the world's problems.  This romanticized view has certainly served me well, and has been a lot of fun when everything falls into place just right.  But as I've progressed in my career, and I'm certain that many designers in my circumstance feel this way as well, I've grown to understand that the need for creativity only increases as one takes on responsibilities extending beyond traditional "designer" skills.  The toolbox and scale may change, but the pursuit doesn't.  Your creativity at the programmatic level is key to the success of your team.

The Coming Storm...

"Brainstorming" has been with us for quite a while now, to the sound of cheers and simultaneous jabs of ridicule.  Often characterized by silly exercises and "absolutely no criticism" decrees in an effort to get us out of figurative boxes, I can understand why some of the more pragmatic types amongst us look at it all as a bunch of superfluous goofiness.  It doesn't help that formal studies have supported the hypothesis that a solitary person is capable of coming up with more solutions to a complex problem than a brainstorming group in the same amount of time.

Which leads me to ask - why do we brainstorm?

There are several reasons I remain committed to the group brainstorming process, at least in the format that we execute it at Brooks Stevens Inc.  The practice keeps the focus upon group collaboration - which is healthy for the project well beyond the session itself.  That doesn't mean we are hamstrung by democratic buy-in on every decision; rather, it ensures that we buy-in to the concept that there are multiple inputs which can be relevant and need to be listened to.  That, and the cross-pollination that you get through this process will be sorely missed in other solitary approaches.

Quantity of ideas is part of the mechanics of the session, but it is not the prize outcome.  A structured session can look a lot like a compressed concept phase or as a way to get a LOT of great ideas – but it is much more valuable and valid as an intense “immersion bootcamp” to get an extended project team heading in the same general direction with the same general goals.  Coming out of a complex discovery research phase, this is often the best way to internalize the findings for the group so they can proceed into concept development most effectively.

Years ago I tried to be an island.  I valued my design input by how much I could do alone - in quantity, quality, and breadth.  But I was so much older then - I'm younger than that now...


image credit: 惟①刻¾

Where Do You Look For Your Easter Eggs?

There's a story my mother tells about my sister as a toddler, hunting for Easter eggs. Our older brother knew the game - he would quickly loop around the house looking in all of the prime spots to gather the stashed eggs and assorted goodies. My sister Helen was new to this, so she opted to follow his example. She dutifully followed him to check every spot he was successful finding an egg in. No surprise to us in hindsight, she didn't find any Easter eggs of her own that year.

In order to discover the "next big thing" or understand your user in ways your competition doesn't, you need to look in places less obvious - those not explored time and time again by others who came before you. When they zig, you zag. When they think linearly, you think laterally.

One fun tool for encouraging lateral thinking is the Oblique Strategies card set created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. These cards have been used by many musical artists over the last few decades, ranging from Robert Fripp and David Bowie to REM and Coldplay(!?). Abstract directives and queries on the cards encourage the user to confront the dilemma in front of them in a new manner - hopefully to surprising result.

Or maybe it is simpler than that. Perhaps the question "where would Mom hide an easter egg" simply changes to "where on Mom's precious carpet and furniture would she worry least about a stain from dye"?

P.S.
Don't worry about my sister - she grew up to be talented and smart. The best of us kids, actually...

When "Mirror, Mirror" Is Not A Mirror

There's an oft-quoted product development story involving "slow" elevators. In this story, passengers are complaining to building management about the lengthy waits for elevators in a tall building. Most would-be problem solvers, when presented with this situation, attack the readily apparent source of the pain: slow elevator mechanisms. The hero of the story decides that the real problem is that people think that elevators are too slow, and that perception is exacerbated by their boredom while waiting. Ultimately, mirrors are installed in the lobby and the elevators themselves, passengers occupy themselves with checking their hair, outfit, (and yes, other occupants), and management is thrilled with the inexpensive and easy to implement solution to their problems.

This story is typically pulled out to show how impactful the definition of a problem is to the creative problem solving process, and how thinking within disciplinary boxes can lead us to overlook novel solutions. It came to mind when I recently stayed at an Aloft hotel on a research trip and saw their familiar Liquid Lava™ floor tiles in the elevator. I realized that these were a new twist on the classic elevator mirror. They took this ubiquitous distractive element and elevated it slightly more toward actual engagement. In a sense, Aloft managed to put "mirrors" on the floors of their elevators without the risqué/creepy implications - while creating an experience unique to their hotels. They didn’t think outside the box, but rather rotated it on its side…

Day One, Post One…

I've been doing this "design" thing a while now, and I've learned a few things along the way. Sometimes I copied what I saw or was told to do, sometimes I learned the hard way. The most rewarding lessons came when I extrapolated an observation or idea into a new format and experimented with it - often in collaboration with a like-minded co-worker.

In that spirit, I'll be sharing some design-related thoughts via this blog - writing them down to visually "hear it out loud" and refine them along the way. Some of what I post should be obvious in hindsight – but hopefully stated in a novel way which makes it worth repeating.

A few themes will be recurring:

• Brand as Melody: exploration of Visual Brand Language (VBL) principles and processes using musical composition as an analogue.  I am personally fascinated by how closely these pursuits parallel each other, and feel that some elements of VBL can be more easily understood by non-designers when correlated to another medium, such as music.
• Harnessing the Spark: fostering and managing creativity within groups.  This can range from tools for the day-to-day activities of a creative group to the more concentrated actions in a brainstorming session.  In either, I am particularly interested in maintaining a keen eye on pragmatic and actionable results.
• Design Voyeur: observations of interesting design elements or approaches which may inspire you to be better or simply chuckle.

I hope someone out there finds my posts intriguing, professionally helpful, or simply amusing.  But... if you're looking for amusing pictures of cats you'll need to go elsewhere (I can provide links if needed).