Reach Global Design Research Network

How can holistic global insights be developed from connected local studies? This was the question addressed by STBY (UK & NL) at GOOD’11, via a series of recent case studies all somehow based upon this principle. Analysing this issue via case studies will allowed STBY to present a client-side perspective, looking at those issues organisations face when attempting to learn from local consumer behaviour (and the local culture influencing it).

Their experience managing such projects via the Reach network meanwhile allowed them to discuss in detail the ‘network company’ model. This has proven capable of developing high-quality, cost-effective results in a manner far more agile than the traditional model of global research (i.e. that employed by multinational firms with various local offices). They be demonstrated how projects can be intimately tailored around specific circumstances, and how making use of local expertise means the nuance of local insights is never lost in translation.

As well as going into nuts-and-bolts detail about the processes such work involves, STBY’s talk also took a step back to look at some wider issues. What exactly is ‘local’? And how can both contextual (external factors influencing behaviour) and cultural (internal factors driving routines and preferences) insights be identified, presented, and leveraged into meaningful opportunities?

These questions are at the heart of any successful global project; examining them via real-world examples showed how theory can be put into practice.

GOOD’11 was all about what can happen when design and research come together – but what about when this means people, and not just disciplines? Lekshmy Parameswaran and László Herczegh are co-founders of fuelfor, a design consultancy specialised in healthcare innovation. They are a Designer Researcher and Researcher Designer respectively; the challenges and joys of bringing these disciplines together lie at the core of their daily professional practice – and they have both the smiles and the scars to prove it…

At GOOD’11 they be provided a personal and professional account of combining these distinct viewpoints, whilst looking at the fundamental principles that underpin different disciplines and backgrounds working together: What does it mean to be a Designer Researcher and Researcher Designer? What are the innate strengths and weaknesses of each discipline? How can they complement each other to enrich the innovation process? Does learning how to innovate really mean learning how to collaborate?

Health care innovation involves tackling complex problems, and multi-disciplinary collaboration thus becomes an essential tool. With over two decades of experience between them working in the healthcare field, fuelfor have found that when design facilitates research (and vice versa) the results for innovation can be far greater than the sum of these parts. Drawing on selected healthcare product and service innovation case studies fuelfor illustrated a set of key working principles they believe can lead to a successful ‘marriage’ of design and research for innovation.

Design research is centered upon the creation of resonant, engaging insights, but even the most successful projects have to tackle an all-too-familiar problem: how to implement the opportunities they’ve inspired within seemingly rigid organisational structures? This is the issue that was tackled by Dan Szuc (Apogee, China), who looked at how design research can help break down the organisational ‘silos’ that can develop over time and isolate internal teams.

In the this article, he gives an in-depth account of how collaborative workshops – when effectively designed and facilitated – can play a key role in this process. It’s a practical guide borne out of real-world experience, and addresses some of the most common issues design researchers can face during the crucial – but often painstaking – implementation phase, and is a great introduction to some of the wider themes that will be examined at GOOD’11.

Dan’s lectured about usability, user-centered design and user experience in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the US, New Zealand and Japan. He also co-wrote ‘The Usability Kit’ – an implementation guide providing best practices and guidelines for usability teams – and holds a BS in Information Management from Melbourne University in Australia.

How do you design the future models for energy consumption? Smart grid is a huge topic, the upcoming of micro-producers a tendency. The energy providers want to enforce sustainable energy and concurrently they talk about ‘peak shaving’ – peak-shaving meaning a new collaborative way to re-distribute our collective energy consumption with the two-fold outcome: More consumption of wind energy at night and less collective cost with regards to upgrading the distribution-grid leading our energy out in the homes.

One method to design this future model for energy consumption is to design services and setups which encourage involvement. This is the approach taken by antropologerne.com in an ongoing project focusing on electricity consumption. Working from the premise that visibility, materiality and interaction in electricity consumption can encourage consumers to flexibility and to take a greater interest in their energy use, this study revolved around two key themes: the potential impact of home automation technology, and the role of community platforms and collaborative portals.

Exploring the gadget/home automation and the community platform approach provides insights, results and hopefully a new, useful perspective upon people’s attitudes and motivations when it comes to energy consumption.

antropologerne.com came to GOOD’11 to speak about this project in detail, placing it within the context of their previous work in this area. Having recently conducted a major anthropological study into electric car use, they have a wealth of experience from which to draw conclusions about how design research can help foster long-term community involvement in sustainability and re-framing energy usage projects.

GOOD’11 provided several real-world accounts of what it actually means for research projects to take on a ‘global’ focus. One area in which such projects have flourished in recent years has been Energy Awareness, and this was the topic addressed by Indri Tulusan and Fumiko Ichikawa of Spur.

Their presentation will answered two key questions:

Why is learning about others important when local problems present large enough challenges on their own?

And:

Why conduct in-depth research providing detailed accounts of a single person, when the overarching problem facing them is so huge?

Indri and Fumiko will be addressed these questions via a series of real-world case studies drawn from their many years of experience working in this area. The projects they presented went into detail about how energy awareness projects can maintain an effective global focus without losing the rich detail of resonant local insights. They looked at how projects concerning solar power and ownership models can benefit from community involvement at both global and local levels, and applied these principles to a number of real-world challenges, such as the current power plant situation in Japan.

What role can Design Research play when tackling social issues? Increasingly well-established when it comes to product and service innovation, the principles upon which the approach is based are equally applicable to the challenges faced in a variety of social work. Minds & makers (Ger), addressed this topic at GOOD’11, providing an in-depth account via their analysis of the ‘workstreet’ project.

Workstreet is a project designed around street children in Cologne. By ethnographically exploring their everyday life, a range of opportunities to improve their living conditions could be developed from the ground-up, tackling issues such as outreach and inclusion at the earliest possible stages of the design process.

Minds & makers are currently working with a social institution in Cologne to test this approach out in the field, and will be presented some of their findings at GOOD in September. They went into detail about the issues faced in such work, providing insights on how to engage a difficult target group, and how involving local stakeholders in innovative ways can drive such projects forward.