http://www.smallfire.co.nz/2009/05/19/immersion-intervention-seeding-three-aims-for-early-design-research/ This blog covers work, thinking and experiences on design, design strategy and design research by Penny Hagen. I help organisations take a collaborative and participatory approach to the design & implementation of new processes, strategy, services, & products. The opinions shared here are solely my own. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:21:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.smallfire.co.nz/2009/05/19/immersion-intervention-seeding-three-aims-for-early-design-research/comment-page-1/#comment-4 penny Sun, 24 May 2009 10:44:28 +0000 http://www.smallfire.co.nz/?p=210#comment-4 Hey Chris, kind of a tricky question, in that I am still working out the best way to represent it. But essentially I mean that when we think of research we (often) think of a contained period of time. A discrete activity somewhat separate to design. Of course not all design 'research' methods have these limitations (co-design work by Liz Sanders deliberately collapses research and design) and Participatory Design methods have always been more generative than just data collection. Nevertheless, in industry practice the word "research" often focuses on "data gathering to inform design". It also often places participants in the role of passive subject - they become anonymous subjects of research. The kinds of activities we do early in design can be much more than that, and enable a much more participatory and active role for users, but thinking about them as "research" can throw up these kinds of habitual boundaries or assumptions, limiting their potential. I'll have a better go at clarifying soon :) Hey Chris, kind of a tricky question, in that I am still working out the best way to represent it. But essentially I mean that when we think of research we (often) think of a contained period of time. A discrete activity somewhat separate to design. Of course not all design ‘research’ methods have these limitations (co-design work by Liz Sanders deliberately collapses research and design) and Participatory Design methods have always been more generative than just data collection. Nevertheless, in industry practice the word “research” often focuses on “data gathering to inform design”. It also often places participants in the role of passive subject – they become anonymous subjects of research. The kinds of activities we do early in design can be much more than that, and enable a much more participatory and active role for users, but thinking about them as “research” can throw up these kinds of habitual boundaries or assumptions, limiting their potential. I’ll have a better go at clarifying soon

]]> http://www.smallfire.co.nz/2009/05/19/immersion-intervention-seeding-three-aims-for-early-design-research/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Chris Sun, 24 May 2009 09:58:34 +0000 http://www.smallfire.co.nz/?p=210#comment-3 What are the 'interesting boundaries' around design research? What are the ‘interesting boundaries’ around design research?

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