Metamorphosis
Posted by Marty Siegel on November 30, 2007
Erik Stolterman and I have been thinking about the issue of turning non-designers into designers (that would be you!). We see our students moving through three transitions:
(I) Pre-emergence
(II) Transitional
(III) Designerly Thinking
Characteristic of each of these transitions is a penetration of barriers. Rather than progression along a smooth continuum, students penetrate these (intellectual, practical, psychological and social) barriers in a step-like function.
I’d like to share these barriers with you and get your comments (David Royer and Sindhia Thirumaran contributed to the list as well). Perhaps you have additional barriers to suggest, or ones to eliminate or modify.
Barriers (numerals in parentheses indicate the transitional stage(s) where the barrier occurs)
- Design definitions. Naïve designers’ conception of HCI/d includes mostly graphic design and interface design; experienced designers also include interaction design, experience design, emotional design, and systems design. (I)
- Best solution. Naïve designers hold onto the belief that there is a best solution; experienced designers believe there exist many solutions and judged by critical criteria and presented through a design argument or explanation. (I)
- Technology-centered vs. human-centered. Naïve designers focus on the technology; experienced designers study human behavior, motivation and need. It’s very difficult to “let go” of gadgets and things; there’s an over-fascination with techno-fetishism among naïve designers. (I, II)
- Me and we. Naïve designers defend their own designs; experienced designers look to their team for inspiration and solutions. (I, II)
- User research. Naïve designers underplay the role of user research; they know what people want. Tools such as personas are resisted rather than embraced naturally in the design process. Experienced designers do not make assumptions about human desires and motivations; they study it instead. (I, II)
- IT domination. Naïve designers tend to overemphasize efficiency, effectiveness, scalability; experienced designers include experience and emotion. (II)
- Idea loyalty. Naïve designers hold onto a single idea; experienced designers engage in systematic exploration of multiple ideas. (II)
- Algorithm / design paradox. Naïve designers expect to memorize algorithmic solutions to problems; experienced designers learn to deal with ill-structured problems, seemingly paradoxical situations and design thinking. (II, III)
- Critique culture. Naïve designers worry about school grades; experienced designers welcome critique. (II, III)
- Notebook. Naïve designers sketch for a particular project; experienced designers sketch continuously, deriving inspiration from all contexts. (II, III)
- Role. Naïve designers are learning what they do and how to do it; experienced designers begin to defend the position of design in a multi-person development team made up of designers and non-designers. (II, III)
- Research and philosophy. Naïve designers find solutions in the HCI literature; experienced designers explore philosophical foundations of design as well. (III)
- Reflective designer. Naïve designers spend little to no time reflecting on how they are designing versus experienced designers who can look at themselves “out of body” as they design. (III)
- Omnipresence. Naïve designers see design embedded in objects; experienced designers see systems that affect designs and designs that affect systems. (III)
- External / internal. Naïve designers find external answers to design problems; experienced designers begin to look internally and introspectively for inspiration and resolution. (III)
November 30, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Hey Marty, I have one that may be relevant:
Naive: We design things that people use. People have an intent, and then they use our artifacts to fulfill this intent.
Design Thinking: The things we design mediate the way people interact with the world and each other. The things we design subtly shape the way people think and act.
December 4, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Naïve: Believe there is a linear design path with a definite beginning, middle and end.
Experienced: Realize that inspiration can come at whatever point in the design process, and that sometimes you have to rethink your original concept even after dedicating so much time and resources to it.
December 4, 2007 at 7:32 pm
One that I really suffered in 8 months ago –
naive: seeing the iterative process as signs of failures in initial design. Feeling insecure about iteration, thinking “It fails again! Will I ever get to the end?”
experienced: Taking iterative process as a natural and very important step to reach good design. Value it.
Lessons that I learnt most from the program:
2. Best Solution: there exists many approaches and solutions to single problem
5. using user research and methodology to approach design problems.
Still struggling with understanding:
3. Emotional aspect of design
December 4, 2007 at 7:56 pm
After taking this class again as a graduate student, I can feel how the second year student might have felt last year. For most of us, the load of work and reading is probably too much.
If I want to finish all and get the best grade, I may be able to do that.
I couldn’t go to Marty’s house for “Love Actually”, but I know what the movie is about.
There are important things in our lives. Getting good grades are very important. However, having the best life that we can enjoy would be more important.
I have seen many friends who got good grades, but got eating disorder, too. NG! (Not Good)
Naïve:Do all things required for school and get the best grade and some medications from your doctor.
Experienced:Do the most important things first and have some fun in your life. (Well… if you also can get the best grade… wow.. you are the best.. but there are always trade-offs.. as Marty said in class)
I really learned that working just on the project does not help at all. Sometimes we need break and get some time to get away from the project. Amazingly, I realize that we get better ideas after getting refreshed.
Taking some time off does not harm, but it really helps.
Haha.. but putting the project aside and just having fun… NG~!!! Not Good!
We need to work hard and have a lot of fun.
After a few years in Bloomington, it’s just so sad that we did not have snow yet.
I hope everybody have a great time during vacation. I envy those who have family in the United States~~
December 5, 2007 at 1:32 am
As I went through this list of barriers and started relating them to my own experience during this course, I realized that I had faced a number of them at different stages and points of time throughout the semester. And this realization made me happy, because it indicated that I am growing as a better designer as I come across and overcome each of these hurdles.
During the first two projects (thermostat and iphone), I definitely faced the barrier of best solution and critique culture. Especially while designing the thermostat, I had this notion that the challenge is to come up with the best design that is the solution to the whole problem. I tried hard trying to understand the problem of users mental model and trying to come up with such a design (the BEST design).
As both the projects came to an end and some of us presented our ideas, I realized that there is no one BEST solution. There were good ideas in everybody’s design and there were so many different approaches to tackle the same problem effectively.I finally ended up acknowledging the fact that it was the deep thinking and argument behind them that make a design, a good design.
Though Marty and the mentors cautioned us about the critique culture, I must admit that I still felt a bit demoralized about the grades in the first two projects. To me it was the grades that mattered the most at that time. I did look into my mistakes and the criticism and accepted them, but I would always think- “only if I knew that earlier, I would not have done such a mistake.” However, the course finally made me realize that one cannot know everything beforehand. As we move forward and accept criticisms, suggestions and learn from them that these things get instilled deeply into us.
A technical background, I presumed that I would come across the technology-centered vs user-centered hurdle, and I lived up to my expectations. I came across this hurdle (see, I dont learn until I make mistakes even though I am aware of it).My first project - part of it completely technology centered. But I see myself as improving. I now think of myself more as a user, and think of user’s needs as my own needs and then design.
December 5, 2007 at 5:52 am
I really commend the timing of this post, especially considering my current state of not-so-high confidence (with the looming darkness of CHI around me).
This post made me feel good about where I stand among the designers of the world. Makes me realize that I’m just at the beginning and I wouldn’t be here if I could solve the CHI problem perfectly.
So I was going through the list, and I figured I’m somewhere between stage I and II. And at every barrier, I stopped to make a mental note to myself, saying “I should do that from now on… “.
At the end of the list though, something odd struck me. (I guess thats the effect of feeling negative). But I was wondering, if I just started doing all these things that experienced designers do, will that make me an experienced designer?
So then I realize that, its not as easy as it sounds. I felt that a lot of these have been mentioned before in class and only a few of them sound new. But to tell you the truth, the only one of the above that I feel I’ve conquered (to some extent), is the ME / WE barrier. Though the rest of it makes a lot of sense and I keep agreeing with them, they just haven’t penetrated my skin and entered my bloodstream!
I feel like an adolescent-designer right now!
December 5, 2007 at 9:48 am
I think one of the most inspiring things that I have learned so far is that a designer creates through the process of listening. We conduct ethnographies, cultural probes, and interviews to develop a greater understanding of the people we are designing for. We use our designerly wits to address problems or needs that people have conveyed to us. We listen again through prototype and usability tests. I love the fact that we are creating almost on behalf of the consumer rather than developing a product and imposing it on him or her.
So, I would propose that an experienced designer uses several different methods to understand the people s/he is designing for.
December 5, 2007 at 9:50 am
I must admit that I am somewhere between Pre-emergence and Transitional.
The top five barriers that I have faced in designing a solution [ and still facing
] are as follows
1) Notebook.
2) User research.
3) Algorithm / design paradox.
4) Best solution.
5) IT domination.
The most important thing that this course has taught me is not to have Idea Loyalty.It is not necessary that the first thought that comes in to your mind for designing a solution is the best.
One needs to introspect the entire thought process and sleep over the design solution for at least couple of nights before deciding. Aha !! that indeed might be one of the design solutions.
December 5, 2007 at 2:48 pm
These are amazing posts. Keep your reflections coming!
December 5, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Being very detail oriented, I learned and felt that perfection cannot be done in one try or even reached in design. In the beginning of the semester, I admit that I would think waaaay too big - in terms of trying to fit everything in my design concepts.
Gradually progressing through this program, I found that for every feature you place in a design concept, there should be some justification why we “added it” in the first place. Which goes along what Jenny mentioned. Before I would say something superficial like, “it looks pretty” or “I think that’s what users want”. But now, I view design from a different perspective - by listening more, questioning, and being always curious.
My list of things I want to improve on:
1. Emotional and experience design
2. Sketching like a designer rather than a “beginner”
3. Communication design
4. Training myself to think of 100 concepts as oppossed to 3.
December 5, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Right now I see by greatest deficiency as #13, though this isn’t something the class could really teach me. I think I’m just too impatient and want the answer to be quick and correct. Sometimes I think I’ll have something good right away, but then I bounce the idea off a couple people and realize how much of my own preconceived notions are embedded in it. I can’t see from outside myself.
Also, I need to work on being able to come up with more concepts. I think this might feed into how I see myself with #13, since I tend to want quick solutions. Like with our idea for projects 4 and 5, I was so attached to the Subway idea for so long that I couldn’t see its faults until just a few days. I wish we had made those realizations a couple weeks ago, but I guess that’s not exactly how design works.
December 6, 2007 at 2:38 am
My biggest barrier is balancing limited time and becoming a Reflective Designer.
I think the projects in this class (and my health!) would have benefited greatly had I taken more time and experienced sitting still, staring at the sky and sketching them through.
Now that I think about it…this goes back to one of the very first blogs on the Green Group…a post on Meditation.
Its been an honor being in this class with all of you. Special thanks to Marty, David and Sindhia and the mentors and all of my teams.
Susan
December 6, 2007 at 11:49 am
That’s a really thoughtful post Marty.. ! I liked the way you have used the Escher’s tessellations image to show the metamorphosis. Perfectly suited to the post…When I read the title it reminded me of the book by the same name : The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, a bit high on philosophy, but an interesting read.
So coming to the post,
Being from a design background, and having followed a lot of these before coming here, I do feel there still has been a lot of learning for me in this semester.
Perhaps the most important thing was the building of the design argument, the Principles framework , and the concrete research that goes into when puting forth a design component.
A roadblock that I did face was communication, the fact that there was some mis-communications at times that led to a unproductive team meetings and often was detrimental in progress of the team work.
For me the road ahead would be n the following things.
1) From 10 concept to 100 concepts… really seem to lagging behind on this one..
2) Sketching more and more.. its so ridiculous… that the first thing one wants to do when i get up is switch on the laptop to check my mails..
3) being more open to critic.. and sharing thoughts more and more with others..
December 6, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I think I should contribute to this list.
Here are what I am suffering most this semester.
Technology-centered vs. human-centered.
I am from Engineering background. Although we considered human-centered before, that is not real human-centered, it is engineers’ mental modal.
User research.
I seldom do any user research before, at that time, we think all we need from user is some guideline of requirements.
From this class, I think I have constructed a great “designer’s mind”, we think and observe things in a quite different way, which is really amazing when I realize that.
Thank you very much for this course, I like it very much!!!!
December 6, 2007 at 2:37 pm
The idea of human-centered versus technology-centered design is something that is very hard to grasp. In our project 4 and 5, my group really tried to attack the problem by remaining completely human-centered. As the project progressed, however, we moved more towards a technology-centered design. This is definitely a very hard barrier to overcome.
Moving forwards to CHI, the one thing that my project needs to present better is the human-centered approach that we initially had. This was commented upon by one of the mentors during our presentation, and we would really like to work on this before CHI.
December 6, 2007 at 3:11 pm
For me every semester I have changed. The first semester I didn’t know anything and left Marty and Youn’s classes with a great amount of practical knowledge. The second semester you start to think a little more theoretical (Jeff’s class) and work on a large project where you apply everything you learned the first semester (Eli’s class). So you apply and learn new skills.
This fall for me is when everything started to come together much of it with the help of Erik’s class forcing me to really think about who I am as a designer. My conversations with some of the first year students this year really helped me understand more about who I am as a designer.
I think it is really important for those of you in the MS program before you leave to figure out who you are as a designer and what your design philosophy is. There are a lot of barriers but the largest barrier is not having an open mind to what is going on around you. The classes are just part of the whole experience the rest of it is the people around you.
I have enjoyed working with all of you and know I will see many of you in the spring.
December 6, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Great post Marty!
Two (of many) that I have struggled with:
(10) Notebook - Too many (seemingly) good ideas fall through the cracks because I fail to record them. I do feel inspired all the time, so I should be sketching all the time!
(13) Reflective Design - I have not yet developed in terms of “out-of-body” reflection and looking at “how” I am designing.
The one that I am finding really interesting at the moment:
(12) Research and Philosophy - This has been very eye-opening in Jeff’s Interaction Culture class this semester. HCI can be pretty conservative and very rooted in ‘other HCI research’ only. Bringing in theoretical/philosophical perspectives is very important, in my opinion.
December 7, 2007 at 4:06 am
I have a strong feeling with no.4 - Me and we.
When I started with project 1 this semester, I was almost doing everything by myself because my teammate was sick - but I didn’t get a bad grade out of it. In that time I was feeling OK with all works doing by my own, especially when I was doing project 2 in a 2 people team and had lots of arguments and misunderstandings with my teammate. We could not communicate with each other well, and we argued till the end of the project. Both of us didn’t think we can make it. However, we get an even better grade. Teamwork might be suffered. But we can get a much better result if we stick to each other and go through the whole process together.
In project 4-5, I was assigned to a team all speaking my native language. We totally have no problem with talking to each other. However, it doesn’t mean we won’t have issues of communication. It’s not about languages. It’s about minds. People are different. Different people holds different minds. When working as a team, we need to think about how to defend our mind, and how to compromise to others. Team have to come out with only one idea finally. Everyone has to be on the same boat. So what should we do? How can we make it?
First, we all open up and listen to others.
Second, perform a contrast diagram with different ideas.
Third, team protocol.
Finally, if any team member still holds very stongly with her or his mind, for example this person has A idea. All other members have agree with another B idea. If both are making sense, why can’t we think of a C idea which combines both A and B? That’s also my experience. With C idea. team might be able to move forward.
Well, team collaboration is so complicated that we can never make one solution and fit it all. We will never get away of problems and issues of teams in our journey from naïve designers to experienced designers. I have learnt a lot in this semester. And I will explore more in the near future. Thank you all.
December 7, 2007 at 10:11 am
I didn’t really think about how much I have changed until I saw this post. Even there is a lot of frustrations in our projects ( especially for CHI), I see I have made several step ahead from a naive designer.
Beside the 15 point listed in the post, these is another point I am struggling with in the design procedure, mainly in project 4&5. That is when to move forward from one step to the next step. Finally I found move to concept before you really get the deep insight could be misleading and time-wasting. When we moving for naive designer to experience designer, we will know better about when to move on.
I agree with Dasen. Me and we is one of my most struggling part in this semester, especially there is teammates with strong opinion in the team. The procedure of coming out one idea from four minds is struggling, but also of pivotal importance in team collabration. I am glad I am learning this in school, but not waiting until working in industry.
I really appreciate what I have got from this semester, even those frustrations. There is a song I listened a lot in this semester - “travelling light” by Joel Hansen and Sara Groves. I guess we all will get some feeling when listenning to it. I cannot “laid my burdons down” and “lift high” yet, but I believe some day I will.
I just find a short version of it on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hgnsMg4z2I
Lyrics of Trvelling light:
Well I was doubling over the load on my shoulders
Was a weight I carried with me everyday
Crossing miles of frustrations and rivers a raging
Picking up stones I found along the way
I staggered and I stumbled down
Pathways of trouble
I was hauling those souvenirs of misery
And with each step taken my back was breaking
‘Til I found the One who took it all from me
Down by the riverside
(Down by the riverside)
I laid my burdens down,
Now I’m traveling light
My spirit lifted high
(I found my freedom now)
I found my freedom now
And I’m traveling light
Through the darkest alleys and loneliest valleys
I was dragging those heavy chains of doubt and fear
Then with the one word spoken the locks were broken
Now He’s leading me to places
Where there are no tears
Down by the riverside
(Down by the riverside)
I laid my burdens down,
Now I’m traveling light
My spirit lifted high
(I found my freedom now)
I found my freedom now
And I’m traveling light
Down by the riverside
I laid my burdens down,
Now I’m traveling light
My spirit lifted high
I found my freedom now
And I’m traveling light
Down by the riverside
(Down by the riverside)
I laid my burdens down,
Now I’m traveling light
My spirit lifted high
(I found my freedom now)
I found my freedom now
And I’m traveling light
December 7, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Hello everyone!
I have always found design itself to be very intriguing and pleasurable. I find, as an art student, that I focus on aesthetics first. Taking this class has been a challenging endeavor. The projects got progressively more complex and in turn were challenging to solve. I feel that I have made a sort of metamorphosis this semester through working in groups and tackling tough problems. I find myself thinking about the user in more of a “big picture” way where cultural and societal factors play a role. I used to think of a solution in terms of my own wants and needs, thinking that if I satisfy myself it should also satisfy others.
I have to admit that this course was not what I expected, but I feel that concepts we have learned about and discussed will be invaluable to me in the future as I concentrate on my own work.
As an artist, one of the most challenging things is to conceptualize a project. The Principles I have learned during the semester and the themes of design that I can apply to this process offer me a good road map for success. The group work has helped me with communicating my ideas, and the projects we have worked on, offer me a way of thinking about how people interact with computers on a day to day basis that I don’t think I was fully aware of before.
I was very impressed with what others had done in the class and the passion each team seemed to bring to their designs.
I want to thank everyone for the part they played in my own HCID metamorphosis.
December 11, 2007 at 6:41 pm
As I was reading this post, I found myself nodding my head through most of it. Once I was done I stopped to think about the way I thought at the beginning of class and the way I think now, below are the things that have changed the most:
One of the most important ideas that I learned in this class was the importance of the word WHY. At the first projects I thought that design something that looked or sounded cool was enough… I didnt feel the need to question what made it “cool” or if it was cool to everyone or just to me. I didnt feel the need to ask myself “why is this useful” “why will people use it” “why is it better than what already exists”??? As I went along I started question mine and others ideas more and more, which I found that helps both narrow the ideas to more precise solutions as well as improve on it.
Defining the problem!! A great example of this is the approach I was taking on my capstone class and the approach I am taking now. On my first approach I had decided that the problem I was going to tackle was obesity and that was it. What I have learned is that obesity is a huge problem space and that unless I narrowed it down my project simply wouldnt work. So I decided to start narrowing it down…. ok first step RESEARCH, I found out there is a big problem of obeity with children…… and I started to take an entirely different approach to it so that I could identify exactly what it was that I was trying to solve in the first place.
Well those are a few things that really stood out when I stopped to think about my progress….
December 11, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I just also wanted to comment that now that I think more about design, I cannot stand going to the bathroom in the informatics building without getting really frustrated at the terrible design of the sink (the one you have to keep pressing down every 3 seconds)
December 11, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I guess they didnt do any user testing on that one…haha