Thoughtless acts are truly thoughtful

After our first seminar last week I left feeling rather dejected about my lack of focus in relation to my ever broadening topic.  I have the tendency to get distracted, not in a bad way, but more that a piece of reading will lead to one thing then another and another (which I know is standard practice) and I do not have the ability to stop, to rein it in and commit to what I am doing.  I am certainly struggling with that now as I am forced to narrow down the huge umbrella of Service Design.  I realised, as aforementioned, that for my own life goals as well as this topic I needed to find some areas of care and interest to learn more about and see where Service Design concepts could be added to benefit them.  I tried to do this by searching for books and articles in the library but was met with the block that many medical based books or documents were only to be found up at Nine Wells library (and I am still waiting on their arrival) and the two books on youth and crime took their time to arrive.  So in the mean time I have revisited one of the original books that interested me but I disregarded because I hadn’t paid enough attention to it.

I had already scanned through the “picture book” I mentioned in my initial list of books when I first took it out of the library, Thoughtless Acts? by Jane Fulton Suri + IDEO, but it was only after this second study that I discovered a collection of pages of text at the back that were really thought-provoking.

The book initially is split in to sections of images that depict different types of human interaction with everyday life becoming an observation of intuitive design.  The seven sections are: reacting, responding, co-opting, exploiting, adapting, conforming and signaling; all of which are posed as a question. Some examples of the images can be seen below and for more information click here.

The book contains some intriguing observations but it was only as I read the text at the back that I fully appreciated what I could get from this little book; a little inspiration.

I discovered that Jane Fulton Suri’s premise for the book came from a Polaroid she took in Glasgow in the seventies where she witnessed a group of children on an estate riding on top of a boiler room door.  They were making use of their surroundings, improvising and, all be it with the probable aim of vandalizing, they were learning.

As she looked at the photo, Jane began to question what information a designer could gain from this, what possibilities it could inspire.    Could simply images of people interacting with design in real life situations help designers become more sensitive to people’s needs.  She states that “things used in unintended ways…usually indicate something about people’s needs”.  For instance these boys creating entertainment from a standard design of hinges on a door; could the needs of the boys have been addressed when the housing complex was built?

Architects, builders, councils they all knew 10 year old boys were going to be living there; but thought of their needs was not addressed.

There is also a sense of the buzz word I have been mentioning so much in relation to service design, experience.  As they interacted with the door they were learning about the materials and construction, knowledge that would influence them throughout their lives.

These are thoughtless acts, thoughts that stem from the subconscious, and it is from these we can improve and develop services and products to benefit many.

As I continued to read the text that completes this book I kept coming across quotes that just seemed right.  Quotes that couldn’t be argued with, and quotes I identified with.  One of which was in relation to the act of researching by observation, by simply observing everyday life you can learn so much.  In other words “The idea is to reveal how unexceptional incidents, looked at from an inquisitive stance, can inspire thoughts about design opportunities and consequences”.

In the talk I sat in on Wednesday by Emma Walker we were encouraged to be our own Sherlock Holmes.  To be inquisitive, to decipher, to investigate.  Now I love to observe, people watch and frankly be a bit nebby when I can anyway but I am discovering on a daily basis (as I read and learn more and more) how beneficial this can be to what I would like to pursue in the future.  This book explores that concept further by encouraging individuals to give in to curiosity.  I agree, we can learn so much.

Everything mentioned in this book links to the key characteristics and aims of Service Design, and most importantly the elements that interest me.  I am driven by the idea that the smallest thing may trigger a great development, and that the smallest development may have a major impact on someone’s life.  If we investigate the real experiences of people’s lives we can discover the real needs they have.  For example, it may seem like a challenge has been met and dealt with with an existing product, until you really explore it.  Only to discover that by “focusing on the actions that we are trying to support through design, rather than the things we will ultimately produce” we can create services and products as designers that truly benefit and interact with a consumer and an audience.  As well as this, observation allows us to really understand how people already interact and behave, from which products can be designed in accordance rather than against.

For example, IDEO were approached by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to help customers enter the building and purchase tickets without continuous help from staff.  After simple observation it was seen that one major hindrance of the current design was that the large reflective windows made it difficult for passerby’s to see into the dark space inside, meaning that people had to go right up to the glass to peer in.  As a result it was redesigned to be well-lit and clear from the outside and once inside people were directed clearly and quickly to appropriate ticket counters to avoid confusion and delay for members and non members.

However, observation just attacks the surface of the problem as it only allows us to understand what is going on and not why.  Further exploration and an ability to be emphatic allows us to perceive why someone behaves the way they do in a situation.  As it is put so perfectly in this book,

“Good design is not just about function; we want it to connect to our feelings and promote positive emotions”

Interestingly this reminds me of some of the concepts that I learned about in my Advertising & Branding module last semester.  The idea that people buy into the experience, the feeling and status they get from a brand, not really the product itself.  Essentially this book, and really the ideas of service design explore the same thing.  In a podcast a listened to recently the relationship between advertising and service design in relation to business was explored further in an interview with Mark Stickdorn (co-author of This is Service Design Thinking) where he voiced that within and between business’ the competition is no longer in advertising, it is in the customer experience.

The final section of text encapsulates something I have always, even without knowing it, practiced and continue to practice to a fuller extent as I am determined to complete my current textiles course while pursuing my future interests.  The idea that breaking away from habitual working practices can positively promote creativity.  This is essential to design for people and the root of the potential of observation in practice.  To seek inspiration from everyday objects and occurrences is normal (take a still life painting of a bowl of fruit) but to really explore, pull apart and seek out what is behind each of these occurrences is what can uncover opportunities previously undiscovered.

By accepting my position as a learning textile designer I am beginning to recognise this as simply another challenge, with most challenges  being in fact an opportunity.