person/earth: first up: blogging with a purpose

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

first up: blogging with a purpose

I am not a fan of blogging. The concept of docmenting life--instead of living it--seems silly. With that said, I'd like to introduce you to my blog.

What sets it apart from those I laugh it is the purpose: to provide a central location to document the events of the Design Ethnography program at the University of Dundee (remembering details gets harder by the day). This will most often include the following:
1. Articles dealing with a related topic (with a bit of commentary).
2. Details of classes, projects, and other events that seem right for the documenting.
3. Pictures.

So for the next year, I will be a blogger. I will document everything related to design and ethnography on this site. After that, I will (most likely) walk away and spend some time outside.

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semester 1 creations

Design Thinking Essay: an essay analyzing "Tangible Steps Toward Tomorrow", a research report published by IDEO and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Besides a critique of the report, I examine how design thinking has been used and how the results and processes differ from those of more traditional educational research reports.
Ethnographic Study on Information Channels: an in-depth look into how people interact with three different types of information (passive, tangible, and interactive). Our research included observation and interviewing. We also created a postcard-esque proposal and had some epic brainstorming and post-it note/big-paper sessions. Teamwork with Lindsey and Rosie.
iMagine: a virtual project of just about anything, from a small watch-like device. Your imagination can now be displayed and played with. Looking to start a band? Project a guitar and start playing. Teamwork with Ketan, Jega, and Dave.
MyBrand: An explanation of "brand me". There were drawings of me on a bicycle in Amsterdam, me at 7 and 17 years old, and a tap water tee-shirt idea from my idea archive. After multiple metaphors, I concluded with my brand: human being.
Ritual Visualizations: Phillip Joe worked us on the visualization process. We created step-by-step sketchs of each other's persoal rituals, and then found the common links between each. Illustrations included floating kitchenware and a life-sized man-tent. Teamwork with Jo, Ketan, and Dave.
Student Furniture Rental Service: So you are a student moving to a new city to attend school, and don't have a clue where to find furniture? No need to worry, with this fictional service that we created, your problems are solved. Now you can pre-order all of your furniture online, either by choosing sets (bed, desk, dresser) or for a bit more, customizing your selection. Delivery to your flat is guaranteed on the day you arrive. Even better, if you can persuade the person taking over your flat to keep the rental for another year, you get some kind of discount. Imagine the fun you can have by hosting parties and showing off your stress-free furniture! Teamwork with Kate, Lindsey, Rosie, Ketan and Emily.
Theatre of Crime: Prof. Mike Press discussed his current Design Against Crime project, and sent us off to investigate how we could design against crime right on campus. Our Theatre of Crime presentation, a two-scene play with sound and costumes, introduced the concept of low shelf height to allow for greater visibility and an increased amount of situational stakeholders. Oh yeah, and we took home the day's prize. Teamwork with: Arelene, Annabella, Ahmed, and Gio.
Traveler Personas: After sharing our personal travel habits, we created three travler personas for whom to design new services and products for. The more adventerous traveler can now use a "landmark card", which is a credit card-sized map of local landmarks (including her accommodation), so she can be safe while travelling off the beaten path. The moderately adventerous traveler can select, from a kiosk, a local resident's day in the life map (which is printed in bracelet form), that will take her to local hotspots. The less adventerous traveler can now locate a "travel partner", who is a city resident, online for morek knowledgeable travelling. Teamwork with Sun, Grace, and Rosie.
YoGuzi: Colin Bruns let us in on his design thinking process. Our task was to redesign yogurt. We created a toy uzi machine gun that is ready to fire delicous yogurt balls. Think paintball with yogurt. Teamwork with Dave and Jumi.