Design Ethnography

Design and Technology
Brian Lonranger
21/02/14


The top down approach of looking at a design problem is popular nowadays as it has a way of understanding minute problems that compound over the course of a design process. These compounded problems are often those which cause a product to fail. It is therefore important to get to the root issues early and have a deeper look.

Participant observation involves living in the culture for a long period, .5 to 2 years, to understand fully who you are designing for. Ford used a suit that restricted movement and vision to design an old person friendly car - it turned out to be one of the most successful car designs for that particular user. Observing someone with a clipboard (being an outsider) will not be natural and the person won't act normally... 

Brian claimed elderly people don't want to learn new systems, they just want to enjoy old age and the way things are. In my experience this is in fact the opposite: my Granny loves new technology and goes to computer classes and my Grandpa just bought a new laptop for Christmas! 

Grounded theory is the idea of going into the field with limited knowledge. Don't form research questions to start with, but do a reccy of the field with no preconceptions and then come up with questions after. A useful interview technique is having 20 questions you want answered. Know what you are actually asking, what you actually want to find out. Generalise some questions - open and closed. Open = walk me through your day. Closed = do you like the pendant. Some examples of good open questions are: What are the challenges you face in the day? What would you change about your day? Check off the 20 questions by just letting them talk - maybe ask only 3 very open ended questions. Then at the end can ask any specifics if one of the 20 haven't been asked yet.

Be participant. If you want to design fishing gear for Alaskan Crab Fisherman then go and become an Alaskan Fisherman... Method of note taking: What you're doing, where, who, when. Half put nothing but observations - facts. Opposite side, anything that is an interpretation (qualitative) - feelings, what others may be feeling. Flesh out notes after the interview - very soon after for the best recollection.

Aesthetics and Technology

Design and Technology
Hugh Pizey
13/02/14


The black box. Somewhat mysterious sounding. The ultimate example of form following function. You can find black boxes in fighter jets, helicopters and many computing applications. They are often used to house electronics and be stored somewhere where they won't be seen for years to come. 

Many designs follow this 'form following function' way of thinking, especially in the field of engineering. Most products are made for a function; to aid the user in some way or another while performing a task. Ultimately, we want products that do what they are supposed to, don't we? 


Think of the humble lamp: it's function is to shine light, so why is there thousands of lamps available in all shapes and sizes?

A quick Google image search will present you with a massive range of forms for a lamp. Yet all perform the same task, providing light for a room by converting electricity. Pixar transformed the humble lamp into a loveable character (as they have a habit of being able to do, may I add). There is such a range in lamp forms and styles, because we each are individuals and have a different taste in what we like. This might seem like the most obvious statement, but lets consider it.


If the look of something is so important, should function not follow form? Should the form of the cars we buy be determined by how they look and feel, not how much bhp or torque produced? Should the chairs we use be beautiful rather than practical.

This may be an extreme way of looking at this, but it certainly offers a new way of thinking. When a design is being produced, should the form just be an afterthought? Or should it be the most important factor? Hmm...

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Design and Technology Film
06/02/14

Well, what to say about this film. Seeing this film for the first time in 2014 - 13 years after when it was meant to be set - probably diminished the impact of the futuristic ideas that went into the film. However, the creativity and vision of the writers of what the future may look like was very impressive. Some of the ideas were so revolutionary at the time that it is no surprise this film has been given the 'cult classic' label. The creativity of the writers to look 33 years into the future and imagine what life may look like is the most interesting part of this film: commercial space flight, video and audio calls to earth, communities in space and on the moon, voice recognition, trips to Jupiter and grip socks.


Considering that this film came out in the early stages of the space race and a year before Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins landed the first manned mission to the moon, Apollo 11, on the 20th July 1969. It is no wonder this film was such a success considering the hype that was around at the time about space travel and what may come of it.

It was very interesting to see what they thought cameras would be which they did not get right, but they were certainly accurate when thinking about tablets and screens as well as two-way video calling. Such technologies have been made widely available only recently which shows great insight from the writers. Human hibernation, trips to Jupiter, commercial space flight are all yet to be realised, but we are certainly closer to these things than ever before.

The idea of living in space is an interesting one and I touched on it in the previous post about Marc Newson. At the moment we are not at the stage of commercial space flight and so no where near community living in space. However, around 3 astronauts are on the International Space Station at once living for a period of normally 6 months. Supply ships come to provide food and other resources to the astronauts. In this sense the idea of living in space has been realised, but not in the same capacity as in the film. Another concern about living in space is that scientists believe that living in space long term can be detrimental to your health. Bone, joint and weight issues of those in space have to be monitored and recovery is required once back to earth for the astronauts. This leaves me sceptical as to the practicalities of living in space and whether this can be realised even in my lifetime.


One of my main reasons for not getting excited about living in space is not seeing the point. Besides scientific discovery and it being 'cool' for a while, there is not much attraction. Most people choose not to live in places that are hard to live in like deserts, oceans and wastelands. Therefore the idea of living in a place that requires space suits, constant shipping in of supplies and a major lifestyle change (for the worse in my opinion) does not appeal.