Laura Ryan - The Role of the Design Researcher in Creating a Wellbeing Economy

Human Centred Design is often seen as a guardrail protecting researchers and designers from creating products and services that don’t address a customer need. However, we know that HCD can and has been used to validate ideas that aren’t always in the best interests of its users.

This introduces an interesting challenge for researchers who are not just data collectors, but employed to interpret data, build evidence and provide insights for decision making. Whether we choose to or not, as researchers we are impacting people's wellbeing. Is it enough to just take what participants say and build it?

Transcript

1. The role of the design researcher in creating a Wellbeing Economy ` | 1 | | Future | Friendly | Laura Ryan Partner - Strategy Future Friendly Formerly Mentally Friendly
2. | 2 | | Future | Friendly | Three key questions | 01 / What is a wellbeing economy? 02 / Why should I care about a ‘wellbeing economy’ as a design researcher? 03 / What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? Three key questions
3. | 3 | | Future | Friendly | 01. What is a ‘wellbeing economy’?
4. In short, GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile Senator Bobby Kennedy University of Kansas - 1968 “
5. | 5 | | Future | Friendly | What is a wellbeing economy? | We need a holistic approach to sustainably improve wellbeing. Measuring progress on financial growth alone is sub-optimal.
6. | 6 | | Future | Friendly | The wellbeing economy | The wellbeing economy Equality Finance Sustainability Education Poverty Sanitation Mental health
7. | 7 | | Future | Friendly | 02. Why should I care about a wellbeing economy as a design researcher?
8. | 8 | | Future | Friendly | Why should I care? | Products and services are the way we interact with the designed world around us. The designed world is having a profound effect on our wellbeing.
9. | 9 | | Future | Friendly | Why should I care? | Whether we choose to or not, as designers we are impacting people's wellbeing. We need to be conscious as researchers about what impact our actions have.
10. | 10 | | Future | Friendly | Why should I care? | Has anyone ever been in a testing session or interview and had someone respond to something positively or ask for something that you felt would deliver negative outcomes? Keep this in mind
11. | 11 | | Future | Friendly | Why should I care?| Category Superannuation Outcome Improve people’s literacy of superannuation Assumption Interacting with your superannuation will build literacy
12. | 12 | IF We make it easy for people to interact with their risk profile and investments THEN People will understand and describe accurately what actions they’re taking | Future | Friendly | Why should I care?|
13. | 13 | People with high financial literacy and high digital capability Able to confidently make decisions. People with low financial literacy and high digital capability Able to use the tooling very efficiently, but in doing so were also able to make decisions about their finances that they didn’t really understand. ‘This is awesome. I can change up my investments on the bus on the way to work.’ | Future | Friendly | Why should I care?|
14. | 14 | | Future | Friendly | 03. What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy?
15. | 15 | | Future | Friendly | What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? | Comprehension comes first Principle Be very cautious when people see the value of a concept, but don’t properly understand it. When people don’t understand what the results of their actions are, it’s impossible for them to actually desire or value that experience. That delta between intention and comprehension is the danger zone.
16. | 16 | | Future | Friendly | What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? | How Design experiments that test people’s comprehension before testing their desirability and value attribution. Comprehension People can clearly articulate the concept, and how it’s unique. Value attribution People see value in the product, and compare it to existing alternatives Desire People are willing to commit time and energy to pursue the concept
17. | 17 | | Future | Friendly | What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? | Spot significance using outcomes Principle Insights are most significant when they can be attributed to the delivery of an outcome. Considering insights in isolation can result in products and services that deliver unintended consequences. On the surface, it looked as though offering people the ability to adjust their risk appetite and investment decisions on the fly was a good idea that was desired by the customer. But when we consider it in the broader context of building financial literacy, the inverse may be true.
18. | 18 | | Future | Friendly | What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? | How Adopt an outcomes focused approach from day one and create alignment on those outcomes. Evaluate and prioritise insights against those outcomes. Horizon 1 Horizon 2 Horizon 3 Long term outcome Indicators Collection and review process Key evaluation questions
19. | 19 | | Future | Friendly | What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? | Balance empathy with entrepreneurialism Principle A business doesn’t need to label themselves as ‘purpose driven’ to be on the hook for delivering wellbeing outcomes. Wellbeing outcomes and profit do not contradict each other. Separating them is really dangerous.
20. | 20 | | Future | Friendly | What is the role of design research in augmenting products and services for a wellbeing economy? | How Understand where tradeoffs are being made and what the predicted consequences are for business and people. Direction Direction Evidence & Insights The value we are delivering Business benefits Customer benefits Risks How Might We statements Ideas & Opportunities Supporting evidence & insights Key benefits & risks Problems framed as opportunity for design Execution ideas & opportunities / experiments
21. | 21 | | Future | Friendly | Thank you future-friendly futurefriendly.team @_futurefriendly