Seven lessons from seven years of design research with young people

Design research with young people takes courage, creativity and plenty of pizza. Being prepared, authentic and sensitive to the teenage brain is essential.

ReachOut Australia and Redrollers Research have collaborated on many projects over the past 7 years and regularly share learnings in between projects. In this presentation, we’ll draw on our design research experience from multiple projects working with young people on the topic of their everyday lives, mental health and wellbeing. We’ll share our successes and failures, and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

Presented by Mariesa Nicholas and Natalie Rowland at Design Research 2017

Transcript

1. Seven lessons from seven years of design research with young people Mariesa Nicholas, ReachOut Australia Natalie Rowland, Redrollers Research
2. LESSON 01 MATCH YOUR RESEARCH METHODS TO THE TEENAGE BRAIN
3. joy, happy, bubbly, confident, energetic, fit, kind, caring, nice loved, inspired, motivated, fulfilled, productive, calm, relaxed
4. LESSON 02 DEVELOP A SHARED LANGUAGE
10. LESSON 03 MAKE YOUNG PEOPLE FEEL SAFE
14. LESSON 04 ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR EXPERTISE
15. Flickr: Laneway Festival Photos by Boudist, Anna Kucera & Brayden Smith
18. LESSON 05 OVERCOME THE AWKWARD
19. Daily Mail VIRALNOVA
20. This is about how a small idea can make a big difference. Because people don’t really know that, they think that it won’t really help. Mine is a vision to do more. It's an eye opener. To mental health issues, leadership skills, I just learnt a lot from the experience. Vision to do more and to be able to. We have seen we can do stuff. Like we did the athletics carnival with the assistance of people but we as students did it by ourselves. Because it’s like as young people, people are just like: we can’t do anything and we can’t say anything, we can’t put anything into action. But I now feel like if we do speak up we can make a difference
21. LESSON 06 DEMONSTRATE HOW THEIR CONTRIBUTION WILL IMPACT THE END RESULT
23. hel
24. LESSON 07 HAVE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT
25. Smiling Mind
26. I think the part I enjoyed most was introducing myself, sharing what and who I was is something I don't get to do often. I enjoyed the replies most, they were funny and nice and seem to genuinely care what my responses were, it was nice to feel like I was actually being taken notice off. It was thought provoking and actually helped me personally. It made me realise how much help is actually available. Especially that last section - thought my idea of a chatroom or forum was really good and something I'd use - until I realised ReachOut already has it covered. In that way it's awesome to know that so many avenues are available to seek help and I will definitely be able to recommend this to friends going through hard times. I liked that it was honestly I bit of an outlet for me. I do have a good support network but it’s always nice to anonymously write out how you are feeling without any fear of being judged. I really liked the activity (I believe it was three) when we had to write a short story about a hard time in our lives as I'm kind of going through that now and as I said it’s been a good outlet.
27. Don’t say they know how it feels or how I feel. It makes it sound so condescending and belittling. 15 year old [Parents] need to be more up-to-date about what happens. They need to stay calm and not to worry or go off their head. They need to realise it’s not always their child’s fault. 16 year old Don’t overreact to your child’s situation. And don’t overprotect your child. Let them figure it out. They will get it in their own way. 12 year old In the end being a parent is about helping someone become who they are not making them who they are. Our parents are generations away from us. There needs to be a disclaimer that encourages individuality. There is no one solution … Your child doesn’t need to be a mini me … cut the chord! 19 year old Accepting that sometimes we don't want to talk to them. It’s not anything personal, it’s just because we want to be more independent and need to work things out for ourselves. 15 year old
28. Thank you!   To all the young people who have shared their stories and wisdom with us.