Paul Merrell Transcript

Transcript

1. 1 www.captionslive.com.au | captionslive@outlook.com | 0425 904 255 UX AUSTRALIA Design Research 2020 Day 1 Thursday, 19 March 2020 Captioned by: Gail Kearney & Rebekah Goulevitch
2. 2 PAUL MERREL: Thank you. All right. I'm going to share my screen now. OK. Can people see the presentation? I'm just checking? Great. Thank you. The title of this talk is It's All Invented. It talks about new frames for design research. So, as Steve said, a number of the projects that we've been working on recently and even more recently have involved a lot of work with remote participants and researching remotely. And while I want to talk about some of the tools and technology, what I would like us to do is to draw a bigger box around that and think about what that enables us to do. And how does that constraint or assumption allow us to think about some new frames in the way that we're working. So I'm going to take you through some thoughts on that. So this comes from the inspiration, if you like, a book called the ‘Art of Possibility’. It's a great read. One of the key lessons from this one is that all the stories that we tell ourselves are founded on assumptions that we make. So if it is all invented, how might we shift our frames and those assumptions that we make to have different assumptions to give us new choices. And I think that really applies particularly in the time that we face now in terms of a lot of different ways of researching and a lot of different ways of working. So what I'm going to talk about is seven conventions for design research that are worth challenging. And all of the different tools and techniques that I'll talk about today are certainly remote and remote in terms of the way that they work. However, what I'd like us to focus on is, as I said, draw a bigger box around that and allow us to think about our practices and the way that that enable US to reinvent the way that we work, the way that we research to get better outcomes. And I really like this quote from one of the principals from field research from Jan Chipchase and that is that the normal rules don't apply. This is in every field study. It gives us that opportunity each time that we embark on field work to create a new reality and with it helps release the team. And, indeed, the people that we're working with from those mental constraints. So let's take one of the first ones. When we think about
3. 3 design research, a convention is that we're doing user interviews. But first and foremost users are people. And if we think about that particular frame then that starts to open up a new one around how can we start to use the sessions that we're having and reframe those user interviews as conversations with people to understand their life, the domain that we're working in and the designs that we're putting out there. What this allows us to do, if we think about a situation where we've had to recently think about the research that we might be doing in a physical location, in a workplace or in someone's home, and then now we're forced to think about doing that in a remote way. So one of the conventions to follow that is to take the same participants and use video or audio technology. Same people in same locations, but we are not going to be there but we will have a video chat with them. If we think about that and say if we are going to video chat, does that mean we have to talk to those same people in those same physical locations. Suddenly that opens up, maybe we can think about different participants. So how can we be more inclusive in the designs we're including by including different participants we might not have thought about before but now that we're remote and working in a different way, that allows us to talk to those people. A recent study here involved people that we couldn't necessarily reach in Sydney but we were able to talk to them in a variety of rural locations and locations across Australia in other States. What it also allows us to do is to increase that capability we have for scaling this discovery phase. So instead of all the costs associated with the travel, the air fares, those sorts of things, that frees up resource for increasing again the scale of the research that we're able to do. And by extending the research experience, maybe we don't just have one call with a person. Maybe we have another follow-up one, maybe we get to talk to them two or three times, again because it's not necessarily just that one time that we're actually going to that location and having those conversations. And what it allows us to do is to build on that understanding we have with people
4. 4 and so we start to appreciate some of that more complex social exchange that can happen as part of it. And one of the benefits also too is that it becomes more sustainable for people and also for the planet. I've listed some particular tools and technologies that we've used. So Zoom is great, it's what we're using now. There's a great tool that goes along with that which is Otter and helps transcribe the recordings you're making on. It can be important to use familiar technology for participants. We've had lots of experiences where participants may not have been able to use Zoom or download particular software or organisations block certain apps being in school so you can revert to a phone call or a face time or some of those familiar technologies for people. We've used a number of tools to get consent or there is qual checks in the organisation where you are. Docusign as well but again you can go low with that, photograph the consent forms, send it out to people, ask them to sign it and photograph it and send it back and video and audio consents while you are in a particular session. In terms of reimbursement, there's a great site calls Gift Pay which allows you to purchase incentives for people on that. There is lots of banking technology that you can use to reimburse people directly as well too. So again don't want to necessarily focus on the tools and technology, although they are important, it's important to think about what this enables if we are working in these particular ways. One of the things that I think that is really important to think about is what the impact of that technology is too. I like this quote from Richard Sennett which talks about particularly in technology but applies in institutions where we share context and it can dill Ute the kinds of communication we're having with people. And I think a lot of people like more recently have felt the impact of that has started to work in different ways. And I think an important part of this is to think how technology is more likely to bend human will rather than bend in response to it and we can start to see the impacts of AI and machine learning around what decisions would have been made by humans have been allocated to machines.
5. 5 You can start to see the impact, I suppose, of technology and how that be more widespread than it would have been in the past. For us as researchers, that's important for us to bear in mind when we're using this particular technology to work with people. Design research is recruiting users. So we want to do some design research. The convention is let's go out and recruit some users. However, if we think about the community in which our products and services that we're designing for and with people, it starts to again put a bigger box around that recruitment picture. The map that you see in the background here is a recent piece of work that we did and these were all the locations. So we interviewed over 50 people and these were all the different locations where those people were. How many of those locations we travelled to? None. We actually did all of these sessions in a remote way and we were actually able to cast the net as widely as possible and to think about all the different people that might have different contexts that we wanted to explore as part of this work. So, again, we're not limiting to a physical location through which we're able to travel to but let's think about what that community looks like and invite all of those people in as part of that. And how do we start to do that? It's basically trying to get an enriched diversity around some of those different recruitment sources that we might use. And, again, you can start to see here, we just didn't restrict ourselves to a single platform, we actually used personal networks, Linkedin, existing networks that were in place and we were also able to use different interactions that people have had previously and reworking those and recontacting those people, either they posted something on Twitter, they had shared something on medium, they shared something in a forum, these are always we were able to say that person has a really interesting take on that, let's see if we can get time with them and talk to them. So we aren't limited in the way we were recruiting because we wanted inform explore broadly that cultural container looks like with the products and designing we were working with. There is a deeper
6. 6 understanding, we get enriched diversity because of an increased capacity because we are not travelling to locations which is more sustainable for people and planet. We can think about a convention of design research as a synchronous interaction. We go out once, we talk to that person. There might be a bit of follow up in and around that. Pretty much it's we've done that one interview and chatted to that person. What if we started to think about what it was about that singular interaction in that moment or time. Let's think about synchronous methods and asynchronous methods. The blurred photo, intentionally so, is from an app we used in a study called experienced fellow where participants were able to map their journey. There were geo locations so we could see where they were, they could diarise what they were experience and share video footage and imagery as part of what they were experiencing. In that way they were able to tell us what their experiences were like at that particular moment in time and also to be able to reflect on those experiences as well as part of that diary stud I. So this particular participant didn't want to be interviewed. They were quite, in the way they described, they didn't necessarily want to be involved in that part of it. But they were more than willing to share a diary of their experiences. And I have to say it's one of the most richest pieces of data that we were able to collect in this particular study, more so than some of the sessions we spoke to people in a face-to-face way. Again, there's a beautiful moment of disclosure. If you are able to ask more questions about the diary entries that people make, it becomes reflexive and again, you're deep in the understanding as well. So, again, don't have to be there in person with the participants, it's just a way that they can again share what it is that's going on for them. So, again, we increased that diversity for people that we're designing with. So we don't have to use apps like experience follow, we can use familiar platforms that can be a text, an imagery that people send through their mobiles. It can be social media people are already interacting with. You want to
7. 7 make that as frictionless as possible for them to share in the moment when they're feeling it. Design research is understanding what people think and feel. Yes, yes it is. However, what again technology can enable for us is ask a bigger frame around that. I really love this quote around people are adaptive systems continually producing and experiencing a rich world of cultural structure. That heavy interaction and internal and external structure are, between the inside and outside should be softened. Rather than asking people how they're feeling, how they're thinking, what is that ecosystem around those people, what's their context and let's research that as well. Again, we can start to think about here's a Zoom chat going on with a person and a number of people they're working with and they are also showing us the broader network or their broader ecosystem of people that they're working with as part of that. So blurring that boundary between individual and context. I love this sketch, my colleague Zoe drew this particular one for us. It starts to show the person but it also starts to show that context for them. So what are all the different platforms that they are actually interacting with to satisfy those needs and aspirations they have. So researching those and understanding what they are getting from those particular platforms start to point towards those needs that are not currently being met by the designer work or the product or service that we're putting out there. So again we get a deeper understanding of the context in the individual. However, I will also say that this is an additional burden because you are doing more research around those products and services that people are interacting with too. A big one here in terms of a workshop needs to be in a venue. We've got to do a workshop, let's book a venue. Well, we can. However, again, in the time that we're in it might be more prudent to think about how we can do that remotely. Again, this is an experience that we've been working with for a number of years now. Again, because of the location of the people that we're designing with. This is a distributive position on Appear In and used Candour to set up different ideas, a
8. 8 brainstorming session, and down the side we've got the chat we are familiar with now when we are doing remote sessions. In this particular one, I love the photo of the mum with her son. People are bringing their life to the screen here and we are able to have healthcare people as part of this. It was a healthcare study. And we were also able to involve the client in that as well. Again, you are broadening the participation and in the doing of that, you are making that design process more participatory as well. You get that greater diversity of people as participants. It also starts to challenge the hierarchy as well too. Because in that particular way of workshopping, everyone as an equal moment, if you like, to be able to contribute and to share. Again, by inviting more of the people that were working with as part of the design, it becomes more participative. Better capacity to scale, we can absorb the complexity because if anyone can get on to the platform, then anyone can participate. Again, we can have multiple stakeholders as part of that and it does reduce cost as well because not hiring venues, not travelling to workshop locations as well. I've listed some of the tools there as well. So Zoom, Hangouts and the board that you can see in the background there is a mural board. This is a workshop we ran remotely. You can see here there is some different activities that were generated for each of the groups they were working on. I loved the way this worked in terms of being able to see the complete flow of the workshop on the board that we were working so it was a live board. You could zoom in and out so there was prioritization that was going on that you can see highlighted there in the box. Again, a great way to be able to work remotely. Analysis and synthesis that involves post-it notes on a board. Yes, it can does. Mirror mural allow us to do that. You can live sketch on some of these as well too and you can also make video calls while you're doing it too. Again, if we start to reframe it, analysis and synthesis is post-it notes to think about a bigger box. It's basically how can we use technology in the platform to collaborate to make meetings together. So
9. 9 again to invite more people into the process. Anybody can see the board, anyone can start to move stuff around so it becomes less of designers working together in their own space and starts to broaden that out. You can see here we invite participants into it as well and get them to reflect on the meaning we're making and say you know, that's what I said, that's not what I meant. When I said this, this is the thing I was talking about or let me show you what it's like or let me deconstruct that journey map and I will draw in a way that is right for me. You are deepening that understanding and also making the design process more participative. Research experience frameworks as a moment in time. The convention is we have these static journey maps that we can put up there. They show the anti-experience. The technology has started to enable us. Something like mirror where we've started to do mapping on that and invited clients into this. We are actually able to get them to build the map collaboratively with us. We've set up on object libraries, colours for people to use. Again, it's getting people involved and reframing it to think about as a way for creating empathy and insight and sharing that more broadly within the organisation, how does the technology enable us to do that. So Mirror Mural, there is also a tool called Figma and in the blurry map behind you, you can see we are linking in footage and film from the sessions that we've done. Not only on the map is a Victorian yet, you can play the film that describes what it is, the pain that that person is feeling at that particular moment in time. And we are also able to start to build in different platforms and links off to different sites that people have talked about and so you can start to see how it becomes much more interactive but not static in a way as not that moment in time but you can keep adding layers to it, keep adding meaning to it to think about what it means and how do we start to get insight into people's experiences, how do we start to create empathy in those people to create better designs in the future. In doing that we are starting to build the capability of people
10. 10 we are designing with. In organisations where they are able to contribute and build those maps with us, they are starting to learn what that process looks like. So rather than designers doing it for designers and sharing that back out, it actually becomes much more collaborative in that way. Just to kind of bring that to a close, let's think about the time that we're in, the technology that we have and rather than using existing conventions and those same practices and just putting them into a virtual space or an online space, let's use this moment, let's use that technology to start thinking about new frames for the way that we're researching and the way we're designing. Reframing user interviews, reframing recruitment to be a community. Can it not only be that moment in time but also other moments in time as well? Can it be thinking more about the system and not just about the people that we're actually researching with? Let's think about more platforms as a way for and the technology as way for us to collaborate. And so in doing so we're making the design process more participatory and we are making better those designs that we're building and sharing out into the world. So I'm going to stop there and to say thank you so much for the opportunity to share this with you. And again I want to emphasise this is that moment where we can actually start to think about a better way of doing things, not just the same old ways in a different frame.