The Bellettini offers timeless architecture and magnificent grounds providing an ideal retreat for seniors living in Bellevue, Washington.

GDE730 W11 | Workshop Challenge

August 8, 2020

INTERDISCLIPINARY PROVOCATION

What are the advantages of interdisciplinary provocation and how could you utiliZe this approach in your practice?

Put theory into practice and spend an hour brainstorming ideas based on the following challenge and who you would choose to work with.

Identify a discipline and specialist who could help you to reflect from a dynamically opposing position on a specific problem.
Pick one of the issues below and discuss with your chosen individual how you may solve the challenge. This should ideally be recorded as an audio podcast. Our interest in this also relates to the way in which different disciplines discuss an issue and their manner and approach in communicating differently, as well as how you would capture this.
As a guide, please evolve your own strategy for bridging the questions. Equally, you may wish to also consider the core issues: how would your specialism solve this and how different is this to the expected design thinker?
Do not forget to consider the communication style you would use to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue.
Finally, how do you summariZe these findings in a way that is acceptable to both collaborators?

Provocation considerations:

Improving mental health in young adults.
Reducing pollution in inner cities.
Encouraging greater engagement with galleries and museums.
Reducing isolation and loneliness.
Promoting greater community cohesion.

HOW CAN DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE PROMOTE GREATER COMMUNITY COHESION?

I chose to interview an architect, James Knight about the opportunities for architecture to inform, improve, and impact community cohesion as well as the intersection of graphic design, architecture, and community.

Questions:

What is community cohesion?
What are some of the benefits of community cohesion and pitfalls of having an absence of cohesion in the community?
How does architecture inform or impact community cohesion?
What socioeconomic considerations must be made to positively impact community cohesion?
Are there any common denominators?
Tell me about The Bellettini in Bellvue, WA.
How will any of this change post COVID-19?
What about the future? How will architecture change to address the needs of future communities?
How can architecture and graphic design collaborate on this issue?

REFERENCE

Falmouth University (2018). Interdisciplinary Insights – New Approaches and Creative Partnerships | Lecture. History and Futures GDE720 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S2 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)

TYPE Talk, Andy Altmann (2012) Dinner for One?.

LYNfabrikken Aarhus Denmark, (2012) Lecture with Troika.

Open Cell https://opencell.webflow.io/

OffShore Studio Migrant Journal http://www.offshorestudio.ch/

TED, Anab Jain(2017) Why we need to imagine different futures

GDE730 W11 | Lecture Review

August 8, 2020

Revealing Gaps, Targets, and Audiences for a New Product or Service Idea

This week’s lecture a guest lecture with Dan Parry, digital strategist at Metier Digital, who asks — and answers — “how can we ensure a business or creative idea is targeted and researched to maximize its potential? “

UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE

Parry discusses the importance of understanding your audience, talking to your potential customers, really understanding what it is that they want and starting to build that audience before you even launch.

One of the key things when trying to build or launch anything successful is really just understanding your audience. —Dan Parry

COMPETITION

Understanding the competition and the market landscape is equally as important. Researching the landscape, trying to do as much competitor analysis and landscape analysis as quickly as you can will set you up for great success.

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT

MVP, or minimum viable product refers to is a version of a product, service, or tool with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future development. Be sure to be iterating quickly and building value. The faster you iterate, the faster you build that value, the more opportunity there is for you to learn whether people want your product or service, whether you can pivot or whether you should pivot, whether you should stay or not.

PROCESSES

TOOLS

Hotjar – Tracks customers on a website
Google Analytics Tracks audience behavior and data on websites
Later.com Social Media Tracking and Analytic

REFERENCE:

Falmouth University (2020). Revealing Gaps, Targets and Audiences for a New Product or Service Idea | Lecture. Studio and Entrepreneurship GDE730 20/21 Part-Time Study Block S2 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)

Young, A., (2011). Brand Media Strategy – Planning in the Digital Era, New York: Palgrave MacMillan

Fitzpatrick, R. (2019). The Mom Test: How to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. London: Robfitz.

GDE720 W11 | Workshop Challenge

April 29, 2020

together apart

This week’s challenge included two options for execution. I chose Option One:

You have successfully identified one social issue that your would like to solve and contextualized your issue and project brief.
Utilize your initial research to generate a solution that will provoke change. Your key task for this week is to generate exciting and thoughtful ideas.
Think broadly about the relevant media you may wish to deploy when answering the design challenge, e.g. social media, public installation, viral, product or other digital or technology innovation.

LONELINESS IN THE TIME OF COVID19

For this project, we were to evaluate several issues that related to our locality. For me, I am choosing the city of San Francisco as my locale. It’s a big city, but a close knit one and one not without issues. The three issues that I found to be most apparent to me are: homelessness, economic inequality, and loneliness. I believe all are intertwined and not mutually exclusive.

Given the timeliness of the current social impact of COVID19 on the city of San Francisco, I chose to focus my project on loneliness. It also provides an opportunity for me to reflect on my own experiences stemming from the pandemic and feel like I am making a contribution to society as a result.

RESEARCH

Using a The Campaign to End Loneliness survey, plus one additional question to adapt to our current shelter in place order, I sent out a survey to get feedback on how folks looked upon their relationships and their connection to others. The rationale for using The Campaign to End Loneliness Survey was that this is a tool that has been compiled through a co-designed approach that is not only practical, but uses positive language, which I felt was highly appropriate given the already anxiety inducing aspects of sheltering in place amongst a global pandemic.

The survey included four statements for which respondents would rate on a scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree except for the final question which was to be filled in by free form response:

I am content with my friendships and relationships.
I have enough people I feel comfortable asking for help at any time.
My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be.
Sheltering in place has changed the way I connect with people by…

The responses were then evaluated against the Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement tool:

Screen Shot 2020-04-29 at 11.08.14 AM.png

So someone with a score of 0 or 3 can be said to be unlikely to be experiencing any sense of loneliness, whereas anyone with a score of 10 or 12 is likely to be experiencing the most intense degree of loneliness. Scores in-between these two extremes are on a spectrum of feelings of loneliness; however it is not possible to say that each point on the scale represents an equal increase or decrease in the degree of loneliness someone might be feeling.

Upon scoring the survey results the majority of respondents showing little to no up to some signs of loneliness with only one subject at a higher end of the spectrum:

Screen Shot 2020-04-29 at 11.02.09 AM.png

I believe the results would be different given the pool of respondents was rather shallow. If more people had responded, I think more people would be showing signs of loneliness. Regardless, the research for this assignment include evaluating the entirety of the data including the free form responses. I took the responses from the final survey question and used an empathy map to identify insights that might inform my project further:

I was also inspired by a conversation that I had with my boss at the start of this project. She mentioned that through her church she signed up for volunteering with a group that connected volunteers to members of the San Francisco community affected by COVID19. She signed up to speak to a person who is sheltering in place in Oakland, California and is without any real support system given that he is from New York, a senior, and has an autoimmune disease which previously to the pandemic kept him from connecting with folks outside of his home.

“He is lonely. We speak every few days. I just listen and chat with him about anything he wants to talk about. ”

She spoke of how it was really just a big Google spreadsheet and that there was no formal organization, but more of a free for all. It got me thinking about how to incentivize and reach more people, more effectively, and more efficiently.

FROM RESEARCH AND INSIGHTS INTO DESIGN

I wanted to design a campaign that connect those that are lonely or feeling alone to those willing to provide their time to chat with them in any way that was easiest for the person in need: text, phone, email, FaceTime, etc. And in a way that would be able to encourage those in the community to participate in the easiest way possible. Some criteria:

Bold messaging
Simple, straightforward design
Clear call to action
Anyone can print, create, and share the materials including adapting it to make it their own.

A NAME AND A PLAN

I landed on the name “Together Apart” for the campaign brand identity. Further, I looked to create a simple design that could be easily transferred, adopted and implemented by anyone interested. This meant keeping the design clean and straightforward and using basic color palette such as black and white. This way participants could print their own materials for display to encourage outreach and connection with the target audience.

Screen Shot 2020-04-29 at 7.30.10 PM.png

The introduction of the Japanese symbol “enso” means oneness. The brush stroke approach provide an human touch and a nod to imperfection.

I chose to interlock a cross-symbol with the intersection creating an opening. This could symbolize the lonely and how they are surrounded by friends as shown through the balance of the cross symbol. The cross also symbolizes care. I’ve incorporated the Japanese symbol for oneness, the "enso” in a brushstroke that evokes a human touch and lack of imperfection. This symbol represents the “circle of togetherness,” the oneness of life, the beginning and end of all things, and the connectedness of existence, thus setting the tone for the campaign: togetherness, oneness.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND EXECUTION

I brainstormed all of the various deliverables and platforms where this campaign could be most effective.

THE RESULT

A campaign that is created for the people, by the people: together apart.

REFERENCE:

E, Manzini., (2015) ‘Part 3: Making Things Happen’, in Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation. . Available from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/falmouth-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3339947. 84, pp. 119 – 202

Falmouth University (2018). Visual Writing: Design & Develop | Lecture. History and Futures GDE720 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S2 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)

McQuiston, L., (1993) Graphic Agitation. London: Phaidon. Available from: https://content.talisaspire.com/falmouth/bundles/5c62b7e669df5062d0522374

Payne, K. (2019, February 7). The Missing Million: A Practical Guide to Identifying and Talking About Loneliness. Retrieved from https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/blog/the-missing-million-a-practical-guide-to-identifying-and-talking-about-loneliness/

The Campaign To End Loneliness. (n.d.). Measuring your Impact on Loneliness in Later Life. Retrieved from https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/measuring-loneliness/

GDE720 W11 | Lecture Review

April 29, 2020

The Age of No Retirement

This week’s lecture included a conversation with George Lee & Jonathan Collie of the social-enterprise The Age of No Retirement and more recently the intergenerational community project The Common Room.

FINDING COMMON GROUND

What was really interesting to me in this week’s lecture was how both Lee and Collie found their way to one another. Both having the experience of disenchantment with their careers and finding their true calling, and as a result, each other. I have also found the societal considerations or lack thereof for our more senior community members to be very out of touch and out of place for our current time in history. Both of my parents have been subjected to ageism later in their careers and into retirement. It something that I think about has a hit middle age. So, this resonates with me personally as a social cause.

THE DOUBLE DIAMOND

We learn how Lee and Collie use the double diamond tool for service design and how it aids in distilling out actionable steps and tactical objectives.

Design has many different definitions, but at its heart it is about the process of translating ideas into reality, making abstract thoughts tangible and concrete.

Screen Shot 2020-04-29 at 11.09.44 AM.png

IT IS ALL ABOUT PEOPLE

We know that to be classified as service design that six criteria must be met:

Human-centered: Consider the experience of all the people affected by the service.
Collaborative: Stakeholders of various backgrounds and functions should be actively engaged in the service design process.
Iterative: Service design is an exploratory, adaptive, and experimental approach, iterating toward implementation.
Sequential: The service should be visualized and orchestrated as a sequence of interrelated actions.
Real: Needs should be researched in reality, ideas prototyped in reality, and intangible values evidenced as physical or digital reality.
Holistic: Services should sustainably address the needs of all stakeholders through the entire service and across the business.

It seems critical that the first of the criteria is honored for the rest to follow suit. Without people, it’s just an idea, problem, or need. With people, we find answer, solutions, evolution, and community.

REFERENCE:

Falmouth University (2018). Visual Writing: Design & Develop | Lecture. History and Futures GDE720 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S2 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)

McQuiston, L., (1993) Graphic Agitation. London: Phaidon. Available from: https://content.talisaspire.com/falmouth/bundles/5c62b7e669df5062d0522374

GDE740 W11 | Lecture Review

December 13, 2019

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

This week we learn from four new agencies who answer the question:

How do you respond to critical feedback and how is it delivered back to your team?

FELD

Feld believes that feedback is great, and critical feedback is essential to the success of any project. Personally, however, it can hurt. They see feedback as an opportunity to evaluate: 1. what didn’t we achieve in the brief? 2. was there a miscommunication? 3. did we take a wrong turn. Receiving critical feedback is seen as a benefit and a chance to challenge ideas so that the work can improve. Their advice is to take it seriously as you will experience this type of feedback for not only your entire career, but throughout the whole of your life both professionally and personally. Look at it as an opportunity to reflect and improve.

ACCEPT & PROCEED

Accept & Proceed collaborates extensively with their clients through the entirety of projects so feedback is seen as a part of the collaboration process. Their “Think as One” mantra enables them to have many smaller milestone check-ins with the client that they see more as a partnership on the project rather than solely in service.

STUDIO DUMBAR

Studio Dumbar looks at feedback in two ways: client vs. public. Their work largely ends up in the public eye given those clients with whom they partner: Dutch Railways, Dutch Police, etc. They prefer constant check-ins with the client throughout the project and for feedback to be direct and honest. This provides each project the best chance of success. “Feelings are facts” is a believe that Studio Dunbar holds in that regardless of the feeling or response a client may be having in terms of how they design has influenced them, the feelings are worthy of exploration. Disregarding or rationalizing away those feelings tends to diminish client-studio relationships and create blind spots within a project.

EDENSPIEKERMANN

EdenSpiekermann’s prefers to keep everyone involved: studio and clients along the way. This builds trust with clients. They value user feedback above all as it informs the viability of any project. Garnering this feedback early and often helps ES to iterate and deliver projects on brief. They see feedback as vital to keeping projects on track as well as an opportunity to improve. It’s important to seek it out at all phases of a project and to do so often. This regularity and frequency will help to mitigate taking critical feedback personally.

REFERENCE

Falmouth University (2018). Design Development | Interviews. Application and Interactions GDE740 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S1 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)