I feel a bit foolish because I didn’t know until last week that we are only allowed to take 5 tutorials in this module. I’ve already taken 3 tutorials in the first 4 weeks. In the last module, we were told that if we needed more, we could speak to the course leader to get additional ones.

Well, I will just have to find other ways to talk about my ideas. We are encouraged to do that anyway. But I imagine people with a design background have other sources of advice that I unfortunately don’t have. It’s time to get even more creative!

Research task: Consider how designers develop strategies and project plans to ensure that a creative initiative is kept on track.
What tools and processes are useful for guaranteeing the successful development of a project, particularly over an extended period of time?

In this week’s interviews, most practitioners agreed that it is important to have a strategy.
Every project is unique and it is important to do sufficient research
be it from the desk or by interviewing people, but also in workshops with the client (e.g. workshops with the client, audience research, desk research).
Stijn va den Ven from Eden Spiekerman says that they approach projects differently depending on the local market and location.

Phillips mentions that there are obstacles such as personal (e.g. risk aversion, lack of experience) and environmental (e.g. lack of time, competitive pressure) obstacles and that it is important to face these obstacles (and plan how to overcome them), be it through self-reflection or by anonymously asking others what you can do better. He also mentions how important it is to have an (internal) network and the right people who can help you, e.g. to gain more visibility within an organisation.¹

Normally, designers follow processes and use tools such as personas and user flow to develop and test their ideas. The Design Council UK mentions² the double-diamond process, which is often used in UX design and other areas of design. The individual steps are not necessarily linear, they can vary or return at a different point in the design process.

And then there are general ideas to keep in mind, such as keeping it simple or not adding too many features and instead have the original brief and project goals in mind when adding to the project.³

Tutorial and Webinar

I decided to use my 4th tutorial joker anyway as I felt I needed to talk to someone about my idea for the second assignment. There were also no student-led meetings that week.

In general Frauke liked the idea of the quiet space and the opportunity to explore the collection further on the floor, as well as the tactile way of engaging with it. She also thought it was positive that this was a different approach to engaging with the museum audience. She mentioned that more thought should be given to the narrative. And also about which objects should be shown. Are there sounds?

She also mentioned that I could use AI to create associations (in relation to the collection objects?) but not necessarily personalised experiences. When I told her it would be nice to show some nature-related content, she told me about the Swedish design agency Front, which has created animals as calming sculptures. I took a look…

In the webinar we looked again at briefs from students in the past. I thought it would be good to do some research on the Science Museum, its aims and target audiences. One student’s project involved testing the app. I wondered how the user testing could be done in an ‘imaginary’ room or on site. It was also mentioned that users usually have a specific interest in an object or area. They are rarely interested in randomness. Therefore, I discarded the idea of showing the objects in the collection randomly. I decided to let the users decide which categories they are interested in (by giving them a choice of options?).

Other research

Some research….

More research about interactive elements in the museum: AR, VR, mixed reality

Eventually research about calm learning environments -> schools etc.

• In schools: as a time-out for students (not only students with emotional “needs”)
• Calm room National Gallery Singapore
• “Learning unfolds within and across spaces”⁴ -> Urban Thinking example -> Science in public spaces -> community project where “puzzles and movable parts at bus stops and parks” were designed to “stimulate spatial skills […] bodily awareness, to promote exploration and curiosity”⁵

I was listening this week to a podcast by Design Better featuring Paola Antonelli, a curator at the MOMA museum. She mentioned that she is fascinated by bringing together human imperfection or craftsmanship with the latest technology. However, she also mentioned that there aren’t many objects to touch at MOMA as, for example, the chairs can’t be replaced that often with 4 million visitors a year. Another guest on the podcast, John Maeda, works at Microsoft in the field of AI and design. He drew an interesting comparison between AI and humans. He said we have to realise that AI is not human and doesn’t understand us. But we humans are wired to have a social component even with inanimate objects.’ It is good to ‘encourage people not to be passive’.

1. Phillips, P (2004) Creating the perfect design brief: how to manage design for strategic, New York, Allworth Press ↩︎
2. https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/fileadmin/uploads/dc/Documents/DesignCouncil_Design%2520methods%2520for%2520developing%2520services.pdf ↩︎
3. https://trymata.com/blog/feature-creep-how-to-keep-your-ux-project-on-track/ ↩︎
4. https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Making%20the%20Space%20for%20Learning.pdf ↩︎
5. https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Making%20the%20Space%20for%20Learning.pdf ↩︎