“Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to

make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”

- Barack Obama

The role human centred design can play in creating a more relevant and inclusive arts sector

Emma McFarland, Innovation Producer

eMc arts +

digital

HUMAN CENTRED DESIGN….starts with people and empathy.

“Human-centered design is a creative approach to problem

solving…….. It’s a process that starts with the people you’re

designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made

to suit their needs. “

- IDEO

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

- Peter Drucker, Management Consultant & Social Ecologist

THINKING FEELING NEEDS GOALS

DESIGN THINKING PROCESS

Human centred – empathy driven

User insights and user needs are the starting point

Culture of prototyping, early launch and iterative development

Bias towards action - ‘get out of the building’ ; ‘build’

Show don’t tell

Importance of the team and process

Radical collaboration every step of the way

DESIGN THINKING PROCESS - d.school

Non-linear

Tolerates failure

Focuses on

understanding the ‘why’

Intersperses divergent,

creative thinking and

convergent, analytical

thinking

What it is NOT: ‘Tell us what

you think you want or need

and we’ll create / make it

happen.”

HUMAN CENTRED DESIGN

Design Thinking

Service Design

The Agile Movement

Lean Approach:

Minimal Viable Product

SERVICES

SOCIAL CAUSES

DIGITAL

PRODUCTS EXPERIENCES

COMMERCIAL

EMBRACED ACROSS SECTORS

IMPLEMENTED ACROSS A WHOLE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

© Emma McFarland

THE DESIGN SQUIGGLE!

Creative, divergent thinking, ‘chaos’ -Discover and Ideate phases

Analytical thinking and synthesis - Define and Prototype phases

Dominant Working Process in Arts Sector

Primacy of the artist’s (or producer’s) idea, research question, hunch or

feeling as stimulus – inside out process.

Limited or no prototyping or user testing – prototyping confined to scratch

night or sharing work in progress

Iterative and incremental - in the studio – but rarely outside it.

LINEAR working processes with a highly defined target ‘output’ at the

outset and a ‘launch’ date.

Depends on meeting the priorities of funders whose appetite for risk or

unknowns is very low. Requires you to know the answer to the question

before you know the question!

Development in departmental ‘silos’ with limited collaboration across

teams.

Co-creation with artists common. Rare involvement of audiences /

participants / public (although changing slowly).

Human Centred Design

User centred - building deep empathy with users (or audiences or

participants) to understand needs. NOT market research.

Generating tonnes of potential ideas based on user research.

Cheap and rapid prototyping and frequent user testing

Iterative and incremental development – starting with a ‘blank page’ –

AGILE circular process - launch is the beginning not the end!

Embraces risk and failure as essential to get to the best ‘solution’

Holistic development in inter-disciplinary teams with a constant inter-

change between periods of divergent, creative thinking and convergent,

analytical thinking

Co-creation with users common

© Emma McFarland

SOLVING PROBLEMS

DESIGNING

STRATEGIES & POLICIES

DESIGNING

PARTICIPATORY PROJECTS

DEVELOPING

DIGITAL PROJECTS

ARTISTIC CREATION

DESIGNING SERVICES

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY – APPLYING HUMAN CENTRED DESIGN

IN THE ARTS

© Emma McFarland

DIVERSE FUTURES

Gap in information around progression

opportunities for Diverse City’s

Extraordinary Bodies Young Artists

members which was identified by

Diverse City.

Led to development and launch of low

cost prototype website in May 2014

profiling:

professional development and

training opportunities

semi-pro companies

companies employing disabled

artists.

A LIGHTBULB MOMENT!

DIVERSE FUTURES INCUBATOR – APPLYING HUMAN CENTRED DESIGN

Immerse for Diversity event in Feb 2016 - built empathy

with target users; used coaching techniques alongside

provocations and workshops to explore user needs, pains,

gains and potential solutions.

Worked in three design sprints to research, prototype and

test ideas with target users.

How might we support

talented Deaf and

disabled young people

and emerging artists to

progress and develop

their pathways and

careers in the

performing arts?

KNOW THE AUDIENCE YOU ARE CREATING FOR

DISENGAGED. No arts participation

SOME INTEREST: Attends arts class /

workshop

DEVELOPING TALENT

Eg member of auditioned group

EMERGING ARTISTESTABLISHED

PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS

SOME USER FEEDBACK FROM THE EVENT - WHAT COULD DIVERSE

FUTURES DO?

Remember – it’s not WHAT is said but the underlying need which is important – the

WHY!

Diverse Futures should enable, empower, facilitate

Get the keys to the citadel / get out of the ghetto

Challenge mainstream world – what is normal

Educate the theatre world

Place of discovery

Place to ask questions

Place to platform talent – on-line and live

Place to be seen

Open up doorways you didn’t know existed

Plan and build your future

Social media aggregator of opportunities

Help young people to understand their talent,

identify pathways & manage expectations

Challenge perceptions of what they can do

Get a ‘cloak of confidence’

Place to connect

- with mentors, role models, peers on same journey

PRIORITY PAINS – DEVELOPING TALENT

Strong

•Lack of geographical access to opportunities which exist due to logistical challenges – travel, accommodation, finance, carers/support

•Overall lack of training and professional development opportunities

•Unsupportive parents / carers / teachers

•Lack of information on opportunities and progression routes which do exist

Medium

•Few role models and few opps to be role models

•Lack of understanding in mainstream of ‘how to treat me’

•Lack of opps for mentoring and connections with peers outside individual groups

•Lack of opps to extend networks beyond existing group

•No or low aspirations or unrealistic expectations

•Lack of confidence

Weaker

•Venues too expensive and inaccessible for sharing work

•No opps to be seen - especially in the 'mainstream'

PRIORITY PAINS – EMERGING ARTISTS

Strong

•Lack of geographical access to opportunities which exist due to logistical challenges – travel, accommodation, finance, carers/support

•Lack of opportunities to work as equals or lead collaborators with non-disabled artists

•Isolation and lack of collective peer support

•Few opportunities for individual or collective voices of disabled artists to be meaningfully heard

•Lack of direct access to funding opportunities

•Lack of understanding in mainstream of needs of those with different types of disability eg learning, autism, physical, sensory.

Medium

•Lack of information about opportunities including commercial / film / creative industries

•Expectations of ‘norms of behaviour’ in mainstream eg auditions.

•Lack of coaching support

•Lack of visibility of disabled artists in the sector and mainstream inc media

•Perceptions of disability and inclusive arts in the mainstream – worthy, poor quality, sympathy vote, ‘nice’

•Lack of producing and fundraising support – it’s a regional lottery

Weaker

•Unrealistic expectations

•The tyranny of 'normal'

•Few opportunities to mentor others

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…..

In your group, choose a target persona

Choose a strong or medium pain point

Create a ‘How Might We’ problem statement to guide your ideation eg ‘how might we help

emerging disabled artists to access opportunities offered by organisations based in other parts of

the country”

5 minute group brainstorm. Draw or write idea on Post-It note, stick it on the paper and say it out

loud.

Don’t judge, don’t worry about what is possible at this stage, think big. Build on the ideas of

others. Dream!

Cluster your ideas into those which are similar

Use 3 votes to choose which ones you like best (you can put all your votes on one idea)

Create a storyboard for the top two ideas – divide your team into two, one idea per group

Now you’re ready to do a first test with users!

CREATIVE THINKING WARM-UP!

How many ways can you break an iPhone?

Draw each idea on the Post-Its – go as wild and crazy as you like.

Do it fast. Don’t think, do! You’ve got 3 minutes for your team to

get as many as you can.

WHERE NEXT?

A QUOTE TO REMEMBER!

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the

turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.”

- Peter Drucker, Business & Management Guru

-

ANY QUESTIONS? Get in touch!

Emma McFarland, Digital Innovation Producer

emma@emc-arts.co.uk

07866 552628

@ArtsEMC

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/emmamcfarland