think bigger, make better
DESCRIPTION
Process Book, Exhibition Edition. MFA Interaction Design, School of Visual ArtsTRANSCRIPT
1
Learning to
think bigger make betterThesis work of Tash Wong Class of 2013
Exhibition EditionMFA Interaction DesignSchool of Visual Arts
Contents
prefaCe to the exhibition edition
part 1: figuring it outEarly daysA more engaging home A personal light
part 2: it’s a gender thingGoing deeperMarginalized perspectivesGenerative applications of gender Testing the water Thinking big Bringing it back Interviews The quiz
The cards
Think Bigger Make Better Branding Wireframes
9
15
35
43
59
67
81
89
113
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4
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WelCome to the first edition of my proCess book. Like many creative endeavors, it’s not quite complete.
It’s missing a few formal elements, like references and
acknowledgements. Some of the images may not yet
have their color balanced, and there are still many bul-
let points to set.
What is here, however, are some of the major moments
of the last 12 months. My thesis process, meta roller-
coaster that it was, took me through a wide range of
ideas, conversations, prototypes, and emotions, many
of which find themselves in these pages. Together
they form something of a narrative, and hopefully a
peak into what took place in my head this year.
prefaCeto the Exhibition Edition
“”
The work I did is the work I know, and the work I do is the work I don’t know. That’s why I can’t tell you, I don’t know what I’m doing. And it’s the not knowing that makes it interesting.
– Philip Glass
Part 1
figuring it out
March 2012 – April 2012
early days
10
I’m working on a project for my Physical Computing
midterm, its called ‘tp minder’. Guri, Minnie, and I were
brainstorming for small problems to solve and focused
in on toilet paper notification. At the time, we though
this would be a fantastically fun and silly project - a
system that lets you know there’s no toilet paper in a
bathroom stall.
During our presentation the question was
asked, “Who’s suffered from this problem before - be-
ing stranded in a bathroom with no paper?”. 9 out of
the 10 women raised their hands. It was then I realized,
that this isn’t actually a small problem, but an indica-
tor of something much bigger.
It was then I realized, that this isn’t actually a small
problem, but an indicator of something much bigger.
Think about it - using the numbers in this unscientific
survey, roughly 90% of women in toilet paper using
countries have endured the uncomfortable embar-
rassment of this problem. Thats 140M people in the
US alone. Think thats not enough? Think of the time
it takes to check toilet paper levels of every single stall
of a movie theater or stadium bathroom.
Why hasn’t this problem been solved? My
guess is that the ‘problem solvers’ of our world have
been predominantly male for a long time. I’m not say-
ing they didn’t want to solve this problem, but more
that this slice of life isn’t lived by them. I’ve learned
from recent conversations that when a dude needs to
use toilet paper - he’s damn sure its there.
I’ve been thinking of our project as just
scratching the surface of something much bigger. We
live in a world dominated by products made through a
masculine view of the world. What happens if we look
through a feminine lens?
I have a feeling we’ll find more interesting
problems to solve than toilet paper dispensing.
3/5/2013
toilet paper problemsNew ideas in surprising places
tp minder indicated whether toilet paper levels were ‘low’ or ‘satisfactory’, helping people avoid uncomfortable situations.
An Arduino and flex sensor were used to detect toilet paper levels, communicating them to a servo motor outside the stall.
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Strange as it sounds, this was a somewhat surprising
insight. At grad school we’re constantly surrounded
by concepting sessions, thesis ideas, and astounding
guest lectures; so much so that I tend to forget that
theres a lot of half-baked work out there.
The startup mania that happens at SXSW was
a rather amazing reminder of how many undercooked
or just downright creepy ideas become a reality. On
the first night, Prachi and I went to a few sites for
the Startup Crawl. We were excited to see new ideas
and speak to people about their startup experience,
but instead we found offices with beer pong, meeting
rooms named after sushi, and services that hold on
to your social network activity…for your employer.
Each to their own, but we didn’t find there was much
to construct conversation around. The abundance of
bad office furniture didn’t help either.
A couple of nights later, I had the opportunity
to meet a few new people over dinner. One person I
spoke to had launched a startup just the day before,
upon arrival to SXSW. He told me, proudly, about
how they’d conceived and built their service in a very
compressed time frame, I suspect without much user
testing and iteration or even testing if there was any
demand for the product in the first place.
The startup mania that happens at SXSW was a rather
amazing reminder of how many undercooked or just
downright creepy ideas become a reality.
Believe it or not, but I found this all really inspiring.
It gave me renewed faith in my work and my ideas.
Thanks to my time at SVAIXD, it seems obvious to me
that you must consider and design for the people at
the center of a product or service, and not for the sake
of building the product itself, but I realized that’s an
insight not everyone has.
3/23/2012
good ideas are not everyWhere“We’ve finished everything, except the design.“ - Overheard at SXSW
One of the startup offices we visited. The graph in the background tracks the sake bombs consumed in the space.
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Down at SXSW, earlier this month, I had a few fantas-
tic conversations with women who work in the digi-
tal + creative industry. I spoke with them about their
work and how they got to where they are today. These
talks ended up going deeper into conversations about
what it feels like to be bold with your ideas. One of
them said, “For a while, I never really knew what ev-
eryone else was doing, but I assumed they did it better
than me.” This shot through me like a bolt and made
me instantly realize a couple of things:
1. I often make the same assumption.
2. I’m not alone.
This got me thinking about why I, and other women,
often undervalue their work. I know that this isn’t a
problem restricted to the female gender, but there is
something pervasive in our culture and that causes
more women than men to undervalue their work and
their opinions.
Sheryl Sandberg hits on this point in her talk,
Why we have too few women leaders1. She references
a few studies that show how women systematically
underestimate their own abilities, and attribute their
success to external factors.
This is a problem, and not just for women, but
for everyone. As the old guard falls2 around us, being
able to see problems from as many angles as possible
is steadily becoming a necessity. You can’t disrupt in-
dustry3 from the inside, and in order to face the future
we need a more gender and ethnically diverse range
of problem solvers. More importantly, to get there, we
need as many people as possible to be confident with
their ideas, who understand and embrace the fact that
their experience in the world gives them a unique per-
spective.
So, where do we go from here? After chatting with
a few people about this issue, I’ve got a few starting
points:
• Know your worth, this means actually talking to
people about money
• Be vocal, blogging is really hard, but do it anyway
• Say no, to projects that don’t fit in the ‘feature list’
of your life
• Take the time, daily, to reflect positively on your
work
This is where I’m at, if you have anything to add, I’d
love to hear from you.
3/23/2013
elusive ConfidenCeFinding a voice
Sheryl Sandberg at TED.4
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thesis fiCtionAs part of thesis preparation, I presented Diller + Scofidio’s Blur Building as if it was my own
May 2012 – November 2012
a more engaging home
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[thesis prep] proposal feedback date: 4/23/2012 from: liz danzico
Tash,
Thanks for your thesis proposal. Below are thoughts on the proposal itself and suggestions on how to modify the proposal for the final version.
Please submit the final proposal directly to me on Tues-day, May 1, by the end of the day.
Thanks and looking forward to seeing this develop.
Liz
==
This is a terrific pursuit, one that is rich with possibilities. As an area to investigate, it’s both personal and prag-matic, progressive and has legacy. I have no doubt that you’ll raise the capital and take the summer to investigate Beam in in more detail.
I like your take on “new ways to solve old problems.” What is the old problem you’re posing here? There is a tension in the proposal -- perhaps an intentional one -- between the “city of renters” and the city “for living.” Is there a connection between the transience of renters and the service of Beam? Is Beam about creating a space, or creating a space within a, or the, home?
Further, I like the specificity of your summer research pro-posal. Out of it, what do you wish to achieve? What are your research goals? What would constitute a successful summer? I’d like to see these incorporated in a modified proposal.
Some further texts to consider:
* Ascher, Kate: The Works: Anatomy of a City* Banham, Reyner: The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment* Botton, Alaine de: The Architecture of Happiness* Suchman, Lucy: Plans and Situated Actions* Whyte, Holly: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Looking forward to seeing this develop over the summer.--Liz Danzico
ChairMFA in Interaction DesignSchool of VISUAL ARTSNew York City(212) 592-2702
http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/
thesis proposalMy first thesis stake in the ground, and some feedback from Liz Danzico
1717
Tash WongMFA in Interaction DesignThesis Proposal v25/1/2012
I’m incredibly interested in the global shift in perspective that appears to be taking place throughout the world. As the democ-ratization of communication allows for more voices to be heard, I believe that we will start to uncover new ways to solve old problems. From the shifts in the recording industry, to the changes in the formation of government policy, the tension between traditional structures and a new large and diverse set of voices is already beginning to alter the way we understand the world.
I see many parallels between this shift and one described by french sociologist, Henri Lefebvre. To briefl y summarize, Lefebvre understands space as a social production. He describes the environment created through the rise of Capitalism as abstract space, one that suppresses difference in local culture, history, and natural landscape while creating ‘spaces of modernity’ that are divided into grids of private property, market and labor. However, as the abstract mode of spatial production evolves, contradictions within it gives rise to a new differential or lived space, one that accentuates difference or peculiarities. I see the shift to the creation of communication platforms as product as a dramatic step in the emergence of differential space.
Here in NYC we all live under the auspices of abstract space. Manhattan is actually a grid, and much of the space in NYC is developed for speculative fi nancial gain. We are largely a city of renters, living in a developers dream. We live in spaces that were conceived and built for the purpose of generating money fi rst, and for living in second. The home, in NYC, is a site where the lived and the abstract are in constant tension with each other. This tension creates a rich place to explore examples ‘difference’ and potentially fi nd ways to help enrich the everyday experience of many. This is why I see the home as a key point of exploration.
Over the summer I will begin to explore the home through the lens of interaction design with Tom. We intend to turn our focus to the less tangible elements of lighting - the mood it creates, and understanding the various ways people use it - to help create more engaging spaces within the home. We will work together to develop a product called Beam. Beam is a lighting system that can be easily installed, and allows for lights to be controlled in a single place. Tom and I believe that more people should have access to better control over the lighting in their home, not just those willing to invest the time and money to install complex home automation systems.
Through Beam I hope to achieve a number of goals:1. Test my working relationship with Tom without the framework of school.2. Understand how people use lighting throughout the home.3. Discover and test how we can use networked technologies to enable better lighting design.
We plan to create a 10 week framework, during which we will conduct 2 weeks sprints on particular aspects of Beam. We will publicly blog our process, work and research within a variety of spaces, and establish relationships with a number of advisors. At the end of the summer we intend to present our prototype and process to a number of fi rms in New York, London, and San Francisco. To fund our work we will raise $20k through a combination of Coastermatic sales, freelance work, and grants.
Summer readingThe Poetics of Space, Gaston BachelardShaping Things, Bruce SterlingHenri Lefebvre on Space: Architecture, Urban Research, and the Production of Theory, Lukasz StanekCinematic Storytelling, Jennifer Van SijllThe Practice of Everyday Life, Michel de Certeau
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“Our job is to understand enough about tech-
nology, to see potential, and have enough empa-
thy for humans to see a need. Then have the de-
sign capabilities to bring these things together.”
- Amit Pitaru
This is how Amit describes what we do as Interaction
Designers. I think its the most concise definition I’ve
heard to date. For a while now, I’ve struggled with how
to explain what I do to friends and family, and am real-
ly glad to have something concrete to hold on to as we
begin the journey into thesis. As a second year student
in the MFA IXD program at SVA, thesis is my opportu-
nity to bring together the lessons learned over the last
year to create something that is uniquely mine, and
hopefully something that gives back to the Interac-
tion Design community at large.
Yesterday, our new department co-chair Amit
Pitaru hosted our first class. Having worked with Amit
over the last year, I’m incredibly excited to have him
guiding us through thesis. He spent the class giving
us a few ways to frame thesis, both in terms of how
to think about it and how to start staking our project
ideas. Here are some of my notes:
this year is about risk. When else will we ever have a year to immerse our-
selves into a topic with all the support of svaixd and
its friends?
thesis has 3 parts.Exploration: we’re wide eyed and open to possiblity,
unclouded by restraint and doubt.
Decision: when we draw the line and decide what to
make.
Execution: where we sprint into making mode and
don’t stop, or second guess, until we’re done.
thesis is about Creativity and Constraint. There are 2 kinds of constraints, internal and external.
Here are a few to think about:
What can I do that no one else can? or What
is it about the crazy sequence of events in my life that
makes me the only person who can do this project?
Where do I want to be after this? Who will I
talk to get there?
and most importantly, what story will I tell them?
What can I reasonably accomplish in the time
available? What do I want to learn?
What’s my goal, how will I affect interaction
design? What are the metrics of my project? Examples:
• Audience: everyone with a smartphone? or 12
people in Bushwick?
• Accessibility of the deliverable: a 1 off custom
made prototype? or a diy platform so everyone
can make their own?
Amit likened thesis to wandering into the forest and
coming out with some magical berries. Those berries
might be lethal, but if you went far enough, you’ll have
a really good story to tell about them.
I’ll be keeping this little parable in mind as I
start to flesh out a few of my ideas.
9/11/12
thesis time is hereA reflection on our first thesis class, hosted by Amit Pitaru
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Last year I submitted a thesis proposal, and it was
all about a focus on the home. Over the summer that
intention grew into the phrase: “creating more engag-
ing experiences in the home”. Well intentioned, but
not particularly clear. To try to make some headway
into what this might mean for thesis, I did some deep
thinking this week. I teased out those original explora-
tions and decided that I’m not specifi cally interested
in the home, but I am interested making engaging ex-
periences for people. I’ve worked on a couple of proj-
ects, Beam and Coastermatic, that both ask the user to
actively participate in changing their space - whether
creating the right lighting, or selecting images to be
printed to coasters. What’s important to me about
both is the intention to create a product that people
engage with and get day to day value from.
So, my next question: how do we design for
this? How do we create something that makes a mean-
ingful change in someone’s life, to the point where
it contributes to their day to day? If we know more
about what makes something engaging, can we use
that knowledge as a starting point, rather than fi rst
making a product and hoping for the best?
As I asked myself this question, I recalled
then re-watched a talk I went to earlier this year, by
Dirk Knemeyer1. I found his presentation memorable
because of his Applied Empathy Framework. His po-
sition is that to design for people, we need to better
understand all facets of them, and going forward,
creating holistic experiences will become more and
more important. To help guide work in this realm, he
created the Applied Empathy Framework, and wrote
several articles about it for UX Matters in 2006. The
framework combines what he calls the ‘5 states of Be-
ing’ with ‘Dimensions of Human Behavior’ to start to
give us a structure to think through the products we
design in terms of how fulfi lling they are.
I fi nd his framework fascinating. It’s the fi rst I’ve seen
within our industry that considers a ‘user’ as a whole
person. It gives us a toolkit to work from by organizing
a potential experience into Physical, Analytical, and
Emotional elements.
9/16/12
thesis thinking Week 1Five Levels of Human Needs and Desires
EMOTIONAL
ANALYTICAL
PHYSICAL
ParticipationEngagementProductivityHappinessWell Being
Designing for theFive Levels of Human
Needs & Desires
Control
Recognition
Stimulation
Attention
Amusement
Contest
Recreation
Attraction
Congruence
Pleasure
Interest
Acceptance
Validation
Trust
Comfort
Challenge
Exertion
Determination
Understanding
Expression
Affection
Progress
Safety
Fitness
Belonging
Passion
Knowledge
Fulfillment
Growth
Joy
Health
Meaning
Satiation
Ecstasy
nvolutionstudiosVersion 1.0 7/15/2006
Designing for the Five Levels of Human Needs & Desires. Dirk Knemeyer, 20062
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Back on Monday, Amit introduced us to all to a frame-
work to start thinking about our thesis. It kind of
looks like a donut with skewers in it. The idea is that
we all have a core interest that is unique to us. From
that core, there are 360+ possible directions you could
go with it. If your core was say, healthcare, one trajec-
tory could lead you to creating a documentary about
healthy food choices, and another could be figuring
out how to 3D print a replacement heart. Same core,
very different destinations.
With this approach, we can chart out possible
deliverables along a single trajectory. That way thesis
doesn’t have to be a giant scary thing, but a lot of small
steps that add up to a larger whole. Also, but having
this mapped out, if we run into trouble, it’s not so hard
to pivot slightly and keep going.
Amit also put a lot of emphasis on making. It’s
all very well to do research, in fact, its very important.
However, the research shouldn’t come at the expense
of actually making. Through making we can test our
ideas. He suggested that we make something each
week.
so, What is my Core? Despite last weeks post, I think my core is making
homes more human, and in the end I’ll be making
some kind of product (which is hopefully manufac-
tured, sustainably, in the USA).
I think the home needs to be more sympa-
thetic to human needs and desires, and I think we can
do this through smarter products. Here’s my rationale:
Living in NYC, I, like many others, rent. The apartment
I live in was built to generate income for its owners
first, and to house people second. This is how housing
is constructed in our present economic model, leaving
little room for things like ethnographic research, or
user testing. The result is that the design of my apart-
ment, the place I spend at least 1/3 of my time and
money on, doesn’t consider my identity or respond
to my physicality anywhere near as much as my $200
iPhone does.
I think the home needs to be more sympathetic to
human needs and desires, and I think we can do this
through smarter products.
As the pace of urbanization increases around
the world, more and more of us will be living in cities
and renting apartments. In order to keep cities habit-
able, I believe we will need to design spaces that care
about people living them. In the future, once we’re all
used to using our exquisitely designed devices, I can’t
imagine we’d demand anything less. Eventually, build-
ing materials and Architecture will catch up, but we’re
not quite there yet. In the mean time, I believe that
smarter products will bridge the gap, and I hope to
make at least one of them.
9/23/12
thesis thinking Week 2Defining a core and a trajectory
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Exploring past projects using the core and trajectory model.
Whiteboard from a ‘genius brainstorm’ with Tom Harman Brainstorming adjacencies while listening to Kronos Quartet
22
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October - November 2013
a personal light
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Last week I wrote about my core - making the home
more sympathetic to those who live in it. Following
that, I felt like I was a lost in the forest. The home is
pretty broad, we do lots of things there. I’ve made lists
about various rooms, various functions, written lots of
random thoughts, and came up with a idea for creat-
ing a web/phone based maintenance system for older
buildings. Kind of interesting, but not really. I even
tracked back and charted out a few of my past proj-
ects. Through this exercise, I reaffirmed my interest in
this domain, but didn’t find much to push me forward.
(If you don’t mind some scrappy handwriting, you can
see that charthere.)
Then on Thursday, I had a chat with Amit. He
reintroduced me to the idea of lighting. The notion of
a lighting project has been floating around since last
December when Tom and I put together a pitch for
Beam, “The only light switch you’ll ever need”, for our
strategy final. The project came out of a desire to cre-
ate easily controllable lighting conditions in the home
and a vague understanding of how we could do it with
networked technology. Since then, some of technologi-
cal aspects of the project have been expressed in the
release of Belkin’s WeMo and a very successful Kick-
starter campaign by Lifx. These products, combined
with the success of Coastermatic (which was initially a
concept fo fund work on Beam), have pushed thoughts
of lighting to the back of my mind.
The Punchdrunk designers understand lighting as a
“sculptural” element, one that can “create drama in the
space even when there are no performers around”.
In the few days since my conversation with
Amit, lighting has begun to make sense again. While
the products I mentioned a moment ago tackle the
technological aspects of our intent with Beam, they
don’t capture the experiential. I want to help people
shape their spaces, and selective lighting can do just
that. This was proved to me, beyond a doubt, when I
attended Sleep No More on Saturday night. The event
is an experiential theater production by the UK based
group Punchdrunk, that transforms several levels of
a building in West Chelsea into a foreboding mix of
hotel and mental hospital. I found that the lighting,
or lack there of, made me much more aware of tex-
tures, smells and sound. The Punchdrunk designers
understand lighting as a “sculptural” element, one that
can “create drama in the space even when there are no
performers around”. Low lighting helps us focus our
attention, it slows us down. Now I’m beginning to feel
like I’ve found my way.
10/1/2012
thesis thinking Week 3Choosing the trajectory of light
25
readingAbout the history of artificial light
brilliant: the evolution of artifiCial light Jane Brox
2011
disenChanted night: the industrialization of light in the nineteenth CenturyWolfgang Schivelbusch (Author),
Angela Davies (Translator)
1995
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To get us into the spirit of making, Amit asked us all to
create something tangible for this week. In an attempt
to stop being so serious about thesis I decided to paint
some whales with light.
artifaCt 1Light Whales
Why?
1. Light is my area of focus.
2. Tom suggested that ‘painting’ with it would be
fun, and force me to learn a bit more about my
camera.
3. Whale oil lit the lamps of the Western world for
over a century.
10/4/12
27
on making, a response to artifaCt 1
Last week’s exercise of making something, anything,
just to get us into the spirit of making definitely hit is
mark with me. The light whales didn’t take me long,
but they pushed me into places I wasn’t comfortable
- namely, drawing and photography. The prospect of
the entire thing made me feel nervous, so I figured I
had to do it.
And it was FUN.
The process took an hour or so, which was much less
time then I usually spend on thesis related tasks. The
outcome: I ended up making these cool drawings that
conveyed my ideas, I enjoyed doing it, and a few other
people enjoyed them too.
On Monday, Amit asked us what part of our
first artifact we were going to keep, and what we’d
throw away. I’m going to move away from the whale
representations, but I’m keeping the simplicity, fun,
and delight that I experienced with the light paint-
ing. Lighting is an amazing part of our lives, and we’re
lucky enough to be able to take it for granted. As I
work through the rest of thesis, I want to be able to
keep that sense of wonder with me, and hopefully con-
vey it through my work.
10/4/2012
These light whales were made with a flashlight app, an iPhone, and a 6 second exposure on a Canon T2i.
28
“Because the candle, a company of the solitude, is
above all a company of solitary work. The candle does
not illuminate an empty room, it illuminates a book.”
- Bachelard
Over the last week I’ve been thinking a lot about the
history of light, and its place in our lives. I read Ja-
net Brox’s “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artifical Light”,
which gave me a fantastic overview of where light,
after dark, has come from since the beginnings of hu-
man civilization. After reading through the evolution
from tallow candles, whale oil, gas, kerosene, and final-
ly to electricity what sticks with me is the story of our
insatiable desire for a brighter and more stable light.
In the Western world, we’ve gone through a
multitude of extremes to extend the day. Ships of men
were sent to kill and extract oil from giant sea crea-
tures, gas made people crazy, and kerosene lanterns
caused thousands of deaths annually. Now, that’s all
well in the past. With electric lights, the most incon-
vineint thing I face is finding a spare bulb in the rare
event that one goes out. We’ve made massive gains in
productivity, but I’ve been thinking: what did we lose
with the electrical lighting? If a candle only lights a
book, then how has electricity changed our perception
of intimacy and space?
We’ve made massive gains in productivity, but I’ve been
thinking: what did we lose with the electrical lighting?
If a candle only lights a book, then how has electricity
changed our perception of intimacy and space?
To explore this idea, I’m working on a ‘personal light’.
It’s purpose is to provide just enough light to wander
to the bathroom or get a glass of water in the middle
of the night. The intention is to create a personal space
with light, one that’s sympathetic to a sleepy mental
state. The image above is from my first iteration.
10/14/2012
artifaCt 2A personal light
29
The first working circuit.Breaking down an led tea light. The cirucuit installed in the container
making a personal light
Figuring out the wiring an desired physical interaction.
Completed initial prototype. The button shown was to a reverse switch held down with the weight of a coaster.
The initial prototype was made from found materials in studio. This drawing represents those parts.
First prototype complete.
30
Tony has been hanging out at my place over the last
few days, he’s my East Village refugee. Over dinner last
night, he pointed out that I haven’t clearly explained
my rationale for the personal light. He wanted to know
why it’s important and what makes it more than just a
maker-y thing I decided to do. Our conversation made
me decide that I should actually write this down and
share it. Thanks Tony!
We live in a time and place where abundant artificial
light is fundamental part of our daily lives. At work
and at home, lights illuminate our surroundings,
helping us see so we can get things done. Our current
mode of lighting is powered through a complex grid
that delivers electricity to our homes, feeding our light
fixtures and power sockets.
Electric light is the product of a long evolution in
artificial light technology. Now over a century old, it
comes to us after candles, oil lanterns, gas lighting,
and arc lights. Throughout this evolution, our society
has shifted and changed in response to each period of
lighting. Each dominant mode of artificial light cre-
ated a particular framework for the economy, social
relationships, understandings of autonomy and con-
trol of one’s surrounds, and the relationship to work
and productivity.
Right now, electric lights provide the struc-
ture that we live within. As I mentioned before, our
homes are connected to a grid, which is outside of our
control (Hello Sandy!). Inside, the electrical wiring of
our homes leads to thinking about light in a particular
way - switches and ceiling lights. These overhead are
generally found in most rooms and hallways and have
2 modes - on or off.
What does this light do for us? It illuminates a
room as we use it. When switched on, it’s brightness al-
lows and encourages us to see everything in the space,
it nudges us to finish whatever task is at hand. When
personal light, explained
31
it’s off, the room is no longer in a state to do anything
(except perhaps sleeping). This is obvious to many, but
if we think about light as an affordance - an indicator
of the intended use of a space - these binary states
speak to a limited understanding of how rooms in our
homes can be used. The ceiling light says a room is to
be used at a fixed level, or not at all.
This is an insensitive approach to our living
spaces - human beings do not live in a binary fashion.
Our homes shelter us whilst we are being productive,
when we are relaxing, while we sleep, and everything
in between. I believe we can make our spaces more
sympathetic, more sensitive to the human condition,
by examining our relationship with light.
The ‘personal light’ project that I’ve been
working on is the first embodiment of this line of
thought. This light speaks to a number of issues I’ve
been thinking about:
1. Autonomy. This light is for an individual. It
is not fixed to a room or a grid. It is designed to
create an intimate space that moves with you.
2. Productivity. Unlike most lights, this one is
not about being awake and working. It acknowl-
edges the drowsy, dreamy state of mind of the
night time.
3. History. I believe that we can look back to
previous modes of lighting to find new ways to
incorporate it into our lives. The inspiration for
this light comes from a Gaston Bachelard quote
about the candle (see below).
4. Awareness. I hope that this light helps to cre-
ate an awareness of how lighting affects our state
of mind. It can show people how jarring standard
lights can be, and hopefully open the door to new
ideas and questions around place of lighting in
our homes.
“Because the candle, a company of the solitude, is
above all a company of solitary work. The candle does
not illuminate an empty room, it illuminates a book.”
- Bachelard
11/02/12A personal light in action, flip over to turn on.
We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.
– Margaret Mead“ ”
Part 2
it’s a gender thing
November 2012
going deeper
36
a pivotal readWomen Don’t Ask
Women don’t ask: the high Cost of avoiding negotiation--and positive strategies for ChangeLinda Babcock, Sara Laschever
2003
speaking notes date: 12/17/2013
- Examination of how modern Western culture discour-ages women from pursuing their ambitions.- This is a complex issue that is not for women to ‘fix’ themselves- But for our culture as a whole to learn to address- Example: - baked into our lives from birth
- discuss social + economic costs- and propose several solutions for seeking change
Through reading the book I - better understand systems that effect me + friends- think systems can be understood and measured- can be changed
37
speaking notes date: 12/17/2013
Deliotte case study, example of cultural change- low female partner and retention rate- $13M cost
- task force- interviews, gender stereotype workshops - 5000 employees
- women weren’t leaving for kids, but culture- 80h
- improvements based on insights
- better worklife for everyone- saved $250M
Case study of gender based systemiC Change
38
class concern date: 11/14/2012 to: amit pitaru
Hi Amit,
There was a particular situation that happened a few weeks ago that I'd like to have a conversation around. It's a little bit uncomfortable, but given our academic con-text I feel like this is the place to try out uncomfortable conversation. Lately, I've been thinking + reading a lot about the ways women are discouraged from more actively par-ticipating in their lives and how to change this. My inter-est stems from both the quiet nature of my classmates (which has changed substantially with the new structure of thesis class), and also concerns about my personal + professional development. The other day, a particular event jumped into my head when reading about studies that show how women who do voice concerns are often coddled, ignored, or punished in some way - whether consciously or not - by their peers + superiors, adding to a cycle of discouragement. A few weeks ago Tom and Tony spoke with you about the format of our class. The next time we had Thesis, you made it clear that you were happy about the conversation you had with both Tom and Tony, and their engagement with the operations of the course, imple-menting much of their feedback. The success of this in-teraction led the 2 of them to then approach Ian with similar concerns. Again, their input prompted Ian to make changes similar to those that have been implemented our Thesis class. The result of this has been fantastic, all members of our class are now much much more en-gaged with giving feedback, leading to more productive critiques and better work all round.
While all of this is fantastic, getting us all to clos-er to our common goal - more engagement + better work, I can't help but recall that before Tom and Tony spoke with you, you and I had a meeting. We mostly spoke about my thesis, but I too brought up concerns I had with the format of the class, and suggested things that were quite similar to what Tom and Tony brought up only moments later (the 3 of us had been emailing about our concerns + possible solutions over the prev week). Yet, you didn't refer to the our conversation while commending Tom + Tony in class. I'm about 100% sure that you didn't consciously leave me out when praising the other 2 for their input, but this is the part I want to have a conversation around. As awkward as it is for me to admit - while these events en-couraged Tom + Tony to discuss concerns with Ian, they led me to choose not to take part in that conversation because I was afraid that I'd somehow derail the situation. I don't mean to accuse you of ignoring my con-cerns, nor am I looking for praise, but I think that creat-ing space to discuss messages that are sent with each interaction is an important one. Given the gender bal-ance of our program, and of the field most of us will go in to, I'm concerned that our department doesn't currently do enough to help us become aware of and ask difficult questions of the institutions that we operate within. I'm really interested to hear what you think and hope your preparations for Japan are going well,
tash
an unComfortable emailThe turning point in shifting my thesis focus was choosing to address an potential oversight in class
39
re: class concern date: 11/15/2012 to: amit pitaru
Hi Amit,
Thanks for your thoughtful response! Don’t worry about saying anything about me in the next class, it’s fine - I just wanted to have the opportunity to express my thoughts on the situation. It would be great to chat quickly though, I’m starting to have second thoughts about thesis all round that would be good to talk to you about.
I’ll be in the studio, most likely in the south classroom.
thanks,tash
re: class concern date: 11/15/2012 to: tash wong
Hey Tash,
Thanks for bringing this up - I’m very sorry to hear about the way you feel. As an immigrant who experienced a thing or two on his way to citizenship, I can personally relate to the overall sentiment of your email. My wife had an even harder time as an immigrant, and I’ll never forget that. I sat down to think and try to recall the conversa-tions I had that day. I remember having a serious talk with you about thesis, and a serious talk with Tom and Tony about the class format. I don’t doubt you also brought up the issue, but it seems that my mind played a trick and I chose to attribute one topic per conversation. You got me thinking - If it was Tom who came in to talk with me first, and then you and Tony came to talk about the class format, would I have left Tom out? Considering how swamped and exhausted I was during that period, I think I would have forgotten Tom just the same. I also thought about the great respect I have for you and your work (as I expressed over the past year both to you and others), and I just don’t feel that gender contributed to my absent mindedness. As I care deeply about issues of inequality, it’s hard to find myself on the other end of this conversation. The bottom line is that I’m deeply sorry - it pains me on a personal level to think you’ve felt this way for the past weeks. You should have received the same recognition and praise as Tom and Tony. I’ll be sure to set the record straight during next class!
Respectfully,Amit
40
750 words entry date: 2/19/2013
What need to write about is my thesis shift. what where when why how? i need to put something down so i have a base to speak to people from. I already know i want to speak with liz, karen, and carla about this. i'm also wary of doing something that is 'feminist' and therefore excluded from mainstream conversation. So where does this come from? Where was I and where am i going? A -> C = B. A. I've been working on lights. Thinking about how we can improve our living spaces by paying more attention and being sensitive to the lighting around us. I find this question pretty interesting, but after building my little light, I've found my attention on it waning. I've made something that's fun to play with, but I'm not sure how much practical use it has, and have found that the next steps for it are mostly hardware based. Do I want to spend the next couple of weeks sourcing a specific shade of led and figuring out how to get my tilt switch to hesitate? I would if I felt keenly that it would get me to the next level, trouble is, I'm not sure what that is. Is making a low light enough? focus!whats important here, a blow by blow? or concepts? Since long before I started my masters, I've been interested in gender studies. Primarily the question - how is my experience of the world influenced due to my gender? How am I advantaged, how am I disadvantaged? How much of this do I have control over? how much am I trying to fit myself into an unwelcoming paradigm? These questions have followed me throughout my personal + professional development. Feminism in ar-chitectural space has always been fascinating to me - this concept of 'the other'. In between schools, I read a bunch of bell hooks and delved into psychology a bit more. Now that I'm back at school, I'm becoming aware of how these ideas have influenced my perspective. Lately, I've been frustrated with my ability to ask questions. Here, the ma-jority of questions are asked by male voices, and I find it frustrating to try and counter. My anxiety of representing my entire sex ends up getting the better of me, and I be-come mute. I'm aware I'm not the only one this happens to.
Because of this, I looked out for some new material to read, and came across Women Don't Ask, which is about... Feminist principles ask us to look outside of our day to day to discover new ways of seeing. By be-ing empathic towards other peoples experiences, we can design for them. Also, being that most stuff has been de-signed from a male lens, there's probably a lot that can be improved in the world. Case in point, tp minder. Last year I wrote about a little mid-term project we did for physical computing. It was a little system that let you know the toilet paper levels were in a stall you were about to enter - either satisfactory or low. When we presented this idea to the class, it got a good round of giggles, but upon further ex-amination we found that this is a prevalent problem that could be fixed with good design. Rather than focusing the burden of problem on the user (what? you don't check?), we make it a part of the space. Anyway, boys don't get this because when they need toilet paper, they're a little more deliberate about it.
wow, this feels so obvious now. If we look at our world
through a feminist lens, and recognize the systems of
oppression that surround us, we can design solutions
for them.
Where is this going? I want to focus the rest of the time I have for thesis on understanding ways we can apply feminist thinking to interaction design. What do i mean by feminist thinking? I mean gaining a critical understanding of the environments that we work within, listening to all participants, and decoding stereotypes to create a better experience for all. According to bell hooks, feminism is a move-ment to end sexism, exploitation, and oppression. If we can get past our biases and acknowledge what is going on around us, it opens the door to a number of design opportunities. wow, this feels so obvious now. If we look at our world through a feminist lens, and recognize the systems of oppression that surround us, we can design solutions for them. I'm aware that this is a huge problem, which will
41
I’m changing the focus of my thesis. I’ve been think-
ing about this for a week now, and it feels right. Previ-
ously, I was working with the topic of light. My ap-
proach was to question our current assumptions of
how artificial light operates and its place in our lives,
then find space for new design opportunities within
the domain. While this has been incredibly interesting
- I’ve learned a lot about the history of light, and built
a delightful lamp - I’ve figured out that the lighting
part isn’t want’s interesting to me, it’s the approach. How can we question current assumptions
about our environment to find new perspectives and
new opportunities for design?
I recently went back and read through a
few blog posts from last school year and proved to
myself that this is something I’ve been musing over
for a while. One project in particular unexpectedly
opened me up this as a new line of thought. Back
then I said, ”I’ve been thinking of our project as just
scratching the surface of something much bigger. We
live in a world dominated by products made through
a masculine view of the world. What happens if we
look through a feminine lens? I have a feeling we’ll find
more interesting problems to solve than toilet paper
dispensing.” (yes, that project was about toilet paper)
I know that my desire to uncover new per-
spectives comes from an understanding of how my
gender affects my experience of the world. I’m aware
that my perspective, as a woman of mixed race, is rare
within the field of interaction design and entrepre-
neurialism. I’m also aware that as a woman of mixed
race I face challenges that my white male counterparts
don’t. This has been an ongoing a source of great anxi-
ety and frustration in my life. To work through it, I’ve
spent a lot of time reading feminist and post-colonial
theory to gain a better understanding of how broad
power structures work against people like me, as well
as participate in activism to raise awareness around
issues such as genital diversity.
Since beginning my masters, my focus in this
area has become more localized. Instead of concen-
trating on how these social structures affect people
around me, I’ve become acutely aware of the impact
they have on me from day to day. There are biases
embedded in my environment, in the people I interact
with, as well as in my own head. To gain more insight
into this I recently read Women Don’t Ask. Instead of
being about ways women can ‘fix’ themselves to over-
come anxieties, the book is an examination of how our
culture strongly discourages women from being asser-
tive on their own behalf. The authors, Linda Babcock
& Sara Laschever, systematically deconstruct various
layers of our cultural experience to uncover the ways
that gender stereotypes are perpetuated, and suggest
that by understanding where these stereotypes come
from we can work to counteract them.
This book, paired with the recent article by
Sara Wachter-Boettcher, have inspired me to think
about my experience through the lens of interac-
tion design and shift the course of my thesis. If we
can study and understand the oppressive biases built
into the systems around us, then how can we take
that knowledge and iterate our way to new and bet-
ter systems? By becoming aware of the water we’re
swimming in we can actively construct systems that
encourage participation, expose us to new ways of see-
ing, and open up a whole lot of new opportunity.
11/22/2012
neW perspeCtivesOfficially introducing my new thesis direction
November 2013 - January 2013
marginalized perspeCtives
44
This weekend I embarked on a thesis retreat with
about half of my class. Friday afternoon, we packed
up Min’s car and headed upstate to a house (pictured
above) that was just outside of Hudson, NY. Once
there, we proceeded to eat, drink, read, talk, and play
for the next 48 hours. It was fantastic!
Surprisingly, we all managed to get some solid
work done on thesis. Something about the country air
+ no internet really makes you focus. I got through a
lot of reading, and figured out my next line of inquiry.
Last week, I discovered that the term ‘Femi-
nist HCI’ exists and was coined 2 years ago by Shaowen
Bardzell. In the same year, there was also a workshop
and a special edition of Interacting with Computers
in the same vein - both organized by Bardzell and
Elizabeth Churchill. Unfortunately, since I go to design
school, pulling these ‘science’ papers isn’t quite as easy
as I expected. I’m working on it though. (Hit me up if
you have a login toScience Direct.)
Fortunately, the extended abstract from the
workshop is online. Thursday afternoon, as my mac
n cheese was in the oven, I combed through the ab-
stract’s references and downloaded a few papers to
read over the weekend. Though I read through 7 or
so, these 3 really stood out:
thesis retreatA weeken in Hudson with 5 classmates and no wifi
45
sugared puppy-dog tales, elizabeth ChurChill (Interactions, 2010 - pay wall)
realizing our messy future, WoodroW WinChester(Interactions, 2010 - pay wall)
A response to Churchill’s piece, Winchester brings in
his experience working on HIV interventions and dis-
cusses the need for design lenses.
made in patriarChy, Cheryl buCkley (MIT Press, 1986)
Buckely’s excellent piece examines the pariarchal con-
text within which design history frames female inter-
action with design as practitioners, theorists, consum-
ers, historians, and as objects of representation.
Overall, I was struck by how eloquently others have
said what I was trying to say in my last blog post. Es-
sentially, they all very strongly make the case to bring
a critical perspective to design.
Churchill’s article sums it up best: ‘Designers
are not passive bystanders in the production, repro-
duction, reinforcing, or challenging of cultural values.
We actively create artifacts and experiences. We de-
sign products with implicit or explicit assumptions
about how products will be used and by whom. We
mentally simulate the product user who is part of an
imagined story of the product in use—these imagi-
nary people are drawn from our everyday lives and
usually have a gender, perhaps a shape, size, age and
ethnicity. Thus we embed imagined, gendered others
into our designs, inadvertently reproducing cultural
norms because they seem so “natural.” And so in a
chain of reification and reproduction, products are
wired in subtle ways that reflect and reinforce exist-
ing cultural assumptions.’1
She goes on to illustrate where these assump-
tions have caused serious problems in the design of
products, both digital and physical. The most ghastly
of her examples are airbags. The first generation of the
safety device seriously injured and killed (by decapita-
tion!) many upon its release. This was due to the fact
that airbags were initially calibrated for men of aver-
age weight and height.
It is incredible to me that a group of talented engi-
neers could somehow forget that women and children
are smaller than men, and thus could be greivously
injured by their invention. It really speaks to the need
to be aware of the perspectives we bring to the table.
I’ve finished the weekend feeling more ex-
cited than ever about my thesis. There is a real, if not
dire, need to incorporate a critical perspective into our
work as interaction designers. My next big question
is how? How can I help to bridge the gap between aca-
demic theory and professional reality?
11/26/2012
One of the many amzing views from our retreat.
46
Waiting to Pee is a location based app that helps you
estimate the wait time at a public bathrooms. The app
also anonymously records the actual wait time and
location to a database that can be used to quantify the
amount of time people (usually women) wait in line.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
This information could then be used to help
with the creation and enforcement of newer, fixture
based, potty parity laws, or spin reports for larger or-
ganizations on how much potential revenue they’re
missing out on for every 5min someone has to wait to
pee.
Restroom disparity remains one of
the most tangible relics of gender discrimina-
tion within the western world. Aside from taking
foreeeeevvvvvveeerrr, waiting in long bathroom lines
can cause and aggravate numerous kidney and blad-
der issues, which can be a serious health risk.
artifaCt 3Waiting to Pee, an app for the bathroom line
47
An early sketch to decide if Waiting to Pee could be a physical installation
The wait time calculator, early sketch Wireframe for the wait time calculator and result screen
Waiting to pee on the Whiteboard
Understanding the user flow Sketching out wireframes, flow, etc
48
Working through the presentation
Fleshing out the talk progression and thesis statement
These post its represet key parts of the presentation
The lower part of this board is the early stage of the goals and means chart displayed on the next page.
figuring out the narrative
Winter presentationTelling the story of the first semester
49
Change systems of discrimination
Change workplace dynamics for interaction designers
Encourage the application of marginalized perspectives
Change the world
Express business opportunities
thesis goals and means
50
Winter presentation: slides
51
52
thesis statementFOR Interaction DesignersWHO NEED to design products and services for a wide audience, X IS A series of interactions THAT highlight implicit gender bias and offers strategies to over come them.
UNLIKE bell hooks Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center,THE PRODUCT is accessible to and helps designers become aware of the perspectives they carry.
thesis goalMY GOAL IS TO start a conversation about implicit bias FOR interaction designers. I WILL ACHIEVE THIS BY creating a series interactions where these biases are highlighted.
professional goalMY GOAL IS TO demonstrate an expertise in the consideration of implicit bias FOR organizations who could hire me as a consultant, or conferences who could invite me to speak. I WILL ACHIEVE THIS BY conveying the huge potential of improving business and design when these biases are addressed.
Jan 15
a pitCh and prototypeIn January, I started to actually make stuff
53
namesWap
54
“I like to refer to the anecdotal story of the Apple Store glass stairs. While visually appealing one unforeseen consequence to their design was the large groups of strange men that spend hours each day sitting under them looking up. As a women, the first time I saw them I thought ‘thank god I’m not wearing a skirt today.’ Such considerations were not taken in designing these stairs, I think it’s probable, if not easily predictable, that in a few years we will see such holes in the design of the web.”
– Sara J Chipps
“We all have implicit biases that subtly but profoundly affect our expectations of the people we work with. We have all been exposed to and share the implicit bias that women aren’t as good at work as men. And we share a similarly deep bias that men aren’t as good at home as women. These biases are so deeply ingrained in us that we usually don’t realize we have them.”
– Catherine de Lange
something to sayA couple of strong voices that kept me on track.
55
reinventing feminismby Courtney Martin, has really helped me feel less
paralyzed about by my thesis topic. She speaks about
embracing the paradox we find in life and finding ways
to feel fulfilled by our failures. The way Martin frames
failure feels incredibly different than the ‘fail fast, fail
often’ we hear so much about in startup culture. ‘Fail-
ing fast’ tells us to kill our darlings, and ‘feeling ful-
filled’ lets us love and respect them before letting go.
“This isn’t to say we give up our wildest, biggest
dreams. It’s to say we operate on two levels. On one,
we really go after changing these broken systems of
which we find ourselves a part. But on the other, we
root our self-esteem in the daily acts of trying to make
one person’s day more kind, more just, etc.”
Thanks Courtney.
1/21/2013
56
It’s been a while since I’ve written a solid thesis post,
so here goes.
Since the thesis retreat, my head has been in
a few different places. I’ve proved to myself, beyond a
reasonable doubt, that turning up the volume on mar-
ginalized perspectives in design is what I need to be
working on. I’ve also spent time with the fact that this
is a wicked problem, and that I’m now in for what will
likely be a very bumpy and intensely personal road
from here.
Carving out a small part of this issue to work
on for the next few months is going to be scary, and
difficult. At the moment, it feels like whenever I fo-
cus in on something I can come up with a laundry list
of reasons not to do it, or why that particular issue is
impossible to overcome in such a small time. It’s an
interesting form of paralysis that’s a fun mix of thesis
stress, cultural conditioning, and plain old procrasti-
nation.
Over the last week I’ve been thinking a lot
about implicit bias, and was planning on creating a
few interactions that express the biases we all hold.
One idea was switching the gender of names in several
news articles to see if it had any impact on the reader.
My rationale went something like this:
1. To make better products, we need more di-
verse perspectives in design.
2. 80% of the people who make websites are
male, 87% are white*.
3. People have implicit bias, which impacts how
they view others.
4. People like to hire people like them.
5. If I can teach people about bias, I can show
them how deeply ingrained certain stereotypes
are.
6. If I can teach ways to overcome bias, then
maybe I can change design processes + hiring
practices.
Then, I went out for dinner with my good friend Jerri
Chou. We talked about my thesis, where it came from,
where I see it going. I told her about my plans to make
implicit bias more visible, then we got to talking about
the opportunity of diverse perspectives. This is some-
thing I keep coming back to - If most of our environ-
ment (physical + digital) has been designed from a
mainstream perspective, what if we shift that view
slightly, does it mean that we can rebuild everything?
No doubt there are some serious opportunities there,
$$ and otherwise.
We discussed an immensely wide range of
‘women-related’ (I need a better phrase than that)
topics + issues throughout the evening. Jerri wasn’t
all that convinced by my implicit bias focus, and sug-
gested that my project needs to be more personal
than that - it needs to solve a problem that I have, fix
something that bothers me, help me overcome deeper
issues, or reach personal goals.
She’s totally right. I knew that the implicit
bias exercises would be interesting, and definitely
spark some good conversation. However, this comes
with a negative slant - my work would be focused at
the ‘mainstream’ designer, saying, “Your perspective
is wrong, now here’s how to fix you”. This isn’t what I
want.
What I want to say is: “Your perspective is
right, now here’s the opportunity” and say it to the
large segment of the population that doesn’t hear it
enough. Perhaps the best way to do that is to follow
Jerri’s advice, acknowledge that I’m part of that large
segment, and say it to myself.
Jan 20, 2013
thesis is quite a journeyI don’t want to tell people what to do
57
February 2013
generative appliCations of gender
60
‘femme‘ interaCtion designI’ve been thinking about perspectives in design for a
while, but I until yesterday I’ve lacked the ability to
comfortably articulate what I mean. So far I’ve used
“feminine”, “traditionally marginalized”, “female”,
“women”, and “under-represented” to express the type
of perspective I feel is missing from interaction design.
The problem with all of these words is that they all
carry a lot of baggage - they victimize, exclude, illicit
value judgements, etc, etc. This has posed a big prob-
lem with figuring out how to narrow my topic focus,
since starting from a point of victimisation seems to
reinforce certain types of systematic oppression.
Last night, I watched Cornelia Brunner’s talk,
‘On Girls, Boys, and IT Careers’, where she expertly
jumps this hurdle. In her research, which began in
the 70s, she has consistently found 2 gendered ways
of imagining technology. She points out that gender
is socially constructed, not biologically assigned. To
make this distinction clear, and to avoid confusion, she
uses the terms “butch” and “femme” when describing
her findings. Through this decoupling, it becomes A
LOT easier to talk about the distinctive differences
between these 2 views, without dragging it into a con-
versation about stereotypes.
Here’s her breakdown on the two different
perpectives:
“A femme perspective on technology sees it
as a tool that helps you do something better or more
easily, or that connects you. Facebook is an example
of a femme technology. It allows you to share ideas
and moments with your friends and family and stay
connected.
A butch perspective on technology is that it gives you
this enormous power to transcend the limitations of
time, space, and the body. Airplanes are a butch tech-
nology.”
So, now that I can be clear about it:
For my thesis, I’m interested in uncovering modes of
‘femme’ interaction design.
Big thanks to Clint Beharry, who shared Brunner’s talk
with me.
1/26/12
‘butCh’ & ‘femme’A clearer way to discuss gender and perspective
61
Cornelia brunner, 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmROmy5jT80
62
changelog entry date: 2/2/2013
Did LOTS of reading
Several chapters from Gender and Conversational Inter-action
Pickel Fights: Gendered Talk in Preschool Disputes by Amy Sheldon This essay reviews the conflict mediation strategies of 3 year olds. Sheldon separately observed small groups of boys and girls at play. The boys "use language to assert one's position of dominance", while girls "use language to create and maintain relationships of closeness and equality".
Community and Contest: Midwestern Men and Women Creating Their Worlds in Conversational Storytelling by Barbara JohnstoneJohnstone is interested in the relationship between the social world created in a story, and the social world that gives rise to the story. She suggests that men and women come from separate sub-cultures, and make choices in storytelling based on this. In her study of 58 personal nar-ratives, she finds that "women's stories tend to be about community, while men's tend to be about contest".
Who's Got the Floor? by Carole EdelskyIn this 1981 study, Edelsky identifies technical limitations in the transcription of face to face communication. She used "participant-sense" to determine "floor" and "turn" within the context of 5 informal meetings. She identifies 2 kinds of floors. F1 is a "singularly developed floor" - where people take turns in communicating, F2 is a collabora-tive venture where many may be speaking concurrently "on the same wavelength" or engaging in a "free-for-all".
linguistiCs researChGender impacts storytelling and the way we use language
gender and Conversational interaCtion (oxford studies in soCiolinguistiCs)Deborah Tannen
1993
language@internethttp://www.languageatinternet.org/
63
In F1 interactions, men took more and longer turns, this gender difference was neutralized in F2's.
Several papers from Language @ Internet
Computer- Mediated Conversation: Introduction and Overview by Susan C. Herring An introduction to a 2-part special issue of Language @ Internet, this paper is review of computer-mediated conversation (CMC) since the rise of the internet. Main focus is on text-based communication, as the most popu-lar mode of online communication. Internet users "often refer to textual exchanges as conversations". CMC differs from oral conversation in the way it handles turn taking, there is no allowance for overlapping exchanges.
A Faceted Classification Scheme for Computer-Mediated Discourse by Susan C. Herring This paper describes a classification scheme for CMC. I didn't get to far into this one as it's focus is on linguistic classification rather than conversation + gender or tech-nology, but may come in handy later on.
Who's Got the Floor in Computer-Mediated Conversa-tion? Edelsky's Gender Patterns Revisited by Susan C. Herring Just my luck to find a follow up paper to one I'd read earli-er! Herring describes the findings of Edelsky and several other researchers who came after - reiterating the finding of F1 and F2 floors. She repeats Edelsky's study using data from several email message-boards in the early 90s. The large takeaway is that CMC closely resembles F1 interactions, and therefore holds a bias towards males.
One final paper from elsewhere, also by Susan C. Herring
Women and Children Last: The Discursive Construction of WeblogsThis 2004 paper undertakes an examination of the blog space to determine whether blogs are in fact "inherently democratizing". Through their analysis they found that blogs were primarily maintained by teenage girls as per-sonal diaries, but mainstream media was primarily re-porting on the small percentage of men who maintained "filter" or "knowledge" blogs. The suggest that blogging as a medium can not be democratic/egalitarian so long as mainstream representation of blog content is not con-sistent with the actual use of blogs.
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1. Jerri Chou agreed to be my thesis advisor!
Jerri is the co-founder of The Feast, All Day Buffet,
TBD and Lovely Day. She’s also super awesome, and
I’m very excited to have her on my thesis team.
2. I went to Interaction 13.
It was Toronto, and it was cold. I enjoyed a few of the
talks, which hopefully I’ll post about later.
3. I started a thesis changelog.
Based on some code Tom pulled together, the change-
log is where I’ll be posting daily thesis updates. Styling
is on the list for this weekend.
Feb 8, 2013
a 3 part updateWhere I get an awesome thesis advisor.
Pen Moms wireframes and flow
Having fun while working
The small group diagram
Alex and Jerri hard at work
pen momsWhere I get an awesome thesis advisor.
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This has been a big question in the thesis discussion
for the last couple of weeks. Driving me a little crazy,
and its valid one. In the spirit of publishing things that
aren’t polished, here’s part of a wrap up I sent to my
thesisadvisers this week:
On Sunday, I had a big talk with Rachel Li-
ebert, a very good friend of mine who’s done lots of
work within the gender + psychology space. Rachel
suggested that perhaps my thesis isn’t creating a prod-
uct, but is actually the act of becoming a femme inter-
action designer, and the documentation of that act. It’s
kind of meta, but it feels like the right place to start.
Jerri and I previously had a conversation about how
this needs to be a personal project. The act of becom-
ing a femme interaction designer will probably lead to
the production of something, it’s just too soon to tell
what that will be.
It’s been floated a couple of times that I should
redesign certain products/services from a femme per-
spective, but this has never really sat right. Through
talking to Rachel, we worked out that this would in
fact be kind of a butch approach - taking something
and reshaping/fixing it - and that most products are
probably made from a butch perspective anyway, so
no amount of makeover will really make them differ-
ent. Kind of like lipstick on a pig.
Kind of like lipstick on a pig.
What needs to happen next is that I have to
define what femme interaction design is and start
finding examples of it. For the last of week or so, I
thought I’d create some magical model and that would
lead me to some crazy innovative new way of design.
Chatting with Rachel made me realize that that’s to-
tally not how it’ll work - the femme pov has existed
long before any of us, so there are/have been people
doing work with this perspective already, they are just
not highlighted as such. An applicable project, which I
saw at Interaction 13, was Kate Hartman’s Nudgeables,
which allows you to discretely nudge a friend from a
short distance, perhaps to rescue you from an awk-
ward conversation. The iPad + iPhone are arguably
pieces of femme technology, as they are meant to act
as windows to connect you to information and people,
the physical features of the devices are designed to be
invisible.
2/8/2013
What are you making?If it’s broke, don’t fix it
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Februray 2013
testing the Water
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thesis hqA home for my work, online
Every week I seem to become a little bit more articu-
late about what exactly I’m doing for thesis. One thing
that came up this week is that the act of this articula-
tion is really important - basically, how can I make my
thesis accessible to people that don’t live in my brain
and don’t think about gender stuff all the time?
To help with this, I’ve put together a thesis hq.
It’s a slightly modified view of my blog that displays
my thesis related posts, a link to my changelog, as well
as the the most up-to-date description of my thesis.
As of today, that description is:
My thesis explores the generative application of gen-
der analysis to interaction design.
What does that mean?
At SVA IxD, thesis is a consistent approach to a persis-
tent idea. I think a lot about gendered perspectives.
The term ‘gender’ refers to the socio-cultural process
that forms our understanding of ‘masculine’ and ‘femi-
nine’. It’s why some may find it odd that grown men
enjoy watching My Little Ponies. It’s not that men, bio-
logically, aren’t able to watch My Little Ponies, it just
it seems like they’re not supposed to like it. Here’s a
quick video about these so-called ‘Bronies’.
Gender affects the way that we interact with the
world. There are ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ modes of
doing lots of things, including language use and un-
derstandings of technology. I think that understand-
ing the differences between these perspectives can
give us a new framework for designing engaging in-
teractions.
http://tashwong.com/thesis
2/10/2013
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advisor update date: 2/12/2013 to: Jerri chou, chole gottlieb, tim allen
Hi everyone,I've made some pretty decent progress over the last few days, and wanted to get you all up to speed on where I'm headed.I've got an alternative version of the whitespace + user research assignments, so it'd be great to hear what you think about that.I'm really excited about where things are going! Thesis is starting to get fun.
tash
----Thesis descriptionChloe + Tim: I'm continuing to evolve the description my thesis, and created a landing page for it. It lives at http://tashwong.com/thesis. Here I've got my current descrip-tion, thesis blog posts, and a link to my thesis changelog. All future experiments + process work will be accessible via this page.
Curated CollectionAfter a discussion with Jerri on Saturday, I'm shifting from just defining + documenting femme projects. Instead, I'm finding projects and categorizing them based on a set of gendered characteristics. The intention is to show that both femme + butch perspectives are valid and work well within different contexts. To that end, I've started collecting + analyzing projects here: http://femmeandbutchixd.tumblr.com/.I'm charting the projects against this set of 11 femme + butch tech characteristics I pulled from a paper by Brun-ner. For example, is it amedium (f) or is it a product (b)? I initially wanted to chart the work on a contin-uum (femme to butch), as it better expresses the fluidity of gender, but that was too difficult to start with. For now I'm going with: femme characteristic, butch characteristic, in the middle, not sure, not applicable.
My next steps on this project: - Write a methodology statementI'm aware that though I'm working with in a framework, my categorization is highly subjective. I think this is fine, so long as I'm very transparent about how I'm going about it.
- Formalize project entry more (right now its text based). This will allow me to eventually sort projects by charac-teristic and start to see patterns that form as I get more projects into this system. My MVP version will be a google form + resulting spreadsheet that pushes to a tumblr post. Tumblr allows for DISQUS comments - in case anyone in-terested wants to dispute/needs clarification of my meth-odology - and project sharing.
Alternatives to whitespace + user research assignmentsKeeping in the spirit of the 2 assignments, i’m planning:by Feb 13- A [well articulated] survey on the resources experience/interaction designers + product developers/entrepre-neurs use to keep up with whats going on in the domain, to find inspiration etc.I think that this is better as a survey than as a user inter-view because it'll allow me to pull in more answers, as well as break outside of the MFA IxD studio. My hope is that if I write a compelling survey, combined with an amazing letter + accompanying tweets, I can lean on SVA IxD faculty + alums to push the survey to people outside of my networks.
by Feb 20- Package up the resultsAnd send to all survey respondents as a reward (who doesn't want to know what everyone else is looking at?)- Conduct a competitive analysis on the resultsThis will help me understand the landscape of IxD re-sources, to analyze the types projects displayed (do they lean in one direction or another? how are they present-ed?), and also find projects to review for my own collec-tion.
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pitCh statementFOR aspiring + professional interaction designers
WHO want alternative models of interaction design
Femmeixd.com IS a collection of projects
THAT defi nes + showcases examples of femme inter-
action design
UNLIKE Women and Tech and the Reconstructionists,
THE PRODUCT showcases work that fi ts femme prin-
ciples, but is not necessarily made by women.
WHO is this for? Femme IxD celebrates the work that
is focused around communication and relationships
WHO want alternative models of interaction design
alternative to what? dribbble, fast co
gendered interaCtionsA serious thesis experiement
the survey
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Audience Lifecycle for FemmeIxD.com
Stage Discovery Engagement Advocacy
Environment
Activities
Pain Points
Online and Offline• blogs• word of mouth• articles
Find FemmeIxD.com View projects
Read about FemmeIxD
• Not enough projects• Projects not compelling
• Articles not accessible• Tone of site
• Bad UX
• Low visibility• Difficult search terms
FemmeIXD.com website FemmeIXD.com websiteshare buttons
Visitor’s tumblr/fb/twitter/etc
Share projects + articles
Connect with makers
• Why share?• Is there a compelling story?• Is sharing easy?
Tash Wong 2/6/2013
Principle Audience: Interaction Designers
Key moments
audienCe lifeCyCle
An exploration of user needs for my curated collection
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changelog date: 2/18/2013
• FINISHED my webform + database + push to tumblr. Now I can set up a review for a project, post it to tumblr, and post a copy to a database.
• updated the site name to genderedinteractions.tum-blr.com
• Met with Jerri, discussed The Feast, and some mul-timodal networks.
• Registered genderedinteractions.com + gendered-interaction.com
• Wrote a draft about page for genderedinteractions.com in 750.
date: 2/17/2013• Continued building the review form. Decided to
throw out google spreadsheets and just use a da-tabase. The overhead of getting the extra piece of script working is too high. I can just use a csv file to generate charts later.
• Trying to determine the best way of displaying my results - question answer? table? statements?
• updated the site name from femmebutchixd to femme, butch, both?
date: 2/15/2013• Got all of the pieces of my webform wired up. Now
I can enter a review from my website, have it post to tumblr, and be stored in a google spreadsheet - along with the tumblr ID for reference later.
• Completed the webform. Having trouble with output-ting to google spreadsheets.
revieW page sketChes
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gendered interaCtions: about page
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The submission form saves the input as markdown, pushes it to tumblr, then saves the post & id to a database.
gendered interaCtions: revieW entry form
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gendered interaCtions
76
It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, don’t
worry though, I’ve been working! For some reason
putting aside time to write a blog post seems to elude
me. Lots has happened over the last couple of weeks
but here’s a couple of highlights:
i started genderedinteraCtions.tumblr.ComOver the next month, I’ll be collecting a range of in-
teraction design projects and categorizing them based
on how they fall into gendered views of technology.
Currently, I’m using this list as the beginning of my
framework, which comes from the work of the EDC
which I wrote about a month ago.
My hope is that by framing projects in this way I’ll
be able to tease out various gendered approaches to
interaction design and highlight areas where certain
approaches work better than others.
Please check it out and leave comments where I’m be-
ing vague, as I’m actively working on ways to better
communicate these differing views. Also, if you have
any projects you’d like to see added, please send them
my way @tashwong.
stanford’s gender innovation projeCtBeginning in 2009, Stanford’s Gender Innovations
project focuses on applications of gender analysis in
science, health & medicine, engineering, and environ-
ment. They state that these disciplines are not value-
neutral, due to the gendered and ethnic exclusions
that occurred while they were being established. The
purpose of the project is to revise the methods and
processes that form the basis of most scientific prac-
tice:
1. to create gender equality;
2. to enhance creativity;
3. to stimulate economic and technological develop-
ment (or business innovation);
4. to make research more responsive to society.
from Interdisciplinary Approaches to Achieving Gen-
dered Innovations.
This is exactly the same line of thought I’m pursuing
with my thesis work, and its really exciting to find an
established organization working with gender as a
base for innovation.
If you have a moment, check out their intro page or
read through some of their case studies.
2/28/2013
gendered innovationsAnnouncing Gendered Interactions and discovering a Stanford project
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Gendered Innovations at Stanford University http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/
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Class presentationArticulating the macro and micro scale of my topic
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80
In a post a couple of weeks ago I introduced Gendered
Interactions, a small thesis experiment. My aim was
to establish whether I could easily find gendered ap-
proaches to interaction design projects. After a week
or so of analysing a variety of work and adding to the
site, I realized this is not so easy.
Projects such as 21 Balancoires certainly sit
to the femme side of the traits list, but other projects
can’t be so clearly categorized. Though I only reviewed
a dozen projects, it did become clear that most of the
more interesting (for me) work exhibited many more
femme than butch traits. Noting this made me aware
of how subjective the process was, and that the proj-
ects I found problematic to review exhibited a mix of
traits.
For example, Snapchat has 2 core interac-
tions: one is to create media to share, and the other
is to consume that media individually. These could be
considered as opposites in terms of how they fit with
the scale, but they fit within the app. Therefore, like
many things, Snapchat is neither a ‘femme’ nor ‘butch’
product, it exhibits a variety of traits from both per-
spectives.
While this experiment didn’t go quite the way
I expected, I still hold to the same theory as was stated
on theabout page.
“Through this site I’m testing out my theory
that gender plays a big role in the way that we un-
derstand, interact, and ultimately create interactive
experiences. My hope is that by identifying gendered
modes of engaging with technology, I can expand the
current vocabulary we use to discuss interaction de-
sign and find generative applications of gender based
research.”
My big takeaway is this: Interaction design, like most
human interactions, is a complex layering of ideas, pro-
cess, input and output. I’ve found that you can’t simply
have a framework and expect to fit a whole product
into it, or hope to find one that conforms to it.
My big takeaway is this: Interaction design,
like most human interactions, is a complex layering
of ideas, process, input and output. I’ve found that
you can’t simply have a framework and expect to fit
a whole product into it, or hope to find one that con-
forms to it.
3/19/2013
gendered interaCtions, a revieWAn experiment comes to an end
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March 2013
thinking big
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thesis update date: 2/21/2013 to: Jerri chou
Here's a quick thesis update:I put together a presentation yesterday for thesis class. The class format has changed based on the fact that we're not all making products, which is great. Each week 4 of us are presenting our thesis progress and I was in the first batch. It was a really useful exercise to hammer out a linear story about where the work is now and where I see it going. If you're curious, a pdf of my slides + notes are here (see page 82). Tamara Giltsoff is hanging out in the studio this week. She gave a talk on Tuesday and I had a chat with her for an hour or so. Her presentation helped me realize that the 2 tracks that have brought me to this topic are one in the same. The first (and the primary driver from nov-jan) is that i'm aware i'm personally affected by so-cially biased systems + feel there aren't enough women entrepreneurs/tech, and the second (which i've been thinking about since undergrad) - that we're undergoing a disruptive shift in organizational structures/world view right now. I'm not 100% with articulating it but yesterday I used a micro/macro metaphor: both of these are caused by an overly masculine/butch world view (the builders of almost all of our social/organizational structures were men), and there's both business + social opportunity in articulating a feminine/femme view to help correct the balance. That thoughts been hanging out for a while, but I think yesterday was the first time I said it out loud.
Tamara brought up a few interesting points: 1. Language is really important (she's allergic to the
word feminist, biz leaders are too). She's started us-ing the term Impact Opportunity instead of Social Innovation.
2. Gender needs to play a big role in whatever way I explain the work that I'm doing, but she's right, I'll need to do some testing around the type + tone of the language I use.
3. My project review site should look at the intention AND the use of products/services
4. The personal journey of my thesis is really important.
She thought the struggle with defining my project within the structure of the course + mindset of the people I had been speaking to in contrast with the conversations I have with you + my friend Rachel were really interesting. More or less, she reiterated the comment that my process of becoming more aware of femme design processes, and undoing the 'butch' processes I've already learned is imperative to whatever I end up creating.
5. This would make for a great consulting career. She could see a the end result being a design for a 1 day workshop, or a series of experimental acts that help people understand the differences in perspective. This was nice to hear, because I think doing high level consulting mixed with startup work would be a nice post-grad life to lead :)
We’re undergoing a disruptive shift in organizational
structures/world view right now. I’m not 100% with
articulating it but yesterday I used a micro/macro
metaphor.
Side note: I learned about minecraft last night, which is fascinating - it has a creative and a battle mode. And the participatory teen magazine Rookie. Evidently 12 year old girls have all this stuff figured out already.
This segues nicely into some of the feedback I got from my class:1. Final output for my project could be: a workshop,
a series of brainstorming cards (like IDEO's method cards), and a personality/blindspot test.
2. Tony pointed out that the conversations we've been having is helping him understand his 'blind spots'. He understands himself as being of a super duper 'butch' thinker, and the femme column has given him a language to be aware of traits he needs to work on. I think Tony is going to be my user tester for whatever I make - cause if it can make sense to him, it can make sense to anyone who's super linear/logic brain. Also, Tony suggested looking into language shifts that have happened in design - he pointed out the shift to 'agile' that happened in engineering, and the shift to 'lean' in the startup community.
83
Beginning to flesh out the macro narrative
A to do list from the same day, March 13Gender research as a generative base
84
Post its on post itsMy workspace at home Discarded ideas
maCro narrative outlining session
Initial talk sequence
Iteration 3
Interation 2
Final sequence of the talk outline
85
change log date: 3/14/2013 - 3/15/2013
Spent the day working through my narrative, really want to get my argument down on paper so I can start discuss-ing it with others. Went through 3 iterations and feel like I may have the macro view down. It goes like this:
• ParadigmshiftishappeningintheWesternWorld• Industrial economies/methods/traditions are falling• Participatory structures rising
• ex: Connected Company, Tamara Giltsoff• Why?
• Technology• Social networks• DIVERSITY.
• Ibelieverisingculturaldiversityatalllevelsofoureconomyisthecorereasonforthisshift.Peopleofdif-ferentage,sex,class,andracebringvaryingperspec-tivestothetablewhentheybuy,work,lead,liveetc.
• In the grand scheme of things, this is really new• existing systems rise from the Industrial Revolution (1820s)• Women get the vote in 1920• Civil Rights passed in 1964• Steady rise in women + minority leaders 70s-today (~50 years out of ~200)
• Traditional systems (business, educational, eco-nomic, etc) created in a monoculture, from singular perspective (in terms of the sex, class, race break-down)
• Have worked well for 150+ years in terms of material wealth, but• Don't have requisite variety to manage cur-rent social reality
• Whatdowedo?• Could ignore it, or try to constrain minority + women growth.
• Ongoing• Doesn't work: see Election 2012 ("white men now a minority")• or we can look for new models.
• NewModels• Where do we look for new models, if the institu-tions + broad culture we've been trained in have a heritage in a dominant singular perspective? Outside of that perspective:• The academy of feminism for new perspectives
• AcademyofFem• Interdisciplinary academic field,• that critiques and explores societal norms.• Methodology:
• hands-on• participatory• reflexive• compare to Gray, Rifkin, Wagner
• History• unlike cutting edge business ideas (last 15 years)• Fem studies became academic field in the 60s• roots back to 1792, “Ain’t I a Woman” - So-journer Truth• in 2007 576 institutions have gender fo-cused programs
• CurrentApplications• Gendered Innovations
• Science focused• pregnant crashtest dummy• osteoporoses• User research• participatory research
• Interaction Design (my work)• Linguistics• Approaches to Technology
• NextSteps• I’m creating a toolkit for IxD• All projects are different but:
• read connected company• read a women’s studies primer• research feminist disciplines applicable to your project/business
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change log date: 3/21/2013
Woke up wanting to channel the negative energy from the article last night into something productive.Started a blog post about my macro narrative, got through about 25% of it:
Our world is changing. We're rapidly shifting from
a mechanized understanding of the world to a more
participatory one. Top down systems of control are
being toppled by bottom up forms of communication.
Examples of this range from #attfail to Arab Spring,
take your pick.
Why is this happening? The primary reason
given for this change is the rise in networked tech-
nology. It's the Internet and it's breaking everything.
But technology isn't the whole story, it's the thing the
technology is speeding along, something that was hap-
pening before Zuckerberg was born. It's the growing
inclusion of people of varied age, sex, race, and class
into all aspects of our economic conversation: women
who run big companies, homeless people with smart-
phones, latinas that play video games, Barack Obama.
This increase of cultural diversity is introduc-
ing a complexity many of our social systems weren’t
designed for. This is why they're being disrupted.
I got stuck when I reached the part about our systems coming from the Industrial Revolution. Thinking about time scale, I made a quick timeline to understand how long certain social systems have been in place. Turns out business schools were started at the some time as the Industrial Revolution (~1820), so thats our current mode of production. I figure that's where some of our models come from, but it didn't speak to the diversity argument I was making, so I added in white domination over other races and male domination over females to bring in the social component. This changes the game a bit - white domination stems from European colonialism from 500 years ago, and men have been dominating women for about 6000 years. Yikes. So all of a sudden I'm dealing with 500 years at a minimum, not 200.
maCro postAnd then I realized, this is too big for now
87
researChA few texts that were helpful while writing the macro narrative.
the ConneCted CompanyDave Gray and Thomas Vander Wal2012
gamestorming: a playbook for innovators, rulebreakers, and ChangemakersDave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo2010
leadership and self-deCeption: getting out of the boxArbinger Institute2010
March - April 2013
bringing it baCk
90
intervieWs
erin mooreTwitter
tony ChuSVA IxD
91
jennings hannaSVA IxD
alex todaroSVA IxD
allison shaWYelp
derek ChanR/GA
92
another pitCh statementFor Makers of all kinds,
who need new generative starting points,
X facilitates an internal conversation,
that helps Makers understand their own perspective
towards technology,
unlike Ideo Method cards, Mental Notes, etc (see Mar
22: comp analysis),
X exposes the Maker to their worldview and intro-
duces them to a different one.
3/27/2013
summarized by paul pangaroThe project is about an awareness of these dichto-
mous points of view and the value of exercising the
conversation, wether in an individual or in a team, and
to be aware of teh benefits or disadvantages of each.
Better design emerges as a consequence of
tool to making the exercise of that dichotomy explicit.
the quiz the thesisWays of talking about the project
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4 layered finalA systems diagram for my final deliverable
Notebook sketch from 3/28/2013
changelog date: 3/28/2013
Clarified 4 layers of final prototype:
1. Internal conversation: between a website + viewer. Help the viewer to understand their pov; expose them to the other
2. External conversation: a worksheet/workshop/card set that can aid the viewer in facilitating a similar con-versation within a project team. Probably what the card set evolves into.
3. Source information: expose the source of the words/framing as Brunner's gender + technology work
4. Macro narrative: fem academy is a good place to look for disruptive ideas/new ways of seeing.
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Writing questionsJerri and I spent a day writing a set of questions to determine which way someone might lean - femme or butch.
Initial question ideas
Picking up a new hobby
Thinking through career paths
Brainstorming ways to find a cafe
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notes transcribed date: 3/30/2013
think about what you do, your career.how did you get here?Butch:I decided what I want/I need to accomplish/achieveI created goals and worked towards themI found and pursued opportunity/ did what worked and eliminated what didn'tI commited to an outcome
Femme:I created an idea of what I'd lke to be doing/my life to be likeI worked with people/people came into my life who af-ected my trajectory + the kinds of projects I worked on.People hleped and encouraged me to pursue initiatives and work that aligned with my life and goalI went with what came
you’re getting into photography.how do you go about that?Butch:Power: Buy an awesome camera. 10x zoom and large memory card, because I want to take a log of picturesAutonomy: I want full control over my imagesefficient: having a lot of file formats to work with
Femme:Creation: I take and share photos to get feedback from friendsShare: let people know what I'm makingEffective: edit fast and get it out
you're in a new city and looking for a cafe to work in. Butch:Efficient: a lot of potential cafes quicklyConsume: I want options that fit my criteria for a good cafeAutonomous: I can make this decision on my ownI can get an answer on my own without havning to ask anyoneNeed: get me something i need to fix my problem
Femme:Effective: I don't want a lot of options, just want one that fits what I want/likeIntegrate: I want to find these through things I'm already doing, people I'm already talking to and is my styleSharing: want somethin based on shared experience and or through sharing with others.Trust: help me find a trusted option
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the quiz onlineexcited about making, I dove into producing a webiste that would host the 4 layered fi nal
Onboarding & quiz user fl ow
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draft copydate: 4/1/2013
What kind of maker are you?Research has shown there are at least 2 ways of ap-proaching technology. The approach infl uences what we expect from our devices, as well a what we make withthem. My belief is that by being aware of our approach, we can account for it and make better products and ser-vices. And as a community of makers, who doesn't want to do that?
Want to know which way you lean? Take this short test.Q1-Q3
demographics - for me, is there a better way to slip this in? modal before the result?
This is a rather soft science - points of view are nuanced and infl uenced by more factors that we can count, but you lean x rather than y.
What does that mean?By and large x makers see technology as an instrument for speed and effi ciency. It helps us get our jobs done faster and with less hassle.- case study
By and large y makers to think of technology more as a medium for expression. It helps us connect with oth-ers and be more fl exible with sharing information and experience.- Zappos case study
Both points of view are important as we move into a new age which is governed less by strict hierarchies and more by networks and conversations.
What can I do with this?Now that you know which way you lean, you can start to see how it infl uences the things you make and learn to become aware of the other perspective. Generally speak-ing, the more hats you can wear when you design, the more well-rounded your outcome will be.
http://tashwong.com/thesis/quiz
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survey prototypeAfter a frustrating day, I realized there were still too many questions to build the
website. Were the questions any good? Were they too restrictive? Were they biased in some way? To answer these questions, I sent out together a google form.
Ankle sprain + results tallying. Had a bike accident a couple of days before.
Color coded spreadsheet of responses.
changelogdate: 4/4/2013
• 76respondents.• Female: 45• Male: 28• Other: 3
• Only15%(32of228)ofresponsesused'Other'andfilledintheirownanswers• Whilenotfallingstrictlyalonggenderlines,there-spondentsleanedfemme+butchwiththeiranswersinthesameproportionsasthegendersrepresented.
• Femme lean: 43 (27 F, 15 M, 1 O)• Butch lean: 26 (15 F, 9 M, 2 O)• Other: 7 (3 F, 4 M)
• Mostwriteinsleanedbutch(15of32)
99
The questions, via Google Form
100
the Cards
changelog
date: 3/17/2013
Started a paper prototype. It's set of cards with each of the words from Brunner's list, each card includes:• the word• a question to frame it• the word's definition (within the context of the fram-ing question)• examples of the concept/trait in use
date: 3/18/2013Almost finished the cards. Tony helped with a lot of the butch examples. I find butch examples difficult though, for some reason they’re hard to pin down without using cynical or negative examples.
Thinking through examples
The first version of the cards
101
Cards v1Set of 22
The first set of cards were made as quickly as possible. Pencil was used for all areas where I wasn’t quite sure.
102
changelog date: 3/23/2013
Tested the index cards with Meghana, which was great! I tried to be as light with the framing as possible, as I’m not sure how I’m going to pitch these yet. Big takeaways:• she finds them useful for thinking through pov
• after splitting them into the 2 categories, she pointed out that at previous places she’d worked too much em-phasis was put onto the butch traits, not enough on the femme. I didn’t preface the difference between the 2 types of cards, she inferred one was more dev focused, the other more user focused.
meghanaUnsure of how the cards could be used, I tried out some user testing
To begin, I asked her to think through group projects she was working on.
After divinding the cards into 2 groups, she pointed out her last job placed too much emphasis on the butch traits. She found that this meant user priorities were neglected.
We then used them to talk through a few of her past professional projects.
She also suggested new examples for the cards that weren’t clear enough.
103
Competitive analysisA look at other card sets out there for designers and innovators.
The Game, by Dan Brown 2012. by IDEO, 2003.
by Stephen P. Anderson, 2010. Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas, by Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt, 1975.
surviving design projeCts
oblique strategies
method Cards
mental notes
104
Cards v2Making the cards a little more legible
This is a caption for the photo and it is two lines for some reason and then it becomes 3 lines past a certain point.
This is a caption for the photo and it is two lines for some reason and then it becomes 3 lines past a certain point.
105
Card anatomyV2 of the cards consist of 5 different parts
106
changelog date: 3/24/2013
• Finished typesetting the cards• Printed and produced the first set• Just as I finished making the new cards, Meghana asked to use the index cards for a brainstorm. I gave her the new set and set up a camera to record the first few minutes of their use. very exciting to have the cards in use within 5min of making them.
group testingHot off the cutting mat, the second version of the cards were used in a brainstorm
in the these video stills, there are 3 people sitting together to use the cards.
First year SVA IxD students Meghana, Rae, and Pam
used the cards to facilitate a 15min concept conversa-
tion.
107
changelog date: 4/4/2013
Had a card session with Minnie, which was fun and inter-esting. Takeaways:• Thecardscanbeusedinavarietyofscenarios,weusedthemtotalkthrough:
• her thesis audiences (makers + helpers)• a new project at work vs an old one• how she sees herself as a designer/manager
• Reviewing one of the videos: I talk entirely toomuch.
minnie
Talking through audience.
Discussing 2 projects at work.
Using the cards to describe herself as a designer and manager.
“These are my traits as a manager. Hmm, I see why people with the other traits frustrate me. *Laughs* But, if it weren’t for the people with these characteristics, it wouldn’t be a good team, it’d be a lopsided team. Seeing the benefit of that visibly is actually really revealing.“
“It’s helpful for me to see it this way, Breaks down how different they are and how they can complement each other.”
When comparing a pair of cards, “Being conscious of that is important, being conscious of the opposite side, the tension is interesting.”
108
cards! date: 4/3/2013 to: derek chan
FramingExternal - UsersWhich traits are important to your audience?Is this what you think, or what you know? Can you test your assumptions.If your audience is predominantly masculine, try thinking through features + function with the yellow cards.If feminine, try the red.Now switch, what happens if you reverse them?Are you favoring one color card over the other? Is this intentional? Is there a way to balance?
Internal - MakersWhich traits are important to you, the maker/designer/developer/creative team?Think about your organizations creative process, which traits are important? What if you incorporated others?Are you favoring one color card over the other? Is this intentional? Is there a way to balance?
MetaIs there a way that your internal process is affecting the experiential outcome for your users?OtherOn the front of the cards down in the bottom right there's a teeny number. These numbers match up across the color to create pairs. See if the pairings spark any ideas or whether one card is more of a priority than the other in terms of any of the above questions.
changelog date: 4/4/2013
Started further teasing out the scenarios, making them a little more generic
Personal ProcessTeam ProcessInterdepartmental ProcessGroup Discussion
Project kickoff meetingsProduct function/conceptEnd user POV (M/F)Internal POVProduct featureEnd user POV (M/F)Internal POVCompetitive analysis (fm end user perspective)"Making do" vs "making new"looking for opportunity within existing frameworks
sCenariosWorking through use cases for the cards
Brainstorm of scenarios. Referenced in changelog below.
109
presentation 4subheading
110
team WorkA user journey illustrating how the cards can be used in a multi-disciplinary team
111
112
113
April 2013
think bigger make better
114
Brand Traits
but �rm (750words)
but not prescriptive (Moves, Fuelband)
but not abstract (Feltron Report)
but not complicated (Twitter)
but not authoritative (Liz Danzico, SVAIxD)
but not easy (blogging)
friendly
informative
high-level
powerful
guided + constructive
accessible
2 voices One isn't better than the other, they're different, equal, and both need to be considered.
Design persona exercise results
Design persona action shot Results of a naming exercise with Tom
design personaAn exercise to tease out the personality of Think Bigger, Make Better
Brand traits derived from the design person exercise
115
Adjacent Feel
Other card sets
Color Study Layout
Typography
village type foundry
branding boards4 of the 6 sheets used to explore the look and feel for Think Bigger, Make Better.
116
&&BIGGER
BIGGER Better
Think &BETTERMake
Think MAKE
Better
MAKE
BIGGERThink
BETTERMake
ThinkBIGGER
BiggerTH INK
BetterMAKE
BiggerTH INK
BetterMAKE
BETTER
Make
Make
Think
ThinkMakeThinkMakeThinkMakeThinkMakeThinkMakeThinkMakeThinkMakeMakeMakeMakeMakeMake
BIGGER
BETTERBIGGERBETTERBIGGERBETTER
MakeBETTERThinkBIGGER
BETTERBIGGER
Make
BETTER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
MakeBETTER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
Think
Make
BETTERThink
BIGGERMake
BETTERThink
BIGGER
Make
BETTERThink
BIGGER
Make
BETTERThink
BIGGER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
MakeBETTER
ThinkBIGGER
ThinkBIGGER
MakeThink
Make
Think
Make
Think
Make
Think
visual designDavid Bellona expertly crafted the look and feel for Think Bigger, Make Better using the branding boards as a base
logotype explorations
117
Web and Card layouts
proCess book templates
118
Make
BETTERThink
BIGGER
I’m on a mission.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor
ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
1. YOU 2. THEM 3. REFLECT
Why 3 steps?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
About mission statements
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
START
1. YOU
Why 3 steps?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis
enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
1. YOU
Why 3 steps?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis
enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Think
BIGGER
I’m on a mission.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor
ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
2. THEM
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
START
BIGGERBIGGER
I’m on a mission.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor
ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
2. THEM
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
START
BETTERBETTER
I’m on a mission.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor
ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
2. THEM
About mission statements
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
START
Make
BETTER
I’m on a mission.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor
ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
3. REFLECT
About mission statements
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis
enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Write and reflect in 3 steps.
3. REFLECT
About mission statements
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis
enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
3. REFLECT
About mission statements
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
3. REFLECT
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras consectetur tempor ligula, ut sagittis ipsum mattis non. Duis semper cursus posuere. Maecenas in mollis enim. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus volutpat convallis urna, a semper mauris.
Wireframes v1First round of Think Bigger, Make Better wireframes
Group exercise.
Purpose statement exercise, left. Home, right.
Purpose statement exercise, Illustrator.
119
Make
BETTERThink
BIGGER
A tool for answering the why.
THE WHATAs designers, makers, and innovators, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about what to make and how to make it.
THE WHYOften the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of your primary motivations.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Whether you work alone or in a team, Think Bigger Make Better can push you to be clearer about your intensions, opening up new paths to your goals.
Think Bigger Make Better is a set of 8 term pairs that have been derived from research done over the last thirty years into approaches to technology.
Read more
The 16 terms are presented in card form, in both the digital and physical versions of the tool. As a collection, the cards can be used:Generate new starting pointsOpen conversationGet everyone on the same page.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
Here are our mission statements
autonomy, control, instrumental, creation
Coastermatic gives me the autonomy to control my work situation, which gives me the freedom to ex-periment creatively. Coastermatic becomes instru-mental to my creativity.
explore, control, autonomy, creation
Coastermatic provides me a vehicle to explore and create products autonomously (independently), it provides me more control (freedom) than i would have working for anyone else.
Why do you do what you do? What do you hope it does for others?
integrate, expressive, creation, efficient
CM provides an efficient service that allows cus-tomers to create objects that are expressive of their lives, ambitions, and adventures through a medium that easily integrates with their living or work spaces.
consume, expressive, creation, power
Coastermatic provides customers with an expres-sive way to consume physical products. It empow-ers them to create & share their images in useful ways.
GET STARTEDGet the cards.They are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
Mission StatementThey are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
Group ExerciseThey are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
START STARTDOWNLOAD ORDER
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High life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letter-press. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's ameri-can apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna.
INTRO USE CASE STUDY AUTHOR
THE WHATAs designers, makers, and innovators, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about what to make and how to make it.
THE WHYOften the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of your primary motivations.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Whether you work alone or in a team, Think Bigger Make Better can push you to be clearer about your intensions, opening up new paths to your goals.
GET STARTEDGet the cards.They are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
Here are our mission statements
TASH
TOM
DOWNLOAD
THE WHATAs designers, makers, and innovators, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about what to make and how to make it.
THE WHYOften the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of your primary motivations.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Whether you work alone or in a team, Think Bigger Make Better can push you to be clearer about your intensions, opening up new paths to your goals.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
Here are our mission statements
GET STARTEDGet the cards.They are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
DOWNLOAD
THE WHATAs designers, makers, and innovators, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about what to make and how to make it.
THE WHYOften the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of your primary motivations.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Whether you work alone or in a team, Think Bigger Make Better can push you to be clearer about your intensions, opening up new paths to your goals.
GET STARTEDThey are available to be made at home,
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
Here are our mission statements
autonomy, control, instrumental, creation
Coastermatic gives me the autonomy to control my work situation, which gives me the freedom to experiment creatively. Coastermatic becomes instrumental to my creativity.
explore, control, autonomy, creation
Coastermatic provides me a vehicle to explore and create products autonomously (independently), it provides me more control (freedom) than i would have working for anyone else.
Why do you do what you do?
ORDER
A tool for answering
INTRO
As designers, makers, and innovators, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about what to make and how to make it.
Often the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of your primary motivations.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Whether you work alone or in a team, Think Bigger Make Better can push you to be clearer about your intensions, opening up new paths to your goals.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
Here are our mission statements
autonomy, control, instrumental, creation
Coastermatic gives me the autonomy to control my work situation, which gives me the freedom to experiment creatively. Coastermatic becomes instrumental to my creativity.
explore, control, autonomy, creation
Coastermatic provides me a vehicle to explore and create products autonomously (independently), it provides me more control (freedom) than i would have working for anyone else.
Why do you do what you do?
They are available to be made at home,
Think
BIGGER
A tool for answering
INTRO
As designers, makers, and innovators, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about what to make and how to make it.
Often the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Think Bigger Make Better is a set of 8 term pairs that have been derived from research done over the last thirty years into approaches to technology.
Read more
Mission StatementThey are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
Here are our mission statements
autonomy, control, instrumental, creation
Coastermatic gives me the autonomy to control my work situation, which gives me the freedom to experiment creatively. Coastermatic becomes instrumental to my creativity.
explore, control, autonomy, creation
Coastermatic provides me a vehicle to explore and create products autonomously (independently), it provides me more control (freedom) than i would have working for anyone else.
Why do you do what you do?
START
TASH WONGHigh life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letterpress. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's american apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna. Tempor YOLO wayfarers magna, umami cliche pug cillum id. Cardigan kale chips sunt officia. PBR whatever vice, american apparel farm-to-table anim actually odd future fashion axe street art try-hard
BIGGERBIGGER
A tool for answering
USE CASE STUDY
spend a lot of time thinking about what we make. Within project teams we talk about
Often the why gets left out of the picture. This can lead to project teams who dont’ see eye to eye, a loss of vision midway through, or a big pivot when you realize you over looked one of
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Think Bigger Make Better is a set of 8 term pairs that have been derived from research done over the last thirty years into approaches to technology.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part of Coastermatic and our goals for the company.
autonomy, control, instrumental, creation
Coastermatic gives me the autonomy to control my work situation, which gives me the freedom to experiment creatively. Coastermatic becomes instru
explore, control, autonomy, creation
Coastermatic provides me a vehicle to explore and create products autonomously (independently), it provides me more control (freedom) than i would
Why do you do what you do?
Mission StatementThey are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
TASH WONGHigh life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letterpress. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's american apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna. Tempor YOLO wayfarers magna, umami cliche pug cillum id. Cardigan kale chips sunt officia. PBR whatever vice, american apparel farm-to-table anim actually odd future fashion axe street art try-hard
BETTERBETTER
A tool for answering
CASE STUDY
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Think Bigger Make Better is a set of 8 term pairs that have been derived from research done over the last thirty years into approaches to technology.
COASTERMATIC CASE STUDYThroughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part
Coastermatic gives me the autonomy to control my work situation, which gives me the freedom to ex-periment creatively. Coastermatic becomes instru-
Coastermatic provides me a vehicle to explore and create products autonomously (independently), it provides me more control (freedom) than i would
They are available to be made at home,
TASH WONGHigh life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letterpress. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's american apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna. Tempor YOLO wayfarers magna, umami cliche pug cillum id. Cardigan kale chips sunt officia. PBR whatever vice, american apparel farm-to-table anim actually odd future fashion axe street art try-hard
Make
BETTER
A tool for answering the why.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
Think Bigger Make Better is a set of 8 term pairs that have been derived from research done over the last thirty years
Throughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part
What do you hope it does for others?
integrate, expressive, creation, efficient
CM provides an efficient service that allows customers to create objects that are expressive of their lives, ambitions, and adventures through a medium that easily integrates with their living or work spaces.
consume, expressive, creation, power
Coastermatic provides customers with an expressive way to consume physical products. It empowers them to create & share their images in useful ways.
They are available to be made at home,
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AUTHOR
the why.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
The 16 terms are presented in card form, in both the digital and physical versions of the tool. As a collection, the cards can be used:Generate new starting pointsOpen conversationGet everyone on the same page.
Group ExerciseThey are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
Throughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part
What do you hope it does for others?
integrate, expressive, creation, efficient
CM provides an efficient service that allows customers to create objects that are expressive of their lives, ambitions, and adventures through a medium that easily integrates with their living or work spaces.
consume, expressive, creation, power
Coastermatic provides customers with an expressive way to consume physical products. It empowers them to create & share their images in useful
START
High life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letterpress. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's american apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna.
AUTHOR
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
The 16 terms are presented in card form, in both the digital and physical versions of the tool. As a collection, the cards can
Generate new starting pointsOpen conversationGet everyone on the same page.
Throughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part
What do you hope it does for others?
integrate, expressive, creation, efficient
CM provides an efficient service that allows customers to create objects that are expressive of their lives, ambitions, and adventures through a medium that easily integrates with their living or
consume, expressive, creation, power
Coastermatic provides customers with an expressive way to consume physical products. It empowers them to create & share their images in useful
Group ExerciseThey are available to be made at home, or for purchase.
High life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letterpress. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's american apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna.
THINK BIGGER MAKE BETTER is a tool to help you articulate your mission, priorities, and perspective.
The 16 terms are presented in card form, in both the digital and physical versions of the tool. As a collection, the cards can
Generate new starting points
Get everyone on the same page.
Throughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part
What do you hope it does for others?
integrate, expressive, creation, efficient
CM provides an efficient service that allows customers to create objects that are expressive of their lives, ambitions, and adventures through a medium that easily integrates with their living or
consume, expressive, creation, power
Coastermatic provides customers with an expressive way to consume physical products. It empowers them to create & share their images in useful
They are available to be made at home,
High life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letterpress. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's american apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna.
The 16 terms are presented in card form, in both the digital and physical versions of the tool. As a collection, the cards can
Throughout the development of Think Bigger Make Better, my cofounder Tom Harman and I used the tool to help us be clear and discuss openly both our personal motivations for being part
What do you hope it does for others?
CM provides an efficient service that allows cus-tomers to create objects that are expressive of their lives, ambitions, and adventures through a medium that easily integrates with their living or
Coastermatic provides customers with an expres-sive way to consume physical products. It empow-ers them to create & share their images in useful
They are available to be made at home,
High life est voluptate cupidatat synth cliche. Cred high life scenester letter-press. Nesciunt nulla sriracha bespoke aesthetic four loko, mcsweeney's ameri-can apparel gluten-free laboris kogi church-key et. Mustache +1 pitchfork, scenester keffiyeh occupy jean shorts irony aliquip adipisicing magna.
Home page, Illustrator.
120
exerCise prototypeSketches and screenshots of the exercise component of Think Bigger, Make Better
Early protoype of group exercise, selection page
Early protoype of group exercise, results page
Second iteration of group exercise
121
Wireframes v2A more concise homepage
122