6: Doing Research with the Design Discourse
Design is the product of a culture, and culture does not evolve in secret. When a company takes a step back from its users and its market, it will discover that it is not alone in its desire to understand changes in society, culture, and technology - there are many others who are attempting to discover the same things, albeit in a more general and less mercenary way. The conversation about culture and its norms is collective, it is a "design discourse" in which many participate.
He returns to the Metamorfosi lighting system, whose innovative approach wasn't to ask what would make a better lamp, but what would make a person feel better about their home. But the home environment is about more than just lighting: furnishings, decor, paint and wallpaper, home entertainment systems, and many other products contribute to the whole of the home environment, so manufacturers in these other industries were also attempting to solve the same problem. There are very few products that are used or consumed in isolation. While firms are very guarded about information that pertains to their specific product, they are more willing to share knowledge related to culture in general. (EN: This role is often done by industry organizations, which involve practitioners and experts who are employees of various competing firms sharing non-sensitive knowledge.)
Verganti uses the term "interpreter" to describe the role of the designer, who attempts to understand the customer's needs and wants and translate them into product features that would be beneficial to their accomplishment. The interpreters are investigating the same phenomena (the need to feel better about one's home) and interpreting it in terms of their various products (lighting, furniture, wallpaper, etc.)
A Circle of Researchers
The researchers at various firms are engaged in a continuous dialogue. This can be an explicit dialogue, in which information is intentionally disseminated via an industry symposium, magazine, or website. It can also be an implicit dialogue, where the work of one designer is embodied in a product that hits the market, at which point designers at other firms become indirectly aware of the information that is embodied in the product itself.
Either way, the things that are discovered by one firm are soon communicated to others, who incorporate that information into their own design thinking. The information cannot be completely and permanently contained because a product sold to the market is a very public thing, that carries with it the knowledge that led to its being designed in a given way. To keep information secret, a firm must never make a product based on that information.
It's also noted that few firms hire people to be researchers - but if they are involved in product development, then some part of their time (often quite a bit) is spent doing research and the work that they do, sketches and prototypes, is merely a necessity to translate research into practical knowledge and communicate it to others. The value of the designer is not in his ability to draw and the value of the engineer is not in the task of building a model: their value is in the ability to know what to draw or to model. And, in turn, this knowledge is furnished by research.
The World of Cultural Production
The author speaks about various schools of art that explore perspectives: formalism, cubism, structuralism, and other schools whose artists produce works that look like children's drawings, but are considered to be masterpieces because the artists were exploring ideas. It is not the photo-realistic quality of their paintings (of which they had none) but the ideas that their art explored, challenging traditional assumptions about art, that made them worthwhile.
The same can be said of innovators, who pursue radical and childish ideas in search of new meaning. Their work is seldom valuable in itself, but often provides perspectives that can guide more practical work. Scientific researchers are little different to artistic ones - they are playing with materials and their properties and discovering possibilities that have no practical application ... until someone finds a way to leverage their discoveries.
Verganti mentions the world of theatre as an inspiration to architecture, interior design, and fashion. The ideas expressed in sets and costumes are often too radical to be implemented in real life, but some inspiration can be found for more practical applications. The Metamorfosi lamp was not created by considering the device, but the way in which a physical space is lighted to create a mood.
The individual artists work at their own discretion, but their offerings are filtered by cultural organizations such as museums, galleries, performance halls, and other venues where their work will be presented to the public. Many of these institutions filter the flow of ideas, deciding what work can be exhibited in their venues. Some attempt to reinforce the status quo, others attempt to promote novelty.
There are also social/political movements that attempt to influence culture. The author mentions the "slow food" movement that promotes traditional cooking and eating habits, a response to the cultural shift toward cheap and low-quality fast food. This group seeks to influence the way people view food, the way they cook and eat, and this echoes in their behavior as consumers.
Sociologists and Anthropologists also influence culture, though it is generally through the process of monitoring it. While they aspire to be "scientists" who objectively study cultures, their choice of what to study and what to publish is highly biased and represents a desire to influence culture. There is no report or documentary on a social subject that does not implicitly communicate the suggestion that something should or should not be done.
Finally, the media is also a mediator of culture: "the news" is not objective, but reports on certain things and attempts to influence the audience in certain ways. Most often, journalists support the status quo - a story is only outrageous or inspirational because it contradicts or supports existing cultural norms. The media also acts as a filter, deciding what the public may see and suggesting how they should interpret it.
Interpreters in the Commercial World
While artists, sociologists, and the media interpret social activity and are generally disdainful of the material concerns of everyday life, there are far more interpreters in the commercial world who have a direct interest in influencing culture.
Producing and promoting products is inherently cultural - it is the attempt of a person (or organization) to convince others to change their behavior. To use a product is to pursue a certain goal by a specific course of action - and if the goal is to get people to use a product regularly, then it is essentially attempting to create an ingrained pattern or behavior - which is a custom and a ritual, an element of culture. And as companies attempt to influence the behavior of many, this is an attempt to influence the culture of many.
At the foundation, technology suppliers are a kind of cultural interpreter. They are primarily concerned with chemistry, physics, and other natural phenomenon - but when they translate their discoveries into a product, they enter into culture. When a scientific discovery regarding plastic yields the ability to use plastic in a new way, it then becomes necessary to convince the public to adopt it. It is not enough for it to be possible to make clothing out of plastic, but it must also convince the market that plastic clothing is acceptable, desirable, and even better than the fabrics to which they are accustomed.
Suppliers often engage with their customers in explorations of culture. This is most direct and obvious for industrial suppliers, such as a lighting company that works with the architect in designing a structure, but is also evident in companies that engage the retail consumer in research or idea generation. Any instance in which a customer finds an unconventional use for a product may lead to the creation and promotion of a new pattern of behavior when it is communicated to others.
There is also collaboration with companies in various industries toward the creation of a customer experience in which multiple products are engaged simultaneously or sequentially (rather than one product being a component in the creation of another). The manufacturer of paint may collaborate with the makers of curtains and carpet to coordinate their support of a customer who is redecorating a room. The maker of a game console may partner with the maker of the television set into which the console is plugged. An airline may partner with a hotel chain to coordinate the client's vacation planning.
The author speaks of "design firms" that are often contracted by manufacturers who have no internal design departments. Not only do they acts consultants to the firm, but the knowledge they have of working with one client feeds the way they work for the next, whether intentionally or subliminally.
Retail firms are also moderators of culture in the same way that galleries are the moderators of art: they decide what products are made available to the public in their stores. And likewise, they may seek to cater to the current trends and tastes in a culture or introduce new ideas to the culture by virtue of their merchandise selection. Similarly, any company that engages with the retail consumer acts as a filter: a restaurant may shape "food culture" through its menu or a hotel may influence home decor by the design of its rooms.
There is a return to the consumer and user as drivers of culture, as they ultimately decide what products will be successful in determining what to buy. As users, the consumer may discover an unusual application, using a product in a way that was not intended, and communicate their innovation to others. And as members of society, they often influence the behavior of others by praising or criticizing them in a social context. This is particularly true in the present day, where the Internet and social media give consumers the ability to be heard by a large audience when they criticize a product or its market.
Participating in the Design Discourse
Discourse about design involves three basic actions:
- Listening - Receiving information about products and their uses from others to gather information into a framework by which new experiences will be understood
- Interpreting - Deciding what a product means, when and how it should be used, who should use it, etc. Each person may be influenced by outside sources that suggest how he should interpret things, but ultimately makes the decision as to how he will interpret them for himself.
- Communicating - Contributing your own vision back to the design community, giving others something to listen to, assess, and consider and ultimately to use in their own interpretation.
There is much more to be said about each of these actions, and it will be done in the chapters that follow. What is critical to the innovative firm is performing these actions more effectively than their competitors - to gain information that is valuable and ignore what is irrelevant, to make the right interpretations, and to communicate its vision back to the market in an effective manner.
In this process, deep research is more valuable than fast brainstorming, as acting quickly often means paying insufficient attention, grasping at what is most obvious (and is easily discovered by others), and engaging with the market in a superficial rather than enduring manner.
It's also noted that the process of design innovation is heavily focused on interpretation. Whereas market innovation is focused on listening to determine what customers know they want, design innovation requires a process of considering what customers say to detect what they really mean, and discover alternate means to address the underlying needs.