Adobe - Design Center : Design anthropology: What can it add ...
Popularity Report
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
Rank
URL Tag Cloud
Groups (1)
Bookmark History
Saved by 6 people (1 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-05-23
- Carolinacc on 2008-08-05 - Tags anthropology , design , semiotic , introduction , overview
- Dbshaw on 2008-07-29 - Tags webdesign , usability , information_design
- Randommind on 2008-07-12 - Tags design
- Forestfortrees on 2008-06-09 - Tags anthropology , design , research , technology , media
- N2teaching on 2008-05-25 - Tags anthropology , design , trends , artifacts , online , interactive
Public Sticky notes
to answer the question of design "success" requires that they answer that question of how the processes and artifacts of design help define what it means to be human. This "humanness" can range from how humans control the environment through tools (homo faber); how high-heeled shoes affect natural ways of walking; to moral issues of how participation in the design process empowers marginalized communities. In this space, the practice and theory of design anthropology has emerged.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
Design anthropology is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the role of design artifacts and processes in defining what it means to be human (e.g., human nature).
Highlighted by n2teaching
standard card sorting exercise, but I also did research into how humans classify information
Highlighted by forestfortrees
In the course of conducting the card sort, I learned that men and women continued to classify domestic products based on stereotypical gendered spaces of male equals outside/garage, and female equals inside.
Highlighted by n2teaching
in spite of their lived gendered roles where the women where the heavy power-tool users and the men used blenders to make smoothies for the kids.
Highlighted by n2teaching
In the course of conducting the card sort, I learned that men and women continued to classify domestic products based on stereotypical gendered spaces of male equals outside/garage, and female equals inside. This was in spite of their lived gendered roles where the women where the heavy power-tool users and the men used blenders to make smoothies for the kids.
Highlighted by carolinacc
fact that the classification of consumer products lagged behind contemporary gender roles had strategic implication for how the client should and should not arrange the website site or retail spaces.
Highlighted by n2teaching
The fact that the classification of consumer products lagged behind contemporary gender roles had strategic implication for how the client should and should not arrange the website site or retail spaces.
Highlighted by carolinacc
Anthropology is engaged with issues of the global flows of people and goods, human rights and social justice, global feminism, technology adoption, the social effects of the environmental degradation, and local sustainability practices—all issues that have become important to designers.
Highlighted by n2teaching
I also work with anthropologists to learn and understand the theories and processes of designing.
Highlighted by n2teaching
design anthropology's intentions are to create hybrid practices and practitioners.
Highlighted by n2teaching
focus of design anthropology is on connecting the process of design to the meanings and functions designed artifacts have for people.
Highlighted by n2teaching
The focus of design anthropology is on connecting the process of design to the meanings and functions designed artifacts have for people.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
often go beyond obvious attributes.
Highlighted by n2teaching
We learned which products the men preferred and why, doing good marketing analysis. But we also discovered that grooming and clean hair tied back to values of professionalism in ways that seemed reminiscent of Pop culture "Ken" dolls and 1950s movies.
Highlighted by carolinacc
emphasis on values, or design, or experience, which are the domains of philosophy, academic design research, and psychology, respectively. Rather, design anthropology focuses on the interconnecting threads among all three, requiring hybrid practices.
Highlighted by n2teaching
Design anthropology does not place separate emphasis on values, or design, or experience, which are the domains of philosophy, academic design research, and psychology, respectively. Rather, design anthropology focuses on the interconnecting threads among all three, requiring hybrid practices. The outcomes of design anthropology include statements providing some deeper understanding of human nature as well as designed communications, products, and experiences.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
four problem areas of anthropology:
- The nature-nurture problem (ex. Is it biology or environment that causes humans to respond to something in a particular way?)
- The evolution problem (ex. How do things expand and change over time?)
- The internal-external problem (ex. What are the ways in which behaviors are influenced by values or environmental conditions?)
- The social facts or emergent properties problem (ex. How are people influenced by social forces that emerge from the interaction of humans, but which transcend individuals?)
Highlighted by forestfortrees
So if design anthropology is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the role of design artifacts and processes in defining what it means to be human, what specific issues does it address that relate to design?
Highlighted by carolinacc
Highlighted by carolinacc
social facts or emergent properties problem (ex. How are people influenced by social forces that emerge from the interaction of humans, but which transcend individuals?)
Highlighted by n2teaching
One of their main insights was that Chinese parents viewed the computer as a distraction from their children learning Mandarin for school, which was an answer to the nurture question. But also, as part of their design process, Intel would have tested how adults and children interact with the hard and software features of the PC. The result was a physical lock-and-key mechanism that, from across the room, could alert Chinese parents to when the PC was being used in an "open mode," which allowed for surfing the web of playing games, versus in an "education mode," which restricted their child to schoolwork.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
The team provided Intel with ethnographic insights about the educational aspirations of Chinese families. One of their main insights was that Chinese parents viewed the computer as a distraction from their children learning Mandarin for school, which was an answer to the nurture questi
Highlighted by carolinacc
The result was a physical lock-and-key mechanism that, from across the room, could alert Chinese parents to when the PC was being used in an "open mode," which allowed for surfing the web of playing games, versus in an "education mode," which restricted their child to schoolwork.
Highlighted by n2teaching
How do designed communications, artifacts, and experiences spread, change, or grow over time?
Highlighted by n2teaching
How do designed communications, artifacts, and experiences spread, change, or grow over time? The evolution problem requires longitudinal approaches that explore the relationships among artifacts, time, and place. Methodologically, these can take the form of multi-year studies within a region and/or the creation of image databases that can be re-mined over time.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
requires longitudinal approaches that explore the relationships among artifacts, time, and place.
Highlighted by n2teaching
create image databases that allow researchers to re-mine categorized visual data of designed artifacts.
Highlighted by n2teaching
design anthropology is not always ethnographic, but sometimes is closer to archaeology, where the focus is completely on the material remains of the consumer products without asking about their meanings to owners.
Highlighted by n2teaching
"How is it that the things inside our collective heads or outside in the world drive us to behave in a particular way?"
Highlighted by n2teaching
early discovery and later design phases were structured to contribute general statements about how design translates values of democracy, transparency, accountability, and efficiency into tangible experiences. Something as simple as providing graphical illustrations to explain the voting method on a ballot can make someone with low literacy feel like the government is being more transparent about the process, which increases his or her voting confidence.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
As a human-centered design project, Design for Democracy produced successful ballot prototypes that adhered to the highest standards of design and were vetted by citizens, advocacy group, and Federal government administrators. What makes this also a design anthropology project is that the early discovery and later design phases were structured to contribute general statements about how design translates values of democracy, transparency, accountability, and efficiency into tangible experiences. Something as simple as providing graphical illustrations to explain the voting method on a ballot can make someone with low literacy feel like the government is being more transparent about the process, which increases his or her voting confidence.
Highlighted by carolinacc
The emergent properties problem frames the majority of design anthropology projects, because it tends to lead product and service innovations.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
better understand how the social forces of digitalization and globalization influenced people's behaviors
Highlighted by forestfortrees
on 2008-06-09 by forestfortrees
Key Question
So the approach of "living with people" and observing, interviewing, participating in activities, and giving them prototypes to play with might provide some insight into new ways in which people are relating to artifacts and to each other.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
The work of Jan Chipchase for Nokia, recently profiled in the New York Times, exemplifies some of the best work addressing the emergent properties problem in design anthropology.
Highlighted by n2teaching
act[s] as an emissary for people like the barber or the shoe-shop owner's wife, enlightening the company through written reports and PowerPoint presentations on how they live and what they're likely to need from a cellphone, allowing that to inform its design.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
Chipchase…act[s] as an emissary for people like the barber or the shoe-shop owner's wife, enlightening the company through written reports and PowerPoint presentations on how they live and what they're likely to need from a cellphone, allowing that to inform its design."
Highlighted by carolinacc
It explores a wide range of interests related to design practice: how interfaces can be developed based on values of shared learning versus individual study; how the adoption of technologies can lead to greater social equality and inequalities over time; and how not just the words but the meanings behind words change as you design for one culture versus another
Highlighted by carolinacc
Design anthropology does not place separate emphasis on values, or design, or experience, which are the domains of philosophy, academic design research, and psychology, respectively.
Highlighted by n2teaching
The outcomes of design anthropology include statements providing some deeper understanding of human nature as well as designed communications, products, and experiences.
Highlighted by forestfortrees
Public Comment