Media: Doors of Perception asks Does your Research Exist?

"Does your design research exist?" by John Thackara, touches on a similar point to one made by Joy Mountford at DIS2002: the enormous challenge involved in getting your ideas over succinctly and in such a way that they make an impression.

Mountford, who was looking at training and preparation for life in industry, talked in terms of the elevator pitch - can you explain what you are about in the time it takes to go from the ground floor to wherever the senior executive is headed? Here Thackara takes the wider scenario of all design research findings and gives examples of bad practice before offering some sensible tips.

His examples 'forgot to put themselves into the shoes of their audience. They focussed on what they had to say, at the expense of asking: what will it take, in this noisy and crowded environment, to engage a passing stranger's curiosity and interest?' What one might describe as the absence of user-centred information design.

Just to give a flavour, here are his first two recommendations:

'Tip 1 Design the way you will present and publish your results at the beginning of your project, not at the end.

Tip 2 Budget generously for publishing results.I reckon the ideal is 30 per cent of the total, including people costs - but hardly anybody allocates that much. A budget for publishing results below ten percent means you don't care if anyone outside your project ever knows what you achieved.'

It's a good checklist.

Associated Link: Doors of Perception Magazine: Does your design research exist?

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