Culture & Research Matters (10/12)
Our guest lecturer, Marysol, a PhD researcher in Transition Design, led a series of interactive activities on Monday. These activities revolved around the importance of culture and research. We identified our unique perceptions of the world, exploring biases and archetypes we might share, and brought them up in different exercises.
Some of our activities were shared directly over Zoom and others were on Miro. The activity below focused on destabilizing our conception of research as sterile, exact methods searching for definite truths. It also demonstrated how you could either focus on the exact truth of a research subject or the patterns and invisible associations hidden within it.
These activities provided insight into how and what our peers might think. As we have come across in past activities, we do not always share the same thoughts because of our various backgrounds. This conversation led us to why we need to incorporate research in our design.
To explore bigger questions and ways of seeing the world, research and consideration of ‘cultures’ will help create our designs to be more inclusive and sensitive to certain topics. Research in design accounts for the complexities of systems, explores different perspectives, and tests assumptions that we might come across. Without an understanding of Cultures and their role in Design, we risk mis-applying the correct methods and exclude several users. Cultures help us gain perspective and insights into the world and exposes us to differences.
Our last Miro activity discussed the kinds of stories our students brought up and the effect on their lives and the lives they share with others. We focused on calling to light the stories we tell ourselves about our own capacity and capacity-building as designers. In a later stage of the activity, students were asked to consider if there was conflict between media or personal connections and the stories that they would like to build.
The interactive activities on Monday brought up several chances to interact with our peers and engage in conversations. The stories shared remind us that we all have unique perspectives, some of which overlap and/or contrast. We have touched upon related topics such as inclusivity and worldviews over the last few weeks but with her lecture, Marysol introduced how resources such as research can be added to our growing list of design methods. When we hear multiple stories, we open up our perspectives and become critical thinkers. All of these methods helps us to become empathetic and insightful designers who can approach multiple subjects in different ways.
