Design thinking workshop — Wallet project
In May 2016 I was invited by the head of the anthropological seminar at the Petnica Science Center to make a workshop about my MA thesis about student migration. At that time I was more than happy for the opportunity to talk to high school students and inspire them to apply for anthropology studies in Belgrade. Petnica Science Center is respected for its work and quality of seminars, so I was honored to be part of it and also I knew that I will spend time with smart people working in this isolated little place.
In order to agree upon the procedure, I met the Ph.D. student Nataša Stevanović, head of the anthropological seminar in the Petnica Scientific Center (Valjevo, Serbia). We went for a coffee and talked about “the life of anthropologists in Serbia” and all the challenges we have to go through. Eventually, she asked me: “So, what are you working on at the moment?” At that time I was working on the Design for Change Serbia project with the architect, educator and a co-founder of Vega youth Center, Vasiliki Akritidou. We were working in a primary school in Belgrade, leading the design thinking research for children aged between 10–12. I explained to her the idea behind the project and the story was appealing to her: “What you have just explained is much more interesting than your MA thesis. Could you make a workshop about your current project? “
With a big smile on my face, I accepted. It became official. My task was to explain to high school students what design thinking actually is and how they can apply it, or how I was applying it in the field of education. For this, I had to go through the books I’ve once read.
The first book I went to is “Design anthropology. Theory and practice” by Wendy Gunn, Ton Otto and Rachel Charlotte Smith. This book is a great introduction to the history of design anthropology. I would suggest this book to everyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of design anthropology and especially to those who want to study design anthropology.
Another book that I used as a reference is “Design anthropology. Object culture in the 21st century.” The book is edited by Alison J. Clarke and is absolutely amazing. In this book, you will find great examples of projects in which anthropologist gave their contribution. For the presentation, I picked some of the most interesting projects and shared them with the students.
Since the students attending the seminar already had solid knowledge about ethnography and research methods (they are super smart!), I had to introduce them to something new and interactive. I decided to keep them busy with the one-hour long challenge I read about at the Institute of Design Stanford’s website. In my opinion, the “Wallet project” is the best way to introduce “Design Thinking”. In the following paragraph, I will try to explain why.
An introduction to design thinking — Wallet project?
In this design thinking challenge, participants are invited to work in pairs. Their task is to design an ideal wallet for the partner. In order to do this, they need to follow certain steps. With every step, they are getting closer to the desired final product. This is an ideal opportunity to quickly go through the essential terms such as empathy, interviewing, research, observing, prototyping and redesigning. The original pdf example is available here.
At the beginning, the person who is designing is asked to make a sketch without talking to the partner. After empathizing, reflecting and trying to meet the needs of the partner, the final sketch is usually totally different from the first one.
Key points:
1. It was not rare that participants have said that their partners helped them discover what they actually need. This tells something about being a good interviewer too. Ask as many “Whys” as possible.
2. Very important is not to make an assumption or to get tired because of too many questions. Asking good questions will pay off.
3. It is better to double check everything before you put it into function. This is where you reduce your risks, costs, and energy and also make your customer satisfied with the product in the long term.
4. During the process, the designer can actually build a trustful relationship with the customer. This is how we open the process of designing for collective intelligence, cognitive diversity, and collaboration.
In 2018 I am still excited about the space that is ready and waiting for us anthropologists, other social scientists, artists and designers to join and create a completely new culture of thinking about products, applied science and collaboration in our daily working culture.
The specter of my work within design anthropology widened. Now I strongly believe in collaborative work and need of the “new wave” in applied anthropology in Serbia. I am happy to be part of its creation and with this text, I would love to invite all my fellow colleagues to join me on this journey.
Some other books that crossed my mind (Creative Confidence, Sprint Design, Designing you Life…) are just one part of what is going to come as follow up of this introductory unusual manifesto of the Collective Thinking Cloud project.
Petnica Science Center was the place where I spontaneously, experimentally and vulnerably started my journey. Meantime, I’ve got deeply engaged in studying creativity, productivity at work and working culture in Serbia. This is now my daily life and how I improve it by doing something worth sharing.
Love, inspire, create…
Venesa
