Feeling the Ebb and Flow: How Holding Objectives Lightly is Leaving Space for Evolution in Design Processes
Master in Eco-social Design
Prof. Secil Ugur Yavuz
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INTRODUCTION
This essay will explore and attempt to distil some sense of clarity while reflecting on the decisions and actions undertaken, as well as the outcome and impact of 2 projects: Autonarrazione, carried out in the winter semester with OfficineVispa, and Gstōlt, created in the summer semester with BASIS Vinschgau Venosta.
Despite the linearity of the way this essay is written and read, both projects 1 and 2 in fact shared a non-linear, messy and at times frustratingly confusing design process. My work morphed flexibly between modes of research through, and research for design. It was self-generative, flexible, and adaptive. Each time I choose to tell the story of how we went from A to B, the story comes out differently. Here is one of many possible manifestations of stringing together a myriad of actions undertaken in the short timeframe of 3 months each.
By nature of the way the course and study program are organised, input and insights into design research methodologies often followed or existed in parallel to actions undertaken in the projects. Despite conscious attempts to apply the knowledge gathered in design research lectures, a major part of our research was often the result of intuition that found its terminology at a later point in the project.
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the most silly, wonderful, inspiring and dedicated group of people on both these projects: Cedar Schimke, Charlie Maybe, and Filippo Ciriani. Our collaboration taught me more than I could’ve imagined. I am also thankful for the advisors, partners and friends who shared their wisdom during this past year. Neither project would have been possible without their presence.
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PERSONAL APPROACH
‘Data’ and ‘knowledge’ exist in many forms, I learned to consider and apply new ways of knowing such as observation and generating thick descriptions that consider a more holistic picture; I unlearned the mindset that only ‘hard’ data and quantitative results common to natural sciences can be informative.
Moreover, context matters. I am re-orienting myself to become more aware of the influences my cultural and historical context has on the things I notice and the conclusions I draw from them. How I work, what I choose to do and don’t do, my value system and my framing of the world can have an immense impact on the knowledge I generate in my projects.
“When we act, who else is acting? How many agents are also present? How come I never do what I want? Why are we all held by forces that are not of our own making?”(Latour 2005, 43) Awareness of the context in the ‘them’ sense also impacts my work. Ethnographic research can highlight how historical and social contexts are shaping the actor networks in which I am working. I hold space to develop social imagination in order to address societal issues rather than personal trouble.
I adopt a mindset that is open and accepting towards failure. I see value in experiencing and learning by navigating conflict, friction, and discomfort within the project team and with the communities and societies I am designing with.
I notice and try my best to mitigate ‘extractive’ design practices, or ‘drive-by research’. Carpiano describes a process in which studies are “conducted by researchers who are only interested in their own study and, whether intentional or not, provide nothing in return to help the community, aside from maybe a few dollars to compensate individual respondents for participating in the study. (2009, 276)”
In addition to the ‘main’ designed artefact, my design approach also involves creating an accompanying object or item with a purpose of communicating the intricacies of the design and research process. The shape and form of the supplementary artefact differ from project to project but always emerge organically from the design research process. For Project 1, see Cards for Regenerative Design. For project 2, see The Great Turning and Codex.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I challenge myself to let go of control and fixation on goals and objectives. “Research is kept fluid and reactions to it free-flowing as long as there is a culture (particularly in the initial stages of analysis) of “anything goes.” (Bond cited Visocky O'Grady 2017, 18)” I allow findings from the research process to influence, shape, nudge and inspire design actions and choices. By holding on to visions lightly, I am allowing ‘real’ issues to become evident and ‘real' needs to be communicated, only then would I be able to adopt methods and processes that begin to address the needs.
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AUTONARRAZIONE
AUTONARRAZIONE
Project 1
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FRAMING
or, exploring context, problems and challengesWe also felt a sense of unease that originated from the collaboration. Don Bosco has been the site for our study program’s applied collaboration for a few years, as a result, we noticed a sense of weariness towards outsiders such as ourselves who have continued to be parachuted into their community for a few months at a time, and a burdened OfficineVispa that struggled to maintain and sustain past projects developed by our program.
In our initial meetings with our project partner, the issue of narrative distortion from external media emerged, coupled with a desire for autonomous narration. Gianluca explained, “external narratives are a big issue felt by the inhabitants of Don Bosco—there is a distortion of narratives between official media and what they actually live. The risk is that people internalize this distortion and keep feeling like a minority or peripheral.” Gianluca expressed interest in autonomous narration so that inhabitants of Don Bosco could describe themselves.
“I think an interesting goal is to make an important tool for a small community—a tool of expression and exchange, to stimulate the production of content by the inhabitants. So the community will be able to describe itself, by itself, and not being described as normally by the media. Because this is something that we are suffering.”
Gianluca Tenin, OfficineVispa
Gianluca Tenin, OfficineVispa
Research question: How can we cultivate autonomous narration in a community, within ourselves, and among fellow Eco-Social Designers?
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TOOLING
or, research processes and results We read and referenced Abrah J. Desdale’s Regenerative Design for Changemakers: A Social Permaculture Guide, Randall Teal’s Developing a (Non-linear) Practice of Design Thinking and adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy to understand how the four of us can navigate conflict, adopt non-linear design processes, and practice regenerative design in our work.
On free speech and storytelling, we reviewed Susan Williams’ Free Speech and Autonomy: Thinkers, Storytellers, and Systemic Approach to Speech.
Richard Carpiano’s Come Take a Walk with Me: The ‘‘Go-Along’’ Interview As a Novel Method for Studying the Implications of Place for Health and Well-being not only provided insights into interviewing as a research methodology, it also informed us of the notion and problems of extractive design practices in marginalised communities such as Don Bosco.
Expert interviews: The team researched design precedents and interviewed people in the field of audio research and community radio. Jenny Mitchell from CFRU 93.3fm, a campus and community radio in Guelph, Ontario provided in
Walking interviews: At the same time as we read and learned about interviews as research, we were field-testing the idea of autonarration by interviewing people from the Don Bosco. We explored the process and outcome of the interviews by generating thick descriptions that document felt senses when leading with questions rooted in common humanity compared to politicized academic topics like sustainability, poverty, etc. We continuously adapted interview methods to follow what works, and what felt the most connective. The purpose was to learn what feels most connective in the Don Bosco neighbourhood from empirical exploration and verify that the process described in academic publications and first-hand research accounts applies in the Don Bosco neighbourhood. We also began to build relationships with audio research as the purpose (or excuse) for connection.
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MAKING
We took an iterative approach to the project and understood that the outcome could not be predetermined. We were grounded in an understanding that design is a process of movement, not arrival at a fixed endpoint. As a result, our work can be broken into overlapping and at times cyclical phases that informed adjacent actions and decisions. We did not set out to ceate a single designed artefact. Instead, there was an ever-evolving idea of what we would do next, the possible outcomes we could generate, and the potential impact of our work.
From building a community radio in Don Bosco: We were excited about launching a community radio station and the purpose behind it. Through project planning, interviews, feedback, and research of design precedents, we understood the unmanageable scope of launching a full radio station in the given timeframe.
… to internet-based radio prototype: We adjusted our scope to a small, internet-based prototype that OfficineVispa could use as a model for their full-scale radio. Gianluca also shared concerns from past student projects that encouraged us to avoid overburdening our partner organization. Keeping our intentions and vision manageable was central to cultivating a regenerative relationship. We shifted our research to support our refocusing. This gave us a new lens and conceptual understanding to apply to street interviews/
…to interviewing in the community: We diversified our interview process, experimenting with broad, open-ended, and more specific questions to compare responses. We evaluated our process by paying attention to the content of the interviewee’s responses. In addition, we used thick descriptions to track the somatic experience and emotional connectivity of the exchange as perceived by the interviewer.
…to building an autonomous sonic bench: We noticed the impact of the human interviewer and specific questions. We asked how we could reduce our influence and give more autonomy to community narrators. Our learnings around bias, autonomy, interview process, and narrative theory directly informed our decision to remove a human interviewer from the interaction. We wanted to design a sonic bench that records, mixes and plays back audio, creating a loop of sharing within the community through listening to previous recordings left on the bench. The purpose is to provide a public, unmoderated space and opportunity for community members to share uncensored stories and perspectives; to increase narrative autonomy by removing a fixed question or human interviewer directing the interaction; to remove our ability, and thus bias, to choose who interacts with the object and contributes to the narrative.
…to simplifying the bench into a tin can telephone: We built and tested cardboard prototypes for an interactive audio bench, during which an idea emerged to model our object after a tin can telephone. We were drawn to the symbolism of a tin can telephone as a simple and playful object that created
a recognizable visual connection between the recording and listening components of the object. We called this object DIMMI.
…and collecting our learnings into a regenerative design card deck: A card deck emerged through our ongoing process of responding to feedback and applying our conceptual framework to the design process. We observed both our group dynamics and other student groups’ interactions. These observations and reflections on previous design experiences inspired the card deck as a tool for transformation. Taking inspiration from IDEO’s Method Cards and The Designer’s Critical Alphabet, we created a card deck to help break cycles of extractive design by cultivating self-awareness. It is a participatory toolkit that invites designers to reflect on their social and cultural position, as our group had practiced throughout the project. As a tool for transformation, the design deck aims to surface internalized narratives, conceptual frameworks, and invisible power dynamics. Through this awareness, the deck can enable individuals to transform mental models that shape their community engagement. Designers can choose to design differently rather than unknowingly perpetuating the same cycles and patterns.
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REFLECTION
or, key findingsWe deployed DIMMI in the community on two occasions before the project drew to a close and successfully elicited interest to stop and listen. From field testing our object, we identified gaps to patch and ways to improve the reliability of the software, and saw the need for additional signage with explicit instructions inviting participants to interact with DIMMI. There was also unanimous agreement in that we did not do sufficient testing to generate any usable data. The outcome at the point in time, when the project concluded, remains a high-fidelity prototype for more extensive data collection. Further deployment at GOG with a very different setting and context gathered learnings on impacts of a lack of censorship.
Cards for Regenerative Design resonated with other eco-social designers. We saw a lot of interest in expanding the card deck and deploying it into our teaching and future projects. It successfully communicated principles that guided the team and the project to those seeing the outcome for the first time.
We used the time we had to build meaningful relationships with project partners. However, we collectively felt the need for greater immersion in the Don Bosco community, primarily through participation in existing community projects, places, gatherings, and events. In retrospect, we would have spent more time directly in the community and less time in the university.