Tag archives: tips

Mistake-Practice-Reflexing

29May09

I simply stated his first paragraphs of each mistake involving Dsearch. you may like it or not, but he has a valid point. the first mistake is a pet peeve i have, I get very annoyed with rigid questions that does not allow for openness to discover. oh well, it is practice.

Mistake 1: Not thinking hard enough about sampling. This is the most important thing. Especially if you have a number of “researchers” contributing. You gotta think about who you are going to talk to or watch.

Mistake 2: Not doing any Pre-thinking.  If you don’t have a clue about the decisions your decision-makers have to make, then you aren’t giving them as much value as you could be.

Mistake 3: Trying to be unbiased.  Don’t try to be a blank slate.  It is a waste of time.  I say “Don’t think about pink elephants”, and what jumps right into your minds-eye.  Yep, you got it those darn pink elephants.  Instead, work with what you know already.

Mistake 4: Not connecting the Pictures Together Many times we focus so much at the mirco level of the customer that we don’t understand the clients macro-view.

Mistake 5: Having More than Five Variables.  Ok, so here is an easy one.  Focus in on 5 conceptual variables.  Not less than 3. Not more than 5.


via Design Research: 5 Mistakes to Avoid « TibetanTailor.

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A long over due quippit – lets support DesignSojourn Mentorship

27May09

I have not “quippit” in a long time, and for good reasons… when do people see me writing endless and not get anything done? I prefer to be mute (or talk when I need to) and just do! Of course this is my work mode… get me out of the office and you will see an entire different experience.

–I think it has to do with my two identities of being a PA Dutchman verses a RISDer. They are the same but complete opposites. Oh well that is another topic theory all together–

I guess I need a reflection cause well, 2006 I was burnt out from school, 2007 sort woke up and pick up interest in design research/strategy/ethnography, then 2008 addictive to web exploration (how to use the web like how I researched RISD style – it may have to do with a new laptop too), and finally 2009 woke up! But it is still morning for me this year. Still groggy, needing some tea, need to look around my studio and my mind saying “what the heck did I do late last night.”

So this is where I am at:

Few years fresh from school with tons of personal questions and these are questions that no one can really give an answer for them. Or they can be answer but I know what the answer would be and yet don’t wish to hear it… But like others I am sure you have questions about design and so I came across this Designer Mentoring Program

Reading it, I was left with this question, what is a mentor? No really, what makes people a mentor to others? What does a mentor means to someone?

Cause think, what makes a mentor different than a lecturer? A lecturer just tells you their statement and expects you to apply it. UH? Don’t you ever feel from some people that you are “told” to do something their way without questioning or debating? …that is lecturing… and you have no say or objection.

But a mentor… well, to me a good mentor is a person who you come to with a question and you ended up not really answering the question but creating an renewal sense of inspirations of newer questions for you to figure out.

So if you are curious about this program just as much as I am, you just need to be an industrial designer or in that field of product design with little or exponential amount of experience. And from my perspective it is no fun if you don’t already have a baggage of questions to get started on the journey.

The other side of my curiosity is the “how” it works and maintaining that relationship. First it is a global situation so you will be using the “IN” thing these days… social media… yeah, I am intrigue with the whole social media because for me it makes my job easier and cost effective.

Lets face it, many American clients does not see the insight of design research yet. I don’t blame them, since I am having difficulties understanding how non – visualizing researchers translate their findings to the egocentric visualizing designers for product innovation. It is that part of the design process still not easy to cross. Of I don’t forget the other bridges in the design process that is difficult to cross either.

Maybe my next quippit will be my conflicting personalities… I have to ponder on that some more it might sound like I need to go to a mental institution or something.

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CarbonMade for artists + designers

22Apr09

a new looking way to display your portfolio online. pic is the link.

carbonmade

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Influence … and … design

31Mar09

Instead, influence is iterative—each successful influence opportunity builds on the last. We want to make that cycle an upward spiral that lets us make bigger and better impacts on the decisions made in the organizations we work with.

  1. Reciprocity
    If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. People feel obliged to do things in return for someone who has done something for them.
  2. Authority
    People are more persuaded if they recognize the influencer’s authority. Third-party authority can also be used to bolster influence.
  3. Social Proof
    “Everyone else is doing it”. Seeing other people take the same course or lean a certain way makes someone more likely to be persuaded.
  4. Commitment & Consistency
    People are more likely to be influenced when they have made a small commitment or are acting in a way that are consistent with how they see themselves.
  5. Liking
    People are more likely to be convinced by someone they like. Liking comes from things like humor, similarity, attractiveness.
  6. Scarcity
    People are more likely to be persuaded when they have a sense of scarcity. That might be a deadline (scarcity of time) or scarcity of inventory (”it’s the last one in the store”).

LINK

be sure to check bplusd blog….he has been going on a tangent recently about the subject of influence and the philosophy of decisions and decision making, how ironic cause right now i am reading the book “how we decide”

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New addiction – Sloan Review

26Mar09

Today is a new addiction for myself – access to sloan review achives…. it all started for a simple random interest search for brainstorm tactics… LINK

but i discover this article which i will state some qoutes but can’t show it all cause of copyright issues…..MIT got all angles covered….

“One of the reasons that recommendation offerings are proliferating is that consumers today are overwhelmed by “the paradox of choice” — so many choices to make, and no easy way to distinquish among the offerings. Producers face the opposite problem: They need to make wise investment decisons in a world cluttered with cultural products. They seek to mitigate the increasing risks of developing and distributing new offerings. For both consumers and producers prediction and recommendation capabilities are particularly important today.”

This is a problem considering that manufacturing capablities are moving faster and faster and apply cheaper solutions to building products…we are then flooding our market with products that people literally need to be “emotional moved” by the branding and graphics—statements like—”I must be the first to have it” (us youngster’s say) or “Oh i should get that, my friend was telling me about it the other day” (the older generation say). but i must say, this article is a great at pointing what the book “paradox of choice” is about. For the product industry it is a must read.

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TEDing again.

03Mar09

Found a deep article to help explain TED. yeah i could just look at the TED website but it is too intense to navigate, i get side tracked by all the videos. And never seem to decide which to watch, the paradox of choice…

first, i like to say that i never thought TED is this old — started in 1984, so it is pretty much as old as me. Second, a conference, bet that cost money to get into, and have to say i get too ingrain to the “listenings” of conferences that my hearing sense shuts down after 4 hours. Forgive my deafness, just blame it on the education system to base their teaching just alone on listening and responding, never using visuals to engage our sense of sight.

but what i like is that now they have been posting their videos since 2007. HA, that is pretty much when i found them, either i am very sharp witted –or– just stupid lucky –or– someone is actually doing their job with the power of internet; I don’t know which?

The article mentions that scientists are starting to sound like artists… this is the point  to clarify we are shedding our 21st mentalities and removing boundaries of what makes a person a particular role – scientist, artist, writer, accountant, musician, filmmaker, homemaker, kid, programmer, etc, etc – if i really want to give a metaphor – the medieval renaissance period – Leonardo was no #1 role, he was multiple.

And this bothered me about being an industrial designer coming from RISD, all the starting jobs for grads are about having one good skill, which for most firms computer rendering. How stupid do these places take us for to just know one skill? Diversity is the secret towards a successful career. I do have to admit to get your foot in the door is very difficult if you are diverse because most companies will not know what to do with you if you came on broad, they might fear you. My stragety at first is to hide my A’s up my sleeve. Once I am in the job, i start saying, “Oh, i can do that… Oh, that will not take me long… Oh if you try it this way…Oh i do this all the time…Oh try this trick…Oh you want to know a faster way…”

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Freelancing Tips

09Dec08

Passing along to all design freelancers out there.

The typical statements one gets when not getting paid for their work. I did very little freelance work, due to the idea of sinking lower than my worth. But for every beginning, we have to start somewhere to get anywhere.

The way i see positive value of freelancing is displaying the work in your portfolio for future avenues of success. This does not apply to freelancing but also to interning at places too.

  • “Do this one cheap (or free) and we’ll make it up on the next one.”
  • “We never pay a cent until we see the final product.”
  • “Do this for us and you’ll get great exposure! The jobs will just pour in!”
  • ” On looking at sketches or concepts: “Well, we aren’t sure if we want to use you yet, but leave your material here so I can talk to my partner/investor/wife/clergy.”
  • “Well, the job isn’t CANCELLED, just delayed. Keep the account open and we’ll continue in a month or two.”
  • “Contract? We don’t need no stinking contact! Aren’t we friends?”
  • “Send me a bill after the work goes to press.”
  • “The last guy did it for XXX dollars.”
  • “Our budget is XXX dollars, firm.
  • “We are having financial problems. Give us the work, we’ll make some money and then we’ll pay you.”
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