LIVE BRIEF 3 DITTO |
THE METHOD
'Your task is to develop your own research methodology and find a way to communicate that. It could take the form of a meta-project, or it could be more pragmatic and grounded in reality.
The important thing to develop in this project is a clear and defined way of looking at the world, filtering it and editing what you find to fit your interests and working practice.
Most successful designers have finely honed methodologies and this is your chance to really explore your own.
IMPORTANT: This project is not about producing pretty things. We don't care what it looks like, only how well considered and useful it is.'_
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_As inspired as I was by Ben's presentation, I was initially very confused, as were most in my group. It was kind of difficult to communicate with each other on such a big table in a crammed noisy room, so the task became an individual deliberation.
I think because I wasn't very confident about what was required of us, this limited the things I was thinking about.
The main things that came to me were the processes we learn with Fred last year during the Responsive module, in which we pulled apart and questioned our briefs. I do feel this is a method of working that has helped me get much more out of what I am doing as well as playing a part in directing the research I do for a project, therefore, my initial response to this task was to develop quite a vague, basic, systematic list of things I would do when receiving a brief_
1. Receive the brief
2. Determine the main points and all underlying factors.
3. Question everything
4. List what I NEED to know and why
5. List what I WANT to know and why
6. Determine ways in which I can find these things out
7. List any problems I could be faced with
8. Determine how these can be avoided
9. Undergo the 'research'
10. Repeat until sufficient
_When it came to the discussion with Ben and the rest of my group, It became more clear to me what we were being asked to do and why/how it would benefit us.
I acknowledged that I needed to develop something much more unique to my own practice and my own, and not just try and come up with something that I feel might be the 'correct' way to approach research.
It is quite a hard thing to do as over the duration of the course I have kind of programmed myself into a way of working that I openly admit is not the most effective or efficient - Taking to the internet as a fundamental method of 'researching' and frequently other methods that really don't direct anything that I am doing, just to say I have done them.
Another factor that makes it difficult is the fact that every brief is different and it is pretty hard to determine exactly what it is you need to do that is going to be beneficial towards the project_
From the discussion, I noted things that I need to consider to develop my methodology and approach the task from a more focused direction:
- What is my current methodology?
- What are the problems with this?
- What are the pros of this?
- How do I best learn?
- What approaches to research do I actually benefit from?
- What approaches to research are a waste of time?
- Would these change depending on the brief?
- How can I best stand out from the crowd?
- How can I focus more on the function than what it looks like?
- Approaching a brief without the final outcome in mind
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After the session I decided to look into existing design methodologies that have been developed.
The first source I found was a pfd of this book
Unfortunately it was a limited page pfd, and only showed 1 case study, but it definitely stood out to me as something interesting and relevant to my design practice. This method by Matt Cooke 'drives towards a more social agenda for graphic design', but proposes to keep the creativity flowing and enhance the design process.
Matt Cooke Research Method
