Jo-Anne Bichard

The Welcoming Workplace: designing for ageing knowledge workers

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to assess the needs of older knowledge workers with implications to the planning and design of office environments for this growing workplace demographic.Design/methodology/approach – Exploratory, user‐centred research focused on the design of the work environment was undertaken with older knowledge workers in the UK headquarters of a global organisation. A multi‐disciplinary group of designers, architects and applied social researchers utilised an integrated method approach, including interviews, group discussions and design interventions in the workplace.Findings – Matching the needs of older knowledge workers with the open plan office space, it is found that the workplace provides well for collaboration and teamwork activities, but fails to provide an adequate environment for tasks requiring concentration, ways of working that are alternative to the computer, and rest and recuperation.Research limitations/implications – The sample of the study is small and based on a ...

Designing ethnographic encounters for enriched HCI

This paper present three case studies of design research in HCI that has utilized an ethnographic approach to understand user needs. All of the projects were undertaken at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD), based at the Royal College of Art. The HHCD specialises in an inclusive design philosophy, which seeks to directly involve users in the design process. Two of the projects were undertaken as Research Council United Kingdom (RCUK) funded initiatives, and one was commissioned by a major technology company. They highlight how a design ethnography approach can be both rigorous for academic design research within HCI, and dynamic for the needs of the commercial sector.

The ethnography in design

ethnography has been the primary modus operandi of anthropology (social and cultural opposed to biological) since the ‘birth’ of the practice with Malinowski’s sojourn on the Trobriand Islands. In the classic introductory text on ethnographic practice, Hammersley and Atkinson ask, “What is ethnography?” and proceed to answer that it is the participation in peoples’ daily lives for an extended period of time; watching, listening, asking, and collecting everything that can be constituted as data. Yet Hammersley and Atkinson also knowingly unsettle this definitive list by asserting that there is no “hard-and-fast distinction between ethnography and other sorts of qualitative enquiry” (1995: 2).

Away from Home (Public) Toilet Design: Identifying User Wants, Needs and Aspirations

The accessible toilet has become symbolic of access provision for people with disabilities. However, for many disabled people, even the accessible toilet has a number of design limitations. This can be seen to derive from standardised guidelines developed from a ‘special needs’ perspective, which continues to separate the disabled body from the able body, by means of a tight design specification that has not been developed from multiple user consultation. This is an essential point, as away from home toilets can be considered one aspect of the built environment that potentially everyone will use at one time or another. In addition, as our audit study of Clerkenwell away from home toilet provision has shown, the lack of standardisation within the design and fitting of the accessible toilet has meant that many disabled people cannot count on the facility being fully accessible to them. For many people, even after the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act, poor design still forces them to ‘make do’ with the level of provision that is currently on offer.

Please Wash Your Hands

“How do you use the toilet?” This was the central research question we asked of 548 people during the course of our three-year study focusing on the design factors that aided or impeded users’ access to public conveniences.1 Such personal questioning focused primarily on those for whom using toilet facilities when away from home is often a stressful situation, notably people with a range of physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities, as well as parents with young children and women. Currently, poor or thoughtless design and its resulting provision appear woefully inadequate for twenty-first-century cities and the varied populations who inhabit them. Participants in the research were remarkably frank in their answers. Perhaps the many years of experiencing toilet facilities as the equivalent of “an army assault course” gave impetus for their full disclosure of toileting practices. “Assault” can also be considered an apt description of the sensory experience of the toilet cubicle. The sights and smells that greet the user may determine if the facility is fit for use. Those toilets seen to be clean, and smelling either neutral or of cleaning residue are those that instill confidence. Those that can be seen to be dirty or have the Jo-Anne Bichard is a Research Fellow in Inclusive Design at the Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre. jo-anne.bichard@rca.ac.uk

Creating Inclusive HMI Concepts for Future Cars Using Visual Scenario Storyboards Through Design Ethnography

His paper illustrates the use of scenario writing and storyboard visualisation methods based on ethnographic study of diverse personas, narratives, and user experience to guide automotive engineers and designers for creating innovative ideas and developing inclusive Human Machine Interface (iHMI) concepts for future cars in 2025 and beyond. This paper documents the importance of continuing visual research process based on anthropological case studies that looked into diverse persona, cultural and geographical attributes. These methods are used to visually analyse situational car use, thereby leading to scenario-based HMI tasks that can be applied to generate innovative user oriented future car designs. Storyboard visualisation of narratives is a method that derives from ethnographic interviews with strategically chosen car users from around the world. This is a powerful tool for analyzing situations, describing feelings, and evaluating the usability of functions within the car. With this visual process, future scenarios can be drawn in order to create new and inclusive HMI ideas and design concepts embedded within the storyboards to help engineers and designers’ to understand users’ different needs, exploring their expectations, emotions and motivations. The realistic details on the character illustrations of each persona are essential for better understanding of the users’ including older people, the visually impaired and wheelchair users, child and parent, technophobic or technophile persons. Each HMI concept can be sketched as required in task sequences, with detail and scaled paper model produced for detailed step-by-step design. The required interactions can be observed, photographed and captured on video for in-depth design thinking workshops. A series of HMI working design concepts for future cars will emerge from this pipeline for prototyping and engineering.

Getting to the bottom of toxocariasis prevention.

In last months issue of the Public Health, Black et al. present evidence for a deepening disparity in childhood obesity between the most and least deprived children in the United Kingdom and called for research into why this might be. While the reasons are no doubt complex and multifactorial, available spaces for outdoor play in more deprived areas, and their attractiveness or otherwise, might be an important factor. Specifically, areas heavily contaminated with dog faeces can dissuade people, including children and other vulnerable individuals, from taking outdoor exercise.

Creating an Inclusive Architectural Intervention as a Research Space to Explore Community Well-being

This paper outlines a 2-year active design research project coordinated in collaboration with Public Health Northern Ireland and set in the city of Derry/Londonderry to explore how inclusive design methodologies can produce interventions to improve community well-being. The research focuses on the waterfront of the River Foyle and how an inclusive architectural intervention challenged the areas’ negative associations. In the last decade, the waterfront has become synonymous with mental health crisis and suicide. This has led to the phrase ‘I’m ready for the Foyle’ becoming embedded within the communities’ language as a colloquial term for stress. This project seeks to extend inclusive design within the community, creating well-being spaces around the bridges and banks of the river, with outcomes focused on drawing people to the area as a place of celebration and life-affirming activities. The project has helped to develop Inclusive Design as a means of engaging a whole city in the redesign of public spaces for improved well-being.

Design Anthropology or Anthropological Design? Towards Social Design

Abstract In this article we will outline the practice of design anthropology, and define the term ‘social design’ vis-à-vis current changes in the world of industrial designers. We will highlight the various popular terms for this rapidly-growing discipline, and outline a ‘how-to’ in relation to industrial designers’ work in the studio. We will conclude by presenting two case studies in which a different approach towards anthropology should be integrated into the practical work of designers. One case study will present design anthropology from a pedagogical point of view, while the other will present a design anthropology workshop. A design methodology leaflet is attached as an appendix to better introduce design anthropology to designers.

Reducing Exclusion in Future Cars Using Personas with Visual Narratives and Design Anthropology

This paper presents the use of picture scenarios in a narrative form to portray aspects of car use, currently and for the near future. The scenarios are based on user personas and design anthropology. It aims to enable automotive engineers and designers to empathise and understand the experiences of different car users in diverse purposes, places and usage situations. Persona profiles are mapped from the ethnographic interviews that have been conducted with car users from different parts the world. These personas then are used in scripts, which are translated into a sequential visual language that provides insight for the development of Human Machine Interface (HMI) design concepts. Narrative visualisation provides a powerful tool for portraying cultural trends and individual differences, exploring different situations, describing personal reactions and feelings, and evaluating the usability of vehicle functions. This project has shown the value of using visual tools to analyse, compare and explore diverse personas, and cultural attributes based on ethnographic case studies to scenario-based HMI tasks applied to future car designs. Such picture scenarios can help engineers and designers explore driver and passenger behaviours, expectations, emotions and motivations. The realistic visual details of each persona lead to an improved understanding of the user needs such as for visually impaired, people with disabilities, children, parents, seniors, technophobic or technophilic people. A series of iHMI potential design concepts for future cars will emerge for selection and development.