Rama Gheerawo

Inclusive Design — Developing Theory Through Practice

This chapter focuses on applied research projects run by the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre (HHRC) at the Royal College of Art (RCA) where an empathie approach is taken to the design process. The chapter is a description of the practical manner in which this method can be used and the emphasis is on how this and other user-centred design research methods can feed into the disciplines of engineering and design. The methodologies are not tied to one discipline, but have the ability to be transferred and adapted to suit any part of the design or engineering processes.

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).

Powerchord: Towards ambient appliance-level electricity use feedback through real-time sonification

Feedback on energy use mainly uses visual, numerical interfaces. This paper introduces an alternative: energy sonification, turning real-time electricity use data from appliances into ambient sound. Powerchord, a work in progress prototype developed through co-creation with householders, is detailed.

Introducing User-Centred Design Methods into Design Education

A crucial part of the practical application of inclusive design lies in working with user groups and involving them at all key stages within the design process. It is therefore increasingly important to introduce inclusive design principles into mainstream design education so that they can diffuse outwards into industry. This chapter looks at how design students and educators can be encouraged to work with user groups and it evaluates some of the practical methodologies that can be used to involve users within the design process.

Design Thinking and Design Doing: Describing a Process of People-Centred Innovation

This chapter outlines the benefits of Design Thinking as a creative framework for innovation that can be applied to projects and organisations across government, business and the public sector. It includes a short history of the Design Thinking approach to set context and define the concept. However, much of the ensuing discussion and evaluation of ideas and methods is based on recent publications, papers and journal articles to give a current view of academic and practitioner activities. At the heart of the approach is a people-centred focus, and the chapter discusses the role of Inclusive Design and design ethnography in underpinning Design Thinking. It outlines five principles: Involve People, Translate Design Thinking into Design Doing, Create Value and Capture Value, Follow the Arc of Design Thinking and Navigate Complexity. It aims to give an overarching view of Design Thinking, demonstrating the value that it can bring to diverse areas of research and application. Challenges and observations for progressing the approach are also noted.

Participatory Drawing in Ethnographic Research

The chapter reports on a participatory drawing research study conducted by the Royal College of Art within the SusLabNWE project. It sought to explore people’s notions of energy and to visualise their ideas and associations relating to it. The study is framed within the context of the broader ethnographic research tools that were employed by the SusLabNWE consortium. The study was conducted in three phases with visitors to the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design’s Life Examined exhibition at the Royal College of Art in September 2013; with students participating in the UK ArtScience Prize at The Silk Mill, Derby in April 2014; and with visitors to the Victoria and Albert Museum Digital Design Weekend in September 2014. Participants were offered drawing materials and asked to respond to the question: What does energy look like? In this chapter we discuss the outcomes of the research process, we analyse the images that were created and we explore what they tell us about the participants’ ideas about energy and what this could mean for energy visualisations.