EXPORT – comparing design practices across disciplines



Intermediary project report by Satu Lavinen & Jaakko Nousiainen 16.5.2000

A study project at the Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki
Part of the Critical Information Spaces study project




KEYWORDS:
design practices, user orientation, professional identity, mediated design, communication, prototyping

AIM OF THE PROJECT:
* Clarify and compare user focused method practices in media design, industrial design and architecture
* Map the change of professional identity and ethics within mediated design


CRITICAL FOCUS:
What is communicated, how and by whom in the course of a design process

METHOD:
In the preliminary stage material is being gathered through video interviews with design professionals.
The questions relate to three categories, with emphasis on the first:

1. Design process
(design practices, client and end user participation in the design process)
2. Media strategies
(the role of communication and marketing)
3. Business models
(strategic design)



The first designers to be interviewed were:

artist Jan-Erik Andersson & architect Erkki Pitkäranta (Rosegarden productions)
glass designer Annaleena Hakatie (Iittala Relations)
HCI designer Markku Nousiainen (Icon Medialab)
architect Vesa Olkkola (Equator Helsinki)
fashion designer Tuula Pöyhönen (Luhta Home)
designer, managing director Ilkka Terho (Valvomo)



QUESTIONS:

1. Design process

* Internal company/organization communication models:
- What are the phases of the design process??
- What kind of methaphors or genres are utilized in the design process?
- What are the means of establishing a common language between the designer and the client?
- What is problematic in a design process communication?

* The status of the client:
- What are the different roles and who/what dictates the power hierarchy?
- Who else affects the design process?

* The meaning of prototypes:
- On what grounds are the prototype medias chosen?
- In what stage of the process are prototypes produced?
- Who comments on the prototypes?
- What kind of feedback do prototypes generate?

* End user:
- What is essential information about the end user?
- How are user groups segmented?
- How do the end users' style and lifestyle affect the process?
- How are the psychological, cognitive and physiological features of the end user taken in consideration?

2. Media strategies

* Product communication:
- How is the product image and the design communication strategy created?
- How does the medialization of the product affect the design? (branding, launching and visibility)
- How does market saturation affect the design and communication strategies?
(when price is no longer the key issue but instead the product is used for communicating
the users' need for distinction and quality)

* General communication practices of the branch:
- What kind of communication practices are being used?
(word-of mouth/conscious design management)
- How can current communication practices be developed?
- How do trade unions modify the professional identity of the designer?

3. Business models

- What is the meaning of corporate structure for the design?
(size and organisational model)
- Who concepts the design process?
- How are the design teams formed?



CONCLUSIONS:

In our intermediary report, and based on a small amount of interviews we found out the following things:

* The design process has changed dramatically over the last years with the growing importance and current dominance of aggressive medialisation and marketing.

* As a result of this the role of designers has diminished in the process: Designers now have less opportunities to control the way their work is being presented in the public. Therefore there seems to be a demand for a new type of design approach where medialisation and marketing is integrated in the process from the beginning.

* Prototypes seem to be used more for selling images and impressions for investors (internal/external) than for communicating actual usability for end users.

* The grouping pattern is market led, both on designers' and clients' side.

* Designers' intuition is not considered as an asset that could be utilized.

* There is a great variety in the way end user is taken into account in different design processes: In tabletop and lifestyle design information about end user doesn't necessarily help the designer who puts more value on personal intuition. In architecture the designers approach is more limited by the nature of the task and the life span of the product.