BY DAN BANASIK
This has been an interesting course for my second semester as a graduate student. I feel the course does a great job introducing and giving an overview to the many approaches used in design research. As an industrial designer, I have dabbled with a few of the methods we discussed but never received instruction until now and was not familiar with official terminology. Sanders & Stappers book, Convivial Toolbox, is certainly a great resource and very timely. Some of the generative tools such as tool kits seem silly at first until you understand the potential outcomes of the process.
I personally enjoyed the Skype calls with Katie Unrath, Rob Strouse and Dr. Paul Scudieri. Being that design research is still a growing field, having the chance to talk to practicing design researchers added some validity to the course. The information shared, although somewhat limited due to confidentiality, was straight forward, down to earth and great advice. Nice people.
I also enjoyed putting together the presentation on Emotional Design. The topic hits home with me as I tend to get very passionate and emotional when designing products. I think a lot of my emotion and empathy stems from product development in the woodworking industry. Serious woodworkers have high expectations of their tools and supplies. Understanding the pain points allows for great product design and problem solutions.
My goal beyond the MFA in Design is to teach. The methods, techniques and approaches to design research are certainly valuable to all fields of design especially at the undergraduate level. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to incorporate and apply this knowledge to inspire future students. If not, I can also see myself returning to industry with a progressive approach to design research. Focusing on the fuzzy front end to unlock product design solutions can be more rewarding then physically designing the product itself. In this ultra-competitive world of today, there is no such thing as too much research.
Design Denizens 