Designing with video

Transcription

1 Designing with video

2 Salu Ylirisku & Jacob Buur Designing with video Focusing the user-centred design process 123

3 Salu Ylirisku, MSc School of Design University of Art and Design Helsinki Hämeentie 135 c Helsinki Finland Jacob Buur, PhD Mads Clausen Institute for Product Innovation University of Southern Denmark Grundtvigs Allé Sønderborg Denmark Proofreading by Cindy Kohtala. Layout design by Kalle Järvenpää. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Ylirisku, Salu Designing with video : focusing the user-centred design process 1. Engineering design 2. Video recording 3. Computer-aided design I. Title II. Buur, Jacob isbn-13: Library of Congress Control Number: isbn: e-isbn: Printed on acid-free paper Springer-Verlag London Limited 2007 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made Springer Science+Business Media springer.com

4 Preface Sometimes lack of knowledge can be a blessing. If I, Salu, had known how much it requires to piece together this book, a certain desperation might have overwhelmed me at the moment of beginning the to write. However, the great effort this book has taken stems largely from the dialogical character of authoring. The process was essentially a long and intensive text-mediated and video-mediated learning activity. Yet, one day the work must be said to be completed. And here it is. The book would never have reached this stage without the long experience of Jacob Buur, who has conducted numerous exciting research projects where new uses for video have been explored. Moreover, his wisdom in guiding the co-authoring of this book with me has provided a most wonderful opportunity for learning about writing, about video-making and about the philosophy of user-centred design. This writing process has provided an extraordinary channel for learning. I feel that only now do I know how little I know. I am indebted to the work by the early pioneers, such as Wendy Mackay, Brenda Laurel, Brigitte Jordan and Austin Henderson. Without their willingness to share their ideas and expertise, the book would be of much less value. This book is about video and its relationship to design. Especially, the focus is on how it can be taken as a tool for driving design. Video has a re-

5 vi Preface markable impact on people. However, where this impact actually resides is not so obvious as the following story shows. When this book was almost finished, I had a colleague visiting one morning at quarter past seven to capture a short video for a workshop with a national children s association, on the communication between parents and children. We had agreed on the time of the visit two days previously. Before the event I suddenly recalled the comment by Austin Henderson during a dinner with Jacob Buur. He had participated in a study that focused on interaction with a new collaborative tool, and he said that if he had known his actions would be analysed in so much detail, he perhaps would have declined to participate in that study. The video was so revealing. In the evening before the videotaping I had already begun to mull over the morning. Would I take the usual time to read the newspaper? What would I wear? Would I quickly check my s though it might make me look selfish on the video? Am I the kind of parent that just reads papers and checks s despite having two gorgeous children to take care of and this is why the person with the video camera is there? When my colleague arrived, we were already all awake, and my wife was just leaving for work. Pasi is here! my children shouted. He is quite familiar to the children, and his arrival transformed the morning into something quite different from the usual one. When the camera was put on rec and the shooting began, my five-year-old daughter started the show about how well she does everything by herself. The younger one (one and a half years old) was continuously looking at what the cameraman was doing. We had not had that easy a morning so far as regards putting clothes on. I, however, forgot to brush both the girls teeth. So, perhaps more than the audience, video influences its creators all the people who are present in the making of the video artefact. In this book we try to outline a more conscious user-centred design practice that is sensitive to how people collaboratively learn and become inspired by the user s reality, and how the authoring, moulding and sharing of video artefacts help to achieve the desirable changes that designers are after. We also aim to illustrate how video influences the user-centred practice through a rich variety of cases, method descriptions and some bits of theory. The book was authored in collaboration with numerous case authors, whose contribution was invaluable. They provided concrete examples and helped us learn more about how video may be employed in design. Thank you for this! Special thanks to Turkka Keinonen, who initiated the idea for

6 this book. Antti Raike, who created the cinemasense website (at has greatly inspired a closer look at what moviemakers and movie theory may offer design. Thanks also to Tuuli Mattelmäki, a long established colleague, who one day asked me to join the design research group at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. Many thanks also to those who participated in the various workshops that we arranged around this book and who helped to grasp the essence of the role of video in user-centred design. Thanks are due to tekes (The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) for funding the related work at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. Finally, many thanks to those of you (users, designers, managers, and others) who have let yourself appear on the videotapes! To return to where I started, the lack of knowledge: ignorance may help one to avoid being nervous, but it certainly does not help in professional design to construct something good for people. vii Preface Salu Ylirisku, Helsinki in January 2007

7 Contents 1 Video in design 1 User-centred design in transition 6 Does video solve design problems? 10 Where does video fit? 15 Video traditions in design 17 Making video efficient for design 25 About methods and the structure of the book 34 2 Studying what people do 37 The ethnographic camera 42 Capturing experience 55 π Method: Situated Interview 60 π Method: Shadowing 65 π Method: In-situ Acting 72 π Method: Self-recording 76 Co-exploring 78 Case stories Ageing workers 61 Freeride skiers 63 Plant operators 67 Ageing future 73 Lemmu the cushion 79 Mobile experiences 82 3 Making sense and editing videos 87 The art of interpretation 92 π Method: Interaction Analysis Lab 98 Interpretation as design 101 π Method: Video Card Game 105 Designing video artefacts 117 π Method: Video Stories 119 π Method: Video Portraits 123 π Method: Video Collages 130 Co-editing 132 Case stories Video sensemaking 111 Operator feedback 121 Kitchen impressions 124 Freeride attitudes 128 The conceptual door 133

8 x 4 Envisioning the future 137 Designing with video The future as theatre 142 π Method: Video Brainstorming 147 Improvisation 150 π Method: Puppet and Mask Scenarios 155 π Method: Acting with Props 162 Ethnography of the future 164 π Method: On-site Scenarios 171 Directing the future 173 π Method: Scenario Scripting 176 Co-creating 181 Case stories Phoning a deaf person 149 Kitchen puppets 156 The intelligent pump station 159 The social microwave 165 Smart packages 177 Context aware mobiles Provoking change 187 The psychology of change 191 π Method: Usability Highlights 194 Moving organisations 205 π Method: Vision Movies 211 Co-relating 227 Aftermath 227 Case stories Toons toys 198 Bathroom lighting 202 Let s Playnt! 207 It s ui Love 212 DrWhatsOn II 219 Lapland hiker 223 References 233 Index 239 dvd contents 244