Being the son of an architect and an engineer, I grew up with design thinking all around me. Something I realized after many years of being a design practitioner was that there is a design vernacular that we often take for granted.
When thinking about the user experience, one really has to think about the kind of information that the end-user needs from you to make a decision about how they are going to interact with and/or consume your product. This means that you need to put yourself in their shoes and think through what they need.
The ethnography is the staple of anthropological fieldwork, since it is the distillation of the anthropologist’s experience while carrying out participant observation within a culture. Ever since post-modernism, the value of the ethnography has come into question as an accurate – albeit static –representation of culture.
As I was thinking about the age old question (to which I have my own answer), I applied it to something near and dear to my heart, music and my iPod. As of late I have been appreciating the tenets of Agile as a method for innovation more and more. The concept of fail often, fail early, learn and repeat are something that I can get behind.
There are a great many things that can be said to be ritual. There are the native and tribal rituals that we so often read about in ethnological accounts, and the religious rituals that some of us participate in on weekends – sometimes on weekends for those more committed.
One of the things that I love most about working in a large organization, is the availability of tremendous amounts of knowledge and wisdom that lies in pockets of people throughout the vast expanse of human resources. Much like tide pools by the shore, in these individuals you can find a rich spectrum of experience, and if you are willing to dig a little and pay attention, you will be pleasantly rewarded with nuggets such …
One of the things that I have noticed as of late is that a lot of the literature out there talks about the importance of good content in terms of fulfilling objectives for your target audiences. I would like to build on that.
As I sat on the couch this morning, I began to realize that a general sense of wellness arise within me as I played guitar. Then I began to realize that I get that same sense of well-being when I paint, write, or play other musical instruments. In other words, when I create.
