Design Studios, Studying Design

Back in August, while attending the ICER conference, I discussed some work being done to incorporate the studio model into the computing classroom. Several people replied, sharing their own work in this area or knowledge of others' work. At least one person I spoke with believed the studio model was impractical. Interestingly enough, there is a discussion about the use of Design Studios within the UX (User Experience) community. In late August, the first of two articles in UX Magazine discussed the basics of Design Studio. The rationale for using Design Studios included the following:

"The reality of designing modern digital solutions is that no individual can solely capture all the complexity of creating a truly vibrant product with various customer engagement points, different usage patterns, and behaviors based on complex needs, goals, and customer backgrounds, all interwoven into an emergent, ubiquitous engagement tapestry. This is why innovation really is, and should be, a team sport."

The above quote reflects a key feature of UX work: obtaining a holistic view of the interactions, perceptions and ramifications of users interacting with digital artifacts. Beyond traditional user interface and graphical design issues (although those are relevant), to include all the complexities that people, as people, bring to the table and what that complexity means for their "experience" (hence the name User Experience). Cognition, affect, behavior, environmental and social factors.

The second of the articles, which came out today, provides resources and guidelines for how you can put Design Studios into action. Very interdisciplinary:

"Teams should be designed to have some balance representing various disciplines. Mix up key stakeholders representing various functions within the company. I have found that it’s crucial to include participants from sales and customer support. They bring a unique vision of the customer and the market to a process. Ideally, Design Studio should cut across executives, sales, customer support, product management, development, marketing, and experience design."

These articles are a great resource if you are interested in the implementation of design studios - either in the classroom or in your workplace.

If you follow the guidelines shared in these articles, ... what has your experience been?

Computing and Studio Based Design in Industry, Fine Arts and Architecture

One of today's most food for thought-ish ideas at the ICER conference (from my pov) started with the presentation of a paper by Chris Hundhausen from Washington State University entitled "Prototype Walkthrough: A Studio-Based Learning Activity for Human-Computer Interaction Courses" (HCI). Chris pointed out that studio models have been used for years in Architecture (of buildings and other structures) and Fine Art. The idea of experimenting with a studio model in computing courses is not in itself new. Studio courses have been tried in lower division computing courses and a few other places in the curriculum.

What really got my attention was when Chris, who worked for a few years at Microsoft Corporation as a Useability Engineer, claimed that industry uses a design model very much like the studio model and thus there was an added reason to teach computing in this way. His belief is that we should be able to take ideas from Architecture and Fine Arts pedagogy and apply them to the design phases of HCI pedagogy. My ears perked up. Another possible bridge point between industry and academia (the topic of several of my recent posts)? Architecture, Fine Art, Computing, Hi-tech industry...?

Chris broke down his study into great detail about the stages of design and how stakeholders talk to one another about design and several times referred back to industry practices.Very interesting and well grounded in details that sounded like they came straight from his industry experience.

Someone I was sitting with at my table referred me to another member of the audience who had experience in the studio model and a significant knowledge of design and Architecture and so, for another perspective, I went and spoke with this person. I asked her for ideas about how the pedagogical studio model techniques could be transferred from Architecture and/or Fine Arts to computing. To my surprise she told me in no uncertain terms that the studio model would *not* work in computing. She told me that the way a true studio model works is that the classroom is handed over to a professional who brings in a real project s/he is working on and the students work on it under the direction of the professional. The inverse I note, of sending students out to a client on a service project. In the studio model, according to my conversant, the professional comes to the students and the professor steps out of the way.

She claims this model will not work in computing because the cultures are very different between Archtecture and Fine Arts and that "you can't stand around a compiler and critique it". Is this true?

What do you think? A very thought provoking question. If yes, how? If not, why not?

Chris appears to believe (I'm doing some extrapolation here) that you can - or at least that there are significant fundamental tenets of the professional studio model that can be used in the design of HCI software.

Stretch your mind - can you bring a professional from the high tech industry into the classroom with a real project that they are working on and have them lead the class in a studio model inspired design process?