Author(s)

Nicolas Nova: a professor within the Master's program in Media Design at HEAD, Genève and a founder of the Near Future Laboratory.

Research Location/Institution

Genève (Geneva University of Art and Design)

Country

Switzerland

Date

2014

Writing Style

Academic style

Publication

Beyond Design Ethnography: How Designers Practice Ethnographic Research, published by SHS (Berlin) & HEAD – Genève

Context

• Historical Evolution: The focus on people has evolved through three intellectual "waves":
  1. Human Factors (Post-WWII): Focused on physiology and ergonomics, such as measuring human dimensions to ensure a physical product (like a car or desk) was suitable for the body.
  2. Cognitive Science (1960s–70s): Viewed humans as "information processors." Designers focused on optimizing the efficiency of information transfer between a human mind and a computer.
  3. Phenomenological Approach (1990s–Present): With the rise of mobile technology, designers began focusing on "situated action". How people interact with technology in the flow of real-world, unpredictable environments rather than controlled labs.
• The Goal of Design Ethnography: Unlike academic anthropology, which seeks to build broad social theories, design ethnography is applied and inductive. Its primary goal is to produce "thick descriptions" of everyday life to reduce the uncertainty of "designing for the unknown".
• The "Black Box" Problem: The author identifies a lack of precision in the field. Many designers use ethnographic terms as a "mantra" or "catch-all" without explaining exactly how they turn a field observation into a specific design decision.

The Practice of Field Research

• Three Main Motivations for Research:
  1. Inspiration
  2. Evaluation
  3. Knowledge Generation: To identify long-term themes, such as why people are reluctant to adopt certain new technologies.
• The Workflow Timeline:
  • The Brief & Preparation: Designers start by "breaking down" a client’s often broad or technical question into a human-centered one. They conduct "desk research" to review existing studies and patents so they don't "reinvent the wheel".
  • Research Design (Sampling): Selecting who to study. Beyond random samples, designers often seek out "extreme cases" to seek new possibilities, or "beyond-users" (people who refuse to use a product) to get a bigger perspective.
  • Collection Methods: Techniques include contextual interviews, participant observation, and "object shadowing" (tracing how an artifact, like a newspaper, moves through a city).
  • Analysis: This is the process of "data reduction." Designers review their notes and photos multiple times to cluster similar items into **"affinity diagrams" (**visual categorized maps of goals, problems, and interactions).

Possible Biases

The study participants were primarily located in Western Europe and the USA.

The research specifically targets media, interaction, and speculative designers, which may not represent all design fields.

Terminology

Wizard of Oz Prototypes: A testing method where a human (the "wizard") simulates the behavior of a non-functional technological prototype.

Emerging Questions

How can designers ensure they are not merely projecting human-centric values onto the people they study?