Category Archive: Process

1. The floundering pitch

   March 5, 2015 3:33 pm| 10 Comments

    

   

   Ugh, what now? (Photo via Flickr user r. nial bradshaw)

   I have been trying to wrap my head around vulnerability recently. Yes, I finished reading Brené Brown’s “Daring Greatly“. No, I am not the first person to do so or to be taken with the concept of vulnerability as a powerful force in our everyday lives. I am now hunting for people with whom I can speak about the topic. I am also observing people as they write, share (or don’t) and why. I am also keenly aware of what they write and why they choose to take the approaches that they do.

   I have a prototype with which I am wrestling in an attempt to move forward with my findings so far. One is a journal for innovators to use while in process. It is inspired by my habit of using the 5-Minute Journal and the ways in which I have seen it change my behavior. This prototype is also inspired by my seeming inability to stick with my sticky-note-a-day habit. I have also been observing others struggle with a daily habit of recording around their daily process. Then there are the requests to promote projects via social media and other avenues without the context of what they learned and their path to success through struggle and failure.

   But I  (yes, me!) am actually having the hardest time getting started. All I have to do is fire up InDesign and begin. But, for whatever reason (fear?), I am not doing it. I am checking Facebook, sharing interesting things I have read on Twitter and generally procrastinating. I am not short on time either. I had almost three uninterrupted hours to work on this project at one point and numerous occasions to bang out the prototype, which is currently in the messiest stage imaginable as you can see here:

   

   The mess contained in my notebook. I am struggling to get from this to a prototype. And, yes, that is my absolutely ludicrous attempt to draw a camera. (Emi Kolawole)

   I’ve really got nothing. (more…)

2. Switchmate: Making a business d.school style

   March 4, 2015 5:12 pm| 1 Comment

   

   What if you could automate your in-home lighting in a matter of seconds? (Photo provided by the Switchmate team)

   If you want to automate your home today, chances are you have to change something major about it. It may mean switching out a thermostat or replacing a light switch. There’s no getting around fumbling with wires, a screwdriver, and hoping not to get electrocuted. So, how are people supposed to try out home automation when it’s so hard just to get started? We created Switchmate to solve this problem, launching it as part of d.school’s fifth Launchpad class. Our device snaps right over a light switch and lets you control it from your phone in seconds without rewiring.

   Our first major hurdle was to discover who our users would be and what their needs were. In order to do this, we built a basic prototype and stood outside of hardware stores, including Home Depot, Costco, and Lowe’s, testing the prototype with average people and writing down their thoughts before we were eventually kicked out. (more…)

3. Insights after the dust settles

   February 19, 2015 11:28 pm| Leave a Comment

   

   Students work with Jen Cotton, a designer at Twitter, during their final design review for Redesigning the News Ecosystem. (Emi Kolawole)

   It’s over. In fact, it has been over for a while. I just needed some time to recover.

   The class, in all, was a wonderful prototype — an attempt to have a group of people from multiple disciplines consider the entirety of the news ecosystem, ascertain a challenge worth tackling and wrestle with deeply-held assumptions.

   I had one, simple gauge for success: one person walked away recognizing the power of empathy in breaking through this incredibly sticky and broad challenge. While my lecture on empathy fell somewhat flat, I heard from a couple of students that they had a new understanding of empathy in relation to the traditional journalistic interview — a huge achievement, at least from my vantage point.

   

   Jae Rhim Lee (center), a d.school fellow, artist and former TED fellow, tests prototypes with students. (Emi Kolawole)

   The larger goal, however, was to have students arrive at new insights when it comes to information, media and, yes, the news. I say the “news” last because, the news is merely a subset of information and is expressed through media. It’s the media part I am particularly interested in. In all honesty, I don’t quite have my head around the size of the challenges — yes, plural — that exist for me and the d.school’s media design team in that space.
   (more…)

4. Redesigning the News Ecosystem: The final stretch

   February 12, 2015 11:34 pm| 1 Comment

   

   Students churn away on their ideas, implementing constraints and iterating on their ideas. (Emi Kolawole)

   I am exhausted.

   The idea of writing this post is terrifying (nothing good can come of this level of fatigue), yet here I am. Before I launch into our third class, I wanted to take a moment to remember media critic and award-winning journalist David Carr. I was incredibly inspired by David’s work — especially this posting of a class curriculum on Medium. Aside from being a marvelous reading list, it hit me between the eyes as the future of what learning could and should be — shared.

   In that spirit, I’ll continue.

   Our third class focused primarily on an exploration of the latest in media technology and idea generation with a particular focus on constraints. We ran students through a lecture on experiments happening in new startups and established media organizations. Then we had students take ideas they came up with in the last class and go through a series of constraints.

   Remember, constraints can be fun.

   The ideas evolved, with some of the constraints leading teams down entirely new paths. We then asked each team to draw their idea, prompting to show, not tell. Then, each individual team member sat, heads-down to draw the idea for themselves, iterating alone.

   

   A team populates a whiteboard with new ideas during class three of “Redesigning the News Ecosystem.” (Emi Kolawole)

   When teams return on Friday (tomorrow, yikes!), they will be called on to prototype rapidly (one hour) and then test those prototypes with class guests. (more…)

5. Please read this in your underwear: A thought on the new public speaking

   February 9, 2015 6:30 pm| 1 Comment

   

   Photo by Flickr user Photo Cindy

   I want to write more. I do.

   But the thing is… writing is f#$%ing hard.

   But, as I sit here with knots in my stomach trying to tie up my first blog post on the whiteboard, I’m realizing that writing isn’t actually the hard part. In fact not only is it not hard, it’s kind of easy. ‘Kind of enjoyable.

   Actually, I kind of love writing.

   And to be honest I’ve always loved writing. I have notebooks filled with poems, prose, noodles, doodles, sketches and scripts. Not necessarily the kind that wins awards or gets A’s on essays – but I have writing. Lots of writing. So this should make it easier right?

   Nope.

   Because that is when my inner critic creeps around the corner of my cranium. Especially, and ironically, since joining the d.school. (more…)

6. Designing a drive to make a difference for girls

   11:20 am| 1 Comment

   Update: The Kickstarter is underway for this project. You can learn more about Girls Driving for A Difference and show your support through March 26, 2015. 

   The more time I spend practicing design thinking in the d.school, the more inspired I feel to share the methodology with others and take creative leaps in my own educational experience.

   

   Katie Kirsch, right, will be going across the country as part of “Girls Driving for a Difference”, an initiative she co-founded with Jenna Leonardo, left.

   This year, my colleague Jenna Leonardo (’15) and I co-founded Girls Driving for a Difference, a team of Stanford students using design thinking to empower young girls across America to become leaders of social change. This summer, our team will be driving an RV across the country, visiting over 50 diverse communities, and coaching design thinking and leadership workshops specifically geared towards middle school girls. These workshops will be designed to give girls the tools, inspiration, and creative confidence to discover their purpose, enact social change in their communities, and envision their dreams for someday changing the world. (more…)

7. A flare within a flare

   February 4, 2015 3:25 pm| Leave a Comment

   

   Participants engage in an exercise before the workshop. (Emi Kolawole)

    

   I have yet to meet a brainstorm I don’t like, assuming the basic rules are obeyed. Those rules are pretty simple:

   • There is no such thing as a bad idea.
   • Get as many ideas out there as you possibly can.
   • Build on others’ ideas.
   • Don’t force the energy — when it starts to subside let the flare go.

   Late last month, I was a facilitator for the Global Shapers of Palo Alto‘s Shaping Davos event here at the d.school. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a member of the group’s leadership team this year, actively recruiting members to a community I have been a part of for the past three years. The Global Shapers are an initiative of The World Economic Forum, which, last month, hosted its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The Shapers’ initiative is an opportunity for young leaders to formulate self-directed communities, leveraging their skills to improve the state of the world.

   (more…)

8. Rock a 60-minute work session

   January 28, 2015 1:10 pm| Leave a Comment

   There’s a big difference between the way teams collaborate when they’re in a facilitated design workshop and when they’re left to their own devices.

   In many instances the difference is clear, and there are observable behaviors that illustrate it: Is the team seated or standing? Are all teammates actively participating? Is there more action or talk of taking action? Are teammates rushing around or lallygagging?

   I have a hypothesis around this: during a facilitated workshop each minute is accounted for. This means time and energy are shaped with enormous intention. On the other hand, a typical mid-week work meeting can be an amorphous, group-improvised mess that lacks energy, alignment, or action.

   Frequently, when teams get a small dose of design thinking through a facilitated workshop, they walk away feeling as if they can embody design thinking in everything they do. That feeling often doesn’t translate to a change in their mode of working, however. In other words, they might change the subject or setting of a meeting, for example, but not the way the meeting itself is conducted.

   Some of the most highly-functioning design teams I’ve ever seen prioritize alignment around what mode of working they need to be in, for how long, and to what end. So, how can we give those new to design thinking the same tools and, more importantly, help them realize their creative agency in designing how their meetings are conducted?

   Here’s my attempt to act on my hypothesis and bridge the gap between experienced and novice design teams when it comes to conducting a great work session. Consider this little framework as a fill-in-the-blank guide and script that can be applied to any work session (and adapted in any direction to suit your needs):

   

   Feel free to click on the image to see a larger version or right click to save it to your desktop. (Adam Selzer)

   (more…)

9. Reminder: Constraints can be fun

   January 23, 2015 3:46 pm| Leave a Comment

   

   Sometimes constraints can be a great way to spark new ideas. (Photo by Flickr user Nana B Agyei)

   I am currently in the middle of writing another, longer piece (well, two really), but I was reminded of something I often forget in design work: introduce fun constraints during brainstorming.

   Often, we think of constraints in negative terms. They are limits or boundaries that introduce an opportunity for judgment and correction. But constraints can be really fun and spark ideas your mind may not otherwise settle on. I even wrote about one this week centered around a famous fast-food chain.

   Here are some others I have heard today during a class visit:

   • All new ideas must involve a tree
   • Everything must be pink
   • It has to cost $1 million
   • It must involve a microchip

   The list goes on. When was the last time you introduced a design constraint during a brainstorm? Let us know in the comments.

10. d.compress: Designing for discovery & intent

    January 16, 2015 12:19 pm| 1 Comment

    

    Students gathered at the d.school at the end of the 2014 fall quarter to participate in d.compress — an event meant to help them synthesize the previous quarter and look forward with intent. (Olivia Vagelos)

    A workshop was held at the d.school just before students left for the holidays. Aptly called “d.compress”, it offered students an opportunity to retreat from the stresses and pressures of the fall-quarter finals period.

    The event was organized by d.school Course Production Lead and Stanford alumna Tania Anaissie and Stanford alumna, designer and entrepreneur Olivia Vagelos. Invitations were sent out to the d.school community with a sign-up sheet. The event was geared primarily towards students and, as the weather turned rainy, came with the offer of hot chocolate and cookies.

    Curious, I signed up.

    We gathered in the media production studio (nicknamed “Studio 4″) on the second floor of the d.school. The room is small, cramped and generally locked. But Olivia and Tania transformed the space into a lounge. There was soft lighting, music and, yes, hot chocolate and cookies. (more…)