In the book Glimmer(Berger, 2009), Warren Berger discusses
the controversy of doing too much research to do effective design.
Bruce Mau has his own philosophy called speculative
design. Although he thinks it’s important
to get in touch with your customers and understand their lives there is a
danger in relying on this too much. Mau
uses his speculative design to write down some initial thoughts on a proposed
design. (Berger, 2009) Although Mau does do the research he often finds his
initial speculative design is correct. (Berger, 2009)
The book discusses opinions from John Thackara and Cameron
Sinclair on if designers should stay to their local area in terms of focusing
on design improvements. (Berger, 2009) The
summary is that while some designers in an attempt to do a lot of research do
make mistakes in foreign environments, there are many more examples of
designers who have made a significant impact to the world by looking outside
their own environment. (Berger, 2009)
The Aquaduct, https://www.ideo.com/work/aquaduct
, is one such example designed by IDEO designers to tackle the problems of
sanitation and transportation of water in developing regions of the world.
I think one area that the book does not address and can
sometimes make a different is the passion that drives the designer. A designer who does not have passion for the
project and may lack some design skills may rely on research too much. I believe it is this passion that is the
difference and gives that person an ability to listen and pay attention better
than anyone else.
Berger, W. (2009). Glimmer: how design can transform your
life, your business, and maybe even the world. Random House Canada.
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