people are at the heart of the process.
Design is fundamentally about people; this section explores this notion and depicts my findings. Using videos as a sketching tool is a significant aspect to my exploring of people.
The research carried out to investigate people is varied - some experiments lengthy and structured, others short and unstructured. This aspect of 'Douceurs' was approached with the aim of truly understanding techniques and adapting them to suit my project,ultimately leading to moving away from designing around typical needs to designing for more unusual needs.
trip to aberdeen.
The time consisted of:extreme user interviews. rapid ethnography. historical analysis. drawing the experience. character profiles and social network mapping.
The experience enabled me to truly understand the way communication used to be; and empathise with the way new technology communication devices are perceived today. The group consisted of seven ladies; friends of my aunts. This group of elderly ladies, welcomed me into their home and relayed many memories about lots of things ranging from mobile phones to chewing gum.
We ate cakes and drank lots of tea. The ladies brought along letters, telegrams and postcards to discuss. The whole experience truly made me look at elderly ladies in a new light; their stories were wonderful...
This meeting was of a different nature to the previous; I asked lots of questions and had one- to-one discussions, where as in the previous visit I was much more of a fly-on-the-wall immersed in their environment and rituals. The best part of this meeting was the participants efforts in drawing their memories. The physical act of drawing the remembered objects sparked conversations about handwriting and pens and pencils...
This experience reinforced my belief that romance and history is lost in the way we communicate today. I intend to create a poetic solution which encompasses the beauty and simplicity of old media communication with new methods of communication.
This video shows the highlights of my visit to aberdeen.
The next section depicts my venture of using balloons as a method of communication.
I would like to thank all the members of the public who text me and took part in the experiment.
This video shows my findings.
experience prototyping.
This service was designed with the goal of immersing myself and members of the public in my project'. Free-typing service' took place on a blustery day in St. Andrews. The service was advertised prior to the event on my blog and was advertised on the route to my typing location.
I decided to situate myself next to a post box to improve the likelihood of participants posting their letters off there and then. I also provided stamped envelopes and examples of previously written letters to encourage people to take part.
Inside each letter someone posted off was a stamped postcard, asking the receiver to post it back to me with specific feedback; allowing me to gain some physical feedback. Each postcard said thank you for participating and asked a question related to 'Douceurs'.
It was a success. What a wonderful feeling being the messenger between family and friends. One lady even asked me to type a letter to her cat. Hopefully people who receive the letters will respond to the postcards hidden in the envelope and I will get a few surprises through my letter box over the next few days.It is significant to note that I attracted the attention of the elderly people more than youngsters.
This video illustrates my experience prototype.
This next video shows a quick and dirty research experiment of using paper aeroplanes a medium of communication.
Delving into communication products of the past has been a large part of my investigation. Analysing the form and function of these objects has enabled me to be mindful of the essence I want 'Douceurs' to capture. I was particularly drawn to this pocket typewriter, originally sold in Paris.
This is the nature of the messages this object created.
The history of these objects are rich with cultural aspects and social connotations. The typewriter in particular played a monumental role in developing womens place in society; the typist was often the source of affairs and secret romances.
A man called Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press with loose type in the 15th century, he cleared the way for the gradual proliferation of the printed word.
The obvious progression from this stage would be to use this wonderful printing technology to design a machine that could take over the cumbersome task of handwriting. The mechanism in a clock is far more advanced than in a typewriter so why did it take the inventors over 400 years to create a typewriter?
Well it seems there was no need for typewriters in a world were cheap labor was dominant and machines were expensive. It was not until later in 19th century that there was indeed a need for the typewriter.
Mass production of this typewriter : the Sholes and Glidden began in 1873.
The typewriter then became one of the great inventions of the 19th century communications technology, alongside the telegraph, telephone, photography and gramophone. It gained a respected place in wealthy homes. This is a family portrait from around 1890 where the three men play violin (left), read a book (right) and write on a typewriter(center).
cultural probes.
'Douceurs' cultural probes were designed to give me an insight into various individuals lifestyles, thoughts, opinions as well as capturing their environment. I strived to enrich the participants relationship with the postal service and the human word by creating a pack created using brown parcel paper, string, nib and ink and a typewriter. In receiving the pack the participant received "a beautiful and well thought out parcel"probe participant.
Participants were selected carefully in order to encompass different age groups, different backgrounds and different cultures. In sending the probes to countries such as America and Norway it has enabled me to gain a first hand insight into the aesthetics of their postal systems. Furthermore, the fact the participant posted it back to me heightened my enthusiasm for 'Douceurs' each time I arrived home to find a parcel waiting for me.
An introduction to the pack was in the form of a scroll, written using nib and ink and sealed with sealant wax; letting the participant know the title of my project and understand the invaluable impact their contribution may have on my thinking...
A list of statements followed such as 'I have written a love letter '...'I have snapped a pencil in half' ...which the participate indicated if true. The introduction letter also wished the individual luck. A tiny light bulb was also part of the package, providing a source of light to enhance the participants thinking.This idea was based on the concept of writing and reading by candle light.
Each letter was personally addressed. Also included was a hand-made little book, created using old writing paper and a typewriter. A stamped addressed post card was also part of the pack; wishing the user many happy returns of the day and asking them to describe their most vivid memory of writing.
The results were interesting and all the feedback was positive and enlightening; the initial reaction being the pleasure of receiving such as personal hand made package. The participants were asked to photograph - books, in such a way that the titles told a story, their nearest postbox, things that come through their letter box, the last text they sent, their front door, where they keep letters, their diary, their calendar, their use of post-its and where they keep secrets. The following images are an example of results obtained. All results can be viewed in full on my blog.
The photographs depicting where participants kept secrets was particularly intriguing. These images show people illustrating 'their head' as well as the image of a safe; much more physical relationship with secrets....
A recurring theme throughout the results was the fact that every home seems to have an 'area' specifically for keeping letter. Tucked away behind other objects ...this sparked several concept ideas depicted in the design section.
Book pages were provided and the participant was encouraged to create their own stories and poems using the words and phrases.
These postcards made me smile, especially the notion of kissing a letter before putting it in the fire. This information led to the formation of important questions: How many people kiss a photograph or kiss a letter someone has written them? How could this kiss physically be recorded or passed on?
The little book also provided a means of viewing various hand writing, as well as gaining insight into when and where people write.
typewriting emails.
The decision was made very early on to use a typewriter for composing email. This made me truly think about what I was writing as my mistakes were visible and the noise and action of the typewriter made me more conscious of what my emails said. Composing emails this was is time consuming, it has changed the way I use email communication and resulted in much more detailed and expressive emails. Receivers all highlighted they felt the emails were much more personal. This was enhanced by the unique quality of each printed character, therefore my mood could be determined, as the reader knows how quick or slow I am typing. A letter composed by a typewriter records all errors and syntax ...I have literally become a typist which has led to be being much more attentive to my use of language, as an intuitive response to the medium I found myself avoiding slang and abbreviations.
Below is my first ever typed email; a letter to my mum.It was interesting to see how quickly people responded to these emails, compared to response to the mundane, bland electronic emails we all receive every day.
untitled?
This little experiment is based around the concept of ethnography. Concentrating on the notion of products being used for functions their design was not intent on and users adapting products to suit their own individual needs. The structure of this object suggests hanging and storing. I have encouraged users to find uses for this object in relation to the post, junk mail, letters, bills etc that accumulate in the home. I particularly liked one users suggestion of hanging it from his bedroom light displaying postcards. Users have been given the object to do as they please with for over a week. I have asked for them to communicate the objects adventures back to me via pictures.
talking objects.
These conceptual household objects quietly encourage you to write; as the water evaporates writing should occur at noon. As the clock ticks on it is time to write at noon.
This object encourages creativity and interaction. Its primary function is to store and display images, flyers and postcards - allowing the surface to evolve leading to developing user requirements.
An example of uses relayed back through photographs.
"You can't put a text message under your pillow".
A little experiment to explore the meaning and personalisation text messages was created in response to thoughts that texts are dull, constricting and unimaginative. I have created these images - playing with the idea of being able to change the font of a text or send hand written messages.
An example of a thoughtful little message that makes me smile and lets me know someone is thinking of me but this emotion is not conveyed in the image of the text message? Here is message sent to a friend. It encourages a much more delightful response than a standard text message; there are many connotations associated with this concept. For one, it would encourage people to be aware of their handwriting and more aware of the words they say to each other. Imagine receiving a text from your little cousin and being able to see the child like handwriting, or texting your boss to say you are ill and not coming into work ...would he be able to tell you were lying by your handwriting?
postbox.
The postbox is an object integrated into society. Throughout 'Douceurs' a fascination into the form, meaning and history of the object has developed. Therefore, I created an opportunity on flickr for people from all over the world to post pictures of their postboxes.
Collecting data and sources have been a strong guide and source of inspiration from the outset of 'Douceurs'. The images gathered have such charm and depth ...folded and refolded ..passed through generations. The gathering of such findings also resulted in opportunities to experience first hand the emotions and stories that photographs and hand-writing provokes. This in itself highlighting the reality that society does not print photographs anymore, we do not write memories and sayings on the reverse side for the next viewer to see....what a delight to rummage through an old trunk brimming with memories. The familiar notion of watching photograph slide-shows on a laptop or previewing images on a digital camera screen quickly fades into insignificance...
This image below is of a young soldier called Stan. He regularly sent photographs and letters home during the war. One birthday he sent his girlfriend this photograph, leading to his lady friend sending it back imprinted with her love. 'Douceurs' aims to capture this sweetness, encourage romance and true conversation.
inbox.
The concept of how people receive and send mail has been an area of intense scrutiny. This led to questioning why inboxes look the way they do? Why do they not look like post boxes. Why do we not open up our inboxes to see a pile of mail, personally addressed to us? Our mouse enabling us to sift through them...the following pictures depict the different types on inboxes investigated.
bookworm.
As a self-confessed bookworm; knowledge, opinions from a wide range of books and authors has been a consistent contribution to the investigation of 'Douceurs'.
"The computer is an instantaneous telegraph with a prodigious memory."
A recurring theme throughout the books illustrated above is the cultural and class assumptions associated with communication devices. Highlighting that people do infact make assumptions about what communication ought to be like among particular groups of people.
Geography of the home is a beautiful book describing the home as ""the house is home to many things. far more than four walls and a roof, it contains our private and public lives, our families, our memories and aspirations, and reflects our attitudes toward society, culture, the environment, and our neighbours.""
This book enhanced understanding of what a home means for each for us, the chapters focusing on the about the front door and the library were of great significance.
I liked how the author describes front doors:
""these assemblages of curious architectural appendages squarely face each other in their own eccentric conversation.""
She asks the question why do I love my useless front door? The front door continues to appeal to our sense of arrival; call it the ceremony of coming home. The architecturally anachronistic front door's main purpose is to be evocative, to remind us of a time when public and private rituals structured people's lives.
The front door was traditionally designed to present the house to the world at large, to welcome others. It was once the generous, hospitable part of the house. Today as we withdraw from a world which seems increasingly violent and disordered, we tend to view our homes as shelter and retreat; a sense of graciousness offered to the outside world is less relevant to the way we live.
Libraries are also heavily related to the essence of this project. A library should be a beautiful thing, a simplicity of shelves and books, a composition of essentials - essential information and essential furniture. Do you believe in a big room designed exclusively for books? The library is a room that contains human wisdom, let's call it a room that reflects our relationship with knowledge, because knowledge is like anything else - when you love it - you want to do something for it.
We do not store knowledge in books and notepads anymore. We put knowledge into our hard drives. This change from physical space to electronic space signals one of the ironies of our time: the more information we have, the less room we need to put it in.
The abiding desire for a library may simply suggest that people who love to read don't always want to read on their computer screens or to have their reading to be an 'interactive experience'. What they want is to linger over words on the printed page and they want to do this while they're apart from others. Perhaps a service 'Douceurs' could provide? in the past, people tucked away in their libraries, assuming there was a comfort to be found in the knowledge they could put their hands on. Nowadays, in front of our glowing computer screens, we no longer make that assumption.
A book also written by akiko bush'The uncommon life of uncommon objects is written on the design and the everyday also appealed to me, describing chapters on the mail box and the desk.
The author describes the first journey to the mail box as persons first journey towards identity. Think back to the first time you encountered a card addressed to you...you understand that a mailbox is the place where news of the world arrived, and better yet, it is news that sometimes arrives with your name on it.
Every mail box has an imprint of their owner: a little roadside cabinet printed with ones name and address is a personal identity. Inside it is the information, essential and nonessential that defines ones life; not only bills and bank statements, but also flyers and advertisments. It seems almost astonishing that in the day of electronic defense systems - of digital passwords, laser home surveillance and keypad automatic access - we continue to use postboxes at all. But maybe that is the point exactly. At the time when all manner of communications equipment has been reformed and reinvented entirely, this small roadside cabinet, at once conspicuous and assailable, has an undeniable tenacity in continuing to be just as it has always been. Whether a simple green plastic box or a small red barn, it is a piece of communications equipment that knows its own vulnerability, that accepts all the frailties implicit in human exchange.
The Victorian Internet played a huge role in helping me adapt the right mind set. The main focus of the book is the telegraph - the atlantic telegraph - that instantaneous highway of thought between the old and new worlds.
This description was printed in Scientific American in 1858.
Que fais-tu, mon vieu telegraphe
Au sommet de ton vieux docher
Serieux comme une epitaphe,
Immobile comme un rocher?
A poem by Gusatve Nadaud, from 'le vieux telegraphe'.
The concept of a signature and what it means to people has been of interest. Why do we have signatures? Why do we trust them? Do our signatures change as we grow? Do we know what the signatures of our loved ones look likes? The bank letters we get through still have the bank managers signature ...and even if photocopied it still makes us feel that little bit more comfortable.
The Victorian Internet highlight the jargon, vocabulary and abbreviations used in the days of telegram. The relate to the text abbreviations we use today:
s.t.d : stop for dinner
g.m : good morning
i : wait a moment
coquarum : engagement broken off
cambitas : collar bone put out
gnaphalio: please send a supply of light clothing.
The way email addresses are contrived is also interesting.The @ symbol seems to be telling people where we are at? why is it not:
lauren@cosylivingroom.windyscotland
Why cant we decide what our email address says? after all people come into contact with our email addresses more than our home addresses.
The telegram forms used to be coloured blue...so it adopted the nick name petits bleux. It seems befitting with 'Douceurs' to name aspects of my product efficeiently. This is an example of the titles I will try to adopt to attributes of my final product.
The most intriguing chapters in this book described new technology as an opportunity for crime. The telegraph provided unscrupulous individuals with a novel opportunity for fraud, theft and deception; encouraging people to cheat, steal, lie and deceive. This information inspired several of the concepts depicted in the design section..
"the whole earth will be belted with electric current, palpitating with human thoughts and emotions."
"the telegraph wire, the nerve of international life, transmitting knowledge of events, removing causes of misunderstanding, and promoting peace and harmony throughout the world."
raison d'etre = the rapid delivery of messages.
Jane-Fulton Suri's Thoughtless Acts book inspired by ethnographic research. Furthermore, understanding of users relationship with electronic objects was enhanced by Dunne and Raby's book. Electronic objects are disembodied machines with extended invisible skins;they couple and decouple with our bodies without is knowing.This book led to many interesting questions such as how do they touch us? do they merely reflect off our skin, or the surface of our internal organs?do they 'see' us? can they 'read' us?do they extract personal information about our identity, status and health? do they offer physical protection or comfort? what happens if a product says it does something it doesn't?Imagining putting letters in 'forever safe vault'and thinking about creating poetic ghosts of letters?and making private situations and information public?Imagine typing to a different location? Or owning an object that tells you where you are? moving image? surveillance? They discuss the idea of hertizan space: an object users use to 'get away' and be free from electrosmog and harm electric technology can give existing objects new and almost magical qualities. Some people are allergic to electromagnetic fields and suffer from electrical sensitivity.
The authors suggest that designers would need to become like authors, drawing from the fringes of material culture, where products and services satisfy difficult and unusual needs
Analysing hand writing and becoming familiar with the way people perceive objects we use to write was an important consideration, leading to the conclusion that I want my product to be grounded in how people really behave. Perhaps blurring the boundaries between the real and the functional.
This following experiment was created to push the boundaries of posting. What if envelopes were transparent? How would we feel knowing anyone could read our letters and view our parcel?
The image below triggered thoughts of memories, would we want to remember the not so nice messages and letters people send us? Would we want to bury them? This led me to ultimately questioning do people want to click through bad memories or bury them?
This led me to pondering what happens to photos that are lost, forgotten or stolen. This is an example of such an image I found at a car-boot sale. The image is now nameless, without connection to the people they show, or the photographer who took them. Why do they are so intriguing? Why when we are walking along the road and see a crumpled handwritten letter, do we pick it up to read it?...
This led me to pondering what happens to photos that are lost, forgotten or stolen. This is an example of such an image I found at a car-boot sale. The image is now nameless, without connection to the people they show, or the photographer who took them. Why do they are so intriguing? Why when we are walking along the road and see a crumpled handwritten letter, do we pick it up to read it?...
the envelope project: commenced 22 October 2007
The rules of this experiment were established from the outset
I commit myself to posting a self addressed envelope everyday for the next 6 months.
All envelopes must contain something and feature something on the inside.
There are no restrictions.
The daily envelope must be completed and posted before midnight
All days missed must be documented
The envelopes must be delivered personally
They can be posted at any postbox in any town
All envelopes must be dated.
The project will be recorded in a sketchbook
Do not open enveloped until project is over.
The aim of this project is to assist the development of 'Douceurs'. Sometimes the envelopes are decorated, sometimes not. I put a note in each envelope; a letter to myself, a note to someone else. The project has underlying themes of obsession, repetition,time and post.It has evolved into a satisfying daily habit, driving my commitment to producing component of douceurs every single day. It is good for the morale of the project. It has led to me questioning how will I feel if one gets lost? As well as making me happier as I love the feeling of getting a letter in the morning. As well as enabling me to analyse my relationship with post boxes and the post man and keep my thoughts ticking over every day about my project. Ultimately, it has reminded me of dates and encouraged me to stick to my time scale and plan.
The following images depict experimenting with various paper types.
This led me to questioning the things people write on and why. Why do people write on money? How would we feel if the signature on money was real ink? Would we spend the same?
values.
This section ends with a tiny experiment on manipulating the way we write messages on our hands as reminders. Here is message for you; the reader.
Bringing all these findings and experiments together to create conclusions that will evidently influence the steps taken from here is imperative. A personal belief that the way we communicate today lacks the history, romance and value of traditional methods of communication has been reinforced time and time again. Talking to people, and having conversations about the essence of 'Douceurs' has been a fundamental tool in truly understanding peoples perceptions and views of the subject...