Great Reads from February 2016

A transition in design?

At Meld Studios we often talk about the need to design appropriately at different levels to enable the maximum chance of success. Breaking design down into four levels provides us with a language to explore the relationship between these areas: artefacts, interactions, services and systems. When we are designing a service we need to consider what artefacts and interactions will be used to create and deliver that service, as well as the wider context and system that the service will sit in. These levels have nuances; the paths between each level blur and merge reflecting the reality of complexity. We see this approach to understanding design by levels as being more holistic and systemic, moving from being ‘centred’ around humans to embracing a more systemic approach – and this month we’ve been encouraged to read that this idea is permeating the wider design discourse.

We saw that IDEO have sold a minority stake to a group called Kyu Collective a group of creative businesses owned by Japan’s Hakuhodo DY Holdings with the intent of enabling them to tackle problems at a more systemic level.

IDEO, long known for its championing of human centred design, would appear to making a cultural shift beyond human centred design towards a broader form of design an example of this is Transition Design championed by Terry Irwin and Cameron Tonkinwise.

Tim Brown writing on Medium argued this is necessary for two key reasons: the need to bust out of siloed design practices, and the need to develop ever-broader capacities, taking an interdisciplinary, deeply collaborative approach.

This is an exciting transition and one we will follow closely.

Four Levels of Design

Who we design for

At Meld Studios we believe in improving the everyday lives of people through design. It is our belief that in designing for many parts of the fabric of society we can deliver that improvement. By partnering with Australia’s largest organisations to help them improve their customer offerings, we collectively improve the lives of people.

Here’s a collection of articles we’ve found valuable in exploring our beliefs around design and who we design for.

• Courtney Martin on Medium – why we tackle the kinds of problems we do
• C.Z. Nnaemeka in the MIT: Entrepreneurship Review – exploring design for the unexotic underclass
• Cliff Kuang in Fast.Co – Microsoft’s new approach to the design process starts by considering the needs of the underserved – a shift in design pioneered and championed by Patricia Moore.

What have you enjoyed reading this month? Let us know in the comments or continue the conversation on twitter