task six: video reflections a

David Kelley: human centred design

David Kelley began his career as an electrical engineer, unhappy with his decision he decided to move to product design, he founded the world renowned design firm IDEO.  This video focuses on the flux that was (in 2002) occurring in IDEO and more importantly the design world.

When i think of product design i think of appearance models and concept sketches, however David Kelley tracks this change in thought that was and still is occurring.

I was interested by the lcd change room screens, i thought they were much more functional in comparison to conventional doors. They allow a customer to show his/her friend the fit of new clothes without stepping out of the change room. The lcd screen can also quickly switch from being clear to opaque allowing the customer to avoid giggles from his/her friend.

This change in thought is that design is now user centered, designers are no longer bond to model making but they have a skill set that allows them to create experiences.  This is evident in the virtual tour of the prada concept store in New York. Product designers were used to create an atmosphere, it is obvious that their skills in developing and designing emotion and conjuring aspirations were required rather than their skills as concept sketchers.

Kelley infers that a designer must also be able to become the end user, design from their point of view. Designers must now ask questions from the end users point of view,  asking questions such as ‘does this product make me want to feel like this?’,  ’what personality does this product have?’ and ‘was i holding a product or did i experience an emotion. Designers are also being employed to use their decoding skills identifying certain triggers that remove users from physical objects and place them in new environments, and encoding them into products.

The strength of the design process and a designers ability to tackle advanced problem solving. The versatility of a designers problem solving abilities are stressed in Kelleys presentation of Appro Tec’s work in Kenya. New systems were created, which were fundamental to increasing the infrastructure of the Kenyan economy, the sales of the product are now .6% of the gpd of Kenya. This demonstrates that designers have the ability to affect and help the masses, the end user, through two of their fundamental skills.