High salaries and fringe benefits are far from sufficient if Danish corporations want to keep their most vital creative employees. In fact, it is far more important to nurture a cre- ative working environment, based on a high degree of moti- vation among the staff and extensive sharing of knowledge within the organization.
One of the factors that can turn out to be essential in this process is design. Corporations and organizations can chal- lenge traditional working methods, and replace them with more solution oriented processes, by incorporating the way designers think and work. Design can provide corporations with some of the tools they need to create and uphold attrac- tive research and innovation envi- ronments.
That is the opinion of the scien- tists behind the two new tools, both of which have the potential of chan- ging the way we work in a more dy- namic and interactive way. The intel- ligent search engine, DIANE, and the computer, DiamondTouch, have both been both nominated in the ca- tegory “Work” for the INDEX:
Award for Design to Improve Life.
Even though the two designs re- present entirely different kinds of in- novation, they still have several things in common. Both will lead to a more creative and unpredictable working process, as they create stronger interaction between the users.
The two products have been created in cooperation with
designers. The people behind DiamondTouch were over- whelmed by the function of design processes, when they chose to involve a designer.
“During the first six months we worked solely with an in- dustrial designer and an artist. We had a lot of meetings and brainstorms. After each meeting the designer returned with sketches and drawings of what the table top could look like, how it could be used and what interactions it would present.
This process has meant that our product is unique. The way designers think and work is very valuable,” says Chia Shen, associate director and senior research scientist at Mitsubis- hi Electric Research Laboratories, the producers of DiamondTouch.
Counter pressure to brain drain
Creative leaders and unconventional thinkers leave Danish corporations in great numbers. According to the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the total number of highly skilled people that emigrated between 1981 and 2000 was 10,000, with 1,500 leaving Denmark in 2000 alone (see figure 1). The USA in particular is increasingly dependant on attracting more scientists and highly qualified employees.
In 2000, the Danish Chamber of Commerce predicted that the US will try to meet this need by recruiting talent from Eu- rope, which will then be severely threatened by the implica- tions of the brain drain.
Design is one of the necessary counter pressures. In par- ticular, design is is solution oriented, based on research and able to transcend the boundaries between different areas of knowledge.
Nr. 31 | 19. september 2005 |3311
Mondaymorning
WORK
A New Cure for Brain Drain
COMMITMENT. Tools offered by the design world can prove vital in the struggle to attract the most intelligent and skilled employees - Design methods and traditions can turn corporations into more attractive working environments - Two new tech- nological products aim at making work processes more creative and involving
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After each meeting the designer returned with sketches and drawings ofwhat the table top could look like, how it could be
used and what interac- tions it would present.
This process has meant that our product is
unique. The way designers think and work
is very valuable – Chia Shen
This approach is exemplified by US based IDEO, one of the world’s largest design corporations. It is vital that design is user oriented, and IDEO has developed a design methodo- logy that incorporates 51 different research techniques from the social sciences, interview, observation, ethnographical research etc. The final result is an oral or visual presentation rather than a scientific report.
The main elements of the process are:
Ask.This part of the process has to ensure people’s parti- cipation in order for people’s motivations and reasons for acting as they do to appear. For example, you ask the in- formants one main question and then follow this up by asking five “Why-questions”. This way they are forced to describe their actions. This method has been used in a project about women and diets. The research team was in this case trying to understand attitudes and behaviour in relation to weight loss. Watch.One thing is what people say they do. Another ele- ment in the design process is to observe and register peo- ple’s actual behaviour in a certain context. One way to do this is to be a silent observer, a task which IDEO under- took in a hospital project. In this project the designerswere placed in a theatre, where they watched which acti- ons and practises surgeons carried out in connection with organ transplantations. They then used this knowledge to design an organ transportation unit.
Learn.You can analyze new insights in the light of existing information. The competition study is an example of this.In this study you compare products from the rival. This way you can set some functional terms, standards of pre- sentation and other benchmarks. IDEO used this ap- proach focusing on the function and form, when they had to develop a new soft drink.
Try.Finally, it is essential for the designers to understand the way the user experiences the design. It can for in- stance be a quick and dirty prototyping, where the rese- arch team use already existing materials to construct a quick prototype. This is then used to evaluate how the de- sign can be improved. Another possibility is to use em- pathetic tools in the design process. For instance, if wor- king on a product for the visually impaired, designers might wear dark glasses or selectively weighted gloves if working on a product for rheumatism patients.IDEO thinks that fundamental analysis is an important point of departure for good design. Therefore the company has systematized a way to understand design (see figure 2).
The computer replaces the scientist assistant.
One way to incorporate these processes is to use tools that are designed to enhance the creative process. One example of this is the electronic research assistant, Digital Analysis En- vironment System or DIANE, which uses the internet in a new and more dynamic way.
Search for “design” in Google and you get close to half a billion hits - depending on which version of the search en- gine you use. Google searches are based on page popularity and can therefore not be used in scientific studies looking for correlations and trends. Yet DIANE can.
The system is based on four elements:
Collection.DIANE can monitor selected websites in differ- ent languages and search for new topics that are closely related to the areas that you are interested in. Storage. Relevant information is collected in different“buckets” so that the subject indexes can be connected to each other.
Extraction.Information from the databases can be expand- ed in various new ways, which means that it is possible to study all information from different perspectives.The Danish brain drain
Migration patterns of highly skilled workers
Figur 1: In recent years, Denmark has suffered a substantial brain drain. Especially science and social science graduates have chosen to take positions abroad.
Source: Danish Ministry of Economy and Business,"Growth From Globalisation - Course of Action and Background Analysis", 2003.
0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0
Percent of danish citizens with an education within the lines of education mentioned below
91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 År
Humanist and Theology
Natural Sciences
Health Other Technical
Social Science
At the same time it is possible to develop ontologies for large databases so that the logical relations will appear clearly.
“DIANE can both search for content and relate the results to each other. This way the scientists can concentrate on more important trends. It is a paradigm shift,” explains Jin Zhu, Director of Information Strategy at the Arlington Institute, the creators of DIANE.
This way the system can actually take care of a large part of the research that human research assistants deal with today. Furthermore, the work will be far more interactive than it is today, “The internet is static, so we had to change the way people use it. In a way we had to teach people that things can happen without them having to ask for it. DIANE can keep an eye on everything and put things into the right context,” explains Jin Zhu.
Jin Zhu points out that DIANE is created out of a holistic interpretation of the internet, which creates a far more crea- tive and dynamic co-operation with the different users.
“How often have you shared articles with your colleagues by referring to a certain link - but before you even get to download the article, they are gone? DIANE gathers all this information, so that you can share it and at the same time ac- cess a large amount of analysis.”
DIANE is already on the market as a complete system, and it is already being used by both the American and Singapor- ean governments.
Equal discussions
Another more tangible way to stimulate the innovative pro- cess is DiamondTouch - a computer, where the monitor is a table with an interactive touch screen that can be used by up to four people.
“When it is possible for people to work with an open dia- logue around a table instead of a long monologue the group dynamic improves,” says Chia Shen.
The developers of DiamondTouch believe that this tool can create important frames for creative and interactive working processes. “Studies of the users show that it has re- sulted in very dynamic discussions. You are more equal: We have observed how people interrupt, reach out and touch the screen as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Even the boss sits down at the table and interacts on an equal footing,” explains Chia Shen.
The four people at the table are equals. There is no table master and no demand to communicate. Therefore, interac- tion between the participants is different from a PowerPoint presentation, where one person addresses the assembly.
“The table top places all the creative processes outside their usual frames. People often feel uncomfortable speaking out after someone has made a presentation. But as soon as everyone is equal the dynamic changes.” DiamondTouch is connected to a laptop or stationary computer, making all do- cuments and files easily accessible.
Besides providing dynamic and equal opportunities, the tabletop also offers its users safety when participating in discussions and development of
ideas. By creating a hybrid between table and computer two entirely dif- ferent conditions are connected: The working environment and the con- versation around the table. This leads to a more relaxed interaction and as such contributes to the development of ideas, says Chia Shen.
“The table functions as a platform that people associate with more in- formal occasions - at cafés or in their own homes. Therefore people are more disposed to come up with their own ideas and content for the meeting.”
Solveig Gram Jensen | sgj@mm.dk
Design method
IDEOs concept schematic for the design process
Figure 2: IDEO stresses that the basis of design must be meticulous research into business opportunities and customer and client needs. To help integrate these elements, the process has been schematized.
Source: Konsortiet for Brugercentreret Design, "User-centric Design", 2003.
Future Insight
Design principles Abstract
Concrete Present
Solutions Observations
‘
The internet is static, so we had to change the way people use it. In a way we had to teach people thatthings can happen without them having to ask for it. DIANE can keep
an eye on everything and put things into the right
context.
– Jin Zhu
