[Ethnography]

(This post is based of the two articles, What is Ethography? and Ethnography: a Primer.)

Design is based in problem solving; we design in order to relieve, expedite, and avoid painful and uncomfortable situations. The act of making/creating has been apart of the human history since it's beginning; we made shoes so we could walk on rocks, we made saddles to ride horses, we made cars so we wouldn't get thrown off of horses, and we made seat belts to make crashing a less hazardous experience.

In this society, we pursue, perhaps with obsession, a painless life. We desire this so much that we have dedicated an entire group of people to fix our problems. Yes, I am talking about designers.

Now a rudimentary way of describing the purpose of design is ultimately to relieve pain and to bring pleasure (I don't think this is an exhaustive definition, seeing as it only focuses on the carnal, animalistic needs of humanity and completely ignores our spiritual longings, which I believe design does touch on; however, it will suffice for this article). Therefore as designers, we need to be very good at discerning what people like and dislike.

This may seem like an easy task; however, we must factor in the complications our world has to offer: Cultural/social/religious differences, political stability/instability, poverty/hyper wealth, etc. Once we've added in these difference between people, not to mention personality differences, we find that identifying the roots of problems may be trickier than we thought.

Enter Ethnography: the process of identifying problems at their root, and finding solutions that fit within the system. A process which all designers should familiarize themselves with. The purpose of Ethnography is best stated in six maxims:
1) To discover meaning.
2) To understand norms.
3) To make powerful connections.
4) To be worldly
5) To identify barriers.
6) To observe reality.
These are the six goals of Ethnography. If we can identify these, we will be able to properly understand the true problem in need of solving.

"So Cameron, how does one go about answering these questions?" you might ask, to which I would tell you to read an article on ethnography, because I'm no expert. However, I can give you a basic layout of the process.

The first step of ethnography is to prepare: identify the problem, it's location and context. This is the pre-production phase to use a film term. Before even stepping into the field, you should research context and have base knowledge of the culture and people you're going to be observing. Finalizing a game plan would be your last step: How are you going to observe? What steps will you take to get information? Who is bringing the snacks? Answer these important questions before moving on.

The next step of ethnography is observation. This is the heart of ethnography, where the magic happens. Go out into the field, observe, photograph, record. Be the fly on the wall and capture reality at its finest.

The last step is analyzation. Take your data and dig into the facts. Note patterns, flukes. See how people have adapted to the problem, and see where their adaptations have fallen short. Discuss with your team how to best solve these problems. Then finalize a plan of attack. An attack of good design in order to solve a problem and better the world that is.

Ethnography is a highly important first step in order to implement good design. It allows you to understand the human factor in the issue, and allows you to see how your product might actually help or possibly hurt a situation. And at the very least, you'll get to people watch, which is always fun.

[Wayfinding]

Our choice of location for the wayfinding project was The Underground at Wescoe Hall. I started by going there and taking photos.

The first thing I noticed was that there was not a single sign pointing people to The Underground until you were in the underground. Seriously, take a look

No sign here

Or here

Good Lord, am I still going the right way?

My mother warned me against sketchy halls...

Well there it is! 

In other words, unless you get lucky, you're going hungry.

So, I thought it would be a nice touch to add just some preliminary signs digitally. Perhaps even a color strip path.

As a group, we then went to The Underground to observe how people interacted with it. We found three main problems as we observed: 1) It was difficult to find. 2) The chairs were being used inefficiently, and 3) The traffic flow through the food court gets easily congested. These have become the focus of our wayfinding project, the problems we will try to solve.

[Oh hey, 2014]

Well hey there-didn't see you hiding in the dark over there!

Anyway, it's 2014 now, and I'm pretty excited. And that's saying something, because it's against my policy to get excited.

Firstly, I have a girlfriend. So that's exciting. I know that only my prof's will read this and be like, "what the hell, I didn't need to know that." But I did, and it's nice and stuff.

Secondly, I was able to get a bit of Illustration done. Not a ton, but I made a few fun things:

{1}
I made this box set of cards for a Christmas gift. I illustrated them, then printed them off and made a cute little box for them. It's real sweet

Adorable, I know.

{2}

I managed to get inspired enough to crank out an illustration piece in the style I love most: cut out. I built a model using hand cut and painted paper pieces, then photographed it. It's like playing with paper dolls. But more manly (which now I sound sexist, as if guys shouldn't play with paper dolls, but really, they shouldn't.)

{3}

Finally, I was able to break out the ol' paints and just do some paint on canvas stuff. It's been fun.

And I know that self portrait of me looks super bipolar and disturbing, but I'm really not that way. I just wanted to use dark purple as a shadow. And every artist has to have a tortured self portrait, right?

Anyway, that's been my break. In case you were interested.