Who would win in a fight between Walter Gropius and Darren Almond?
Sunday
2 April 2006
3:04pm
At Nico's encouragement, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the process we've just been through. As always with me, these come straight out of leftfield, but I'm hoping they'll contribute even further to the BBC's development of some cracking online tools.
- We knew, and were repeatedly told, it wasn't meant to be a competition, but the fact that only a handful of us were going to get a commission was always hovering at the back of our minds, especially when some of the ideas had a lot in common. (...she said TAG!) Generally I found all the teams to be incredibly helpful and fluffy, but some did more mingling than others. It would have been nice to have at least a day after the presentation when we could just hang out together in a relaxed way and kick around ideas with no agenda except mutual inspiration (Beeb included).
- It might be interesting to try a different way of developing ideas through the week, aside from a straight logical approach to user-centred design. Now, we all know how terribly important UCD is, but the kind of process we went through (in this author's humble opinion) tended to mould more standard solutions. I'd like to see what the labs might look like if a more playful route were chosen. Innovation driven versus results driven. The YBAs versus the Bauhaus. Almond versus Gropius. Or something.
I understand that the BBC has to be accountable for its output, and the "de Bono" approach to invention is much more risky, so I can see my thoughts might be a little controversial in this regard. Although, given the current propensity for success of content which doesn't (in the eyes of the top brass) address user needs in a logical manner, perhaps logic is just as much of a risk? (See Myspace, South Park, John Peel.)
Hey, just my £0.02. I'm still a long way behind the designers of the lab in terms of experience. Just kicking off the debate...
PS: I've just run Gropius and Almond through Googlefight and Gropius wins hands down! D'oh.
Frank Boyd
Sun 2 Apr 2006
3:04pm
Permalink
It's noticeable that the projects commissioned in all three labs tended to be able to tell a compelling and clear story about who would benefit from their product. By contrast, many of those which weren't selected had vague or unconvincing personas.
It was the consensus of all the mentors (including Nico) that few of the projects proposed for the Lab had a clear sense of who the users might be. We thought that the teams would benefit from spending one day of the five thinking about who they were designing for, when, where and how their product would be used. In some cases, like iTabloid and Luckybite, people were the starting point; in others, like Ymogen or Technophobia, they discovered them at the Lab.
Of course there are other ways of organising workshops. The Labs that I direct for Sagasnet (www.sagasnet.de) around game and narrative are based on a very different set of principles: starting with a group of individuals and using a range of tools (including some derived from de Bono) to generate and develop ideas. The Interactive Comedy Lab for the BBC later this year will also take a different approach. Comedy and narrative don't benefit greatly from user-centred techniques.
I agree that it would be good to have longer. The original Multimedia Labs were 10 day events and allowed much more time for networking, including a day after the pitching sessions.But I wonder how many professional teams from busy companies would be able to spare the additional time.
rechord
Sun 2 Apr 2006
3:04pm
Permalink
Points all taken - thanks - and yes, the user stuff was necessary. Glad that you're doing some de Bono type stuff with other labs though. Would love to see how the Interactive Comedy one goes - any way you can put us on the mailing list?
On the freestyle brainstorming front, it's interesting to hear that an extra day after the pitching was part of the original labs. Perhaps an optional extra Saturday afterwards would have worked? I found myself itching to spend a bit more time, in a less pressured environment, with all the great creative people assembled there. Long shot though.
I hope my comments didn't come across as overly negative. All in all the labs were incredibly stimulating and inspiring - I have learned huge amounts, and I think you did a great job. Just wanted to see if other means had been considered.