Design history is the study of past designed objects in their original form, from books to posters. The lecture expressed that in times of struggle consumers often resort back to nostalgic design. Rebecca Gross (2018) explored the topic of nostalgia and creativity and found that memories of past events tend to give people in society a sense of meaning and belonging, which helps them to have a more open mind to forthcoming experiences. Which as a result encourages creativity in the design process.

Advantages of Design History

Designers need to know about the history of design so that they can understand principals in design. They can then implement this in their work to aid success. Researching design history can help designers understand why certain trends in history were so widely adopted. This will help to inspire them and help them to develop their work. As stated by Fry (2015, p. 16) there is a demand for designers to always better understand history “beyond the bounds of design practice and design theory”. This is so that they don’t repeat mistakes from history that have been already done.

Considering the work of Forty (2005) the study of design history is useful for designers to use as it gives them the chance to understand the relationship design has with society and ideology. As recorded by Forty (2005) in the 1970s the “association between cleanliness and Americanness gave the Lucky Strike packet an American image, which ensured it a national market”. From this statement, you can determine that the designer of the packaging Raymond Loewy worked with the association of the two factors and successfully incorporated that into his design through the colours he used. He knew what the consumer wanted and implemented that. In support of this Dilnot (2015, p. 136) stated: “the source of our unhappiness lies in how we stand, or fail to stand, to that history”.

In conclusion, it can be determined that when it comes to design, especially brand design it is important to know what the consumer wants. Design history is an effective research method to find this out as it can look at trends and past successes and failures throughout history.

Disadvantages of Design History

We know about history due to facts and figures recorded by individuals. History can also be studied through pictures taken from that time period. From just one picture you can acquire a sense of society and their attitude to design at the time. The reliability of information recorded can be taken into account as they can be biased because they were recorded from the account of one person. As they were not produced at the time for historical reference some information may have been exaggerated (https://www.reference.com/world-view/disadvantages-historical-research-b729f07cbc316c7f, no date).

In society now the history of design can be easily accessed through the internet and consumers sharing on social media. However, the question of is it accurate can be considered, like books written often are based on people opinion, which could be different from another person during the time period.

Directed Study

The directed study involved creating a storyboard showing the positives and negatives related to using design history. The information provided was simplified into character form to explain each fact. They added type in order to further explain the scenes. The outcome is shown below:

As specified by Keats (2000, p. 1) interviews are used as a basic tool for firms to interact with their clients.  Rowley (2012, p. 261) found that interviews are essential for designers in order to collect qualitative data such as opinions, experiences and behaviours. To fully understand how to refine a design, designers need to gain feedback from their consumer which can be done from interviews. (Preece, et. al, 2002, p. 5)

In relation to the length of an interview, that relies heavily on the purpose of the interview being conducted. Researches can take a theoretical approach whereby the length of the interview relies on the nature of the questions being asked. On the other hand, they can also take a more pragmatic approach where they take into consideration the amount of time the interviewee is will to give. This helps the interviewer know how many questions to ask.

Advantages of Interviews

A designer could conduct an in-depth interview with interviewees. It would be more similar to a conversation that has a specific purpose as indicated by Minichiello et al. (1995, p. 61). The use of this type of interview would be beneficial for a designer because it would help them to understand the consumer better in order to design the most useful product, that fits their needs.

Daniel Grace’s diagram is useful in explaining the different type of interviews (Grace, 2013). The model shows that structured interviews are more formal compared to unstructured interviews which include, in-depth and clinical interviews.

Susan DeFranzo (2014) explored the ideas of interviews and their benefits to designers. Designers can use them as them they can gage verbal and non-verbal cues. Non-verbal cues could ultimately determine the engagement an interviewee has with the topic and help the designer know how passionate they are.

Disadvantages of Interviews

Interviews often required the researcher to prepare before conducting.  As explained by Kevin Whorton (2016) designers need to be aware of the time constraints of interviews, they often digress from being structured if not planned properly and end up going off on a tangent. It important that the researcher does not “push for consensus”. This is also supported by Chandler-Ezell (2005, p. 417) who also goes on to suggest another disadvantage, not randomising the size of the sample, which as a result can cause bias.

The reliability of interviews can be taken into account as it is how the interviewer interprets the answer that has been given and how it is recorded. It is important to consider confidentially and to always remind the interviewee of this fact.

Directed Study

Students were tasked to go out into the centre and interview the general public on their social media usage. When creating the interview questions they had to consider the types of questions they were going to ask, their approach to asking people and whether or not the questions were easy to read. The outcome is shown below:

During the interviewing process, the students noted that some people were hesitant to answer the survey for different reasons, the main one was that they didn’t have time. The time they conducted their interview did impact on their results, as they conducted it during lunch hours.

Semiotics is the study of language and communication method that are “socially and culturally meaningful” (Open Learn, 2018) It is important that designers understand what different things mean in relation to visual communication. Challis Hodge (2003) stated that semiotics helps designers to understand that design is a dialogue. Their work has no meaning if it is not defined by set factors.

Advantages of Semiotics

Semiotics in design can be useful to communicate the right message to consumers. Angela Ferreira (2007) stated that semiotics is useful for designers as it can “translate a picture from an image into words”, which is key in visual communication and essential for designers to understand. The most common identification of semiotics is icons. Pictures,  when interpreted, tend to have two meanings, “visual and symbolic”.

The advertisement (BBDO, 2014) is a clear example of how a designer can use semiotics. They have taken the signifier, the sofa and illustrated it to look like a cigaret. This emphasises their concept, the signified, which is that third-hand smoking is bad for your family in your home. In relation to the semiotic triangle (Kersting, 2016), the signifier has to be understood by the intended audience.

Disadvantages of Semiotics

As the world develops the sign system can change. With reference to Stewart (1995) as cited by Deneire (1997) semiotics can be outdated as it relies upon the symbol model as its basis. In the 21st  century, designers are starting to break this but before Humboldt was the only designer to break away.  A designer may choose not to use semiotics as the terminology sounds too complex and they may not have time to understand it.  The number of different methods for semiotics can also deter designers from using this research method.

Directed Study

For this task, the students were asked to create a book cover in the theme of binary opposition. This could be night and day, good and evil or war and peace. The work shown below is in the theme of life and death. The student sketched out the design then digitalised it. The outcome is shown below:

As stated by Jordan Nottrodt (2017) ethnography is a research method which involves you immersing yourself in participants environment to gain a more in-depth perspective of their lives. Ethnography comes from anthropology, the study of cultures, relationships and humans environments.

Advantages of Ethnography

Ethnography is an important research method for designers to use as it can help them to fully gauge the needs and wants of their chosen consumer. As explained by Butlewski et al (2016, p. 4) it also helps designers to understand people’s actions and enables them to adapt products and designs to suit the consumer.  One organisation Spotless (https://www.spotless.co.uk/insights/ethnography-when-and-how/, no date), determined that ethnography can useful for a designer of a product as it can give them the opportunity to see consumers initial reaction and attitudes to a new product. This will help a designer to understand if their product meets the needs of the customer. They also have the opportunity to ask the consumer questions and conduct a style of an informal interview. With this, they would need to stay undetected and not ask very invasive questions.

Disadvantages of Ethnography

Researchers will need to be mindful of their method whether it is covert or overt. A covert initiative would include conducting the study in secret. (Graham R Gibbs, 2012). However, this does raise some ethical problems. Is the method being used justifiable? Working in a covert situation could lead to the researcher not being able to go to certain areas, which could then hinder the progress of their data and the application to their design.

Conducting an ethnographic study can be time-consuming and costly. Researchers will often go back to the same environment multiple times at different points in the day or year, in order to gain a full understanding of the participants in the environment they are studying. As cited by Cushion (2014, p. 176), Hammersley and Atkinson (1995) noticed that when it comes to ethnography there coulee be a “danger of over-rapport”, where the researcher can start to form a close relationship with the community they are immersed in. This can cause problems as to how reliable the findings of the researcher can be. This method of research wouldn’t be suitable for smaller business that has financial constraints.

Directed Study

The students were directed to go out into the public and study people during lunch. One group studied people at  Costa Coffee From their finding they noticed that many people purchased items using their cards and the young professionals coming into the store purchased items and left. As a result of the students purchasing items, they were not noticed by the public. The outcome is shown below:

A customer journey map is a visualisation of the experience the customer goes through with the firm (SalesForce, 2016). Journey mapping in design can be used to visualise the customers’ journey. Journey mapping involves the designer telling a story, it a tool used to teach firms about their customers.

Advantages of Journey Mapping

Journey mapping is often used as a research method as it can communicate the problems and experiences customers face through storytelling. This is beneficial to know for designers as it can help them to better refine their product in the stage of development. According to Megan Grocki (2014), journey maps are often used “to gain internal consensus on how customers should be treated across distinct channels”, the information needed to supply this data could be done through collaborative workshops.

This journey map created by Bitar (2016) shows the journey of a visitor at the Smithsonian Museum. It is sectioned through colours and shows the multiple changes a visitor can take whilst they explore the museum.

When it comes to building the journey map on customers Paul Boag (2018) identified that it is best to use research that the firm has already collected.  This will help the firm to firstly see what information they have and secondly, they will be able to see how relevant it is. Ultimately it would save the firm some time. Customer journey mapping is essential for identifying similarities and differences across the journeys of multiple personas.

Disadvantages of Journey Mapping

Sometimes customer journey mapping can go wrong. Neil Davey (2018) stated that designers who create the customer journey map tend to gravitate towards like-minded colleagues that reflect the views of their own opinion. For larger firms, it would be useful to form a cross-cross-functional group in order to accurately reflect all departments as the customer journey can cut into different organisational structures.

Directed study

The task set required the students to map out their journey to college. They had to be mindful of the different avenues a journey can take and what would happen if things did not go to plan. During the mapping process, it was key to note down the emotions felt at different stages. The outcome is shown below:

Surveys can either be qualitative or quantitative. When conducting surveys you need to be mindful of the sample size, in order to accurately portray the views of the chosen demographic. It is important to avoid double negative questions and two concept questions. It is more common in today’s society to see surveys conducted online.

Advantages of Surveys

Online surveys are beneficial for firms as they tend to be relatively inexpensive. As suggested by Susan DeFranzo (2012)  the number of potential responses could be thousands when you conduct an online survey. Conducting surveys online ofter the ability to be more flexible in comparison to paper surveys. You can minimise the error in accuracy from data collection when conducting online surveys.  Survey platforms offer the ability to create graphs and charts. This then reduces the time bounds.

Surveys enable designers to gain an understanding of consumers, opinions, needs and wants, in regards to their design. Surveys can help designers identify gaps in the market because they can be very specific in wording. In relation to the sample size, there needs to be a large enough size in order to gauge an accurate representation.  The ideal sale size would be 5000 people. It would be important for the designer to chose the profile of the candidates carefully as they need to represent the demographic they are surveying.

Disadvantages of Surveys

Where the need for consumers to be anonymous is beneficial for the consumers answering the questions online, this can be a disadvantage to the firm as they do not know the identity of the person. A firm would have to be mindful of this if they had a specific criterion, as they would not know who is answering the questions.  Designers conducting this type of research method will need to be aware of the level of surveys consumers get directed towards them, as this could lead to possible cooperation problems (Cvent, 2016)

Directed Study

The task given required the students to formulate an online survey and distribute it to other students in their age bracket, 18-24. It was important to give an option to answer ‘do not know’ so that they do not force people into making a decision. The process of sharing the survey link online was beneficial as the students were able to acquire data fast. The outcome is shown below: