OUGD603/ Extended practice - Ditto press: The method.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

DITTO PRESS WORKSHOP.

Today we were visited by Ben at Ditto press to do a workshop. Much like other visiting designers, Ben showed us the type of work that went down at Ditto press, personal projects and mostly, how he got to where he is today. It was very clear from the start and emphasised by Ben. that something he cared more about than the final outcome of a piece was the way in which he or other designers structure any research undertaken to get there. Ben was very research driven and content focused. He believe that a well thought out and thorough structure was the tool with an ability to set designers apart from each other, it's what gives work the WOW factor and insists work completed is more than just a pretty thing. It is this which Ben worked on with us today. Unlike past workshops, we were not particularly set a brief with a physical outcome, but instead were asked to create something that could be applied on the approach to a project, a research methodology personal to us. 

BRIEF: THE METHOD. 

Your task is to develop you own research methodology and find a way to communicate that. It could take the form of a meta-project. Or it could be more pragmatic and grounded in reality. 
The important thing to develop in this project is a clear and defined way of looking at the world, filtering and editing what you find to fit your interests and working practice. 
Most successful designers have finely honed methodologies and this is your chance to really explore your own. 
IMPORTANT: This project is not about producing pretty things. We don't care what it looks like, only how well considered and useful it is.

To begin thinking about methodologies and ways in which we plan to research, we as our group of 15 or so students, bounced ideas back and fourth off each other, about all the different ways in which we could collect research and how we could go about doing these. We then looked at our findings as individuals picking out what is most relevant to ourselves, and in turn started to think about how we could apply this to our own methodologies. 

Ways of collecting research:

- Breaking brief down - Word association.
- Interviews. 
- Photographs. 
- Film.
- Internet. 
- Visits. 
- Reading. (books & online)
- Watching videos. (actual subject eg. A film - about subject eg. a review of film)
- Collecting samples and physical objects. 
- Observing 'spying'
- Looking at precedents. 

I began to think about how these research tools would take place, however this more so depends on the project, the client etc.
Interviews: Groups or singular, planned or unplanned, in person or over skype.

What research vehicles are most relevant to me, where do I gather the best research?
I found that the most important thing for me to do from researching is to learn. I have always known that I learn by doing something, whereas others can learn by reading or by listening. I like to break the brief down. This is usually done via some word association. Firstly I attempt to determine the most relevant information from the brief such as the purpose of the brief, the transmitter (web, print, poster, advertisement etc), the audience, the tone of voice and what I need to produce. I then find a list of words that associate with these elements. I pick the most relevant, and the ones which work together the best, and then determine from these sets of words, how each one needs to be researched, what can I learn just by popping onto google, and what can I learn by doing things such as interviews, visits, taking photos, collecting samples (could be tactile pieces of precedent design such as tactile). I find that I work much better with physical products rather than tactile, actual pieces of design rather than photos on the screen. Being more interactive within research is something I will apply to upcoming briefs. 

Come to the next session with a well thought out methodology and prove that it is useful. 
Look at other design research methodologies.