This is where the big text will go. Talk about interests.

Design research can amass and distill a wealth of information only to fall short when it comes time to share the insights with others. How can we bring life to the research, convey the nuances, and engage the senses so others involved in the process can experience, empathize, and more fully assimilate the findings? 



My master’s thesis serves as a guide for sharing user experiences to inform the design process and aid in creating products that resonate with people, and create business value.

I will add updates about this project as it gets closer to wrapping up at the end of May. Stay tuned to the blog or sign up for my RSS feed to get updates.

Design research is in a state of flux. In a world where complexity is rising and change is now constant, the research process and the methods utilized, can form a key part of a new approach to tackle our most pressing economic and social issues. It is time to expand our focus and build upon our toolset. How can we use our process as a means to enable a wider range of disciplines and stakeholders to collaborate?

This year I’ve had the opportunity to work with Studio 1:1 – to rethink how urban design and architecture can utilize qualitative research methods to address the challenges faced by marginalized communities. This is a novel approach that places the individual at the heart of new solutions, and builds the capacity to innovate in unrealized areas.

Download the research report – 6mb PDF
Watch the Studio 1:1 video via YouTube

The Innovation Space program provides senior-level students with a unique opportunity to complete a real-world product development project. Our goal: to teach students how to design products that create market value while serving real societal needs and minimizing impacts on the environment. Using the Integrated Innovation Model, teams of top undergraduate students from industrial design, business, engineering, and visual communication design spend two semesters researching, developing and refining product concepts.

This past year I helped guide 9 four-person transdisciplinary teams of senior design, business, and engineering students through the product innovation process. These efforts resulted in 9 viable product concepts, several of which are in funded development.

Check out the Innovation Space website
or watch our submission for the Living Climate Change Video Challenge.

When asked to think about the things we own, the objects we accumulate and choose to be a part of our lives, we might first think about their features, age, or even an advertisement that convinced us to purchase it. But, most belongings reveal much more – they reveal a rich, personal story with unique details about our lives.  

An ongoing weekend project initiated with two friends, our venture chronicles the stories about individuals as told through their personal belongings sold at garage, stoop and yard sales around the country. The premise: Every product being sold has a tale to tell and these tales reveal more than just a product’s monetary worth; they bring an authentic awareness to people’s choices, circumstances and lives. In order to share the stories with the public, we have created an interactive environment where these narratives are openly shared with audio and photography.

Check out The Things We Sell website
Read our paper for the 12th Annual Chicago Ethnography Conference
or read our abstract for the 2010 International Visual Sociology Association Conference.

Traditionally, researchers have conducted field studies to learn more about the people for whom they are designing. However, in today’s economic climate sending teams around the world can be cost prohibitive, time consuming and resource intensive. Visiting people in a limited number of locations, for mere hours at a time isn’t enough.

While considerable research exists on the social impacts of digital communication, online consumption and the Web, we have paid far less attention to the opportunities presented by digital technology to understand people’s lives. Interested in exploring this opportunity space, I’ve teamed up with Kyle Larkin to advance the use of online tools as a means to connect with people over time and space to produce new, deep and continuing insights.

Check out the Community Futures website
or read our paper for the Create10 Conference.

Even a mild stroke causes a serious decline in the quality of life and rehabilitation is crucial for recovery. However, a critical component of the rehab process is not performed in the clinic, but relies on patient compliance at home. For an advanced Human Factors course my partner, Greg Burkett, and I examined the role of home therapy in stroke rehabilitation.

During the 16-week research process we uncovered many significant findings, but we needed validation from our participants. We found in-depth conversations with stroke survivors who often have aphasia, difficult. To address the issue, we created a user-centered evaluation tool – a coded, card-sorting activity – that considered these needs and allowed for an authentic review of our design concepts.

Download the research report – 4mb PDF

For the past three years at ASU we have organized design research exchanges. We felt that discourse within Design Research was stunted, and wanted to give it a little nudge. To respond to the need, a group of master’s students crafted a conference to facilitate learning about design research in the context of academic and professional practice.

I was heavily involved as a planning team member for Exposed in 2009, and for this year’s event, Exposed: Design Research in Action. Our team worked to expand the scope and audience as we looked at the future of design research. We created a conference program that combined hours of hands-on workshops with thought-provoking speakers and interactive events. It was difficult to stretch my time – already consumed by classes and teaching – but I valued the experience as we helped to build a lasting contribution to the profession from ASU.

Check out the Exposed ‘09 website and photos from the event on Flickr.
Check out the Exposed ‘10 website and photos from the event on Flickr.

Designing consumer electronics for the growing baby boomer population is far from a novel concept. Unfortunately though, attempts to innovate in this area all to often result in overly simplified products that lack in utility and patronize this demographic. How can we craft designs that are accessible without reinforcing stigmas and stereotypes in the process?

In a project sponsored by Samsung, I’ve been given the opportunity to lead a team of product and interaction designers to help understand and respond to this challenging question. Thus far, our experimental qualitative approach has seen us spending afternoons inside electronics stores demystifying the cellphone purchasing process, becoming self-appointed experts at air traffic control to understand complex communication flows, and conducting role-playing exercises in the studio to build empathy within the team. As we move into the convergent phases of our project, we are using these insights to map opportunities and generate ideas to challenge the fruitless “design for old people” convention.

More to come soon…