Making, using and interpreting design probes: how subjective is participation?

The wealth of participatory methods in human-centred design adheres to the notion of a democratic process and solutions that respond to the experiences and needs of users and stakeholders. However, as human-centred design philosophies permeate the landscape of design education and research, the designer’s role as both an objective facilitator and creative decision-maker suggests their impact upon stages of data collection and analysis. This paper advocates tools and techniques to support design students in initiating user engagement and insight-gathering whilst simultaneously recognising and utilising their own subjective experiences and knowledge. Drawing comparisons between our practice-led masters and PhD research, we discuss how an interactive activity pack is used to gather community members’ perceptions of fear and safety in the urban environment before examining how observational illustrations are employed to examine the multiple functions of an art school. In this, we consider how the designer’s creation, use and interpretation of design probes can establish an empathic and inter-subjective dialogue in participatory design exploration. We propose that the application of a reflexive methodology can strengthen students’ critical awareness of sociocultural issues and promote authenticity and rigour in human-centred design

The function of pedestrian-oriented open space in Knoxville\u27s central business district

Man is constantly affected by his physical environment. Pro-viding pleasant physical elements in open spaces—such as parks, squares, plazas, small green spaces, and sidewalks--helps to produce a better environment in densely developed urban areas. The purpose of this study is to find how the existing open spaces in Knoxville\u27s central business district function by surveying their characteristics of continuity, direction, orientation, center, linkage, enclosure, interruption, circulation, and sequence. A check-list was made to make sure that each site was inspected under the same terms. The data which was obtained by observing the physical items under each characteristic is shown in figures and tables, which indicate the overall condition of a certain survey item. The analysis of the data indicate the strengths and weaknesses of each open space. The result--a description of the character of the whole system of pedestrian open spaces—showed that many marginally functional open spaces break the continuity of open spaces which function well and complement Knoxville\u27s central business district. These findings indicate which places need to be improved the most. Open spaces on Hill Avenue, Main Avenue, Summit Hill Drive, Wall Avenue, Market Square, and Market Street were found to have a relatively pleasant pedestrian environment

"Tenemos cita con el arte": a pilot program of visits to museums and workshops with people affected with Alzheimer’s and other dementias

In this paper we explain the pilot program Tenemos cita con el Arte, made by art educators from the Complutense University with people affected with Alzheimer and other dementias and their caregivers. In this program we have developed a series of visits to the Prado Museum and the National Museum Art Center Reina Sofía as well as workshops of artistic creation related to these visits. The aim of this project is to create some protocols of visits and workshops that can work as reference to artists, educators and other professionals.</p

Marketing viral como estrategia competitiva para mejorar la motivación de los clientes de la empresa taxi Kalidad EIRL. Chiclayo 2018

La presente tesis tiene como finalidad implementar el marketing viral como estrategia competitiva para mejorar la motivación de los clientes de la empresa taxi Kalidad EIRL Chiclayo 2018. La muestra está conformada por 383 habitantes de ambos sexos del distrito de Chiclayo, de la cual se toma la encuesta en la empresa de transportes Delgado Rodríguez que tiene como aforo en su local un total de 42 personas. La técnica que se utilizó fue la encuesta y el instrumento fue el cuestionario elaborado en escala Likert de 4 niveles o categorías el cual fue aplicado a los habitantes del distrito de Chiclayo. Se identificó que nuestro alfa de cronbach fue de 0.740 el cual nos indica que nuestros 22 ítems están relacionados con el tem

Strip Center para estudiantes en los Cedros de Villa Chorrillos

El tema propuesto tiene como interés principal desarrollar un proyecto arquitectónico llamado “Strip Center para estudiantes en los Cedros de Villa Chorrillos”, ubicado en el distrito de Chorrillos, provincia de Lima, Perú. Sobre este predio, actualmente se encuentra el “Mercado Los Cedros”, encontrándose este dentro de una zona de sector comercial vecinal, según el plan de desarrollo urbano del distrito. Buscamos lograr un espacio comercial organizado dirigido a los estudiantes locales y de provincia, complementando este espacio con lugares de reunión y entretenimiento. Mayoría de lugares existentes tanto a nivel distrital como nacional, se han enfocado en ofrecer servicios atendiendo necesidades de mejoramiento del hogar, vestimenta, calzado, comida, entretenimiento, etc. y en menor med ida están cediendo espacios tipo coworking o de encuentro, siendo un referente para otros distritos e inversionistas

Hacer con los ojos: estados del cine documental

El 26 y 27 de mayo de 2014 se realizó el II Coloquio Internacional de Cine Documental organizado por la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Sede Ecuador, y el Festival Encuentros del Otro Cine (EDOC). Esta segunda edición tuvo como tema central el estado del documentalismo ecuatoriano en los últimos 15 años. Durante este período el cine documental realizado en Ecuador tuvo un despunte cualitativo y cuantitativo cuya historia ha sido poco analizada. Con la finalidad de estimular la investigación y análisis crítico sobre nuestra producción cinematográfica, el coloquio invitó a personas que realizan investigación independiente, a la comunidad académica y a documentalistas a pensar temáticas, tendencias y problemáticas del documental ecuatoriano, y a realizar análisis a profundidad de ciertos filmes emblemáticos. Junto a esta convocatoria, el coloquio mantuvo su preocupación por los debates contemporáneos sobre el documentalismo a nivel global. Los textos que componen este libro recogen las memorias del evento y buscan dejar sentados algunos elementos para la discusión de los estados del cine documental tanto a nivel nacional como internacional. El quehacer del cine, discutido en los textos que siguen como oficio, compromiso político, experimento formal, ensayo, pregunta es, siempre, la expresión de una mirada de largo aliento que se posa sobre una zona de la realidad, un quehacer con los ojos, de ahí el título del volumen, que proviene de uno de los ensayos aquí presentes

Alacena de Cuentos: Narrativa secuencial vertical y plataforma de divulgación sobre la gastronomía y relaciones interpersonales

"El presente proyecto consiste en del primero de diez capítulos de una antología en formato de viñeta. Las viñetas serán publicadas digitalmente por medio de una página web que responde a los intereses de nuestro público. Dado que la naturaleza de la plataforma incentiva al poco tiempo de visualización por publicación. El estilo visual buscado será de proporciones exageradas y simplificadas, puesto que, las formas complejas requieren un mayor lapso de atención por parte del consumidor. Las viñetas serán realizadas con el uso de herramientas digitales que evoquen la textura y estética de pinceles y lápices tradicionales. Se incluye también el respectivo guion y proceso artístico además de un prototipo del sitio web cuyo diseño será basado en un menú donde cada platillo es una receta-historia"

Lord Mar's Plans, c. 1700 to 1732

Chapter 1, Part I describes the cultural and political background to Mar's life; this includes information on his schooling, university studies and draughtsmanship, attitude to antiquities and his urbanisme. The roles of Alexander Edward and, in particular, Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun and the Scottish civic tradition in the forming of the historical themes in the gardens at Alloa are discussed. Part II presents the documentary evidence of Mar's involvement in houses and gardens in Scotland. These include the House of Naime, Craigiehall, Hopetoun, those properties of the Earls of Northesk and Wemyss, and the House of Alva. Part II is concerned with similar activities in England. The schemes for Cliveden, Mar's house and those of friends at Twickenham, his friendship with amateur and professional architects: Lord Bingley, James Gibbs, Lord Islay, the Duke of Argyll and others. Finally, Mar's travels in Italy, particularly his opinion of art collections, ancient monuments and some houses in Rome, Tivoli and Frascati, are described

Visualising human centred design relationships: a toolkit for participation

As human-centred philosophies continue to permeate the landscape of design practice, education, and research, a growing body of literature concerning creative methods corresponds with a democratic process that addresses the experiences, needs, problems, and aspirations of users and stakeholders. It can be argued, however, that making tools to gather and evaluate the insights of others contributes to fluctuating perceptions of the designer as a creative auteur, visual communicator, observer, facilitator, analyst, and problem-solver. In turn, human-centred design's overarching neglect of practitioner and researcher reflexivity has resulted in insufficient reasoning and reflection surrounding subjective methodological choices and the impact these have on the direction of the process and the designer's agency. In this practice-led research, I investigate how human-centred designers collect information and build relationships with participants by making, using, and interpreting visual and participatory tools and techniques. Examining approaches including personas, scenarios, and design probes, I assert that rather than being objective and neutral in seeking participants' input, human-centred designers are inherently reflexive, yet the practical benefits of this researcher trait remain broadly unrecognised and abstract within the discipline. Situating human-centred design in the context of environmental, community, and organisational placemaking, I undertake three case studies to examine localised sociocultural issues. In these, I draw from my position as an illustrator, designer, researcher, PhD student, and participant in the process to provide intimate, immersed, and critical narrative accounts of human-centred design in its initial exploratory stages. Simultaneously, I develop, test, and critique my participatory-reflexive methodology. Conceptualised as an arrangement of people and artefacts interacting through various creative phases and activities, this structures the process as stages of orientation, participation, evaluation-in-action, tool response analysis, and reflexive analysis. I assess how the content, format, and tone of my methodological tools and techniques helped me to gather participants' drawn, written, and verbal insights, generate ideas, and make decisions whilst instigating understanding, empathy, rapport, consensus, and dialogue. These findings reinforce the designer's multifaceted reflexive role as an ethnographic explorer and storyteller, visual maker, strategic and empathic facilitator, and intuitive interpreter. Flexible and inclusive enough to navigate designers' and participants' intersubjective insights, I present the five-stage participatory-reflexive methodology as my original contribution to knowledge. I propose that this transferable framework will support designers as they engage with settings to elicit information from user and stakeholder participants, develop their own experiential and critical perspectives, and utilise their intuitive and expressive expertise to establish, manage, and sustain productive human-centred design relationships