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Autumn is a season of transitions and perhaps the most out-sized example of transformation we regularly experience (for those in the Northern Hemisphere, at least). Aside from the many metaphors it provides us with, autumn also is a useful time to contemplate design.
In this issue of The Design Loft, we’re looking at design and transformation.
From and To
Among the most central errors in design and it’s assessment of impact is the absence of objective comparators. We often hear phrases like “design for change” or “transformation” without fully appreciating what that entails. Anytime we actively seek change and look to attribute our efforts to it, we must make comparisons. That means knowing where we start and where we end up.
Begin by documenting where you’re starting from. What does the current state look like? What are the relationships — between people, products, contexts, and outcomes — that we see? Do we have any data to support this? (for example, sales or usage data for a product or service, or satisfaction levels or knowledge for a service or system).
Then, begin the design process and carry over your evaluation (data gathering) until you finish it. This allows you to focus on what you accomplish through your design. Too often, we see designers claim that they created change without any clear sense of what was changed because it was all retrospective. This doesn’t suggest that looking back doesn’t have value, but it isn’t very objective: the bias of time is significant.
Design Lessons from Autumn
Every autumn unfolds differently. The science of leaf changes tells us that the colours we see will vary based on many factors (light, temperature, weather patterns, types of trees). When we speak of the ‘fall colours, ’ we speak of an amalgam of our memories of what autumn looks and feels like, which likely overlooks many minor variations over time from year to year.
Autumn unfolds differently each year and yet with a predictability and consistency that might go unnoticed. It’s almost a paradox that change can be both pervasive and unnoticed at the same time. This is the lesson for designers: seek to create transformations that feel consistent and familiar, while also advancing change. This also means generating the right kind of data to tell that story once we implement our ideas into practice. (For evaluators and designers, this is formative as well as summative approaches to evaluation).
What this means is that we have to embrace boldness of thinking and modesty in our presentation. The evidence from product, service, and organizational transformations shows that the uncertainty around change is what drives resistance to its implementation. It’s less that people dislike change, it’s that they don’t like uncertainty about what that change will look like when it comes.
Creating visible pathways that outline the steps, processes, and potential products at different stages of the journey is one way to do that. And just like a pathway, there needs to be logic and coherence to make it work. A theory of change can be beneficial in this regard.
The Pathway To Change
In practice, design for transformation involves:
Assessing the situation and setting a direction
Outline a pathway
Develop a theory of change to outline and demonstrate logic and coherence of that pathway
Visualize the pathway
Shape the pathway in a manner that has the familiarity and stability of the present situation, but offers a means to get from here to there.
This involves good design skills, but mostly the social and leadership skills to bring people along and to communicate what’s in the design to those involved in it and affected by it.
Along the path. Starting points. So important. A choice we can make. Path Dependence. What happens after the starting point. Just as many choices available. But all relate to the starting point. This can limit. Upon reflection, the hardest thing about choosing a starting point is not realizing I've started until after I've started and then not choosing a starting point once I've realized I need to define it, set it as the beginning. Beyond that, wow, would I love a conversation about choosing, creating, designing starting points for various kinds of projects. I have particular ideas and approaches I've used about how to use values, the signature of the group, but I've honoestly not spent time explicitly asking how others approach to designing "the gathering and the gate to the path they will create"