Process of making
What is showroom? Showroom method was influenced by critical design, whose interest is shifting from commercial approaches to design to the impact of science on society[8].There have been approaches like embedding media in ordinary objects, through which we try to figure out the relationship of communication between human and objects. During the future prob, we want to break the line between ourselves and our audience. How does the implementation of the showroom method fit in this scenario?Four steps were mentioned to have returns from the showroom to further inspire designs. These steps we reapplied when doing the future probe.First, we find the idiosyncratic detail and exaggerate it.We see the trend of merging spaces and different life and work routines, we imagine the future as a mixed reality that consists of the real world we are in and the world we build upon it to add details, and we are overwhelming ourselves with data generated and collected through all kinds of methods. We make the future environment alive communicate space, where everything is capable of interacting and collecting, even information so personal as emotion.Then we choose the coffee machine and rest table as props for the story we are hoping to tell. Later we chose the common room in Atlas to conduct our showroom research. We are offering this space a new meaning apart from the resting space, and we are looking forward to how people will interact with their surroundings.In the end we welcome our participants to sit down with researchers to discuss and create the story together of what they just experienced and saw.
Learning from activities
I consider the most difficult part in these method is data analysis, no matter the form of the data. Whether it is interview recordings, or actual numbers, or maybe everyday feelings. Designers/Researchers need to be able to translate them into something readable and understandable by people, then generate insights and inspire future work. Comparing these three research methods, I find myself most interested in field research. As I wrote in my PDP, I consider myself a patient listener and a good observer, these qualities allow me to understand needs from daily routines by doing field research. In my future work, I plan on learning more about how to analyze data from field research. “Design Research through Practice takes advanced design practice as its starting point, but enriches it to build a design process than can respond to both academic and practical problems.” CDR taught me that design is also a helper in the research process to generate new understandings and knowledge.
