Design Research Framework
Purpose of investigation
Pilot study 1 survey findings:
1. Extent of reliance: High
2. Low awareness of Digital Dementia
3. High openness to change, to have a digital/life balance
4. Most people use mobile devices for work
Probe kit findings:
- People don’t think about mobile devices when they’re occupied, entertained or having good & fun interactions with others.
- Most people find it difficult to abstain from addictive apps because they are more entertaining than real life happenings, they can’t keep their attention away since they are ‘just a touch away’.
Analysis:
It is not possible to do work without technology (mobile devices and internet), the domain I am looking at is when they get off work, during their leisure or free time, they should engage in more off-screen possibilities instead of just retreating back into screens and getting absorbed into their mobile devices once again.
It is also impossible and silly to ask people to unplug from their digital mobile devices and prevent them from using without giving them alternatives.
This modern society views progress as speed and people are living under a weight of demands, real and imagined. Attention and thinking become fragmented as people spend less time to reflect and tend to react quickly, cutting short of deep thought processing and imagination. There is an increase in newspaper articles and popular books about work pressures covering concepts such as ‘anti-careerism’ and ‘downshifting’, discussing the difficulties of how people find time in everyday life.
The growing frustration of fast living has spawned the slow-living concept as a response to counter. There is potential in slowness as a means of critiquing or challenging dominant narratives or values that characterize contemporary modernity for so many. (Parkins & Craig, 2006). However Parkins and Craig also agree that the idea of slow living is provocative as an increasing ‘busy-ness’ is a central feature of global culture. A desire for slow living can be seen in a range of social phenomena, with wellness revolution such as slow practices like yoga or the return to creative practices such as gardening or knitting.
Movements such as slow food, slow media and slow fashion place significance on simplifying daily life by reducing waste of time, money and resources. Slow Food movement adopted a manifesto endorsed by delegates from fifteen countries, defining the movement against ‘Fast-Life’ in which speed enslaves humanity, and endangers the natural environment. (Parkins & Craig, 2006). This manifesto defines fast as enslaving and slow as liberating. (Slow Movement Manifesto, 1989, as cited in Parkins & Craig, 2006).
Incorporating Slow Living with Technology has started concepts such as Data-Fasting, Digital Detox, Digital De-cluttering and Digital Minimalism. Digital Detox and Data-Fasting are tagged with negative connotations as they suggest technological resistance and a complete refrainment from using electronic devices for a period of time, this can be seen as practicing Neo-Luddism, a lifestyle that abandons specific technologies as Luddites believed that it's the best strategy for a bright future.
Digital De-Clutter and Digital Minimalism are concepts more in-line with Slow Living. A life lived slowly, according to Craig and Parkins, does not reject things like cell phones, the internet or access to goods and services made possible through globalization. (Steager, 2015). It doesn’t mean that people need to do everything in life as slowly as possible, but rather be conscious of the sensory profusion they face everyday, to take control and do everything at the right speed. Slow living is about balance, not total rejection of usage. Digital Minimalism does not reject the innovations of the Internet age, it is a philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else. (Newport, 2019).
Themes synthesised from findings (survey, probe kit, observations and literature review):
Well-being & Quality of Life
Time Well spent
Digital Minimalism
Digital De-clutter
These themes then form the basis of the 4 concepts for my parameters of design:
Slow Living
Fun & Imagination
Socio-Cultural Awakening
Humane Design
I will also be incorporating 2 design themes, Citizen Designer and Future Identities into my concepts.
What is our role in this society?
What do we want to change? Do we want to influence, inspire or affect change? And why do we want to change a certain system?
Standing up for something you believe in and to fight for it. - Manifestos, Design activism, Activist-Designer.
Are we upset with some social issues? Pollution, global warming, mental health, technology addiction, animal rights, disposable culture, etc.
What are the human values that we hold dear? Authenticity, Balance, Compassion, Challenge, Community, Creativity, Religion, Success, Recognition, Service, Curiosity, Fairness, Happiness, Justice, Meaningful work, Kindness, Leadership, Learning, Love, etc.
Nadine shared this quote by Gavin Newsom with us, ''The more comfortable my ride on the bus, the more appealing my reusable grocery bag is, the more likely I am to participate in environmentally sound practices." If the bus I'm taking is clean, has enough cushy seats for everyone and air conditioning is at the right temperature, I wouldn't mind choosing a bus over a cab. And if we like our pretty grocery bag, there's a higher chance of us bringing it out, using it and saying no to plastic bags.
Design approaches:
- Multi-functional designs
- Using leftover materials /waste and recyle/upcyle them. Eg, using old electronic parts from old mobile phones and turning into fashion accessories
- Designs that function/serve without compromising on other factors (eg. environment) - Examples: Current window by Marjan Van Aubel - using daylight electricity to power appliances. Folds by Natsai Audrey - creating prints on fabric using bacteria.
Future Identities:
How can we envision the future?
What kind of design approaches can we apply for innovation?
How is the future world going to be? Future homes, future clothes, future roads, futuristic technology, applications and appliances. etc
If there are going to be flying-automobiles next time, how are we going to build the 'roads' or control traffic in the sky? We may also re-design roads on the ground now that a portion of traffic is in the sky, are we able to use the spare ground spaces for something else? Something more useful or more meaningful? How can design help?
What are the emerging technologies? Artificial intelligence, Virtual reality, Augmented reality. Robotics.
Future: Resources are running out, over-population
References:
Newport, Cal. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Portfolio/Penguin, 2019.
Parkins, Wendy, and Geoffrey Craig. Slow Living. Berg, 2006.
Tabitha, Steager. “Slow Living by Wendy Parkins and Geoffrey Craig.” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175174409X400774.
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