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Open Studios

One of the research methods Younghee and the research team have been experimenting with in the past year of working in shanty towns is setting up Open Studios in an attempt to engage a broad cross section of the community whist offering people different ways to articulate their wants and needs. We used a competition to design your ideal future phone as a vehicle for collecting data and the photos here show three of the 200+ entries from Buduburam near Accra, Favela Jacarezihno in Rio de Janeiro and Dharavi in Mumbai. It's easy to fixate! on! design! sketches! but bear in mind these are but a small part of the Open Studio - a lot of the research value comes through follow up interaction to help understand why participants chose these designs and how their design decisions are relevant in their context.

To browse 15 of the designs plus lite background information on the designers head to this Business Week slide show.

In due course we plan to write up and share the methodology. To be notified of this and other newly published research send an email to subscribe at janchipchase.com.

A full list of acknowledgments to follow when the research is published. Top photo - taken by our studio assistants in Buduburam.

Writing from Helsinki | May 1, 2008 | Permalink