Arvind Ashok; Interaction Designer » Design

Consumption; And Design’s Role as a Behavioral Change Agent

Arvind — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:01:49 +0000

I recently watched this video – The Story of Stuff (YouTube link) – and while it did not say anything that I did not know already, it did jolt my memory and remind me that while I might know things, I have proceeded to forget them as well. In grad school, I became very interested in sustainability and the environment and proceeded to take a class as well as read books like Natural Capitalism and In The Bubble. My slant has always been about Design and something else (education, developing world, sustainability). But recently, I have been more focused on a side-project of mine and doing less thinking. And am glad this video gave me the jolt that I needed.

The video is really well done, simple and elegant and graspable. I want to talk about a couple of things she brings up. The first is how the era of consumption was brought on as a behavioral change (not her words exactly, but not really mine either), how the economy needed a boost after WWII and people buying a ton of stuff would really help. And it certainly did. It carried the United States this far, and of course, a lot of the other countries fell behind and everyone was happy. But where it leaves us now is obvious – global warming, rapid decline of natural habitats, over-fishing, loss of forests at an insane rate, animals running out of space to live (The movie “Over the Hedge” made me incredibly sad because that was the biggest thing that struck me about it) etc. And all of this, IMHO, has been brought about because it was designed this way, to bring about a change in the behaviour of people. Perceived and Planned Obsolescence are the terms she uses and it certainly is bang on target. We are told by ads on TV to go buy new things and are in a rapid consumption cycle.

One of the reasons we so readily go out and buy something is due to the lack of transparency of the consumption process. We do not know the REAL cost of a good. For example, the journey of a coke can(will update this once I get my hands on the book). Or the weight in materials of a laptop (approx 4000x the amount of weight in materials is utilized). If we did know the real cost, if the entire process was transparent, I am sure that a lot less consumption will happen.

And now it is time for design to bring about another change in behaviour. We need to shift from this mindset of consumption to living with a lighter footprint. We need another behavioral change, a shift in mindset. And a bit more deeply, people need to question, “What is happiness?”. We need to look beyond our lifetime. A bunch of stuff. And it has to happen. And it will happen.

tl;dr: Watch the video. Buy the book.

IxDA 2010

Arvind — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:18:52 +0000

I finally registered for the conference, to be held in Savannah, GA next February. Also registered for Indi Young’s workshop on Mental Models (was split between this and Dan Saffer’s), along with Steve Portigal’s workshop. The choices for workshops are great, I was confused about which ones to attend. Dan Saffer, Raphael Grignani and Will Evans are some of the other people with really tempting workshops.
Am hoping to meet some of these people. Weird that I have to go all the way to Savannah to meet people who are within 30 minutes of where I live.

(Trying) To Get Back To Development Roots

Arvind — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:12:16 +0000

A few years back, I decided that I did not want to be a developer and found a calling of sorts in Interaction Design. Now, I was not that great a developer, even though I was told otherwise by two pretty darn good developers. It was just that I was never ‘in the zone’ for too long. And I felt I was making the right choice. Now, if grad school was not an eye-opening place, I would’ve probably regretted that decision I made. Thankfully, the design program at Indiana University and my peers and colleagues there made it an amazing learning experience. But sometimes I do wonder if I did not stick it out and quit too easily. And honestly, I did.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it brings me to present day, where am a reasonably competent designer. And being in the valley, wanting to try out my hand at starting something up. I have had a couple of projects in mind for a long time but never have taken them too far along due to the lack of other co-founders, especially developers. And yet again, I have tried to write some code only to give up too easily. Thankfully, I came across a couple of articles that gave me a kick up the back side and this time, I really want to put in a more valiant effort to write code.
While I sincerely believe being a designer is an amazing thing and it really gives me a lens to view things and do things that will be beyond what a developer can do, I cannot do what a developer can as well – which is churn out great, working code and turn an idea into something working on a computer.
So, here I am. Trying to write code. While I search for a great programmer (not just a good one), rather than remain stagnant, I should try and get somewhere. Of course, I am not neglecting my design side of things and will have a solid set of designs to help the project take off once the developer arrives. But until then, motion is not action.
The articles that helped
- Steve Blank: The difference between motion and action
- the other article was about a woman trying to solve a math problem for 30 minutes, not giving up and figuring it out. And how that attitude is amazing. Rather than ask for the solution, she stumbles through and finally groks it. Will update with the link as soon as I find it.

This reminds me, I need to write a post looking for a co-founder.

IxDA 2010

Arvind — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:39:19 +0000

It increasingly looks like going to IxDA 2010 is a real possibility. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a design conference and am really looking forward to my first IxDA.

The list of workshops has made me really indecisive and that is why am delaying my registration till the end of the month. Trying to decide between “Designing for Billions” by Raphael Grignani, “The Right Way to Wireframe” or Steve Portigal’s workshop on applying research. The morning session has Dan Saffer’s brainstorming workshop vs Indi Young’s mental models.

A decision has to be made.

Quest for a new design journal

Arvind — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:24:39 +0000

Apart from the falsely marketed Moleskine, I wanted to see if there were any good alternatives. And a friend pointed me to the Piccadilly journals, which are a look-alike to the afore-mentioned Mokeskines. Hoping to find a good sketchbook as well, or probably just use blank, loose sheets of paper. But about time I learned more sketching instead of hiding behind excuses.