Designing for wellbeing

finding shortcuts through simplification, revealing new understandings
of the problem in question. The designer’s combination of ethnographic
skills and attitude with a capability for visualisation is a powerful one, as
it makes use of analogies and metaphors to convey insight and interpretation
without the need for written descriptions.
The first of our design project examples builds on user-centred design
methods and teamwork, and the second one on subjective interpretation
and personal creativity. Common to both is the openness of the brief, which
is typical in educational settings.
The user-centred approach
The first example deals with the Psychiatric Care 5 project, which was executed
in collaboration with two mental healthcare units in Helsinki: Aurora
Psychiatric Hospital and Malmi Outpatient Clinic. The goal of the collaboration
was to explore how design can help improve the environments,
practice and image of psychiatric care. The user-inspired approach taught
to the students provided a framework for reflecting on the findings and
allowed freer interpretation and ideation. User-centred design methods
borrow from ethnographic research. In this type of qualitative design
research there is a strong link between the data and the observer, and
there are no a priori truths or established assumptions about where the
researcher should start. The influence of the social sciences on user-centred
design has a bearing in terms of the readiness of students to approach new
domains and view everyday things as interesting and worthy of careful
study. This approach leads to an iterative process in which the students
expand their knowledge of the context through various means of inquiry
and user involvement, while simultaneously focusing on the development
of a feasible solution proposal.
5 User Inspired Design taught by professors Turkka Keinonen and Jack Whalen, and supported
by researchers from Aalto University
41 · We have always been here before: on design courting real disciplines