design research, strategy, modeling complexity, visual design
Modeling Complexity — miscellaneous system visualizations, maps, diagrams
Modeling visual diagrams is a method to accelerate synthesis and give tangible form to valuable information throughout the design process. Theories of language, visual perception, visual representation and communication are applied to those models. This skill is increasingly important as many challenges that designers are wrestling with involve large-scale problem definition. Also, these challenges include subjects and characteristics too large or numerous to conceptualize using memory and cognition alone. Below you will find a collection of complex thinking projects that used design to help untangle the ‘mess’:
1. Investigating the Revenge of Paper by Moleskine: narrative storytelling through a collection of visual models
Working on the premise that complexity is multi-faceted, this project presents a series of integrated models designed in order to illustrate a larger and complex story about the Revenge of Paper in the digital world. Using the content from the book ‘Revenge of Analog’ by David Sax, this collection was created during Modeling Complexity seminar at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: Tomoko Ichikawa).
To view full story in Moleskine, click here.
Below are some models part of this project. This first model shown below presents how Moleskine’s power has flourished and disseminated across industries, people and markets. It also unveils critical relationships between actors involved that enabled the success of an analog in a digital era.
Key connections
The need for balance: the rise of personal computers provoked unintented consequences to human beings, setting off a conflict between productivity and creativity. After a while, society expressed desire for analog mediums in order to channel productivity and creativity since digital seemed to be messing up with these foundational human capabilities. As a result, there was an opportunity window in the market which facilitated the rise of an analog cultural icon.
The Love & Hate relationship between Analog & Digital: the productivity pressure versus the emergence for creativity conflict was a cyclical quality of Paper in Analog & Digital lives.
Moleskine’s Market Value: in 2007, Moleskine was acquired by a private equity firm, Syntegra Capital, for € 62 million. It achieved steady growth for six years, expanding its line of notebooks into many different colors and sizes, and enticed direct-to-business sales. On April 3, 2013, Moleskine’s stock made its debut on the Milan stock exchange. This diagram shows Moleskine’s price per share overtime along with business and market’s facts.
2. Sustainable Systems: Urban Growers Collective
These diagrams were created during Sustainable Solutions Seminar at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: André Nogueira). It represents the actual operation of Urban Growers Collective (Chicago, IL) and the impact they are fostering through different levels of interaction. The model of UGC’s initiative aimed to be used as a tool for thinking and communicating their impact. The second image is a zoom in of a ‘region’ of the system which could be a potential “leverage point” — meaning a place within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one or more specific elements could produce big changes in the entire system (Meadows, D. H.). This work used the “Multilevel Design Model: the mutual relationship between product-service system development and societal change processes”, by Joore, P., & Brezet, H. (2015).
2. Communication in the Planning Process: “Where do we see the intersection of the fields of design, data, and behavior going next?”
This piece was developed out of a panel discussion at IIT Institute of Design's Design Intersections conference about “where do we see the intersection of the fields of design, data, and behavior going next?”. The main idea of this work was to build up a point of view and translate it into a visual and tangible form to accelerate synthesis and give valuable information for critical reflection and possible future action. Click on image to enlarge.
This visual was created during Communication in the Planning Process Seminar at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: Ruth Schmidt)
Design Intersections’ panel with James Guszcza (US Chief Data Scientist, Deloitte), Francois Millard (Senior Vice President, The Vitality Group) and Shrupti Shah (Managing Director, Deloitte), moderated by Tom MacTavish (Assistant Professor, IIT Institute of Design).
click on image to enlarge
3. Service Systems Design: GoodHands Rescue Network — Rescuer’s Experience Journey
This model represents not only an experience journey of rescuers in the GHRN, but also overlaps other layers of information such as pain points, opportunity spaces and overall potential strategies to work on. This piece was created during Service Design Workshop at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: Anne Conway)
4. Theory and Foundations of Human Centered Design: Spotify — mapping user's attention and social cognition
This visual piece maps user's attention and social cognition while using the music streaming platform ‘Spotify’ - in two different moments right in the moment and over time. This model was created during Theories and Foundations of Human Centered Design class at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: John Cain and Chris Miller)
5. Timeline diagram: BP Oil Spill — On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurs on the BP-licensed Transocean drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. This diagram shows the oil spill estimation overtime, BP’s maintenance attempts and the consequences to company’s business. This visual was created during Diagram Development seminar at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: Tomoko Ichikawa).
6. Connections diagram: Closing the sustainability gap in food production — This diagram presents the challenge of meeting global food security in a sustainable way, which requires a knowledge-intensive approach and use of modern technologies to develop production systems that are profitable, ecologically safe and socially acceptable. This visual was created during Diagram Development seminar at IIT Institute of Design (instructor: Tomoko Ichikawa).