Whereas Part I and Part II focused on getting things working and producing sounds, this post concentrates specifically on the design process. As a starting point, the Prezi below may be helpful for thinking about designing instruments. For me, my background is in special education, so disability theory/disability studies really resonates with me and has a significant influence on how I frame learning experiences. Maybe it will help you too...
There are two theories that I find particularly helpful in guiding design. The first is conceptual and guides thinking, whereas the second is prescriptive and guides action.
1. The Room Metaphor (Seymour Papert, Mitch Resnick)
Low Floors: It's easy to enter the room
High Ceilings: There is room for complexity
Wide Walls: There is room for everyone, and there are many points of access
Low Floors: It's easy to enter the room
High Ceilings: There is room for complexity
Wide Walls: There is room for everyone, and there are many points of access
The Room Metaphor is helpful in thinking globally about design.* I often write these three principles on index cards and hand them out to groups so they can revisit them as they develop their designs. Essentially, these are questions designers must ask themselves:
1. Is it easy to enter the room?
2. Is there room for complexity?
3. Is there room for everyone, and are there many points of access?
Know that there is no such thing as a universal design, try as we might to achieve such a thing. By asking themselves these questions, designers should be aware not only of how their designs can enable, but also how they can disable.
*big thanks to Eric Rosenbaum (co-creator of the MaKey MaKey) for giving me a crash course on the Room Metaphor for design.
1. Is it easy to enter the room?
2. Is there room for complexity?
3. Is there room for everyone, and are there many points of access?
Know that there is no such thing as a universal design, try as we might to achieve such a thing. By asking themselves these questions, designers should be aware not only of how their designs can enable, but also how they can disable.
*big thanks to Eric Rosenbaum (co-creator of the MaKey MaKey) for giving me a crash course on the Room Metaphor for design.
2. Iterative Design Cycle (Don Norman)
The MaKey MaKey is a prototyping device and a quick glance at Norman's iterative design cycle suggests that by starting with the MaKey MaKey we're skipping some key design steps. In actuality when you start right away by prototyping you are integrating the first two steps of observation and idea generation, but perhaps less methodically.
The reason Part I & II of this workshop series starts with the MaKey MaKey is to get learners comfortable with the device itself. In the process of doing so—in a constructionist way of trying out different conductive materials to test functionality—we may call upon experiences (which involve observation) and these can lead to ideas to prototype. While it really depends on the group of learners, in my experience this initial phase of discovery and playing usually runs its course after 1 to 2 hours. There are some learners (such as myself) that are quite content to continue on in this way, but in my experience many learners eventually hit a point where the novelty wears off and disengagement starts to set in. This is actually a good thing. As wonderful as the MaKey MaKey is, we don't really want the workshop to be about it because it is simply a conduit to helping us design new instruments.
Enter Norman's iterative design cycle. We can see that human-centered design ought to start with observing (which includes dialoguing with) people to identify their abilities and needs. From there we develop ideas to meet these abilities and needs and build prototypes of these ideas to be tested by the very people we design for. As Norman says, repeat this cycle until satisfied. Ideally, we can go out into our respective communities and do just that. But what if we can't for whatever reason? What else can we do?
The reason Part I & II of this workshop series starts with the MaKey MaKey is to get learners comfortable with the device itself. In the process of doing so—in a constructionist way of trying out different conductive materials to test functionality—we may call upon experiences (which involve observation) and these can lead to ideas to prototype. While it really depends on the group of learners, in my experience this initial phase of discovery and playing usually runs its course after 1 to 2 hours. There are some learners (such as myself) that are quite content to continue on in this way, but in my experience many learners eventually hit a point where the novelty wears off and disengagement starts to set in. This is actually a good thing. As wonderful as the MaKey MaKey is, we don't really want the workshop to be about it because it is simply a conduit to helping us design new instruments.
Enter Norman's iterative design cycle. We can see that human-centered design ought to start with observing (which includes dialoguing with) people to identify their abilities and needs. From there we develop ideas to meet these abilities and needs and build prototypes of these ideas to be tested by the very people we design for. As Norman says, repeat this cycle until satisfied. Ideally, we can go out into our respective communities and do just that. But what if we can't for whatever reason? What else can we do?
Constrain-to-Create Cards
For some people (such as myself) being told, "dream it up!" is just what I want to hear. If you're working with a learner who has that mindset, I encourage you to let them do their thing. For those who would like more direction, I provide design prompts in the form of constrain-to-create cards (I really like alliteration). The idea behind these cards is that as you add them together, the design task becomes more specific, thus constraining the channel in which to create. I find some groups just want one card to get started, whereas others are happy to take a stack to try out multiple ideas and combinations before they settle on one direction for their design. So far I've come up with four categories for these cards:
1. Population (the most important in human-centered design)
2. Context
3. Mechanism/Motion/Action
4. Material(s)
I differentiate the categories using different colored recipe cards, but sticky notes work really well too.
The picture below shows some of the ideas I've used (and not all of them could fit in the frame), but please add more and tell me so I can use them!
You can add the cards together within categories and across. Typically the more cards, the more constraints there are to consider. So, for example you could select the cards Wheelchair + Playground + Rolling + Squishy. That's a tall order, but it can be done! What might an instrument be like played by someone in a wheelchair at a playground that involves a rolling motion to play something squishy? There are lots of right answers to this question.
1. Population (the most important in human-centered design)
2. Context
3. Mechanism/Motion/Action
4. Material(s)
I differentiate the categories using different colored recipe cards, but sticky notes work really well too.
The picture below shows some of the ideas I've used (and not all of them could fit in the frame), but please add more and tell me so I can use them!
You can add the cards together within categories and across. Typically the more cards, the more constraints there are to consider. So, for example you could select the cards Wheelchair + Playground + Rolling + Squishy. That's a tall order, but it can be done! What might an instrument be like played by someone in a wheelchair at a playground that involves a rolling motion to play something squishy? There are lots of right answers to this question.
If you or some of the learners you guide enjoy the element of surprise or are indecisive, why not try an approach incorporating chance? You can use a site like wheeldecide.com to make choices for you. Below is a quick prototype of how this idea might look (sorry, couldn't resist!). Instead of having card categories you could just create more wheels.
Age Cohort |
Context |
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