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EPIC 2014 New York

Well the excitement of last week has taken its toll – or perhaps that’s just the jet lag. Now back in Berlin, I’m reminiscing our epic week, uploading pictures and re-reading scribbled notes – it’ll no doubt take me a lot longer to absorb it all.

I’d like to thank all of those who made it to my LEGO Serious Play® Workshop on Sunday. I had the pleasure of welcoming Ethnographers, Anthropologists, Designers and Researchers from Sao Paulo to Adelaide to exchange ideas in the form of those little colourful bricks we all loved so much as kids. Together we built metaphors and told stories of the trials and tribulations of the ‘ethno condition’, collaborating in a new way to delve deeper than your average conversational format.

Ever wonder what an “aha” moment could look like?

Well you’d expect your fair share of deep analysis in a room full of ethnographers wouldn’t you? Breaking things down into its building blocks was just the start of it – we had an ivory tower where the corporation is situated, befuddled by its users; the travelling ethnographers that tread treacherous waters and even the “Viking of Big Data” made an appearance.

Our session opened up a lot of questions for us to ponder and exchange ideas over; how do you present data in a way that gets people excited? How can we position ourselves to our clients in shifting contexts? What role do design processes play? Oh, how I would love to have had longer than a two-and-a half hour session with these big thinkers and doers. My personal ‘big question’ remains - how we can best implement this methodology into our research practices? I know a lot of the workshop participants were cooking up ideas - I would love to hear more from you – so do get in touch for a spark swap soon!

#ethnography #epic2014 #coribeth_

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Albert Einstein

Though he is known to be one of the founding fathers of rational thought, Albert Einstein in fact had a lot of favor for creativity, intuition and gut feelings. What I like about Einstein’s thinking is that it’s not an either/or thing, like left brain vs. right brain, creativity vs. logic etc., but that he always stated that society needed both, ratio and emotio....

#julia walter-hermann

“Harry: ‘Is this real or is it only in my head?’ Dumbledore: ‘Of course Harry it is only in your head. This is what reality is all about'”

Great quote from the Harry Potter books about social constructivism, one of the basics of qual research: No matter what is there 'in reality’, reality is what people make out of it. This is the kind of reality we should care about.

Landscaping Death

Or how to get 30 people share intimate stories about their own death.

Last week, PBI opened its doors as part of the Berlin Design Week to host a 3 day, drop-in, participatory workshop to Re.Design Death. We partnered up with Masters students from the Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design who designed and moderated the whole process. One of the daring students, Sophie Buergin, writes about the experience:

Sophie Buergin, Masters Student in Design Ethnography, Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design

When I prepared the workshop on Re.Designing Death with my team at the Point Blank International office, I noticed that what I was going to do during the three days of the Berlin Design Week workshop was quite ambitious – I wanted people to speak about death.

For me, speaking about death hasn’t been difficult so far. I remember the death of my aunt when I was very young and not to forget my beloved hamster, birds, rabbit and dog that taught me about the feeling of losing someone beloved.

When I told my mother that I would be working on my Masters project with the title Re.Designing Death she didn’t seem astonished about my curiosity in this topic and told me that I was experimenting with ‘looking like I was dead’ when I was a kid. I suppose I was interested in getting to know my parent’s reactions and I consciously sought room for discussions about what dying and being dead actually means.

Just because I was engaging with death from an early age doesn’t mean that nowadays as a Design Ethnographer and Experience Researcher I can expect the people I engage with to feel as open as I do when speaking about this topic. Especially not when it comes to thinking about our own death and expressing wishes and needs in the context of funerals, heritage and how we want people to remember us.

I was proven wrong – throughout the three workshop days, the people entering the Re.Designing Death workshop space were willing to engage with the topic on a very personal level. It almost seemed that by entering the room, curiosity and willingness to share experiences overtook the actual sensitivity of the topic.

Looking back, I feel privileged that people trusted me to share their personal stories while being aware that everything they say is being recorded and used anonymously within the context of our Masters project study.

What struck me most was the effectiveness of our using LEGO and prototyping tools - we visualized the process of dying, death and being remembered and supported people in getting started with the conversation. Expressing thoughts in a tangible way that seemed playful but at the same time didn’t lose its seriousness is one of the biggest learnings I have from this workshop. How might I further develop having ‘tangible conversations’ embedded in a vulnerable context is definitely going to be a topic I want to engage with during the time to come.

Moreover, I am curious to find ways of how to get people to talk about their death so that they find ways to express their wishes to the people they want to know about it. From my point of view, conversations around death are still a taboo and we look at it from an emotionally negative angle. I know that losing a beloved person is painful and sad but if we don’t open up conversations we are not helping the people we leave behind.

How might conversations around death become valuable for individuals? How might a setting for engaging creatively with the topic of death look like in the future and enable new business opportunities for improved experiences?

I am looking forward diving deeper into people’s lives and seeking for innovation opportunities in order to redesign dying towards the 21st century we are now living in. One thing I know, when it’s time for me to leave I want to allow my friends and family to grieve and celebrate at the same time…

#RE.Design Death Sophie Buergin

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY® at CERN 60th ANNIVERSARY

Last weekend, we journeyed further than any market researcher has gone before – to the 60th anniversary of CERN, to help them communicate the magic of particle physics to their neighbouring community.

Now, as brand communicators we’re no strangers to using creative means to help draw out consumer insights. Helping companies connect with their consumers is our bread & butter, but facilitating a dialogue between particle physicists and the general public most definitely raised the bar… There was only one thing for it. We’d have to get the LEGO® out.

5 Senses Approach & Haptic Thinking

At PBI, we have committed ourselves to taking a holistic approach with our research designs and to be mindful of the 5 senses in our work. The sense of touch, or, haptic sense making, as we like to call it, has proven a trusty partner in this endeavour; not only as a tangible modus of communication by ‘giving ideas a body’, but also invigorating the hand-mind connection through prototyping.

Dotti Toellner, our founder and CEO teamed up with fellow LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator, Julian Kea, to help CERN visitors build on their experiences & learnings of the day. Developed in the nineties, LEGO® Serious Play® is a business communication tool designed to deepen the reflection process and support an effective dialogue by drawing people ‘into the zone’ as they let their fingers do the thinking.

With physicists and laymen building together, there was a tangible exchange of ideas, enriching understanding on both sides. This gave CERN the opportunity to hear what the public thought, as well as equipping the physicists with a new communication tool to share their intricate knowledge.

We’re always delighted to be able to bring our slightly odd bag of tricks to our clients; no matter how ‘conservative’ we might expect them to be. Time & time again, we’ve witnessed this methodology open new doors of understanding, often leading stakeholders to question their own understanding and role in a given process. (We can also personally attest that running our own LEGO® workshops helped our internal alignment at PBI.)

Put it this way, if haptic communication can help explain the workings of the world’s largest particle accelerator to laymen, well, we feel we’re onto a pretty good thing.

#Cori @coribeth_ @Kilearning @DottiToellner

Play time for physicists

Yesterday Dotti and I bundled our lego-case and ourselves into the car and sped down the motorway to the depths of Berlin. Journeying further than any Irish-girl-in-Berlin has journeyed before, we arrived in Zeuthen to meet the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (or IPPOG for short) at DESY. (They do research in high-energy and particle physics as well as in the production and application of synchrotron radiation... Pretty impressive huh?)

If you’re wondering what two gals from a market research & innovation agency were doing there – no we didn’t get lost - we’ve been invited to Geneva next week, to run some community workshops for CERN[1] on their 60th anniversary. This was our opportunity to get together with the experts and learn more about the magic of particle physics and what they think the public might want to share in it.

Now, we’re not unfamiliar with the practice of coaxing professionals out of their conservative sphere, but to be honest, this was one of the more intimidating scenarios of my workshop career to date. Would a bunch of quantum physicists, who normally spend their time pondering the origins of the universe latch on to the idea of prototyping with lego…?

We underestimated them. Turns out, the majority were huge lego fans… And our approach of, ‘Well, let’s start by building a tower, shall we?’ was definitely beneath their creative capabilities.

Oh-oh, we were losing them… Lots of noise and not so much listening… We had to change tactics, fast, and cut to the chase.

So, we posed the million-dollar question, “Why?”

“Why should the wider community understand what you guys get up to? When people visit the LHC[2] at CERN next week, what do we want them to take away with them?”

Now they were with us! Here are some of the many thoughts they shared with us:

“…Since the dawn of time human beings have striven to understand the workings of the universe. It’s cultural. It’s an inner ‘need’…”

“CERN works with utter transparency; none of the results are a secret. We are open and we encourage the public to ask us questions. Because what we do is for human kind”

“Everyday, the scientists at CERN take time out of their own schedules to run tours around the LHC – they want people to share this wonder with them”

“…CERN is also a fantastic example of internationals working together for a common goal…”

Well that was plenty of food for thought! The models that our participants made to express these thoughts were fantastic. Have a look for yourself:

(Note the flags representing their international aspect)

A fairly extraordinary project for us, we are burning to further facilitate this dialogue between physicists and the public at CERN. We can’t wait to see what our laymen participants take away from the experience next weekend; I know the folks at CERN & IPPOG are pretty intrigued as well.

[1] Yet, another acronym so thought it best to stick it down here. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, & one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research; their biggest claim to fame being their Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

[2] More about the LHC http://cds.cern.ch/record/1186009?ln=en

Using Small Particles to Great Effect

At CERN, LEGO® meets Quantum Physics

Even in the inherently complex world of science, the field of quantum mechanics occupies a precarious position: it is notoriously difficult, if not near impossible to grasp for anyone with less than two doctorates in a relevant subject. It is also the very field to which the CERN Institut in Geneva has dedicated its work. It is known primarily for the Large Hadron Collider – an underground particle accelerator of a stunning 27 kilometres length – which will allow scientists to formulate practical observations about the workings of quantim mechanics. If that in itself weren’t difficult enough, there exists another challenge: as a publically funded institute, it is CERN’s responsibility to communicate its research to the public. But how do you to create transparency and egalitarian access to information on a subject that defies easy explanation?

Well, that’s where we come in. On the occasion of its 60th birthday, CERN has invited us to come along and demystify their work, helping them communicate with the public, using none other than, you guessed it, our old favourite - LEGO® bricks! With the help of precisely those small particles that helped us make sense of the world in the earliest days of our childhood, we will explore ways to enable our team of scientist super geeks, communication strategists and creative outsiders to quite literally build metaphors and concrete stories around CERN.

We’ll let you know what happens!

#LEGO CERN

#PBI5Senses Extravaganza

Last week our teams took to the big tent to showcase the results of their 5 Senses deep-dive expeditions, here at PBI HQ. (Well, there were actually 6 presentations, but bare with me, we’ll get to that.)

The PBIers have been working hard to explore the senses & broaden our thinking and doing in this field. The way in which people interact with products and brands goes a lot further than just the cognitive & verbal so we’re endeavouring to re-explore the world with a focus on its multi-sensory elements.

We knew we were in for a treat, but never had we expected such a spectacle of a day. They really pushed the boat out: there was a smelling gallery, blindfolded wine tasting, more chocolate than even I could shake a big stick at, and let’s not forget our dark room, tactile toilets…

(That hyacinth is just one of the bizarre things to be found in the slightly terrifying, tactile touch gallery in the darkened toilets!)

As qualies, we’re always talking about trying to get closer to ‘real life’ scenarios through ethnographical approaches, in-homes or online research. But we tend to get caught up on language.

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world”

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

#PBI5Senses PBIHQ SparkCRAFTers

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Albert Einstein

#quote einstein inspiration

PBI opens its doors, as well as its mindset...

A few weeks ago we decided to cooperate with a friend who is working with kids from less fortunate circumstances.

Her job is to help those who don’t find a place for an internship - especially at places where nobody would give them a chance.

So, she knocked on our door. A marketing & consultancy agency is quite unusual as a place to conduct an internship at the age of 15, especially when the majority of your classmates are applying at the local bakery or shoe shop. We were anxious if and how such an experiment could work, but we thought, "why not - let’s give it a try“.

The first days were quite hard for both sides. It was not the easiest thing to find appropriate tasks and it took a while until each of us opened up, but it became fun when we started to understand each other.

To be honest, business-wise there were no real benefits - but with regards to our team culture, there were a million.

We always talk about things like diversity, individualism and giving chances to young people - but always on a higher, respectively different level. By having this intern we started again to re-think about some of our core values and what they actually mean.

Having someone that young in the company from a background we normally would have never met, gave us a totally different perspective - of ourselves and of what it means to foster young people and talent.

We will, without question, do it again.

#Marlies

THE MAGIC OF QUAL

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

- Roald Dahl

It’s a quote designed for qual researchers: We should always keep this mindset when doing research. Be open, be curious, be positive and believe in magic!

#@DottiToellner

Wonder & Keep Wondering...

As children we were full of wonder. Our inability to explain things astounded & mystified us; we were surprised by small things and took immense pleasure in discovering new things. This is magic. For what is magic, if not the word we attribute to those things we do not understand? But as we become more knowledgeable, wonder eludes us. Society & technology advances & we stop being awed; nothing phases us anymore. We stop questioning things that seem to us, to be ordinary and (no doubt) explainable. This curiosity & amazement that we have in childhood is something we need to strive to preserve… We need to keep this magic alive.

There are various speculations surrounding Einstein’s last words... Some say he uttered to his bedside nurse something in his mother-tongue German, which the nurse could not understand as so was lost into the abyss…But one source we found, however inaccurate this may be, quoted these words, as the last from trusty Albert:

"I have been thinking the whole of my life that I would demystify the universe. On the contrary, the deeper I went into existence, the more the mystery deepened. I am dying full of wonder. I am dying in wonder." Regardless of their authenticity, these words moved us... The humility of these words... No matter how much you know, the ability to be amazed prevails and should be cherished. Let's keep the magic of wonder alive...

Source: Innocence, Knowledge, and Wonder: Osho Life Essentials

#sparkCRAFTers @DottiToellner @coribeth_

Finding Hidden Creativity

Most employers nowadays are keen to get ‘creatives’ on their team, seeing creativity as the source of fresh thinking and new ideas. The important part, however, is about being able to generate solutions and make these imaginative ideas reality.

I had always seen myself as uncreative… In fact, I was always afraid of people finding out how unimaginative and uncreative I was.... Faking migraines did the trick to get me out of art class at school, but I never anticipated this following me into adult life.

When I got to adulthood however, I found that I’d been running away from a misconception… Creativity doesn’t mean being able to make a perfect pottery mug or draw a nice bowl of fruit… It’s about finding an outlet which can spark your imagination and help you grasp new ideas.

For me this came through using my hands to craft, tinker and make; transforming the way I approached problem solving & problem finding.

Last Friday I took to the Creative Morning stage to talk about just that – Thinking With Your Hands. And you can imagine my trepidation standing before a crowd of ‘real creatives’.

The theme this month was “hidden” and so the day kicked off with me hiding LEGO® underneath each of the audience members chairs…

Take a look at the full video here: http://creativemornings.com/talks/cori-moore/1

#@coribeth_

How sad if our freedom to think about the immensity of time and space could be defined by what someone informs us that we believe.

- Roger Ebert

TAKING A 5 SENSES APPROACH

“As we sense we also make sense” (Vannini et al 2012)… and we do so with all our 5 senses.

We are animals. Rather than being primarily cognitive creatures, we experience the world in a multisensory way.

Yes, there is no doubt that how we interpret sensory information is culturally mediated, informed by history, education and social experience. But consider this: language has only been acquired at a relatively late state of our evolution.

"The senses are one of the most precious ways we have to learn about the world, and about ourselves. Most of us have hardly begun to harness their latent power.“ (Roman Krznaric)

I believe that we can connect more deeply when we embrace our ‘animal self’ in our work as qualitative researchers. And I aim to think and design in this spirit.

One of the big cruxes of ‘qualitative sensemaking’ is that we spend our lives knowing and understanding intuitively how human beings ‘tick’ … and then often end up spending a lot of time in the search for ‘appropriate’ deductions for what we know. Using multisensoric thinking gives room for greater diversity of readings here.

“Turning on our senses is a forgotten freedom we all possess, and can add new dimensions of meaning and experience to our lives.“ (Krznaric)

At PBI we only just have begun to broaden our thinking and doing in this field. Unlocking the latent powers of haptic thinking for example is one little step we take on this fascinating journey. Do you want to join us on this mission?

References:

This post was inspired by David Howes’ Keynote: ‘The race to embrace the senses in marketing: An ethnographic perspective’ at the 2012 EPIC conference in London

Krznaric, Roman (2011): How We Should Live – Great Ideas from the Past for Everyday Life (Bluebridge)

Vannini, D., Waskul, D. & Gottschalk, S. (2012) The Senses in Self, Society and Culture: A Sociology of the Senses, (Routledge)

#@DottiToellner #5senses

Erm… yes… but it's still not working…?!

Sorry folks! We know you're at the edge of your seats waiting to see our sparkly new website, but it looks like you'll have to hang on while we try and get some sense out of the IT guys!

#pbiwebsitelaunch - 4 days till launch

You know we like to think with our hands...in 4 DAYS you can read more about working with all 5 Senses on our new website...

#pbiwebsitelaunch #PBI #PBIthink #5senses #thinkwithyourhands

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