Probes: A Designerly Way of Researching

Yu-seung Kim and Mari Nakano, Media Design Program, MFA Candidate, Art Center College of Design

The aim of Probes: A Designerly Way of Researching is to give participants hands–on experience creating what are called cultural probes, or designed objects and activities used in qualitative research studies. Using our design capabilities and intellect, what can we, as designers, create to understand the people for whom we are designing? How can we gather meaningful feedback through the creation of tangible objects and visual communication tools and games that can lead to greater empathy and understanding? How can we use cultural probes to formulate innovative new ways of thinking and teaching in our classrooms, in our research projects, in our communities, in our world?

In this workshop, participants will be given a short overview of actual cultural probes that have been used in the Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design. Participants will then be divided into small groups and presented with a brain-numbing, design-teasing activity centered around a "blank probe package." Using the package provided to each group, participants will be asked to design several cultural probes that can help them in their research endeavors. At the end of the exercise, we will come together to critique and evaluate each groups' set of probes and sketches to help clarify as well as better understand the use of probes as beneficial tools for research designers.