People place and space newsletter #11
Post pandemic city design, full stack service design and design as subtraction.
Hi folks, thanks for joining me for the May edition of this newsletter. I came back refreshed and energised from some much needed holiday, I hope you managed to get some downtime too.
Something else has also been refreshed - this newsletter! You might have noticed I switched from tiny letter to Substack - it’s a better experience for both writer and reader. I’ve also adjusted the format slightly, to make it more readable and the content quicker to get too. Let me know what you think. 😊
The city will be a new kind of space
By: Thomas Heatherwick for the Guardian
The Heatherwick-designed Maggie’s Centre in Leeds.Photograph: Hufton+Crow
It’s true - the pandemic has given us a glimpse into an alternate reality, one where we don’t all waste precious hours of our lives on our daily commutes and all the other advantages of remote work. The way our urban environments are designed and used will change, because with the new model of remote working we need to ask the question “what will make someone want to come here?” - of our offices and surrounding urban spaces.
“Not enough people, he says, “are really thinking of how to cherish the city as a new kind of space, as a room, as a meaningful gathering place – but that is going to be needed to bring people back.” - Thomas Heatherwick
There is a similar sentiment echoed in this (US focussed) Wired article about the opportunity smaller cities now have to re-invent themselves. I loved the nod to Jane Jacobs’ “human scale city” philosophy at the end 😊
Full stack service design
By: Sarah Drummond
Image courtesy of Sarah Drummond
What Sarah has created here is an absolute goldmine for anyone working in service design. I particularly liked the “Questions we can ask as leaders” and other prompts provided at each layer.
Full Stack Service Design is a model to help people break services down into the parts that make them and understand how all of these parts impact the user experience.
The framework also reminds me of the Pace layers model (from a great book called “How buildings learn” by Stewart Brand) - each layer moves at different speeds, and the same can be said of design. This is also explored by Jorge Arango here.
To add is expected, to subtract is design
By: Kim Bellard
Image courtesy of www.nature.com (original journal article source)
In the Lego picture above, for example, when asked how to strengthen the upper platform, most people wanted to add new columns, instead of simply removing the existing column. The researchers note: “The subtractive solution is more efficient, but you only notice it if you don’t jump to an additive conclusion.”
I found this article fascinating, and something I’m probably guilty of too. Looking at a problem and only seeing additive ways of fixing it (A new tool! A new app! A new page on the website!) only adds complexity, and a really skilful designer will first look to reduce complexity by removing something.
Additive ideas come to mind quickly and easily, but subtractive ideas require more cognitive effort. Because people are often moving fast and working with the first ideas that come to mind, they end up accepting additive solutions without considering subtraction at all. - Benjamin Converse - source here
Other things from my reading list:
I loved this tiny service design dictionary
A neat little article explaining why designers need to mind their language
The Japanese art of Hansei - self reflection - something all designers and design leaders can regularly benefit from
A huge list of toolkits and frameworks for ethical, inclusive and design justice led approaches to design
I wrote about my thoughts on unstoppable leadership, inspired by Bruce Lee’s “water way” philosophy
Things I’m thinking about this month:
Apart from the impending needs of the triffids in my garden, I really enjoyed reading Martyn Readings account of WTF does a Head of Design get up to all day - feels scarily familiar! I’ve spent a fair bit of time naval gazing/ thinking about horizon scanning and speculative design. Also, this image of architects dressed as their own buildings gave me a laugh, imagine if we dressed up as our products and services?!
I had a blast writing this, and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much.