Why give up a good job in the design industry to do a PhD in it? What is a PhD in design anyway? In this talk for the May Design Interest event in Newcastle I discussed what it's like (with a bit of background) and some pros and cons.

1. There & Back Again
Academia/Design/Academia….
Vicky Teinaki
Design Interest May 2012

3. Academia
Industry

4. Academia BProdDes MDes
Industry gap

5. BProdDes + MDes: Unitec
“used to be a mental institution, AWESOME!”
Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/mutedsinger/5695037327/

6. How the st
The stones come in a set of eight: d
has twelve coloured buttons labelled
note scale e.g. red = C. Pressing any
stone change
All other buttons are wirelessly alter
(e.g. if yellow/E is selected on the m
major). Touching any of the three so
make it sound the assigned
C Choosing any of the
Using the C#/Db
coloured buttons
(representing the
stones D do
ti
12 note scale) while
holding down the
la select button ...
sol
D#/Eb fa
...ma
mi
re do ston
do
E up in
colou
F
B
Start by pressing the silver F#/Gb
select button on any of the A#/Bb
stones. G A
C G#/Ab
do
ti
la
sol
...makes the fa
stone light mi
re do
up in that do
colour...
Making
sounds Change do
ti
key la
do sol
fa
ti
la
mi
re mi
sol
fa
High octave
(high C)
mi
re do
do
Mid octave
do
(mid C) ti
la
sol Major or
fa
mi fa minor
re
To make a sound, do
press any of the three
lit up areas on each
of the stones. They Key
play the same note at Low octave
different octaves
mi
do
a
(low C) options
Playing la
sol
ti
do
do
ti
la
sol do
do re
mi
fa
re
fa
mi
mi la
ti
twinkle
tunes
ti do re sol
la do fa
sol mi
fa re fa
mi
re
do do
do
do
ti
la l
so
do do sol sol la la sol
fa
s
fa mi
Twin-kle twin-kle lit-tle star
Playing a tune
mi
re
m d
la
ti
do
2 do
fa fa mi mi re re do
consists of deducing
sol
do
ti
la l
How I won-der what you are
the melodic shape, so
fa
so
l
do
mi
re
3 sol sol fa fa mi mi re
setting a key and
ti do
la
sol
fa
la
Up a-bove the world so high
mi
sounding the notes. do
ti
re
do
la
sol sol sol fa fa mi mi re
Tunes can be mi
re
fa
ti Like a dia-mond in the sky
do
4
do
learned either from
do
ti
la
sol
fa
do do sol sol la la sol
mi
re
do
written material or 5 Twin-kle twin-kle lit-tle star
by recognising the 1 7
6 fa fa mi mi re re do
melodic shape by How I won-der what you are
Learning to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
ear.
The use of speci!c colours for different notes mean
that they can be referenced to teach scales. A coloured C# D# F# G# A# C# D# F# G# A#
Db Eb Gb Ab Bb Db Eb Gb Ab Bb
xylophone with the equivalent colours would be an
appropriate accessory.
C D E F G A B C D E F G A B
Singing Stones  Aiming to find an intuitive way for people to create music, Singing Stones
Bachelor of Product Design Final Year Thesis Project combine Hungarian composer Zoltaire Kodaly’s moveable-do scale and colour-
Bronze Award  BEST Awards sound synaesthesia in an electronic product for one or many players.
The product was presented both as a non-functioning hard model and an
interactive Flash demo (see interactive section).

8. “Talk to undergrads like they’re grads; talk to
grads like they’re undergrads.”
“This is the best trick I’ve learned in 11 years of teaching. Undergraduates have youth,
fearlessness, and great tolerance for being pushed around. What they don’t have is people talking
to them like they matter. They are used to being talked to like children by people of authority
(high school didn’t help), and will be stunned when you address them like real designers who
have ideas of worth.
“Graduate students have wisdom, life experience, and a desire to actually be in school. But
graduate students also are old enough to know that ideas have consequences, and as a result
they run, basically, on fear. They have refrains like “I didn’t think that idea would be any good, so
I didn’t mock it up,” or “I wasn’t sure what to build, so I read these books.”
“Treat the undergrads like they’re grown-ups (which they are); show them crazy respect, and
ask their opinions all the time. Tell your graduate students to stop talking and start building; tell
them not to come to class next week if they don’t bring in 12 sketches. And then thank your lucky
stars when they arrive with 3. “
Allan Chocinov, Core77
http://core77.com/reactor/09.06_chochinov.asp

9. Academia BProdDes MDes
Industry gap interaction
design

12. BProdDes MDes PhD
(in progress)
Academia
Industry
[gap] Interaction
design

13. PhD: Northumbria “Jonathan Ive studied here,
b*tches!” University
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramhall/1798816585

14. What is a PhD?
Especially a design PhD?

15. “The submission is the culmination of the
Student’s work. It is their own achievement
and (for doctoral students) their own original
contribution to knowledge. A sense of
ownership gradually emerges (for the Student)
over the duration of the research programme;
the Student acknowledges this when they
eventually claim copyright of the thesis, and
this ownership is also asserted through the
formal declaration in the submission.”
SUBMITTING FOR EXAMINATION: GUIDANCE FOR RESEARCH DEGREE STUDENTS AND
SUPERVISORS: Northumbria University

16. Not all PhDs are the same ….
UK PhDs 3 years min (full-time), a project
US PhDs 1 year coursework, then thesis (3+ years)
Scandinavian PhDs up to 5 years (studentships usually include a
teaching component)
(and then there are DPhils—Professional Doctorates….)

17. The Timeline of Death…. PhD Timeline — Vicky Teinaki
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
Stagegates IPA Year 2 Writeup Viva
Literature Review
Parallel Fields
Existing Languages
Use of Touch in Design
Pilot Studies
Revea/expert interviews
Design Probes/Languages
Identify /pilot
methodologies
Writeup of methodology
Collate proposed
vocabulary
Data collection
Workshops with designers
Situate in design process
Valorising proposed
frameworks
Writeup
here there be dragons

19. iNTerViewS LiTeraTUre:
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o
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language of experts (KEPES, 1995)
SEELy BROWn ET AL (1989) Global dimensions of touch 2.
Fig. The 24 real telephone samples in the SD test.
AKERMAn ET AL (2010)
There is a concept nexus
to view them thoroughly and then evaluated them (2) Factor analysis (principal component analysis)
between touch & language on the basis of their impressions. They were al- of the subject's perceptual space;
ACKERMAn ET AL (2010)
lowed to assess the telephone samples in random (3) Relative importance of design elements;
order. To avoid interference in evaluating the tele- (4) Design reference model.
phone samples, the subjects were asked not to talk
to each other during the test. 3.1. Distribution of the raw data
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elgincountyarchives/4306624931
The raw data } mean scores and standard devi-
3. Results and discussion ation } for the 14 adjective pairs rated by designers
and users re#ected that the designer is better able

20. Why do it?

21. BProdDes MDes PhD Lecturing
(in progress)
Academia
Post-doc
Industry
[gap] Interaction Design
researcher
design

22. You get to do design research
Antony Dunne

23. Jane McGonigal

24. Dan Lockton

25. Jayne Wallace

26. Rigour

27. Research and Design
Research into design design history etc
Research for design industry methods
Research through design Through practice
Frayling (1994)

28. Real True
Judgement, Intuitive, and Logic
Taste Knowledge
Competence Universal
Particular and contextual Peers
Client Context driven, Cumulative, Distancing, Explain
Create particular, and synthetic and Describing Understand
Change Distancing and Analytic
Involving and Synthetic
Design Practice Design Studies
Commercial design Other Philosophy
organizations disciplines
Commercial design
organizations
Idealistic, Societal, and
The possible Subversive
Show alternatives
Ideals
Design
Transcend Exploration
Provoke
Experiement
Aesthetics Design critique, Art,
Proactive Humanities
Figure 3 Societal, “Now”-oriented
A more complete model of interaction Critique
design research. Political
Fallman, D. (2008) The Interaction Design Research Triangle of Design Practice, Design Exploration, and Design Studies, Design Issues, Vol. 24, No. 3, p. 4-18, MIT Pres
14 Design Issues: Volume 24, Number 3 Summer 2008

29. . Examples
Thought-provoking insights into everyday life:
a new contribution to discovery research in design
Marc Isaacs, 2001
Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, 1961
Bas Raijmakers PhD (RCA)
Bas Raijmakers, 2006
Xiaoxiao Sun, 2006
Bas Raijmakers, 2004
Anthony Dunne Bas Raijmakers Ramia Mazé
This research asks the question How can we use documentary
film in discovery research? Answers are sought through
studying films and theory, as well as making films for
multidisciplinary design teams. Design is nowadays a
thoroughly multidisciplinary discipline. It is called upon
ever more in society and industry to address problems and
create opportunities. As a result design touches on many
aspects of our everyday lives, and knowledge about how
people live is an important asset in design processes.
In design processes discovery research is used from the Documentary film has a strong connection to reality, and Filmmakers have explored and developed countless Documentary films such as Chronicle of a Summer (Jean During the research, I made several films for and with The design documentaries I made raised practical, Design teams appreciated the direct access to the people Design documentaries appropriate the three ideas from Design documentaries offer new ways of doing discovery
start, to get access to knowledge about how people live and developed a rich film language. The films that inspire this techniques since 1895. This research groups them as Rouch and Edgar Morin, 1961) and Lift (Marc Isaacs, 2001) design teams. Fred, Kent and Debra (2004) are films about theoretical and ethical issues which can be grouped around in the design documentaries, allowing them to discover documentary film for discovery research. The idea that research based on their characteristics: embracing diversity,
what matters to them. But that is not its only role. Ideally, research in particular present the perspectives of people observation, compilation, intervention and performance mix the three ideas (reality, language and conversation) heart patients commissioned by Philips Medical Systems. the three ideas that characterise documentary film: reality, the context of the situations they were designing for. film is like reality is focused on embracing diversity and exploring aesthetics and creating conversations. In practice,
it also inspires design processes. Video has been used to behind and in front of the camera in conversation with techniques. Observation techniques are driven by a desire and four techniques (observation, intervention, Drift and Swim (2006) explore the application of smart language and conversation. Design documentaries connect The creative use of film language, instead of registration, ambiguity in everyday life in the research. The use of film they have shown that research can be part of design, and
support both roles since the 1980s, but has not moved each other, and invite viewers to join and continue these to not disturb the situations that are being filmed. compilation and performance) to tell a story about everyday textiles, for several small companies. I assisted filmmaker to reality by accepting the complexity of everyday life. was inspirational for the teams. The perspectives language becomes an exploration of film aesthetics aimed design can be part of research: design documentaries create
much beyond registering discovery research activities. For conversations. The three notions reality, language and Intervention techniques on the other hand interfere in life that leaves many idiosyncrasies and complex details Xiaoxiao Sun in making Alena’s Strawberry Farm (2006), They use film language as a tool to tell stories which researchers added to the films stimulated designers to bring at expressing these ambiguities and the perspectives new shared spaces for research and design to co-exist. They
the first time, this research adds documentary film to the conversation have become the foundation of design situations by asking questions, adding narration, and so on. intact. These films can be seen as discovery research. Not for Goldsmiths College and France Telecom/Orange. In appreciate and handle the complexity of everyday life. their own perspectives to discussions on the research. developed during the research. The idea that films are make mixing and moving between research and design
multidisciplinary mix in design in a fundamental way. documentaries, the new method for discovery research in Compilation techniques use archival and found footage research that is filmed – the film itself is the research. This practice, making design documentaries for design teams Working with participants, researchers and designers during This facilitated the continuation of conversations that conversations is further developed when design easier, which encourages connections between design
With more than a hundred years of experience in design that this research introduces. The name design such as tv broadcasts or home movies. Performance is also the starting point for my own filmmaking practice. turned out to be an iterative process where documentary the filming happens in a conversational way and creates started between researchers and participants during the documentaries are used to create conversations in design and everyday life. Design documentaries introduce
portraying everyday life, documentary film brings many documentaries was chosen to stress their origin, their techniques recreate situations from the past through My films explore how documentary filmmaking can film influences discovery research and vice versa. Thinking relationships between people. Good working practice seems filmmaking into the design process. processes. Together, these appropriated ideas empower documentary film to the multidisciplinary mix in design,
inspiring ideas and techniques to discovery research hybrid form and their particular purpose: to inform and re-enactment, or create completely new situations with be(come) discovery research. inspired making, and making inspired thinking. The two to be close to the existing, diverse practice in documentary discovery research to communicate stories in new ways, and invite researchers and designers to engage with
for design. inspire design. the protagonists, and possibly the filmmaker, performing activities came together into an iterative process from filmmaking where possible ways of dealing with similar and also to tell new stories. Design documentaries interfere video and everyday life creatively, to inform and inspire
roles. These techniques provide an inspiring toolbox for which design documentaries emerged. issues have been explored extensively. deeply with how discovery research is conducted, design processes.
discovery research. communicated and used in design.
See the films at www.designdocumentaries.com
Daria Loi Catherine Dixon Joe Eastwood
From Yee, J. Journal of Research Practice http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/196

30. Context driven, particular, Cumulative, Distancing,
and synthetic and Describing
Design Practice Design Studies
Commercial design Other
2 Catherine Dixon 4 Joe Eastwood
organisations disciplines
3 Daria Loi
Ramia Mazé 5
Bas Raijmakers 6
1 Anthony Dunne
Design
Idealistic, Societal and 1. Anthony Dunne
Subversive Exploration 2. Catherine Dixon
3. Daria Loi
Design critique, Art 4. Joe Eastwood
Humanities 5. Ramia Mazé
6. Bas Raijmakers
Figure 1. PhD examples placed in Fallman’s (2008, p.5) Interaction Design Research Model
From Yee, J. Journal of Research Practice http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/196