Disruption by design: Kate Canales at TEDxSMU
Summary
TLDRIn this talk, the speaker, a designer, explores the concept of 'disruption by design,' emphasizing that design is not just about creating objects but about influencing behavior. She shares examples of everyday disruptions, from makeshift solutions to signs guiding behavior, highlighting human adaptability. The speaker advocates for using design to intentionally create positive change, from personal habits to broader societal issues, suggesting that we are all designers capable of initiating meaningful disruption.
Takeaways
- 🔨 Disruption can be something that happens to you, comes at you, or something you create intentionally, known as 'disruption by design'.
- 🎨 Traditionally, design is about the physical object, but in the context of disruption by design, it's about designing behavior change.
- 👀 As a designer, spending time in the field is crucial to understand how a design will behave and perform in its context.
- 📸 Observation and documentation through photography help identify opportunities for behavior change and design interventions.
- 🤝 Humans are adept at making things work, even with makeshift solutions like using a safety pin to fix glasses.
- 📦 Simple objects can signal behavior change, such as cardboard boxes indicating not to scrape a car's bumpers.
- 👥 We are good at signaling to others how we want them to adapt their behavior, like using headphones to signal 'do not disturb'.
- 🚦 Signs and signals are everywhere, guiding our behavior in various situations, often without us realizing it.
- 🍎 Objects can be used to facilitate personal behavior change, like keeping apples on a desk to avoid seeking unhealthy snacks.
- 🌐 The concept of the 'transitional object' from psychology can be applied in design to help people navigate behavioral shifts.
- 🌟 Design can be used at scale to address larger societal issues, like curbing speeding with feedback signs or managing the HIV epidemic with accessible testing.
Q & A
What does the speaker believe about everyone in the room?
-The speaker believes that everyone in the room is a designer, even if they might not use that term for it.
What is the theme of the talk?
-The theme of the talk is 'disruption,' which can refer to something that happens to you, comes at you, or something you create.
What is 'disruption by design' according to the speaker?
-'Disruption by design' refers to the intentional creation of changes, particularly in behavior, through design.
How does the speaker define design in the context of behavior change?
-In the context of behavior change, design is not just about the physical object but about what the object makes people do.
What does the speaker do when working in the field?
-When working in the field, the speaker spends time observing the context of the object being designed, taking pictures, and looking for opportunities for behavior change.
What universal truth about humans does the speaker claim?
-The speaker claims that humans are very good at making things work, often finding workarounds and adapting to situations.
What examples does the speaker provide of human adaptability?
-Examples include using a safety pin to fix glasses, a woman using a plastic bag to protect her camera from rain, and people finding places to plug in electronics at airports.
How do humans signal to each other about behavior adaptation?
-Humans signal behavior adaptation through various means, such as using cardboard boxes to protect car bumpers or wearing headphones to indicate a desire not to be disturbed.
What is a 'transitional object' in psychology?
-A 'transitional object' in psychology is an object, like a child's blankie or teddy bear, that helps navigate a psychological shift, such as moving from attachment to the mother to becoming an individual.
How can the concept of a transitional object be applied to design?
-The concept of a transitional object can be applied to design by intentionally creating objects that prompt behavior change, helping people navigate shifts in their behavior or habits.
What is the speaker's final suggestion for how we should approach design?
-The speaker suggests that we should 'design the change' or 'design the disruption' we wish to see in the world, implying that design can be a powerful tool for creating positive change.
Outlines
🎨 Designing for Behavior Change
The speaker introduces themselves as a designer and suggests that everyone has the potential to be a designer. They discuss the theme of disruption, which can be something that happens to you, comes at you, or something you create intentionally. The speaker emphasizes that design is not just about the physical object but also about designing behavior change. They share experiences from their fieldwork, where they observe and photograph people adapting to situations, which they consider a form of design and disruption. The speaker highlights that humans are adept at making things work and adapting their behavior, sharing examples such as using a plastic bag to protect a camera from rain or using cardboard boxes to prevent car bumpers from being scraped.
🚦 Signals and Adaptations
The speaker continues to discuss how humans are good at adapting and signaling to others how to adapt their behavior. They share examples of explicit signals, such as signs, that instruct people on what to do. The speaker has collected photographs of such signs, like a credit card swiper that instructs users to use their finger for transactions or a kitchen sign detailing how to use a dishwasher. They also mention more implicit signals, like wearing headphones to indicate a desire for quiet, and how these signals become second nature to us. The speaker concludes by discussing how sometimes we need objects to help us change our behavior, like using a lock on a refrigerator to aid in dieting.
🔄 Disruption as a Transitional Object
The speaker delves into the concept of the 'transitional object,' which is used in psychology to describe an object that helps children navigate a psychological shift from attachment to independence. They explain how this concept can be applied to design, where objects can be used to prompt behavior change. The speaker gives examples of how objects can be used to create change, such as an alarm clock that rolls away to make you get out of bed or a pocket-sized HIV test designed for home use. They emphasize that the design of these objects is not just about their physical form but about the change in behavior they inspire.
🌟 Designing Disruption at Scale
The speaker concludes by discussing how design can be used to create large-scale disruption. They share a historical example of how students integrated a racially segregated movie theater by buying out a show and refusing to move from the designated 'black' seats. The speaker points out that this was a deliberate act of design, where the action itself was the disruption that led to change. They encourage the audience to embrace their role as designers and to use their skills to create the change they wish to see in the world, suggesting that we should design the disruption we wish to see.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Disruption
💡Design
💡Behavior Change
💡Context
💡Signaling
💡Adaptation
💡Thing
💡Transitional Object
💡Disruption by Design
💡Pattern
Highlights
Everyone in the room is a designer, even if they don't use that word for it.
Disruption can be something that happens to you, comes at you, or something you create.
Disruption by Design is about designing behavior change, not just the physical object.
Design is not just about the thing, but what the thing makes us do.
Designers spend time in the field to understand how their designs will behave in context.
Humans are very good at making things work, even with simple workarounds.
Adaptations like using a plastic bag to protect a camera from rain are forms of design and disruption.
We signal to others how we want them to adapt their behavior through our actions and objects.
Objects can be used to signal behavior change, like wearing headphones to indicate 'do not disturb'.
Signs and signals are often necessary to guide behavior, like instructions on a credit card swiper.
Sometimes we need explicit instructions to perform actions, like using a dishwasher.
Objects can be used to prompt behavior change, like apples on a desk to avoid unhealthy snacks.
The concept of the transitional object helps us navigate psychological shifts and can be designed for behavior change.
Designing for behavior change can be done at scale, like speed signs that give feedback on driving speed.
A pocket-sized HIV test designed for home use can change the course of an epidemic by encouraging testing.
Disruption by Design can lead to significant social changes, like the integration of a movie theater in the 1940s.
We should design the change we wish to see in the world, leveraging our natural tendency to make things work.
Transcripts
[Music]
hello I am a
designer next slide there we go and I
actually believe that everyone in this
room is a designer you just might not be
using that word for it um as you know
today's theme is disruption and
disruption can mean a lot of things it
can mean something that happens to you
it can definitely be something that
comes at you and it can also could be
something that you create when you see a
pattern in the world and you want to
change something disruption can be
something that you do on purpose
deliberately so let's call that
disruption by Design and when we're
talking about disruption by design it is
true that design is not about the thing
although historically design is all
about the thing the shape it takes the
color um the way it looks the way it
operates but in in this case we're
talking about designing Behavior change
and when we talk about designing
Behavior change it's not about the thing
it's about what the thing makes us do
so I really do mean the thing because uh
you you really have to have a thing
often no one just conjures Behavior
change you actually have to have
something that Sparks Behavior change
and often that thing is a thing in my
work as a designer I spend a lot of time
in the field which means that I'm
actually out in the context of the thing
that we're making to understand how it's
going to behave and how it's going to
perform in that context I carry a camera
a lot I take a lot of pictures and I've
trained my brain and my eye to look for
certain things for certain opportunities
for behaviors that mean something and
when I see those things I often take a
picture and I'm going to show you some
of those in a minute
um this is something that I've learned
from my work in the field this is sort
of a universal truth and I don't know if
you believe me or not but I'm going to
try to prove it to you today that humans
are very good at making things work now
if we think about this as literally
things we're very good at this so take
um your glasses break and you put a
little safety pin in the hinge to keep
the earpiece from falling off that's a
really good workaround that's a really
good um Behavior that's the kind of
thing I'm looking for in the field and
that is a form of design it's also a
form in a very small scale of disruption
because you're taking something that
isn't working and you're changing in
it
so these are some pictures that I would
like to share with you from my
collection of examples of this happening
so this is a woman uh this taken on a
train this woman is um protecting her
camera from the rain it was raining that
day so really simple need she puts a
plastic bag over her camera and voila
problem
solved uh this woman is on the floor of
the airport and uh she even though there
are many chairs available at this
particular gate she's sitting on the
floor because this is where she can plug
in her laptop now this is a pretty
familiar scene right at the airport
these days in fact we we sort of VI for
these really valuable spots on the floor
at the airport so we can plug in our
electronics and you can tell from the
angle of the photograph that I am
sitting on the floor across the terminal
from her taking this
picture um this woman has found a very
clever place to put her beer while she
eats her H
derves and this is a picture that I took
took out the window of my car in San
Francisco endangering myself and my
fellow drivers because I had to have
this picture of a man washing his car
with a
Swiffer so we're very good at adapting
our own behavior um and we're actually
really good at signaling to other people
how we would like for them to adapt
their behavior so let's look at a couple
of examples the driver of this car um
has put cardboard boxes on either side
of the car to signal to us that it's
really important to him that we not
scrape up his bumpers now these are just
cardboard boxes right but it's not about
the thing it's about what the thing
makes us
do this is my colleague Michael and
Michael's sitting at his desk in our
Design Studio we work in a really big
open plan um Studio where nobody has an
office or a door to clothes so we've
kind of adapted this signal to one
another that if you're wearing your
headphones it means you're listening to
music you're in the zone you do not wish
to be disturbed it's become such a
popular signal in fact that I often put
on my headphones without any music just
to get some peace and quiet and so in
this case it's really not about the
thing it's about what the thing makes my
colleagues
do sometimes we need a more explicit
signal we need to actually be written
out for us what it is that we're
supposed to be doing in a given
situation and what follows is but a
small sampling of my collection of
photographs of signs signaling
Behavior this is from a credit card
swiper at a convenience store pretty
simple please use your finger to
complete the transaction um now what I
love about this is that there was there
was some kind of pattern of misuse or
confusion that led to the need for this
sign and it's a really simple thing it's
just a little Post-It note they stuck it
on there but it's not about the thing
it's about what the thing makes us
do I think we can all recognize what the
pattern was that led to the need for
that sign this one's a little harder to
read so I'll read it for you this is
taped to the kitchen wall near a
dishwasher it says to use dishwasher
first turn on the cold water faucet and
run the garbage disposer at the same
time until the sink drain is clear then
shut off the cold water and the garbage
disposer then turn on the
dishwasher if you were to find if you
were to talk to this person and say does
your dishwasher work yes or no they
would say yes because it does just with
a lot of adaptations
I think this one speaks for
itself and I'm going to zoom in on this
so you can see it in a minute I took
this at a hotel room in Boston um where
I was staying this summer and I wanted
you to to see that the um this is a sign
that's put right up against the ceiling
near the fire sprinkler and it says do
not hang items from sprinkler head this
will cause
flooding now sure enough there were very
few places in this hotel room where you
could hang things was kind of annoying
and if you were cleverly working around
that problem you might put some things
from the sprinkler and um the hotel
recognized that this was kind of a
problem but instead of installing
hooks they had these little signs
custommade presumably hundreds of them
and stuck them into the into all of the
hotel rooms and there's still nowhere to
hang
anything
I I can't even imagine what led to the
need for the second sign much less the
third
sign so a lot of times I mean these are
really funny and we see these all the
time right there're actually some really
elegant um signals that we follow every
day that we don't even see they become
second nature to us they're really
invisible signals that prompt our
Behavior but we don't even think about
it so here's one we don't think about
this we don't think oh I am now being
prompted to cross the street we just
cross the street when we see the signal
this is taken at airport security in
Denver which has a pretty significant
airport security situation happening up
at front in the front and I mean can you
imagine the behavior that would ensue if
we were expected to uh if if we weren't
expected to line up at airport security
we would scramble all over each other so
these little lane ropes that they've
created to kind of keep us orderly and
get us to go where they need is to go um
are really very clever things the the
the objects themselves are very well
designed they sort of retract and can be
reconfigured but it's not about the
thing it's about what the thing makes us
do and here's one that you almost never
notice but painted lines on on concrete
are the difference between Order and
Chaos in a parking lot so I think you'll
agree from these examples that humans
are very good at making things work when
we have to
you know it's raining and you need to
protect your camera you find a plastic
bag but what about when we just want to
when the disruption that we're looking
for is actually something that would
just be kind of nice like it' be great
if you finish your degree it would be
great if you lost a few
pounds I've noticed that with these
kinds of things there are a lot of
things that work for different people
but often we also need a thing in these
situations we need something to actually
change our Behavior so for example with
dieting we hear of people who put a lock
on their refrigerator or who sleep in
their gym clothes so they can get to the
gym a little easier in the next morning
my friend Stephen has found that if he
keeps apples on his desk he won't go in
search of the chocolate because as he
puts it sloth is more powerful than
[Laughter]
[Applause]
gluttony so these
objectifications of the change really
are an EXC excuse to behave differently
we take the idea of the change out of
our heads and put it into the world into
our space right in our faces and they
make us work around them they make us
they force the behavior change that
we're looking
for so this is not these are not just
things that we do for ourselves there's
a market for this stuff this is an alarm
clock that rolls off your bedside table
and forces you to chase it around the
room to turn it
[Laughter]
off so the idea of using an object to
help make a change actually overlaps
with a concept in Psychology called the
transitional object and this is a
concept that was introduced to me by a
mentor of mine Peter Coughlin many years
ago but it wasn't until recently that I
totally nerded out on it the
transitional object is most commonly
used in child psychology to talk about a
blankie or a teddy bear that a child
uses to navigate a really important
psychological shift away from attachment
to the mother and into to sort of an
individual being and this object which
is separate from the mother and separate
from the child is what makes that shift
possible it is just like airport
security if we were just if it was just
simply suggested to us that we politely
cue at airport security and respect our
fellow Travelers in their flight times
we would not be able to handle that
psychologically we could not handle that
we' be scrambling for the gate and so
those little Lan lines are that are a
transitional object in this case and
this gets me really excited because that
means that the transitional object is
not just something that happens like a
teddy bear that a kid happens to get
attached to it is a designed artifact it
is something that we can put in place on
purpose we can do this deliberately to
change behavior and then I get really
really really excited when I think about
how we could do that at
scale we have established that making
things work is something that we do as a
natural human tendency but what if we
all banded together and and sort of put
this tendency against some of the
problems that we share as a group and if
you look we actually have done this in a
few great places so these speed these
speed signs that give you feedback on
your speed are the number one most
effective way to curb speeding uh on
surface streets and I find this
fascinating because this is information
that is already available to the driver
in the
dashboard
um to take a a slightly larger problem
than um speeding uh this is a a pocket
sized HIV test that you can take at home
this was designed by some of my
colleagues uh at frog and it's part of a
much larger initiative this is designed
for distribution in South Africa and
some of the most hardest hit communities
by HIV um what we found in our research
is that there are a lot of really
legitimate and and emotional reasons
reasons uh that people won't get tested
in a clinic so there are a lot of people
who don't know their HIV status and
that's contributing to a much bigger
problem these are designed to fit in
your pocket um and they're very discreet
you can do it at home where it's
Anonymous
and the thing itself is really
beautifully designed actually the way it
unfolds the lid becomes the holder for
the saliva test while the test is
running um but it's not about the thing
it's about what the thing makes us do
and in this case the thing gives access
to a vital piece of information that
could ultimately change the course of an
epidemic I'm going to offer one final
example this is a story um about
something that takes place inside a
movie theater like this and this is from
a book one of my favorite books on
design called by design by a man named
Ralph Kaplan it takes place inside a
theater like this in the late
1940s in the Midwest and at that time
the the movie theater had a segregation
policy like many movie theaters at that
time the black patrons were required to
sit in the last four roads of the
theater and this policy had been in
place for as long as anybody could
remember but um it was it was definitely
not approved of by the entire community
and a lot of people had tried to fight
it in particular um community members at
the local University so that they had
written letters uh they had come in
person to meet with the manager as far
as the manager was concerned this wasn't
really an ethical issue at all it
was was a commercial issue he felt that
there were a lot of white patrons who
would stop buying tickets if this policy
weren't in place so one evening a large
group of students bought out a single
show and when the doors opened they
flooded in and white students filled the
last four rows completely the rest of
the theater was filled by black and
white students together creating total
racial integration the manager figured
out what was going on and he came in and
he tried to fix it he demanded that the
black students move but move where they
said the last four rows are completely
packed the white students in the last
four rows refused to change seats he
kind of threw up his hands and said well
just this once at least I sold out the
show the next morning letters and
telegrams flooded in commending him for
his courageous reversal of this policy
public figures declared him a Civic
leader and the newspapers uh ran stories
about this historic decision to
integrate the theater after something
like that you're not going to go back to
your segregation
policy and I love this because this is
disruption by Design and that's exactly
what this was this was design the
students plann this in advance the press
releases were prepared well before the
event actually happened and you know
it's it's just such a brilliant example
of what you can do now there's not a
thing in this story there's no thing
there's an action and in my mind that
counts because it's not about what it's
not about the action it's about what the
action made happen in this
place so this is design and we are
designers and I mean we I mean
you we can do this we already are doing
it we're putting apples on our desks
we're painting lines in our parking lots
we're doing this already let's do it
big
Gandhi is credited as having said be the
change you wish to see in the world
there was a great column in the New York
Times this summer by a guy named Brian
Morton which reveals that there is
absolutely no evidence that Gandhi ever
said
this which is too bad because it's so
piffy and it looks so good on a greeting
card um what he did say is
this if we could change ourselves the
tendencies in the world would also
change which is is pretty
close so since we are evidently in the
pattern of changing Gandhi's words I
would like to offer this further tweak
design the change you wish to see in the
world or maybe even better design the
disruption you wish to see in the world
thank
[Applause]
you
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