Handy

Course: MDes Design Innovation and Service Design

Lead School: School of Design
Term & Project Sequence: Stage 3/2017
Level: SCQF 11
Description: This project is master’s final thesis work accomplished
at the Glasgow School of Art on the school of Design Innovation.
Course aims: The aim of the course is to enable students to develop,
manage and conduct an individual project of research in the field of
design innovation.
Project Theme: The documentation process of design projects
Project Title: Handy
Course duration: 1 year
Project duration: 12 Weeks
Student: Amanda Maia de Carvalho
Supervisor: Dr. Iain Reid
 RETHINKING THE DOCUMENTATION
PROCESS OF DESIGN PROJECTS
Have you ever thought how many documents get lost in a project?
The documentation of design projects is essential for communicating
design concepts and processes. However, designers often focus
on the communication aspect of the documentation neglecting
its potential to improve the productive cycle of a project – for
example, making possible to go back and consult, and supporting
design rationale. This project address this issue and I ask the
question: How to use documentation as a tool to improve the
productive cycle of design projects, including communication and
learning? I examine this issue by investigating how designers are
acting on different level – for example, students and professionals,
document their projects. Further, I identified the obstacles for an
effective documentation. These shortcomings were the input for
the development of a digital platform that uses a new method
for documenting design projects and aims to improve the design
production process, communication, and learning in practice. The
final platform will help designers to organise their documents,
visualise their making-process and to share it with the community.
CONTENTS
Section I: Project Overview 1
Project Motivations 4
The Value of Documenting Projects 6
Project Brief 8
Project Approach 10
Timeline 12
Section II: Literature Review 15
The Value of Documenting Design Projects 18
Aspects to Consider When Assessing the Process of Documenting Projects 20
Section III: Research in Practice 23
My Work Process 26
Project Questions 28
Engagement Planning 30
Interviews 32
Tools Exploration 34
Case Studies 38
Students and the Process of Documenting Their Projects 40
The Most Frequent Problems Within the Documentation 42
Study of Potential Users 44
Personas 48
User Journey Analysis 50
Stakeholders Map 52
Why a Platform? 56
Insights Mapping and Project Guide 58
Section IV: Ideation and Testing 67
Co-creation Workshop 70
Sketching the Platform 74
Prototyping 76
Testing Prototype 78

Section V: Concept Presentation 81

The Handy Concept 84
Handy: User Journey 87
Stakeholders Feedback 102
Further Work 104

Final Reflections 105

Bibliography 107

About the Designer 109

SECTION I: PROJECT OVERVIEW
2
SECTION I CONTENTS

Project Motivations and The Value of Project Brief

Research Background Documenting Projects

Timeline Project Approach

3
PROJECT MOTIVATIONS
Why documentation process of design projects?
I am interested in project management since I was an undergraduate
student. Organizing tasks and setting goals are activities that I love
and it is usually my role when working in groups. I worked on a
scientific research in the UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais)
– in 2013, about project management in Architecture and Design.
This study compared different theories of project management
with the daily activities of Architecture and Design companies in
Belo Horizonte – Brazil. Some of the key findings of this research
were that designers often struggle in documenting their projects,
resulting in issues such as the loss of documents and overall
inefficiency. Moreover, I recognised a lack of teaching of project
management skills in design schools throughout my academic
path. Hence, I decided to enrol in a master’s degree course in
Design Innovation and Service Design to study how to improve
management practices using service design skills.
4
I had the opportunity to further study the documentation of
design projects on the elective discipline ‘Designer in Place’, in
my master’s degree course. I tested the assumption that diaries
could help designers to record their projects and reflect upon their
experiences. For that, I designed a prototype of a diary and asked
my colleagues – other master’s students, to use it as a helping tool
for the documentation of their projects. The result of this project
was that the daily reflection - imposed using the diary, helped my
peers for a while but after some days of use they forgot to do it or
left for later. I was seeking to continue to work with this theme for
my master’s degree dissertation, so I decided to investigate how
designers regularly document their projects and how design could
help them.
PERSONAL MOTIVATION + REAL-LIFE DEMAND

Observation of Interest in Scientific Lack of learning

activities and issues management research management skills

Seek to Practice as
study further a professional

SECTION I: PROJECT OVERVIEW 5

THE VALUE OF DOCUMENTING PROJECTS
When talking about the documentation of design projects, most
of the designers think that this practice is a fundamental support
for communicating design concepts and processes. However, the
documentation of design projects can be used to improve the
productive cycle of a project, providing an opportunity to rethink
strategies and to make sense of the decision making within projects.
Additionally, when the documentation of a project is efficient, it
is possible to go back into it checking information and avoiding
mistakes.
6
What would I like to know and how am I going to explain
my project to the collaborators?
When explaining my project to different audiences, it was clear
that I needed to clarify further what this project is about. This
project is not an investigation about formal documentation or the
presentation of design projects via process books. This project is
about recording thoughts, design actions and plans, ‘on-the-fly’ –
synchronically with the development of the design project, leading
thus to reflections triggered by the documentation parallel to the
project itself.
WHERE THE PROJECT FITS IN

PAST PRESENT FUTURE

Actions takes place

Consult
• Consult older projects
• Avoid mistakes
• Support design rationale
during the project
• Document the information,
resources, and methods;
• Make sense of the process;
• Rethink project strategies.
Communicate
• Support presentations
• Share to team members
• Clarify information

IMPROVE

PRODUCTIVE LEARNING
CYCLE EXPERIENCE

SECTION I: PROJECT OVERVIEW 7

PROJECT BRIEF
Context
Despite being essential to the practice of design, the documentation of design projects is not followed
by the discussion of how it should be done (Pedgley, 1997). When talking about documenting
design projects, most of the designers think about this practice as a support for presentations and
reports. However, this process is also important throughout the project, providing an opportunity to
rethink strategies and to make sense of the decision making within projects. Additionally, when the
documentation is efficient it is possible to go back into it checking information and avoiding mistakes.
What I want to achieve
I am rethinking the documentation of design projects. For that, I investigate how designers, acting on
different levels – for example, students and professionals, document their projects. I then identified
the obstacles for an effective documentation for each of these groups, and these shortcomings were
the input for the development of a digital platform that uses a new method for recording design
projects. The final platform will help designers to organise their documents, visualise their making-
process and to share it with the community.
Innovative character
I am addressing the issue of improving the productive cycle of design projects – including
communication and learning, in an unconventional way. That is, I intend to develop a platform for
documenting projects considering neglected aspects such as learning in practice, and the productive
process. The conventional approach is to change aspects of the productive cycle itself to improve it.
Potential Delivery Partners
• Teaching: Academics in the field of Design – lectures and researchers.
• Learning: Design students from different levels and fields of design; students from project-related
areas, such as architecture and engineering.
• Business: Designers working for design companies; freelancers.
 RESEARCH QUESTION

How documentation can be a tool to

improve the productive cycle of design projects,
including communication and learning?

FIRST QUESTIONS

• How designers document their projects?

• What are the obstacles for an effective documentation?

SECTION I: PROJECT OVERVIEW 9

PROJECT APPROACH

LITERATURE RESEARCH IDEATION

REVIEW IN PRACTICE AND TESTING

T
EN

EN
EM

EM
T

A
EC

N
how to

G
A

A
A

A
LL
new

LY

LY

LY
improve the

G
CO

EN

EN
S

S
documentation platform

E
process?

I divided my investigation in three complementary stages: literature review; research in practice; and
ideation and testing. The first phase explored what the literature had advanced in the documentation
of design projects, especially regarding the discussing of how the documentation should be done
and the key elements to be considered in an efficient documentation. The second stage was an
investigation of how real-life designers – acting on different levels of design practice, document their
projects; my focus was in identifying gaps and problems that I could use as an input for my solution –
the last phase.

10
TIMELINE

12
SECTION I: PROJECT OVERVIEW 13
SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW
16
SECTION II CONTENTS

The Use of Facts to consider in

Documentation the process of
documenting projects

17
THE VALUE OF DOCUMETING PROJECTS FACTS TO CONSIDER

Schon. D. A. (1983)
Best K. (2006)
Fischer G. at all (1991)
Rillel H.W. (1984)
Pedgley O., and Wormald, P. (2007)

18
THE VALUE OF DOCUMETING PROJECTS
Even though that the documentation is widely accepted as
fundamental to the design practice, there is a lack of discussion
of how to record design projects (Pedgley, 1997). The traditional
approach uses the documentation of design projects as an aiding
tool for the communication of the project itself, neglecting thus
other possibilities (Pedgley and Wormald, 2007). I focus here in
how an effective documentation can improve the productive cycle
of design projects, including communication and learning.
How can an effective documentation improve:
Sharing and communicating
An efficient recording can support and facilitate the process of
communicating and sharing projects. Additionally, when a designer
leaves a company, and another one takes its place, it is possible to
understand the project better (Lobato, 2010)
Learning
The process of documenting projects is an everyday learning
experience, as it brings critical reflection during the design
activity (Fischer et al., 1991). For example, when developers make
summaries of their activities they are also making sense of their
projects, which help them to rethink their strategies.
Additionally, it is reasonable to infer that it is also important for
historical studies of how the design process develops through the
years.
The productive cycle
“
The rationale created in one design
project may be a resource for future,
related design projects.
”
(Fischer et al., 1991, p. 396)
Consultancy
Possibility to go back and consult the current project or an
older project (Fischer et al., 1991). For example, if the client asks
for similar work, designers can go back to the documentation of an
older project and check its brief, its design rationale and process
details to improve its outcomes.
Risk avoidance
Designers often predict what can go wrong in a project. They
based their notions on past experiences and consulting others
projects as well. If these situations are properly documented, it
makes easier and clearer to the designer to avoid these errors
(Lobato, 2010).
Validate data
An effective documentation can display evidence for the
decisions made in the design process (Fischer et al., 1991).
Project outcomes
All of the themes discussed here can improve the efficiency and
productivity of design projects and, consequently, its outcomes.
SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW 19

ASPECTS TO CONSIDER WHEN ASSESSING THE
PROCESS OF DOCUMENTING PROJECTS
Only designers can explain the rationale of their work (Pedgley,
1997). Hence, regular reports of thought processes and design
solutions, which is not always expected from designers, can be
used both as a reference as well as a memorial for the designers
themselves and to other readers (Pedgley, 1997). Several aspects
must be considered when discussing the documentation of design
projects…
20
“ Diaries rely on honesty; the completeness
and accuracy of accounts given in this way
will always be limited.
”(Pedgley. O. 1997)
Time
Accounts of thoughts and actions are more precise when recorded
in the proximity of events than some time later (Pedgley, 1997).
Hence, writing a report weeks after the activities have taken place
will necessarily determine the loss of information (Pedgley, 1997).
A possible solution for this issue is a regular documenting schedule
(Pedgley, 1997). Moreover, information such the time spent working
on a task may be documented and, despite not being strictly
necessary, can become significant (Pedgley, 1997).
Sharing
Design projects can share problems, solutions and evidence, which
makes it fundamental to document and share design projects with
the design community (Fischer et al., 1991).
“ Documentation plays an important role in the
capturing of tacit knowledge.
”
(Lobato, p.1, 2010)
Design rationale
The answer to design issues often depends on how other problems
have been solved (Schön, 1983). Therefore, it is important to
visualise the design rationale and the relationships between the
project’s documents to create a consistent work. However, there
are stages in the design process which the visualisation of the
reasoning behind decisions is challenging. For example, the stage
of ideation and sketching of ideas, in which decisions are made
quickly and ideas are rejected (Fischer et al., 1991).
Verbal documentation
The most used method for communicating designers’ thoughts
during designing is through ‘concurrent verbalisation’, which is
speaking while working (Pedgley, 1997). Documenting this activity
is a challenge.
Flexibility
Despite being similar in several aspects, design projects are often
different in its timing, context, shape, form, themes, and so on. Hence,
there is a necessity of adaptation of the process of documentation
to fit each design project (Fischer et al., 1991). Moreover, design
practices can change over time, and thus its documentation must
adjust to it.
Effort
The process of documenting design projects is an activity that
demands effort, taking some time to be done. Hence, many de-
signers regard this activity as an interruption to its design pro-
duction, thus neglecting it (Pedgley, 1997). In this respect, the
documentation of design projects is not usually expected of a
professional designer (Pedgley, 1997). By contrast, design stu-
dents are requested to document their projects (Pedgley, 1997).
SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW 21
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE
24
SECTION III CONTENTS

My Work Process Project Engagement Interviews Tools

Questions Planning Exploration

Personas Study of The Most Frequent Students and the Case Studies
Potential Users Problems Within the Process of Documenting
Documentation Their Projects

User Journey Stakeholders Map Insights Mapping and Why a Platform?

Analysis Project Guide

25
MY WORK PROCESS
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 27
 PROJECT QUESTIONS
What are the questions that I want to answer?
At this point, I started to think about what are the questions I am
trying to answer. To do that, I used the PHI method (Fischer et al.,
1991), which consists of organising the project questions by a
hierarchy. I investigated what the main project issues were and what
were the other research enquiries, classifying them by dependence
and relationships.
During the project, my initial set of questions changed as I interacted
with different designers in my interviews and through new readings.
Hence, I inserted some new questions, changed some of the old
ones, and eliminated the ones that were not making sense anymore.

28
 HOW DOCUMENTATION CAN BE A TOOL TO IMPROVE THE PRODUCTIVE CYCLE
OF DESIGN PROJECTS, INCLUDING COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING?

How designers document their projects?

What are the obstacles/problems to

Why it is important to document?
an effective documentation?

What is working on the process of

How does the design process look?
documenting projects?

What are the tools that designers usually use? How is the documentation process
What are the tools used for the placed into the design process?
documentation of design projects?

How does the documentation of a design What is the difference in documenting design
process differ from a project report? projects by an individual and by a team?

How can the action of documenting be of value and how Why is documentation often not considered
it can be an interruption affecting the designer’s activity? as part of the design process?
(business > students)
How non-designers, professionals
and students, working with projects, Why do designers not find the time to write
document their projects? about the knowledge, skills and values they
use in their designing?

WHAT IS MISSING?
WHAT DO DESIGNERS NEED?
WHAT ARE THE DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES?

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 29


ENGAGEMENT PLANNING
What would be the most appropriate engagement method?
After organising the research questions, I planned what would be the
most appropriate engagement method to answer these questions
and how to consider the potential users. For that, I made a list of
how I intended to work with the interviews outcomes which were,
answer project questions; identify personas and their practices;
illustrate and communicate the project using visual materials.
Then, I listed aspects that I would consider before planning the
engagement, for example: flexibility to change the engagement
30
Method used to recognize some characteristics of the participants
during its application or to attend different practitioners; guide the
interview, but at the same time, leave the questions open; make the
engagement enjoyable and the participants comfortable doing it;
and collect visual data to help the communication of the project. In
the sequence, I searched for methods of documentation used by
designers, such as diaries (e.g. Pedgley, 1997; Bolger at al., 2003).
In this regard, the book ‘Universal Methods of Design’ (Hanington
and Martin, 2012) was a significant consult source.

During the planning phase of the engagement, I tried different
small activities which I felt later that were not making sense
together. Hence, I built my engagement strategy at the same that
I was actively engaging with stakeholders, focusing on the aspects
that were working in an integrated way.
My strategy to engage with the stakeholders consisted of an
activity approaching the process of documenting design projects
in three different temporal categories: the past, present and future.
Participants chose what do they usually document; what tool they prefer; when
the process happens; and if they think there is a problem in this process.
Regarding the ‘past’ category, I asked the stakeholders if they
consult older projects and how is this experience. For the ‘present’
category, I wanted to understand how do they document their
projects; which methods and tools they use; when they record their
activities; and which are the pain points. In the ‘future’ category, I
wanted to grasp how do they use the documentation as a support
for presentations.
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 31
INTERVIEWS
Who I talked to (potential users):

Xiaomin Li, Iain Aitchison, Andy Young,

Masters student in Design Innovation Programme Director of Design of GSA Design consultant

LEARNING ACADEMY BUSINESS

Design students Lecturers and researchers Professionals
From different levels Experts from the academy in the Designers working
and fields of design field of design with design

32
“ To explain to another partner how
I worked on a previous project
using the timeline as a way to
projecting future projects.
”
- Design researcher
(from research interviews)

Interview with Research fellow at GSA

The interviews were very engaging, with the stakeholders discussing
their design practice openly. For example, some of the potential
users were comfortable enough to reveal that they were lazy
regarding the documentation of their design projects, as well as
unveiling some of their documenting ‘tricks’ (e.g. voice recording
daily thoughts).
Even though that the discussion was focused on the individual
design practices of each of the stakeholders, common themes
and pain points were emerging from each interview, and I could
thus identify patterns. Hence, I could see how the designers do
the documentation of their projects in practice and how they feel
about this process.
When I was doing the interviews, there was time for understanding
how is their process of documentation, but there was also time to
co-create solutions for the problems and to track opportunities for
innovation and creation with the participants. Additionally, it was
interesting to bring to the interview some of my ideas (very briefly)
and to discuss them further with the participants.
Some collaborators did not use the engagement tools as I expected.
However, in all the cases the tools were essential to start and to
keep the conversations going.

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 33

TOOLS EXPLORATION
Designers often use many different tools in their design process as
well as for documenting their projects. Sometimes, they use more
than one tool to record the same activity, and they regularly use
more than one method for the same process. For example, writing
notes on the computer as well as saving thoughts on the phone.
How to keep the flexibility and, at the same time, have the
documents organised?

“ Keep your sketchbooks.

This is your value as a designer
”
- Design lecturer
(from research interviews)

Master design student notebook

Source: own research

34
APPS AND SOFTWARES MOST FREQUENTLY USED
Trello: used for project management.
Google Drive: the most known tool. It is accessible regarding cost,
and you can work from different places using its cloud storage
system. It can be used for collaborative work with clients and team
members.
Mindmeister: used for mind mapping. Add links, images; Logic of
having everything together.
10k’ ft: used for project management.
Omni Plan: used mostly for management. It is often used in the
planning stage of the project.
Apple Calendar: used for both life planning as well as work
planning. It has a more ‘visual’ appeal, and you can change the
colours of the tasks and events.
Rocketchat: used for project chat.
Slack: used for communication.
Solo Thrive: a tool for managing time. It is designed by designers,
displaying an interesting visual. It is easy to use, and you can
visualise what you are working and how long is it taking.
Stack Overflow: an online community for developers to learn,
Master design student showing how he uses Trello
share their knowledge, and build their careers.
Source: own research
Github: used for open collaboration and management.
Realtime Board: used for team collaboration

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 35

SUPPORT FOR DOCUMENTATION
OBJECTS

More for professionals

Email Digital folders Phone Notebook/ sketchbook Single sheets

Between with clients For digital content For taking notes and For more freedom on For sketches
and collaborators and final documents photographs sketches and thoughts and thoughts

APPS AND SOFTWARES

More for freelancers

Time x task Collaboration + share Tasks + share Notes

PAIN POINTS
• The documents get lost
• Not possible to compile documents together
• Difficult to visualise the process
• Difficult to see connections between the documents

36
 Master design student showing how he documents his project process
Source: own research

Talking about the timeline in the paper roll: Talking about Trello:

“ Show and feel how much work

“ I can only see what I did step by step,
you have done
”- Master design student
but I can’t see why I did it and
from where the information came from
”
(from research interviews) - Master design student
(from research interviews)

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 37

CASE STUDIES
The interviews have shown what the tools and apps that designers
most frequently use for documenting their projects are. Then, I
investigated each of these platforms to identify what was excellent
about each of these, that could potentially be used or enhanced in
my own design, and what was missing in them that I could use as a
design opportunity.

10K’ FT – EXCELLENT FOR USABILITY

Pros
• Can be used to manage, plan, organise, present, and get feedback
on creative projects
• Flexible planning interface
• Good visual usability
• Interesting for collaborative work
• Useful setups
• Timeline is easy to understand

38
TRELLO – EXCELLENT FOR INTERACTIONS
Pros
• Organize content weekly, like a timeline, with tasks and date
• Allow chats
• Use colours to indicate differences between tasks
• Step-by-step management of to-do lists
• Interesting to organise team work
• Allows add-ons (e.g. Evernote and Google Drive)
Curiosity
• Despite being a platform for project management, sometimes
designers do not use Trello for a week or more
Cons
• It is not possible to establish relationships between the documents;
• It does not allow the creation of multiple ways to see the process;
• It is not an automatic documentation;
• It is suitable for teamwork, but not as much for personal use:
“ We can’t use the same project
for individual use, separete from the team
”
- Undergraduate design student
(from research interviews)
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 39
STUDENTS AND THE PROCESS OF
DOCUMENTING THEIR PROJECTS
I asked design students how do they document their projects through their design
process. Most of the students said that they do not have a regular documenting
practice, and often leave the documentation process for the end of the project as a
simple support for their process book.

“ The names of the files are messy

‘final final final.ai’
”
- Master design student
(from research interviews)

Interview with Master design student

How the documentation proceeds along the project?
Students often start their projects motivated to document each step
in the design process. Hence, they plan how they intend to work
using an agenda or an annotation book. However, as the project
continues, they lose the motivation in documenting their projects.
Therefore, they only return to the early documentation at the end of
the project mostly because they need to present a process book. In
this step, they try to compile everything together, often not having
support for their design decisions. Accordingly, the efficiency
of design student’s documentation decreases throughout their
design projects.
Why do they lose their motivation?
The interviewed students argue that they start postponing the
documentation of their projects because they could not find an
easy and immediate way to do it. Hence, many documents and
their design rationale start to get lost through their design pro-
cess. This lack of documentation accumulates creating anxiety,
and in the end, they struggle to go back and make sense of their
decisions because of a faulty documentation. Leaving all the
documentation for the later stages of a project will result in losing
important pieces of the design rationale (Pedgley. O. 1997).
What works for them in some way?
Design students use platforms and tools that are accessible, and
close to them when they need to record their thoughts or other
information. For example, they use mobile phones to write notes
and take photographs, as well as platforms that can be accessed
in different places (phone, computer or tablet), such as Google
Drive. However, they do not organise or categorise their project
documents, and thus they struggle to establish relationships
between their records and often forget where is the information.
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 41
THE MOST FREQUENT PROBLEMS WITHIN THE
DOCUMENTATION OF DESIGN PROJECTS
• Procrastination
• Too much effort to be done
• Uncertainty of the usefulness of information
• They forget to do it
• Lack of organization of the documents
• Annoyance to re-write or to digitalise information
• Lack of knowledge of how to do it better
• Lack of an efficient platform
• Difficulty in finding documents
• Difficulty to share or to communicate
• Difficulty to transform drawings into writing
• They do not know how to start
• Difficulty to make sense of the information in later stages of the
project
• Inaccuracy of the information
• Difficulty in compiling all the documents A student illustration of his/her process of documenting projects

• Difficulty in establishing relationships between the documents

• Language issues. Difficulty in translating notes
• Trainees often don’t understand how to document projects and
“ You don’t know if the documents will be useful.

”
the importance of this process
Sometimes it is just useless.
• Difficulty to know what to document and not
- Undergraduate design student
• Each project has different requirements (from research interviews)
• Too much information to review
• Difficulty to systematise information in various formats.

42
A student illustration of his/her process of documenting projects A student illustration of how he/she thinks it is the best way to document

“ I often leave it for tomorrow...

“ PPJs are a learning tool,
but I do it every day
”
- Master design student
not a design tool as sketchbooks
”
- Design lecturer
(from research interviews) (from research interviews)

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 43

STUDY OF POTENTIAL USERS
The different potential users of my project What is the importance of my project for students, for
At the Interim Review, I received valuable feedback from my academics and professionals?

“
supervisor Dr. Iain Reid, and the practitioners Dr. Cara Broadley
and Dr. Lorenz Herfurth. After discussing with them, I decided that The project can be even more important for
I would further study the differences and needs of the different business people as they do not usually have time

”
groups of designers – students, academics and professionals – todocument the design rationale.
because this project can be useful for them in various ways.
- Design lecturer
(Feedback from Interim Review I)
Hence, I ask the questions:
Business professionals do not document their projects? Why? What
are the design opportunities in this context? Who will be the final
target audience of my project?

44
COMPARING FACTORS OF
PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

DESIGN STUDENTS PROFESSIONALS

+ -
Requested
to document

Time x task
- +
Presentations
+ -
Process visualisation
= =
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 45
WHAT ARE THE SIMILARITIES IN THE DOCUMENTATION
PROCESS AMONG THE POTENTIAL USERS?

DESIGN STUDENTS PROFESSIONALS

Have the same design process
Do reports and presentation
Consider the time spent in each activity and the effort to do it
Regularly learn through the design process

“ How much time I spent?

”
- Students and professionals
(from research interviews)

“ We all need to feel that we have done

a good job. [...] Where I did well?
”
- Design consultant
(from research interviews)

46
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN THE DOCUMENTATION
PROCESS AMONG THE POTENTIAL USERS?

DESIGN STUDENTS PROFESSIONALS

The academic grade is the reward Pay-check is the end reward

>
experience outcomes experience
> outcomes
Requested to record design rationale Usually, do not record design rationale

“In the business, at the end, the final thing

exists and the client understand it.”
- Design consultant
(from research interviews)

The clients
“
will not pay you
for doing nothing
”
- Design consultant
(from research interviews)

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 47

PERSONAS

DESIGN STUDENTS
Sofia, 22 is an undergraduate design student TOOLS
who struggles to document her projects. She
uses various tools to document her projects, yet
she can not find a way to compile the information.
Additionally, Sofia frequently postpones the
documentation of her design projects
digital notebook
WHAT DOES SHE NEED? folders
• Compilation of documents
• Visualise the relationships between documents
• Record the design rationale

phone single
sheets

48
 PROFESSIONALS
James, 43 is a design consultant who often works TOOLS
evaluating the time he spent on his projects to
better charge for his work. However, a significant
portion of his working time is spent trying to
identify documents, that are not organised, to
send it to his clients. He is not excited to write
digital notebook
reports or to keep track on things. On the other
hand, he would like to be able to show reports folders
in different ways than he already does, and the
expected by his clients. James would like to have
a way to visualise his projects more efficiently,
thus managing his time better and collaborating
in an improved fashion with his team and clients.
WHAT DOES HE NEED? phone email
• Compile documents
• Visualise the link between time and the tasks
• Easy access to documents for himself and
collaborators
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 49
USER JOURNEY ANALYSIS
Students and researchers

50
USER JOURNEY ANALYSIS
Professionals

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 51

STAKEHOLDERS MAP
Users interactions with the platform

I started the project thinking about targeting design practitioners in general.

However, as the project developed, I expanded the reach of potential users
for people and professionals who are related to the design process, such as
managers and clients. During the interviews, as well as through the discussions
with colleagues, I realised that my project could be used in collaboration with
other professionals as well as a presentation tool to show the process to clients
and non-designers.

52
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 53
 THINKING PROCESS
After several interviews with design practitioners, I started to wonder
when would be the correct timing to stop the discussions and
move forward with the project. The transcription of the interviews
and its analysis revealed that the potential users were reporting
similar issues. Thus many information was repeating and after a
dozen 1-hour interviews (n=16), I decided to proceed. Moreover,
I applied an online survey with 45 participants, and the feedback
was the same as with the interviews. Hence, I started analysing
the interviews and gradually I was developing ideas to solve the
problems emerging from the interviews, and to identify design
opportunities. At this point, I decided to take a further step showing
my findings to the potential users and to co-create solutions with
them.
How to display my findings? How to develop co-creation activities?

54
interviews analyse research communication
data summary of findings
Here, I discussed with Irene Bell* about a possible gap in the
communication between students in design schools and lecturers
regarding the documentation of design projects and its significance.
Lecturers often care the most about the design process of their
students than its outcomes. An evidence of this is that design
schools regularly require the students to document their process
(as process books or sketchbooks). However, many students focus
on the (final) result of their projects neglecting the relevance of
documenting its progress. Most the students do not spend much
working time documenting their projects and often leave this activity
for the final stages of their projects. Hence, I was asking myself:
do teachers make clear the importance of the documentation in
design projects? Do the staff teach or guide design students about
management skills as well as recording projects? If the students
understand the importance of documenting their projects, why do
they still do not document it regularly?
insights project ideation
criteria
I also discussed with Mil Stricevic**, and we were both intrigued
about the students’ practice of documenting their design projects.
It appears to exist a gap between what the design lecturers request
and deem important and the students’ practice of documenting
their projects. Despite the fact that most students understand the
documentation an important practice within the design process,
they still regularly neglect this practice until the very last moment,
and thus their design rationale might be faulty. How to fill this gap?
Does my project help in this process? According to Mil Stricevic**
it would.
* Irene Bell is the Programme Coordinator of the Design Innovation
Masters programmes of GSA; and Subject leader in MDes Design
Innovation & Environmental Design.
** Mil Stricevic is a Product Design GSA studio tutor.
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 55
 What if I create a digital platform that
compiles the documents, allows the visualisation
of the process and also helps to share it?
WHY A PLATFORM?
I started the project with the hypothesis that a digital platform could
be a solution for my research question. Despite having a preferred
hypothesis, I organised my research in a way where I could keep it
open for new ideas and design opportunities.
During the interviews, I observed that most designers use tools,
both digital and physical, to support their documentation process.
In this regard, the potential users frequently plan at the beginning
of their projects how they intend to document it. However, when
the project starts they often do not record their activities and
thoughts as planned. The designers often use tools that are closer
to them at the moment they need it – for example, their phones
to take pictures of their process. Hence, such behaviour led to a
design opportunity of creating a tool – easy to access – capable
of organising documents with simplicity, which would be a digital
platform. Moreover, a digital platform potentially meets the demand
of having a tool combining project management, an organisation
of files and the visualisation of the process.
We live in a digital world where the documentation has the
potential to be done with ease. Today, we have different
Student draws how his documentation process usually happens.
possibilities of handling a big spectrum of data, storing, retrieving The use of photografy is an insight for creating a digital platform that is easy to
and synchronising information, which is suitable for the activity of access and to document projects.
documenting projects. In this way, documents can last longer – if
compared to physical documents – and can be easily accessed and
shared. The combination of these resources with a good design,
adequate to the potential users and their experiences, might
support the development of an efficient tool to help the designers
(and non-designers) in the process of documenting their projects.

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 57

INSIGHTS MAPPING AND PROJECT GUIDE
The project‘s outcomes were used as criteria to guide the platform
development process. It was a consultancy tool to create solutions
and to check if the project was following the demand presented by
the research.
58
THINKING PROCESS
Communicating and summarising my findings was a challenge. For
achieving that, I organised the information into themes based on
my literature review and the common issues that were recurrent in
the interviews. However, this approach yielded too many themes,
which was not beneficial for the understanding of the data.
Thus, at this point I tried to summarise each category of information,
always keeping older versions that I could go back in case something
was missing, or if I could not understand the information. Despite
my effort, I still had way too many themes. After trying various
graphic ways to communicate my findings, I decided to use the
same aesthetics of the literature analysis. Therefore, I divided the
outcomes into three main groups: (i) organisation and compilation;
(ii) visualisation; (iii) sharing. This classification was consistent with
the literature review, what the potential users pointed as problems
and needs, and the project’s scope. This way I managed to compare
the data and still follow the same visual identity.
RESEARCH OUTCOMES

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 59

PROJECT GUIDE

60
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 61
62
SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 63
64
Designers can find outcomes of different projects with ease. However, having access to the process
of other projects is very difficult. An example is the platform Behance.

“ I would share my process.

There is no magic!
” - Design Consultant
(from research interviews)

SECTION III: RESEARCH IN PRACTICE 65

SECTION IV: IDEATION AND TESTING
68
SECTION IV CONTENTS

Co-creation Sketching Prototyping Testing Prototype

Workshop the Platform

69
CO-CREATION WORKSHOP
I coordinated a talk followed by a co-creation workshop with
the Design Innovation students from the GSA, in July of 2017.
In this workshop, my colleagues shared how they feel about the
documentation process of their design projects, and how their
documentation practice changes along their projects. This activity
helped me to clarify and to confirm my previous research outcomes.
Hence, I understood further the reasons behind the relationship
of design students with the process of documenting projects.
The discussion of how the students document their projects were
shown in Section III of this book.
70
At the beginning of the co-creation session, I explained my project
idea, which was – in short – designing a digital platform to help
designers in their documentation process. Then, I asked my peers
to illustrate how they imagined my platform and what were features
that they would like it to have. After this activity, we discussed the
reasoning behind their thoughts and how my platform could help
their design practice.
I left this experience satisfied that my colleagues could see the
importance of my proposal, and glad that we co-created several
design opportunities.
Workshop for co-creation with the master design students from the GSA
ILLUSTRATIONS OF HOW THE STUDENTS IMAGINED THE PLATFORM
Use of timelines and calendars

Option to visualise their

process by themes

The process is visualised

as a timeline

SECTION IV: IDEATION AND TESTING 71

ILLUSTRATIONS OF HOW THE STUDENTS IMAGINED THE PLATFORM
L ink between documents

Option to establish relationships

between the documents

Use of colours to identify themes

72
ILLUSTRATIONS OF HOW THE STUDENTS IMAGINED THE PLATFORM
Photographs to capture the process

Take pictures and record them

‘On the Go’

Source: Roomie.jp website

SECTION IV: IDEATION AND TESTING 73

SKETCHING THE PLATFORM

Sketches of how the platform can work as a plugin to a web

browser. It will allow the user to save websites, references or
pictures directly and quickly to the platform

Inside the platform, the user

has acess to the original
documents through direct links

74
 PROTOTYPING
The purpose of the creation of the prototype was to evaluate the
usability of the platform. Prototyping was very motivating as I could
finally see my ideas getting a shape and becoming more tangible.
I researched different prototyping tools, and I choose ‘Invision’ to
test my idea. I had never worked with a prototyping tool like that
before, so I had to learn how to work with it. For that, I watched
many tutorials on how to use Invision as well as I practised within
the platform. I worked a lot, but it was a helpful and enriching
experience.
To design the visual identity of my platform and to create the
interactions I got inspiration from other platforms such as ‘Pinterest’,
‘Evernote’, ‘10000ft’, ‘Solo Thrive’, ’Behance’, ‘Google Drive’ and
‘Google Scholar’. I believe that the use of these platforms as a
reference helped me to achieve a better outcome. As I designed
interactions that are similar to what users find in other platforms,
they can get familiarised with ease with my platform.

76
PROTOTYPE USING INVISION APP

SECTION IV: IDEATION AND TESTING 77

 TESTING PROTOTYPE
I conducted a usability test using my platform’s prototype to verify
if its commands, screens and design were making sense. The
test users followed the journey that I had planned for the most of
the test. I was glad to see that my platform was working well for
the participants and that it met their expectations regarding its
possibilities and features.
After testing the prototype, I changed and refined some actions
and features of the platform, following the test users feedback.
For example, I’ve changed its colour scheme, the size of several
elements, and I added new functions.

78
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION
82
SECTION V CONTENTS

The Handy Handy: Stakeholders Further Work

Concept User Journey Feedback

83
 THE HANDY CONCEPT
The propose
Handy is a digital platform for the process of documenting design
projects, including the organisation of documents, the visualisation
of the design process and the support for communication and
sharing. The platform also displays task-management functions as
well as tools for integrating reflections and notes within different
documents.
Users can easily access the platform using a computer, tablet or
mobile phone, which makes the process of documenting projects
close to the day-to-day work practice.

84
What makes Handy different from existing products and methods?
1. Handy allows an automatic documentation of the design process.
The user can set up with ease how he would like to record his
project;
2. Handy allows the user to establish – and visualise – relationships
between documents, which is not possible using current tools;
“I love the linking of pieces of information. I think
that’s the key innovation here - and if there were
some cool ways to be able to play with that.”
- Master design student
3. Handy has functions for the visualisation of all the process of
a project within a timeline, in chronological order or by user-
defined themes. Moreover, Handy combines tasks and its related
documents, which is not possible using any other tool;
4. Handy holds a digital library of projects and allows the visualisation
of project processes instead of only outcomes. The idea is to see
what happens ‘behind the scenes’, where users of the platform can
check what occurred during a project process, for example, what
went wrong besides of what worked.
Who is it for?
Handy meets the demands of design students, design researchers
and professionals, as well can be used in collaboration with
managers, clients, and partners. Additionally, the platform is a
source to consult projects by researchers researching design, design
lecturers, and non-designers interested in the design process. I
presented a stakeholder map in Section III of this book (p.54) that
display more details of Handy’s potential user’s interactions.
Who would own the project?
I believe that Google would be a great fit to acquire Handy. The
reasoning for that is that designers already frequently use Google
Drive to document their projects, and so it would be helpful to have
Google Drive folders connected to the Handy platforms, as well
as new Handy files automatically synchronised to Google Drive.
Moreover, I believe it is possible to add writing editors, such as
Word, to Handy. However, in the case that Google owns Handy, it
would not be necessary.
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 85
Handy’s features
Organise documents by dates, as well as by themes, in a timeline;
Create and manage new projects;
Automatically record updates with the possibility of checking
Build and manage different timelines visualising them through
previous versions of documents;
various criteria, such as personal process and team process;
Turn on notifications for receiving reminders to save new
Import agenda from other programs, such as Apple Calendar and
documents, as well as indications of new updates in the timeline
Outlook Calendar;
by collaborators;
Set themes to identify and separate documents;
Possibility to import projects already completed by placing
Establish relationships between documents; the project folders and documents to a new timeline, that will
Create notes and reflections over the process; automatically organise these by dates.

Share your project process to the community;

Plug-in for web-browser to save web pages, pictures and writing
comments.

86
HANDY: USER JOURNEY

SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 87

88
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 89
90
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 91
92
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 93
94
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 95
96
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 97
98
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 99
100
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 101
STAKEHOLDERS FEEDBACK “I liked it a lot, I think it’s simple,
The potential users were very excited to experience Handy and nice, clean and organized.”
also very encouraging to me going further with the platform. Their - Master design student
first reaction was to compare Handy’s functionalities with how they
usually document their design projects, concluding that from using
my platform they would develop a better documenting practice –
“I would use this product, but possibly there would
closer to what the potential users thought was the ideal scenario
in the interviews – than their current method of documenting be something missing for me, which was to be able
projects. Regarding the aesthetics, they liked the clean visual of to do the project directly on it, as Google Drive has
the platform, especially that it does resemble other platforms they word and excel. It would be perfect. In this way you
are familiar. Most of the test users suggested that being able to
establish relationships between different documents, as well as
can connect the folders.”
adding notes or reflections on top of it, would be a great feature - Master design student
that might improve their productive cycle. Moreover, some of the
test users also suggested possible improvements, such as linking
Handy to other platforms (e.g. Google Chrome). “turned out to be really great”
- Master design student

102
 “I love the idea that you can link multiple
things to a specific activity [...]
Would be interesting to see a ‘mind map’
version of your project.”
- Master design student
“I really like that there is a place for reflections as
this is often left out of a designers process and tak-
en for granted.”
- Master design student
“I would definitely find it a useful tool.”
- Master design student
“I like the timing function. Handy could be not
only the tool of managing design process, also
the alarm for each process to encourage you. You
know, we like to procrastinate our work, but it can
be used as pressure!”
- Design Student
If I’m a user, I will definitely use the creating rela-
tionship function. It’s a really a good idea to share
the same references in different timelines which
can reduce my extra chores such as finding every
folder to find the references I want.
- Design Student
SECTION V: CONCEPT PRESENTATION 103
 CONCEPT FINAL REFECTIONS AND LIMITATIONS
Keep refining the platform
In this project, I was able to gather and present solutions for the key
opportunities and problems that users face in their documentation
process. On this subjects, some of the solutions and functionalities
of the platform were more detailed and advanced than other, but in
general, they were overall discussed through the project. As Handy
has many functions and possibilities, it is still necessary to study
each of its interactions and functions to refine the design and offer
a better service for the users.

Knowledge in project management enhance the experience

It is necessary to point out that the platform itself does not solve
all the problems of documenting design projects because for the
activity to be successfully carried out, the user must have some
knowledge of project management skills and how to adapt the tool
to each work. Hence, for the best use of the platform, it is essential
to keep learning through its practice, as well to get support from
learning experiences, as discussing documentation with colleagues
and through design courses and workshops.

Sharing and consulting other projects

The experience of consulting other projects will be more relevant
depending on how designers share their projects inside the
platform. The idea to explore the process and see how was the
“behind the scenes” methods – besides the outcomes – will rely
on the honesty of the designers to share what happens in their
process. Moreover, the understanding of other project’s rationale
will also depend on what documents the users share and if the
information is clear.

104
WORK FINAL REFLECTION AND FURTHER WORK
Two main issues stem from my project and should be addressed
in the future. First, the narrower perspective of enhancing Handy’s
functionalities and usability. The concept of my platform is a clear,
active attempt to solve the real problem – within the field of design
– of overlooking the process of documenting projects, which are
more than a mere support for communicating project outcomes.
Hence, more usability testing and the addition of features such
as writing editors would be key in this context. Second, there is a
broader inquiry within my project that is, designers do not have
time to discuss their knowledge and their design practices. Such
unwillingness to the theoretical discussion by designers has led
to a great gap between what is expected from a design student
from their teachers, and how these students approach their design
practice. I am a Brazilian designer and, even in Brazil, design
students – whose were also participants in my research project –
frequently do not document their design rationale.
Moreover, designing for designers was a real challenge because
I had to be unbiased so that my experience as a user does not
overlap user needs and new design opportunities. For this, I
always tried to remember to consider and keep an open mind
to listen to the designers. Understandably, each designer has his
tricks and ‘grimaces’ and thus thinking about a unified method for
documenting projects would be naïve. I made an effort to design
Handy as a flexible platform, and I was expecting to improve its
design through the feedback of my peers. After the feedback of
the potential users, I am convinced that my platform could be a
viable solution for my research problem.
The additional point is that my platform might be useful for non-
designers also. Both through the interviews, as well as in the
discussions with design students, I received the feedback that
Handy could be interesting for professionals and students that work
with project-structured themes, such as architects and engineering.
However, I would not have time to do other research focusing
on these professionals, and thus I could not further explore this
possibility.
I was very pleased with the design process that I developed because
I managed to fulfil all my central goals and I achieved a relevant
result. I felt satisfied with being able to get through the whole
design process, from formulating a design question to creating a
concept and testing it, even in a simple prototype.
My previous work and research* on project management were
essential for the better development of this project. Especially
when it comes to the reflections generated from them, which I used
as a starting point in this present project.
I would love to move forward with this project and hopefully, get
some investors or companies interested in developing the platform
with me. Most of the designers who participated in my project
would like to have Handy included in their daily design practice,
and I would love to help them to make documentation an easy and
enjoyable task.
105
106
BIBLIOGRAPHY
List of sources that I used to inform my work:
Best K. 2006. Design Management: Managing Design Strategy,
Process and Implementation. N.p.: AVA Academia, Print.
Best K. 2015. The Fundamentals of Design Management. London:
Fairchild, Print.
Bolger N., Davis A., and Rafaeli E. 2003. Diary methods: Capturing
life as it is lived. Annual review of psychology 54.1: 579-616.
Conklin E.J. 1987. Hypertext: An introduction and survey. IEEE
Computer, 20(9), 17-41.
Conklin E.J., and Yakemovic K.C. 1991. A process-oriented
approach to design rationale. Human-Computer Interaction, 6(3),
pp.357-391.
Cooper R., and Press M. 2005. The Design Agenda: A Guide to
Successful Design Management. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons,
Print.
Corrêa G.R. 2014. Aprendizagem cotidiana em escritórios de
arquitetura. Tese de Doutorado – Escola de Arquitetura – UFMG,
Belo Horizonte.
Fischer G., Lemke A.C., McCall R., and Morch A.I. 1991. Making
argumentation serve design. Human–Computer Interaction, 6(3-4),
pp.393-419.
Hanington, B. and Martin, B., 2012. Universal methods of design:
100 ways to research complex problems, develop innovative ideas,
and design effective solutions. Rockport Publishers.
Lemke A.C., and Fischer G. 1990. A cooperative problem solving
system for user interface design. Proceedings of AAA1-90, Eighth
National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 479-484, Cambridge,
MA: AAAI Press/MIT Press.
Ogilvie T. and Liedtka J. 2011. Designing for growth: A design
thinking toolkit for managers. Columbia University Press.
Lobato L.L., O’Leary P., Almeida E.S., and Meira S.R. 2010. The
importance of documentation, design and reuse in risk management
for SPL. In Proceedings of the 28th ACM International Conference
on Design of Communication (pp. 143-150). ACM.
McCall R., Mistrik I., and Schuler W. 1981. An integrated information
and communication system for problem solving. Proceedings of
the Seventh International CODATA Conference, 107-115, London:
Pergamon.
Norman D.A. 1988. The psychology of everyday things. New York:
Basic Books.
Owen C.L. 1998. Design research: Building the knowledge base.
Design Studies, 19(1), pp.9-20.
Pedgley O. 1997. Towards a method for documenting industrial
design activity from the designer’s perspective. IDATER 1997
Conference, Loughborough University.
Pedgley O., and Wormald, P. 2007. Integration of Design Projects
within a Ph. D. Design issues, 23(3), pp.70-85.
Rittel H.W. 1980. APIS, a Concept for an Argumentative Planning
Information System. Institute of Urban & Regional Development,
University of California, Berkeley.
Rillel H.W. 1984 Second-generation design methods. In N. Cross
(Ed.). Developments in design methodology (pp. 317-327). New
York: Wiley.
Schon. D. A. 1984. The reflective practitioner: How professionals
think in action. vol. 5126. New York: Basic Books.
Shum S.B. 1995. Analyzing the usability of a design rationale
notation. In T. P. Moran & j. M.Carroll (Eds.), Design rationale:
Concepts, techniques, and use. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
107
108
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
I was born in Brazil, but I am a citizen of the world, interested in Professional Experience
knowing different cultures, and to have new experiences. I am
passionate about design, and I believe that understanding the Design Intern
user experience, their lifestyle, and their aspirations are crucial to Something Simon, New York City, US
guide an outstanding design project. I have a bachelor degree in June 2015 to August 2015
Design from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Further,
one-year studying industrial design at Savannah College of Art and Activities: Product development and design of print and digital
Design in the US. advertising and marketing materials.

Project Management Researcher

Education
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Design Innovation and Service Design Project Management Researcher
Masters degree
March 2013 to February 2014
Glasgow School of Art (GSA), Glasgow, Scotland
Activities: Project management research in theory and practice in
September 2017 Architecture and in Design companies.

Design Publication
Bachelor degree
VI Projetar, Salvador, BA, Brazil, 2013.
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Paper publication and presentation
December 2015 “Project Management: A parallel between Architecture and Design.”
Industrial Design
Brazil Scientific Mobility Program study abroad Contact information
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah, Georgia amandamaiadecarvalho@gmail.com
August 2015

109
110
111
 Master’s final thesis work
AMANDA MAIA DE CARVALHO

MDes Design Innovation and Service Design

Glasgow School of Art - School of Design Innovation

2017