Guerilla Human Research
17 May 2010 by céline
Here are a few tips, or ideas that I use to help me understand people’s behavior towards a product that I happen to redesign, or towards a service that needs better strategy. The word: “user research”, or the expression doesn’t represent people. Users are not people. Post internet, the word user represented mostly drug addicts. It involved mostly people who were addicted.
I like using the expression human research, and my techniques are very much inspired of classic anthropology techniques. For example, to conduct a human research, go to people’s homes, and observe the way they behave with products, or services. Depending on what is the object of your research. I find it odd, and unnatural to bring people in, to a white antiseptic room with a computer that is not theirs, with a camera in front of their faces, in a way it reminds me of rat laboratories. It artificial.
Here are some tips you can do from home (or from the office place). When you find yourself you need to understand people’s behaviors, to identify behavior types in order to design for them.
Monitor all current social media outlets to find out what people are saying about the product
Listening to people’s observation and experience around a product or service, can be very useful if quoted in a right way. I screen grab some of the quotes, and group them together around archetypal characteristics. This helps both the client, and the designer feeling for, and helps understand more what this people say, think about. It’s like radio people, it’s a great way to actually listen to their thoughts.
Use common SEO tools to see how people search, and what do they search for and in what volume
What is the taxonomy commonly used to find things they are looking for. Reading the meta-data behind people’s actions can help a lot pull out good keywords that would help the client describe its services, or describe itself. Sometimes, these words are very surprising, as some clients have their own personal mythology, and come up with words and descriptions that are very far from the reality of everyday folks.
Quantcast Gather as much demographic data as possible
Quantcast is great when in the design process, you are about to use visualization to show the different behavior characteristic, and identify patterns while justifying them. This mind sound easier on paper then in reality. But the whole process to me must be very organic. After gathering quotes, words, observing heatmaps maybe as well, and looking at demographics, it seems easier to map different behaviors, and visualize them in a convincing way.
The documentary approach: mini video camera, sometimes cell phone camera can be great, a handy sound recorder, and a visit to people’s homes
The handy self-made anthropologist with a video camera is nothing more then the good old documentary techniques. Candid-eye, and observing behaviors inside people’s real lives. Not a failed attempt to recreate their natural environment in a white room under surveillance.
Montreal’s secret parties
16 May 2010 by céline
Montreal, Friday, May 14
Invited to a secret loft party on St-Laurent.
In the stairs of the building, the higher we got, the more dense the air, and the less it was possible to breathe. All the windows were closed, a band was playing music, over 150 person was there sweating dancing, the temperature in the room was almost 47 degrees. Summertime in Montreal can only be experienced inside a secret loft party. Humidity. Yes, it felt like summertime parties on the beach in the middle of the afternoon. The music was awesome, we were there to see to Heart&Soul play. It was Beaver’s birthday, and he was covered in sweat and ladies, all happy, dancing. People screaming: “I love this weather!!” No air. We had to keep the party hidden, even if we all were screaming, and music was blasted.
At 1:45 am, the police showed up, they were 8 policemen and women, armed. Fuck. The party was shut off, they gave the girl who owns the loft a 400$ fine, for throwing an illegal party.
What’s an illegal party? We all left, an address was shared as a secret, and we all walked there. The police on the street on St-Laurent was so obnoxious. I mean you want some peace and quiet, go live in the suburbs! It should be totally legal to throw parties on St-Laurent. The police was just being an asshole with these young twenty something peoples. Police cars everywhere, as we all walk to the new address. It is an old Victorian house on St-Urbain. The house inside is destroyed and it feels like big kids are living there. Drugs are circulating, I think to myself “I feel old” never said that before. I realize this is the only parties that can still go on in Montreal. Where the police is hassling the youth to shut up and hide. They were quiet alright, although they were almost the same amount of people as the first loud party, this time they were all quiet and high. Is this the kind of parties a city would host on a Friday night? Zoom out a little and watch. Police on every street corner. The people walking were mostly Caucasians in their 20′s, a little intoxicated. Police were hassling them, to shut up, sometimes threatening them. I was horrified. It made me angry. I felt like breaking the law. WTF! I leave the Victorian silent drug party, as I don’t do drugs anymore, and I had nothing to live their, i wanted to dance. I walked home, going thru St-Denis, police everywhere again. Some youngsters are screaming laughing, the police goes like “Yomp Yomp” stops in front of them and orders them to shut up and hide. The houses were lit up, people were getting high. There are no other escapes allowed. It seems to me, as my common sense needs to say: it’s much more healthier to be loud and dance ourselves out on a Friday night, then to hide in some random house, with no furniture, but a functional bathroom and people get high. Escape. Le spleen quoi!
This is not right.
I might be an Utopian.
The city I imagine understands its youth
Lets people scream and dance
And allows parties to happen
Everything is forbidden
And Montreal is stagnating
Please Make Peace
3 May 2010 by céline
Met with Brett today to have lunch and discuss about OpenCinema.
Why i posted this particular image?
After reading Habib’s tweet; “Talks abt imminent Israeli/Lebanese war ths summer, really hope not. Wish thr was a way 2 influence. Enough wars, we wnt peace, I wnt peace!”
Reminded me about a particular graffitti piece I made in Beirut in 2008, 2 yrs after the Summer War with Israel.
The war, the remixing, all this is related as it all came to while I was stuck in Montreal in 2006, when my flight was canceled. i was going to see my mom, when the airport got bombed more then once. I wanted to create a video where we look at the CNN footage, but we hear my mom talking to me on the phone. I had recorded her and she was saying: “Don’t worry, it’s ok. We will rebuild the airport habibi don’t worry”
