THE DEMOGRAPHY OF EVERYONE
The Journey to Knowing Who You’re Talking To
As a designer, you need to design to craft and tell stories,
create messages and visualizations
that connect with people.
To link to people’s emotional points of gravity —
that magnetism lies in captivation:
they relate and
they carry away
your offerings —
how your work shall make that carry-out,
that take-away happen better?
You’ll need to know them.
Traveling and working around the world, you meet a lot of people. And you meet people in their territory, not yours. What that suggests in my experience with my teams is that people who can sit still,
watch quietly and
listen intently will likely
create solutions that resonate with the intended audiences.
My method, to seeing?
Study.
I watch the eyes and what they’re looking at.
When I sit with someone — a person that might be a member of an audience to relevance —
I watch their eyes, and what they’re looking at. That is telling — what’s interesting, how focused are they on the conversation, if not, what is more interesting than the conversation you’re having.
Asking questions — eyes will point to commentary: “not interested,” they’ll signal that “I’m looking at something else that’s more interesting than talking with you.”
Ask the right questions and you can steer the insights on what relationship you’re trying to develop.
I watch the body and what it’s doing.
Talking — is the person protecting themselves? Arms wrapped around them. Are they leaning in — in the list of listening — or are they leaning away. Speaking with people, you can find resonation — they get the direction that you’re leading a conversation, an exploration, or not.
What about color, material, brands —
how do they put that together?
Whether an audience member knows it or not, there will be brand relationships. The point is — what are they carrying away — in a brand, a story, what’s carrying it to them, what are they going to carry away?
It will be about a magnetism that syncs a person to any product.
“I like this because —
it doesn’t break down,
it always comes in the right color;
it smells great;
it feels right — I like that they’re American-made.”
Watch closely and walk around,
and into their world.
Whatever brings you into their place — in exploring a brand,
a relationship of a customer,
you need to step-in, further and further.
Ask to get closer:
Like, for example —
in their house —
what about
lighting,
color,
materials,
sound, music, scent,
their art,
their photographs,
they’re displaying their visible storytelling —
how people display their lives.
How too:
their
Office?
Bedroom?
Kitchen?
Bathroom?
All places, well-studied,
shall be for storytelling the markings of the people,
graphos + demos.
Traveling —
you can walk, journey, excavate, stumble into people’s worlds;
you get closer, you get in further.
But it comes to
sharing,
listening,
digging in,
and
exploring.
And more sharing.
It is in these moments that you
might learn to know more of
who you’re talking to.
As a designer,
it’s my history —
“if you’re going to design for an defined,
cultural audience,
you need to learn their language,
lean in,
speak something.
Student, studying those worlds, ways of listening
and speaking:
for me —
Arabic,
Japanese,
French,
Indonesian,
German.
When there’s a chance to communicate,
to design a strategy to get into the heart of a telling,
a product, a technology, an experience offering — better to be clear about context.
In the weaving of experience — the entanglements of connectedness — the spirit of translation and illustration, that shining, will work all the better if you can speak to, and know, the world that you’re talking to.
Go there,
go their,
get in,
learn and build
on that —
going forward.
TIM
…..
The Strategy of Holism | Emotionality
and Design Engineering
GIRVIN | DECATUR ISLAND STUDIOS
Storytelling a world of work:
Girvin Design Experiences: Seattle
http://bit.ly/19rM4SA