The Creation Center is an innovation platform set up by Telekom Laboratories in Berlin;
At the Centre, I will be engaged with the world of the consumers to find inspiration for future services and product ideas in the field of telecommunication and media interaction through the project eEtiquette.
The eEtiquette is an ongoing project about the composition and publication of guidelines in various formats engaging readers to rethink their digital behaviour. In addition the project inspires innovative scenarios and product and service opportunities for Deutsche Telekom AG.
Every guideline of the eEtiquette holds a valuable insight or problem providing inspiration for future services. The question is how to design more polite online services and devices (known as ‘well-mannered services’) and to discover little details that make the interaction not only functional (efficient and usable experience) and pleasurable (emotional and aesthetic experience) but also well mannered (considerate and politer experiences).
Thus, the next step is to combine these guidelines with the well mannered service design ideas that emerged out of them to design an application for smart phones, the Ipad, laptops, and future technologies.
I will be working along with different groups, having a common goal: To create exciting, innovative, economically successful and valuable products and services for their customers.
In their creative workshops, Creation Center translates valuable findings and insights into convincing concept scenarios following a process that is steeped in design thinking. Looking into various theme areas they are able to generate a diverse pool of ideas, working in interdisciplinary teams in close cooperation with research and industry.
Need:
Behavioral rules for interactions between people and technology are undefined. As is true during any period of innovation and social change, there are many ways, rather than an “appropriate” way to behave. What rules that do exist are formed through a trial and error process by users, rather than a top down process dictated by product designers.
Written or unwritten rules have been established around devices within a certain context e.g. about mobile phones at the dinner table, in planes, in museums, in schools, etc. e.g. checking SMS/emails underneath the table during a presentation. The style of communication changes depending on the channel used, e.g. a very brief language or a spelling mistake in blackberry sent messages are well accepted.
Just like the spread of mobile phones has shaped the way we interact with each other, the availability of mobile broad band to the masses will again have a considerable impact on society.
There is a need to define a code of conduct for behaviours related to communications and technology.
Indian companies in the telecom sector are at par with international companies in terms of engineering. But they are not leaders in the field only because of the lack of emphasis on innovation. Till date no Indian company has an innovation lab.
At Deutsche Telekom Labs, however, new and original products are being launched constantly following experiments and explorations. The Technology Lab offers space to do open ended research, conceptual and ground breaking work.
By working here, I hope to learn and understand the systems and processes they use to bring forward these innovations.
Approach:
Desk research:
• Internet sites
• Books
• Marketing Reports and Surveys
• Historical background
Exploration:
Interacting with and analyzing the already existing apps, especially in the related field.
Workshops
• Cultural probes and ethnographic observations in order to document the customers’ initial everyday impressions.
• Accompany customers personally through their everyday tasks.
• Lead user/Community workshops to explore the theme and involve the users to generate ideas
Theme Clustering
Using the extensive results of the research phase to arrange clusters to gain insight into different topics and identify patterns.
Ideation Phase:
• The focus is on generating ideas. Creation Centre, a conceptual and physical platform, provides a tangible and method based framework that promotes creativity.
• Participating in multidisciplinary workshops that focus on design thinking, with the aim of stimulating creative potential and generating design ideas.
• Operational trials of new method based approaches.
Evaluation Phase:
• Select and assess new product ideas.
• Filter on the basis of Brand fit, technical feasibility, cultural contexts, business viability.
• The selected ideas are developed into concepts, illustrated by storyboards and which then go into concept testing.
Documentation:
• I will maintain a blog (written and visual to document the process of working in a completely new environment, interacting with new people, skills, approaches and resources; tishadiplomaproject.blogspot.com
• The idea is to share my learning and discoveries, and get feedback from a wider audience in order to be able to use and apply the feedback to my work.
Materials/Resources:
I will avail of the resources and materials available at the Creation Center required through my process- ideation stage, workshops, prototyping, product testing, etc.
Research Questions:
Digital manners
- What is the background of the eEtiquette project? How can I add value to the already existing guidelines?
- Should these digital manners be categorized using age groups, professions, cultures or not at all?
- How do these guidelines differ culturally and how can I make them part of a universal app?
- What is the level of media competence through different age groups?
- On what basis, should I select one guideline as more relevant than the other?
Application design
- What are the already existing apps in the market, especially to do with teaching etiquette? How do these interact with the user?
- What emotions do apps instigate? How do they sustain attention?
- What makes one app better than the other?
- What is the visual language of my app going to be? And how does it affect the user?
- What are the current trends in application design, the interactions and interface?
- How does an app engage a user on a regular basis?
- How can I use upcoming trends in technology to enhance the value and significance of my app?
Teaching patterns
- What are the methods of teaching etiquette? Find out the different ways manners are taught across the globe.
- Are there any tangible products that act as a teacher?
- Are there any teaching patterns?
- How do children learn in schools, at home, in museums, through friends?
- How can I convert intangible experiences into tangible ones?
- How do I escape from the act of teaching like a strict classroom teacher and instead make it a fun and interesting way of learning?
Julia Leihener, Creation Center, Deutsche Telekom Lab
Andreas Sommerwerk, Creation Center, Deutsche Telekom Lab
Steven Schepurek, Creation Center, Deutsche Telekom Lab
Victor Vina, Interaction Designer, Visiting Faculty at Srishti
Anders Sandell, Toy Designer, Faculty at Srishti
Learning Outcomes:
• It would deepen my understanding of how designers apply their knowledge of human behaviour to the field of interaction design. Interactions have to be innovative, simple, real and logical. Interactions that enrich ordinary everyday tasks and experiences. These interactions help humanizing technology and directly/indirectly simplify technology.
• From global to local trends: India is the biggest and fastest growing industry with a big opportunity for Tele-communication and media interaction. Having lived in India, and observed and studied different age groups interacting with different telecom products and services, I will be able to deliver meaningful insights, new perspectives and layers to another country in order to develop future services, technologies and partnerships.
• From local to global trends: Design for wider audiences, to be able to find common problems and interests
• To get the chance to play with technology. As a designer, it is a challenge and an exciting opportunity to be able gain experience and insight through exploration and working at their lab with leading interaction designers.
• To be able to create products and services for a real market with real market constraints.
• Face the challenge of being in a new environment, to be aware of new scenarios and contexts around me. Be more observant and learn things every day.
• With competitive products being launched every day, find new solutions to new problems in the best possible and feasible way. At the same time, to maximize creative output to be able to meet the demands of the market.
