“Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.”

 

—Donald A. Norman

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Overview

Effective interviewing blends empathy, improvisation, and structure to generate meaningful design insights. Emerson et al. (2011) emphasize listening as an analytic practice—one that involves attending to tone, pauses, and contextual nuances beyond spoken words. Students conduct at least five semi-structured, in-person interviews based on approved discussion guides, documenting participant bios, key quotes, and emergent ideas. Through these field engagements, they learn to balance openness with focus while reflecting on their own positionality as design researchers (van Dijk et al., 2014). Collectively, these micro-ethnographies, as a pilot test, can provide the foundation for translating qualitative field data into actionable design opportunities.

 

Reflections

• How did active listening during interviews and field observation help you uncover implicit values, vulnerable emotions, or contradictions in people’s stories?

• In what ways did your presence as a researcher influence the authenticity or direction of the field conversation

 

References

• Boyer, B., Cook, J. W., & Steinberg, M. (2011). In Studio: Recipes for Systemic Change. Helsinki Design Lab.

• Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press.

• Norman, D. A. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Basic Books.

• van Dijk, G., et al. (2014). Belonging & Belongings. Design Research Society.