In October, I discovered an intriguing post by Kevin Walker, “Design Research and Research Design,” and tweeted my key takeaways.  While interesting, it’s somewhat of a long read, which makes it perfect for an experiment I’m trying out: augmenting Twitter with Tumblr. The reasons behind this experiment are to: 1) cut to the chase of meaty articles, yet provide a bit more context than Twitter’s 140 articles allows as to why I find them important, 2) keep interesting articles from getting lost and forgotten in my Twitter stream (I’m close to 4000 tweets right now).  Hopefully Tumblr’s search function and ability to tag will be an improvement over Twitter’s abysmal findability!

The thrust of Walker’s piece is how we can improve research with design methodology and design thinking: 

Much of design is informed by research of some sort; research, on the other hand, is almost never informed by design. Over the past several months, my students and I have built a curriculum centered around the idea that research and design are two sides of the same coin. We took it for granted that research can inform design; what took us by surprise was the great extent to which design can, in turn, enhance research. (my emphasis)

Also interesting: applying journalistic methods to research:

Indeed, while not necessarily seen as worthy in academic circles, journalistic methods have long been perceived as accepted practice in design research: interviewing people, investigative research, writing it up in concise and coherent stories — this is one of the strongest ways designers come to know their users. Calling it journalism — even investigative journalism — instead of scenarios or user stories exposes critical issues to the budding designer-researcher: it introduces methods, helps to define motives and ethics, and reinforces the necessity for ruthless objectivity. (my emphasis)

Another important point Walker makes is around communicating ideas. I couldn’t agree more — communication is paramount! Successful designers are masters at engaging their audience through the story of their design.  

More important than tools, though, research desperately needs design expertise to better communicate its findings. We found this out first-hand when it came time to present the results of our airport project to industry and government officials. So accustomed were they to reading long, boring reports and documents that simply seeing research concisely and visually presented on nicely-designed posters was a revelation to them. Some of the students’ work was immediately picked up for commercial development. (my emphasis)

I enjoyed reading how — through the process Walker outlines in his post — his design students changed how they approached design projects. They saw the importance of research:

It was vindication that we were doing something right. More important to me was watching the students go from designers to researchers: in January they tended to approach projects with already sketched-out ideas in their heads; by June they were already formulating their own methodologies and handing in publication-quality research paper. (my emphasis)

Biggest takeaway:

As designer-researchers, we can make our own tools for investigation.

This seems obvious, but important. I’m always curious how different researchers invent new methodologies on the fly to best answer research questions. Applying design methodologies and thinking to this process can, I think, help us to be more successful.

(Hat tip: David Sherwin, @changeorder)