Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II: Research, Innovations and Best Practices (Springer Series in Design and Innovation, 14) 3030758664, 9783030758660

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Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14

Nuno Martins Daniel Brandão Fernando Moreira da Silva   Editors

Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II Research, Innovations and Best Practices

Springer Series in Design and Innovation Volume 14

Editor-in-Chief Francesca Tosi, University of Florence, Florence, Italy Series Editors Claudio Germak, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy Francesco Zurlo, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Zhi Jinyi, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China Marilaine Pozzatti Amadori, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Maurizio Caon

, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Fribourg, Switzerland

Springer Series in Design and Innovation (SSDI) publishes books on innovation and the latest developments in the fields of Product Design, Interior Design and Communication Design, with particular emphasis on technological and formal innovation, and on the application of digital technologies and new materials. The series explores all aspects of design, e.g. Human-Centered Design/User Experience, Service Design, and Design Thinking, which provide transversal and innovative approaches oriented on the involvement of people throughout the design development process. In addition, it covers emerging areas of research that may represent essential opportunities for economic and social development. In fields ranging from the humanities to engineering and architecture, design is increasingly being recognized as a key means of bringing ideas to the market by transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products or services. Moreover, it provides a variety of methodologies, tools and techniques that can be used at different stages of the innovation process to enhance the value of new products and services. The series’ scope includes monographs, professional books, advanced textbooks, selected contributions from specialized conferences and workshops, and outstanding Ph.D. theses. Keywords: Product and System Innovation; Product design; Interior design; Communication Design; Human-Centered Design/User Experience; Service Design; Design Thinking; Digital Innovation; Innovation of Materials. How to submit proposals Proposals must include: title, keywords, presentation (max 10,000 characters), table of contents, chapter abstracts, editors’/authors’ CV. In case of proceedings, chairmen/editors are requested to submit the link to conference website (incl. relevant information such as committee members, topics, key dates, keynote speakers, information about the reviewing process, etc.), and approx. number of papers. Proposals must be sent to: series editor Prof. Francesca Tosi (francesca.tosi@unifi.it) and/or publishing editor Mr. Pierpaolo Riva ([email protected]).

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16270

Nuno Martins Daniel Brandão Fernando Moreira da Silva •

•

Editors

Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II Research, Innovations and Best Practices

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Editors Nuno Martins School of Design Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave/ID+ Barcelos, Portugal

Daniel Brandão Institute of Social Sciences University of Minho/CECS Braga, Portugal

Fernando Moreira da Silva Lisbon School of Architecture University of Lisbon/CIAUD Lisbon, Portugal

ISSN 2661-8184 ISSN 2661-8192 (electronic) Springer Series in Design and Innovation ISBN 978-3-030-75866-0 ISBN 978-3-030-75867-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021, corrected publication 2022 Chapter “Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project” is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). For further details see license information in the chapter. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

To be able to affirm the discipline of design as an autonomous and consolidated area, but at the same time of great openness, it becomes more and more relevant. Works such as those presented in this book allow us to contribute to this consolidation and to the epistemology of design. It is a disciplinary area that has had a rapid growth, being trans and interdisciplinary with many other areas that gravitate around it, whose borders are not always well defined, but whose intrinsic collaboration and contamination has become an essential and critical practice for the design. We also witnessed that the research processes in design have also accompanied these emerging changes. Design is an agglutinating element also responsible for the collective memory, covering tangible and intangible values and dimensions, seeking to contribute to solutions that reveal a high level of utility, but may also bring together the construction of an aesthetic oriented to the creation of an imaginary that goes far beyond the utilitarian and functional, embodying cultural references for the society, incorporating personal meanings, communicating emotions, and facilitating interpersonal relations that mediate between the individual’s perception and self-identity. This book, which presents contributions and advances in scientific and practical knowledge, in the areas of digital and communication design, web, multimedia and motion design, graphic design, branding, and related ones, attempts to convey two important and underlying messages, more than just share and transfer knowledge: the relevance of the design discipline that makes it present in many of the sustainable decisions we make daily, from the environmental macro scale to the hand scale, or from management to the development of solutions for products or systems; and the close interconnection between advances in the professional practice of design, with research, teaching, and the transfer of knowledge to society, companies, and industry. This paradigmatic finding leads us to the need for constant reflection in the area that allows the implementation of new visions and strategies, contributing to the construction of a more fair, balanced, ethical, and inclusive society, where everyone can have identical opportunities and leaders can ensure more competitive organizations, as well as inspired and innovative leadership. v

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Through the different chapters of the book, we contact with important advances in terms of research centered on design and digital communication, allowing us to understand best practices in research and innovation, most of the times using new and appropriate technologies, in an effective contribution to the optimization of design project, education, and learning experiences. This book includes original contributions by authoritative authors based on the best papers presented at the 4th edition of Digicom, in November 2020, together with some invited chapters written by leading international researchers. The 28 chapters cover the following topics: • • • • • • • •

Challenges and opportunities of human-centered digital design Empirical approaches to design for digital inclusion New perspectives on human–machine interaction Digital narratives, game design, and the digital readers Co-design methods and practices toward a transdisciplinary approach Intersections between design research and design education Brand design development in the digital environment Design history toward its expansion

The findings presented in this book can certainly inspire and support others in the field of design and digital communications, being the contents addressed to both researchers and practitioners. Nuno Martins Daniel Brandão Fernando Moreira da Silva

Contents

User-Centered Digital Design Empowering Digital Users Through Design for Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . Davide M. Parrilli and Rodrigo Hernández-Ramírez

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Design Processes for Interactive Human–Machine Systems . . . . . . . . . . Mario Buono, Sonia Capece, Giovanna Giugliano, and Victor F. Muñoz Martínez

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Peripheral Interaction: Shifting Between Periphery and Center of Attention When Interacting with Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sílvia Fernandes, Daniel Brandão, and Nelson Zagalo Understanding the Barriers and Challenges Between Older Users and Smartphones: A Systematic Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luis Carlos Paschoarelli, Nathan Martins Fernandes, and Larissa R. Ferro-Marques Ageing Related Human Factors to Be Addressed in the Design of Visual Interfaces of Digital Applications Developed for Seniors: A Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leonardo Pereira, Daniel Brandão, and Nuno Martins The Potential of Interactive Digital Narratives Towards Literary Linear Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ana Isabel Ferreira and Soraia Ferreira Real Possibility of an Entirely Open-Source Pipeline for Indie Games Design and Production. Altamira Game as a Case Study . . . . . . Dario Lanza, María de Iracheta, Carmen Pérez, Borja Jaume, Lara Sánchez, and Marcos Casero

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Contents

Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Pedro Beça, Sofia Ribeiro, Mónica Aresta, Rita Santos, and Ana Isabel Veloso Needs, Expectations and Preferences of Potential Young Readers of the Digital Edition of Diario de Sevilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Juan-Ramon Martin-Sanroman, Juan-Carlos Zambrano, and Fernando Suarez-Carballo Research Methods and Strategies It Takes Two to Tango—Research and Education Cross Pollination at Design Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Rita Almendra and Fernando Moreira da Silva Synthesis Models of Project and Design Methodologies Applied in Research Projects in Communication Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Daniela Oliveira, João Neves, Daniel Raposo, and José Silva Building an Archive of Perception: The Role of Observation and Intuition in Design Practice and Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Renata Arezes, Joana Quental, Anabela Pereira, and Raquel Guimarães Participatory Co-design: Approaches to Enable People Living with Challenging Health Conditions to Participate in Design Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 S. Neves, A. Macdonald, M. Poole, and K. Harrison Dening Quality Perception with Attrakdiff Method: A Study in Higher Education During the Covid-19 Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Iara Margolis Ribeiro and Bernardo Providência A Strategic Framework for Biodiverse Speculative Practices . . . . . . . . . 233 Craig C. Jeffcott and Ana Margarida Ferreira Pedagogy, Society and Design Practice The 4th Industrial Revolution—The Future of Design Research and Doctoral Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Maria João Félix and Fernando Moreira da Silva Foundations, Research, and Transdisciplinarity: Re-shaping Education for the 21st Century at a School of Design and Technology in Portugal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Rodrigo Hernández-Ramírez, Rodrigo Morais, and Carlos Rosa The Politics of a Passport to Design Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Pushpi Bagchi

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SLOType: Empowering Users’ Autonomous Learning Within a Hybrid Methodology for Formal Type Design Education . . . . . . . . . . 289 Pedro Amado, Ana Catarina Silva, and Eduardo Napoleão Reviving Type: From Manuscript to 3D-Printed Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Ângelo Gonçalves and Vítor Quelhas Digital Design Branding Brands Should Be Distinct! The Contribution of Ad’s Narrative and Joy to Distinctiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Sara Santos, Pedro Espírito Santo, and Sónia Ferreira Would Plato Really Find Coca Cola Inside the Cave? Design-Led Branding Explained by Everyday Social Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Bernardo Meza Guzman and Catarina Lelis Benchmarking and Rebranding a Handcraft Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 Sérgio Dominique-Ferreira, Andreia Roque, and Catherine Prentice From Design History to Its Transdisciplinarity The School of Carlos Ramos: A Lasting Legacy of a Revolution . . . . . . 371 Eliana Penedos-Santiago, Susana Barreto, Cláudia Lima, Nuno Martins, and Pedro Santiago Open Shop: Technological Change in London’s Printing Industry, 1980–1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Alex Heslop The Designer Trail: José Brandão, A Life in Design Education . . . . . . . 409 Cláudia Lima, Heitor Alvelos, Susana Barreto, Eliana Penedos-Santiago, and Nuno Martins Functional Graphic Design for a Musical Writing: Criteria of Constructive Graphics and Sound Interpretation in Ernest Robson’s Work on Phonetic Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Jorge dos Reis Data Artification: Knowledge Design Against and Beyond Data Factories and Regimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 Gabriele Salciute Civiliene Correction to: Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pedro Beça, Sofia Ribeiro, Mónica Aresta, Rita Santos, and Ana Isabel Veloso

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User-Centered Digital Design

Empowering Digital Users Through Design for Privacy Davide M. Parrilli

and Rodrigo Hernández-Ramírez

Abstract The research presented in this paper discusses the challenges and limitations of privacy by design as an effective tool for protecting users’ privacy. The EU data protection legislation requires all products, services, or systems that process personal data to be designed following a “privacy by design”. However, we contend that privacy by design does not have solid foundations to sustain privacy outside of its legal definitions, and it may only work as a legal compliance tool. Provided that the legal approach is not effective in protecting and enhancing users’ and citizens’ privacy, it is necessary to build a designerly understanding of privacy. The paper suggests a definition of privacy for design based on a universally acceptable ethical framework to create a common understanding of privacy for design and designers. Based on the notion of privacy for design, the paper supports creating a new design discipline to enhance users’ and citizens’ privacy: design for privacy. Keywords Privacy · Data protection · Design · Ethics · UX design

1 Introduction: Privacy, Laws and Dystopia Privacy is a fundamental human right and need. Protecting information that one judges valuable or sensitive is a basic human instinct. If a stranger were to ask how much one earns, where one lives, or about intimate details of one’s life, few of us would provide a straightforward answer. Such information is “nobody else’s business” but one’s own. Similarly, the privacy and secrecy of our correspondence is a principle accepted and protected within all democracies: nobody can open a letter without the recipient’s consent or an order from a judge or law enforcement authority, e.g., if the envelope is suspected of containing evidence of a crime or illegal material. D. M. Parrilli (B) · R. Hernández-Ramírez UNIDCOM/IADE, Faculdade de Design, Tecnologia e Comunicação, Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] R. Hernández-Ramírez e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_1

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However, things change when we move from the offline world to the online dimension. What may be unthinkable offline becomes not only acceptable, but also normal online. People share all kinds of personal information on social media or send intimate pictures to people they barely know. American privacy law scholar Ari Ezra Waldman claims that users share information, comments, or personal images depending on the amount of trust they have on a given platform and other users; and also, because they expect other users will do the same. Although we do not agree with the assumption that “We see massive crowds posting information, and rarely, if ever, hear about anything going wrong” [1], it is undeniable that things go terribly wrong, i.e., that people got injured or dead, in few cases. However, the low probability of severely bad things happening is not enough to sustain that sharing personal information, including intimate pictures, with a potentially uncountable number of strangers is riskless. Companies and governments request increasing amounts of personal information from users and citizens, creating more and more databases with every type of information: personal tastes and preferences, habits and manias, orientations and opinions. According to Foster and McChesney—and more recently, Shoshana Zuboff— humanity is living in the era of “surveillance capitalism” [2, 3], i.e., an economic and political system based on the accumulation, processing, and extrapolation of personal data, including so-called “data waste” (i.e., data that do not have much value, unless aggregated with other data), for profit. This process implies forecasting, modifying and, eventually, manipulating people’s behaviour. In other words, surveillance capitalism is about first understanding what people love and fancy and then nudging them into liking and desiring the things (products or content) that businesses or political entities want them to buy or believe. Tailored advertisement and communication are some of the most potent tools of surveillance capitalism. When these mechanisms extend to the political domain, the results can be noxious for our collective well-being. Carissa Véliz, who has extensively analysed personalised political communication, has shown how algorithms categorise people based on their orientations and ideas (e.g., based on their comments on social networks) and then expose them to political content they are expected to like [4]. Hypothetically, two users, one labelled as an “entrepreneurial friendly” and the other as “xenophobe” will receive two different messages on their social media feed from the same politician. The former may be invited to vote based on the candidate’s promise to lower taxes for business owners, the latter’s preference is obtained because of the commitment to take a tougher stance on immigration. Even more concerning, the political party could potentially influence voters’ orientation by showing content not explicitly labelled as political communication that reinforce previously identified ideas and biases. Manipulation of customers and citizens by companies and political organisations is not new. In Italy, for example, in the period preceding the first free general elections held in 1948 after Mussolini’s fall in 1945 and the advent of the Republic in 1946, the catholic party claimed that communists were kidnapping children and sending them to the Soviet Union. This propaganda relied on billboards and what “fake news” published in newspapers. Interestingly, the catholic party, which had played a

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significant role against the fascist regime, was now using the same anti-communist propaganda used previously by the fascists [5]. The main difference between now and then is how pervasive manipulation is, because we, human beings living in the liquid modernity era acutely described by Zygmunt Bauman, continuously fluctuate between the online and offline status [6]. Our offline ad online experiences are becoming so intertwined that attempts to separate them become progressively fruitless [7]. The distinction between Newtonian reality and our “onlife” is thus becoming anachronistic [8]. Cyberspace is no longer something that exists parallel to reality, but a permanently available and (for some people) more socially active layer of everyday life; it has become an extension of reality. Consequently, everything that we do online can directly affect our physical existence, and vice versa. Moreover, 1940s propaganda was experienced equally by everyone: all citizens could see the same billboard, which was interpreted in different ways by every viewer. Surveillance capitalism implies that every citizen can see a different (digital) billboard. How can people genuinely exchange ideas and viewpoints if we are exposed to different content, unaware of what other people watched or listened to? One of the pillars of surveillance capitalism is the commodification of personal data [2, 9]. According to Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias, such commodification implies a new form of colonialism: data colonisation of the human experience; the appropriation of “our very resources for knowing the world” [9]. According to this view, capitalist organisations engaging in data colonisation implicitly come to regard every aspect of human life from a managerial logic. In this way, human nature itself is transformed into mere data and commodified by power structures. This vision paves the way to a dystopian future where human emotions, feelings and experiences have no intrinsic value, but are instead measured in terms of economic gain. While the colonisation of human experience is many orders of magnitudes less violent than the one carried out by Europeans over the last five centuries, it stems from the same principle: that the colonised are mere resources whose value depends on the amount of wealth they can bring to colonisers. Privacy, however, remains a fundamental human right. Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 19481 states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” And yet, the technological advancements and the political changes that occurred in the last decades are effectively jeopardising citizens’ privacy throughout the world. The radical increase in computational power, coupled with the ubiquity of communication devices made it possible to collect and process exponentially more data about every aspect of human life. Hence the need to protect not only the citizens’ physical privacy but also their data.

1 The

text of the Convention is available at https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rig hts/index.html.

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History shows that wrongful use of personal data can be deadly. Carissa Véliz [4] notes that Nazi troops relied on citizens’ registers to capture and exterminate local Jewish populations in every city they invaded during World War II. The more data were contained in the local registers, the easier it was for Nazis to deport and murder people. Data per se, of course, is not the problem; the issue is how data are used and by whom. In our contemporary networked society, privacy issues extend beyond the disclosure of individual sets of personal data but are amplified when exponentially large amounts of data are aggregated, analysed and categorised [10]. Personal data are similar to asbestos: if it is protected under heavy layers of reinforced concrete, it is not per se dangerous; however, if multiple particles are spread in the open air, it can become hazardous. Personal data are toxic: they need to be treated with care [4]. Like asbestos, lawmakers need to intervene to protect citizens from the perils of misused information.

2 Privacy by Design: Open Questions and Challenges Legal instruments to protect privacy and personal data have significantly evolved since the 1980s, at least in Europe. In 1981, the Council of Europe adopted Convention 108, which was intended to protect individuals against misuses of personal data; the Convention was amended in 2018.2 By the mid-1990s, legislation concerning personal data in the European Union was partially harmonised by the Data Protection Directive.3 Further homologation was introduced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)4 in 2016, which came in force in 2018. Meanwhile, outside of Europe, many countries implemented their own data protection legislation. Brazil, the most populous country in Latin America, was the last one to join the club of nations with a wide-ranging privacy law in 2020.5 The United States, to the contrary, does not yet have a comprehensive federal data protection law, but only sectorial federal law and state legislation. California recently adopted the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)6 to protect local online consumers. A detailed assessment of the legal approach to enforce data protection in Europe and abroad goes beyond this paper’s scope. Instead, we focus our attention on a 2 The text of Convention 108+ is available at https://rm.coe.int/convention-108-convention-for-the-

protection-of-individuals-with-regar/16808b36f1. 3 Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protec-

tion of individuals concerning the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data, OJ L281, 23/11/1995, p. 31–50. 4 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons concerning the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), OJ L119, 04/05/2016, p. 1–88. 5 LGPD - Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (General Personal Data Protection Law), Law 13.709 of 14 August 2018, in force since 18 September 2020, O.J. (DOU) 15/08/2018. 6 California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 [1798.100 – 1798.199.100].

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specific tool required by the GDPR that impacts the design of products that involve personal data: privacy by design (henceforth PbD). Article 25 of the GDPR (“Data protection by design and by default”) mandates that data controllers—i.e., the entities which decide how and for what reasons personal data will be collected and processed—must: “Taking into account the state of the art, the cost of implementation and the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing as well as the risks of varying likelihood and severity for rights and freedoms of natural persons posed by the processing […], both at the time of the determination of the means for processing and at the time of the processing itself, implement appropriate technical and organisational measures, such as pseudonymisation, which are designed to implement dataprotection principles, such as data minimisation, in an effective manner and to integrate the necessary safeguards into the processing in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and protect the rights of data subjects.” PbD was first proposed in the 1990s by Ann Cavoukian, the former Data Protection Commissioner of the Canadian province of Ontario. Since then, PbD has been refined and broadened into a framework, and it is now included as a requirement in various pieces of legislation worldwide, including the GDPR. PbD seeks to embed privacy protection into information technologies, business practices, product design, and networked infrastructure [11]. PbD, which may be defined as a “process map for putting the essential elements of accountability into effect” [12], is governed by seven principles: (1) Being proactive, not reactive; preventive not reactive; (2) Privacy as the default; (3) Privacy embedded into design; (4) Full functionality; (5) End-to-end lifecycle protection; (6) Visibility and transparency; (7) Respect for user privacy. In this manner, PbD seemingly puts the responsibility of protecting privacy onto designers, since they have to proactively avoid security and privacy violations while taking into account the entire lifecycle of personal data, even after users have stopped using the product or service. Despite the popularity that PbD enjoys amongst lawmakers and corporations, a privacy policy that relies exclusively on this instrument is, at best, problematic. First, privacy by design lacks a clear definition [13], even within the GDPR [14]. Article 25, for example, lists some instances of effective privacy measures and principles (“such as…”) but does not offer an unequivocal account of what privacy by design actually means. Secondly, measures labelled as “appropriate” by the GDPR, including pseudonymisation, are not necessarily sufficient to protect user’s privacy [9]. Thirdly, “privacy” itself is also vaguely defined within PbD. What is this privacy for? PbD relies on the notion of privacy listed within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which, notwithstanding how commendable the principle is, remains so vaguely defined that it is quite difficult to enforce. PbD takes the meaning of privacy for granted; it does not make any attempt to seek something close to a robust, ethically informed, intentional definition for the term—i.e., provide necessary and sufficient conditions for when to use the concept. The only thing approaching such characterisation of privacy in PbD is its legal definition. However, this is also problematic, since there are no globally accepted definitions of either “personal data”, “data protection”, or “data subjects”.

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Whereas in the United States privacy relies mainly on the user’s contractual will [1], the GDPR has a more complex—and arguably more fragile—approach: data subject’s consent is one of the reasons that justify the processing of personal data (along with “legitimate interest” pursued by the data controller or a third party), listed in article 6(1).7 PbD can only exist within a legal system that regulates and protects privacy. Consequently, PbD amounts to a mere compliance tool. Moreover, PbD adds a layer of complexity to legal compliance and does not ensure that a system designed according to the principles listed above is legally compliant when misused [14]. The limitations of the regulatory approach to safeguard users’ privacy have been noted by several authors across various fields [1, 2, 9, 15–17]. So far, existing regulations have not been able to curtail the noxious effects of surveillance capitalism [2]. Furthermore, according to the American privacy law scholar Daniel Solove, threats to users’ rights may be caused not because institutions fail to comply with existing legal frameworks aimed at protecting consumers, but by the very existence of those frameworks [15]. For example, a recent study shows that the GDPR actually strenghtened Google and Facebook’s oligopoly in the digital advertisement market [18]. Provided that a purely legal approach and PbD are not sufficient to curtail the noxious mechanisms of surveillance capitalism, solutions may have to be found elsewhere. And this elsewhere may involve taking a more radical approach when it comes to privacy and design.

7 Article 6(1): “Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following:

(a) the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes; (b) processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract; (c) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject; (d) processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person; (e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller; (f) processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child. Point (f) of the first subparagraph shall not apply to processing carried out by public authorities in the performance of their tasks”.

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3 Privacy for Design: A Designerly Understanding of Privacy On what grounds should designers implement privacy in their work? The question has important practical implications. A purely legal approach to protect privacy assumes that it is virtually impossible to design products that work globally. Moreover, legal compliance tends to become a barrier, especially for independent designers and small companies [18]. Only big corporations have the means to create solutions that are legally compliant in several countries. The law is ineffective, expensive and unstable: “laws come and go”, but “ethics stay” [17]. Design should look at ethics to build a designerly way to understand [19] and implement privacy. Designers should first understand that they have a significant role (and responsibility) to improve the world we live in [20] and make it more privacy-friendly. Designers should act as gatekeepers [21] or, more proactively, as agents of change. Designers’ work is naturally projected into the future: they create for the future and should have a better future in mind. The speculative approach is best suited to address the designers’ mission to save privacy [22]. As a thought experiment we could imagine two completely different future scenarios: (1) an ideal social dream and (2) a horrible dystopia. In the former, surveillance capitalism does not exist anymore. Effective laws prohibit the abusive practices we are becoming used to. More importantly, such practices are rejected by the design and business community. Users are aware of the importance of privacy, theirs and other peoples’: technology efficiently prevent bad actors from violating the privacy and intimacy of other human beings, e.g., by eliminating the very possibility of revenge porn existing. Conversely, in the speculative dystopian scenario (2), privacy rights have been abolished de facto (and perhaps even de jure). Governments and monopolistic corporations continuously monitor citizens (called ‘public service users’), often acting together in the name of so-called common safety and well-being. Technology exists mainly to monitor and control users’ behaviour and extrapolate their personal information for business and political purposes. Back to the present, designers, like Medea (the Greek mythological figure who relinquished her obligations towards her father and homeland for the love of Jason) seem to proclaim: “Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor”.8 However, the design community should do better and assume that protecting users’ privacy is something worth following. The solutions that our world require nowadays demand, nonetheless, strong compromises. While designers are always constrained by the feasible, they should not forget the ideal, which, for the sake of our argument is represented by scenario (1). The notion of privacy has changed in time and varies across disciplines and sciences. Privacy is a fundamental human right, however, it is interpreted in different ways by different actors: traditionally, as a right to be left alone [23, 24], or as informational privacy, i.e., the right to have direct or indirect control over access to information about oneself or the right to control the dissemination of one’s data 8 Free translation from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: “I know and approve the best, but I follow the worst”.

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[15, 25–28]. The starting point of our investigation is the definition of “privacy for design”, since we contend designers should rely on their own operational definition to facilitate communication and mutual comprehension. Most current definitions of privacy fail to account for the complexity of the world in which we live. Informational privacy does not consider the asymmetry of information and power imbalances [1] between users and the service providers that process personal information. In practice, users rarely know what will happen with the data they share. They may not have enough information [1]; they may lack specialised knowledge or time to read and understand the privacy notices; service providers may be opaque about how they handle data and users do not have audit rights [10]; or the provider may simply do whatever it wants. Surveillance capitalism operators cannot be blindly trusted. Furthermore, trust, contrary to what some advocates argue [1], is not sufficient to guarantee privacy. Privacy as the right to be left alone, on the other side, might have worked well in ancient times but it is unfeasible in contemporary societies. Attempting to reduce privacy to a common denominator with a definition that applies to several different situations is a flawed approach [1, 29]. We propose a preliminary definition of privacy for design, with a focus on digital design, that will be discussed in the design community and will eventually evolve based on designers’ feedback: the right not to be forced, directly or indirectly, to surrender more personal information than it is strictly necessary for the provision of a service explicitly required by the user; the right not to be subject to any decision, or intrusion into the citizen’s life, based on the processing of citizens’ personal information that has been collected abusively or without the citizens’ full, transparent knowledge, under supervision of independent authorities. It is important to note that our definition does not intend to whitewash abusive practices: we firmly believe there should be no room for tailored advertising based on the tracking of users across multiple sites or for abusive tracking technologies in general. Similarly, our definition does not accept the use of facial recognition digital tools for law enforcement purposes. Our definition applies to users and citizens, assuming that users are always citizens, i.e., persons with political rights and duties, but not vice versa. Users are considered in their specific relationship with service providers, whereas citizens are understood to have a stronger connection with the political and social institutions. Moreover, our goal is not to outright challenge the technological developments of modernity—which are often depicted as inevitable [9]. Our goal is contributing to design a better modernity, where human beings are ends, and not means; where we can have the freedom to “construct and change” ourselves [24] and our identity is not determined by governments and corporations through the manipulation of our personal information. The definition we propose applies in all countries and to all populations, irrespective of the existing legal framework because it is grounded on ethical considerations.

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4 Conclusions: Design for Privacy, or How to Implement Privacy in a Designerly Way Defining privacy for design is not an exercise in armchair philosophy. Design is an activity, not merely a body of knowledge [30], with a strong ethical responsibility, since designers are ultimately concerned with making things, and things embody arguments about how people should lead their lives [31]. Put in more radical terms, design is “doing ethics by other means” [32]. Privacy for design is the foundation of an action plan—or, as Bruce Archer’s would put it, a “formulation of a prescription or model” [33]—to implement privacy in the real world in a designerly way. The proposed roadmap starts by solving a pressing problem: implementing privacy in the design world in an effective and user-friendly way to avoid the future (and partially current) dystopia that we speculated on earlier. The model requires to be embodied in an artefact to be designed: however, we need a logical process that makes it possible to translate privacy for design into design products, such as “information products, visual communications, services and processes, and even organisations” [34]. Design for privacy is the logical tool to implement privacy for design into digital products, services and organisations. We propose a definition of design for privacy that, again, will be discussed with the design community and will be adapted and modified based on the feedback we receive: “the discipline, based on universally acceptable ethical principles, aimed at empowering users and citizens through the protection and enhancement of their privacy”. Design for privacy is based on the ethical framework that we are developing in our PhD research. A critical aspect is that the ethical structure must be universally acceptable; we are aware it is quite challenging to build a discipline on moral grounds that can be embraced everywhere. However, all other, more comfortable solutions seem insufficient. Assuming that privacy for design should be based on European privacy values because the EU has advanced data protection legislation is an unacceptable form of neo-colonialism [9] that risks being rejected by the design community elsewhere. Digital design is already affected by a severe racial and gender issue: the minority of white man is overrepresented [21]. Adding an ethical framework based on Western, or more specifically European, values will strengthen the message that design that counts is a white boys’ affair. Design for privacy is an occasion for the design community to challenge the status quo and build a better future effectively. Before that, privacy for design and design for privacy are two suggested tools to understand our times: “the point is not just to change the world, but to understand it” [35]. Action will follow the understanding: design for privacy needs to become design by incorporating artefacts, systems, services and organisations. This will be both challenging and exciting. Design and technology currently are being used, too often, to create anti-privacy tools. The paradigm has to change radically; however, designers are not invited to reject technology but embrace and improve it. If design were to embody a neo-Luddite attitude and reject technology as evil, it will miserably fail. Designers cannot sit at

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the back and criticise the world we live in: they have to take the lead and become agents of ethical change. Our future research will try to understand how designers can steer the remodelling of society through better design and technology. Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) are a good starting point because they are intended to protect the users’ privacy and security [36]. However, just like privacy by design, they are useful to design tools that are privacy-compliant (from the legal point of view) and secure, but they do not alter the paradigms of surveillance capitalism and data colonialism. There are promising technologies that can and should be further developed and exploited to build design for privacy: blockchain [37] comes to mind, although it is still early to tell whether identity systems could benefit from its use [38]; the possibility to delete a text from all phones, not just the sender’s, adopted by the messaging app Telegram [4]; privacy-friendly browsers, like Brave, and search engines, like DuckDuckGo are other good examples. Usually, it is not necessary to invent the wheel to change things. In this case, we believe that designers will have to make a great creative effort to develop solutions that implement design for privacy. Existing technologies may help, but designers need to be ready to explore new lands and even ponder re-making the wheel, if necessary. Acknowledgements This study was supported by UNIDCOM under a Grant by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) no. UIDB/DES/00711/2020 attributed to UNIDCOM/IADE— Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, Portugal.

References 1. Waldman AE (2018) Privacy as trust: information privacy for an information age. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; New York 2. Zuboff S (2019) The age of surveillance capitalism: the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. PublicAffairs, New York 3. Foster JB, McChesney RW (2014) Surveillance capitalism: monopoly-finance capital, the military-industrial complex, and the digital age. Mon Rev 66:1 4. Véliz C (2020) Privacy is power: reclaiming democracy in the digital age. BANTAM Press (2020) 5. Pivato S (2013) I comunisti mangiano i bambini: storia di una leggenda. Società editrice il Mulino, Bologna 6. Bauman Z (2000) Liquid modernity. Polity Press; Blackwell, Cambridge; Malden 7. Cohen J (2006) Cyberspace as/and space. Columbia Law Rev 107:210 8. Floridi L (2011) The informational nature of personal identity. Minds Mach 21:549–566. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s11023-011-9259-6 9. Couldry N, Mejias UA (2020) The costs of connection: how data is colonizing human life and appropriating it for capitalism 10. Pasquale F (2015) The black box society: the secret algorithms that control money and information. Harvard University Press, Cambridge; London 11. Cavoukian A (2012) Privacy by design [leading edge]. IEEE Technol Soc Mag 31:18–19. https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2012.2225459

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12. Cavoukian A, Taylor S, Abrams ME (2010) Privacy by design: essential for organizational accountability and strong business practices. Identity Inf Soc 3:405–413. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s12394-010-0053-z 13. van Lieshout M, Kool L, van Schoonhoven B, de Jonge M (2011) Privacy by design: an alternative to existing practice in safeguarding privacy. Info 13:55–68. https://doi.org/10.1108/ 14636691111174261 14. van Rest J, Boonstra D, Everts M, van Rijn M, van Paassen R (2014) Designing privacy-bydesign. In: Preneel B, Ikonomou D (eds) Privacy technologies and policy. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 55–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54069-1_4 15. Solove DJ (2006) The digital person: technology and privacy in the information age. New York University Press, Fredericksburg 16. Bowles C (2018) Future ethics. NowNext Press, London 17. Taleb NN (2018) Skin in the game: hidden asymmetries in daily life. Random House, New York 18. Geradin D, Katsifis D, Karanikioti T (2020) GDPR myopia: how a well-intended regulation ended up favoring Google in ad tech. SSRN Electron J. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3598130 19. Cross N (2006) Designerly ways of knowing. Springer, London 20. Papanek V (2019) Design for the real world. Thames & Hudson, LO 21. Monteiro M (2019) Ruined by design: how designers destroyed the world, and what we can do to fix it 22. Dunne A, Raby F (2013) Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming. The MIT Press, Cambridge; London 23. Warren S, Brandeis L (1890) The right to privacy. Harv Law Rev 4:193–220 24. Floridi L (2014) The 4th revolution: how the infosphere is reshaping human reality. Oxford University Press, New York; Oxford 25. Moore AD (2008) Defining privacy. Social Science Research Network, Rochester 26. Trepte S, Reinecke L (eds) (2011) Privacy online: perspectives on privacy and self-disclosure in the social web. Springer, Heidelberg; New York 27. van den Hoven J, Blaauw M, Pieters W, Warnier M (2020) Privacy and information technology. In: Zalta EN (ed) The Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University 28. Westin AF (1967) Privacy and freedom. Scribner, New York 29. Solove DJ (2009) Understanding privacy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge; London 30. Downton P (2005) Design research. RMIT University Press, Melbourne 31. Buchanan R (2001) Design and the new rhetoric: productive arts in the philosophy of culture. Philos Rhetor 34:183–206. https://doi.org/10.1353/par.2001.0012 32. Verbeek P-P (2006) Materializing morality. Sci Technol Hum Values 31:361–380. https://doi. org/10.1177/0162243905285847 33. Archer LB (1984) Systematic method for designers. In: Cross N (ed) Developments in design methodology. Wiley, Chichester, pp 68–82 34. Buchanan R (2005) Design ethics. In: Mitcham C (ed) Encyclopedia of science, technology, and ethics. Thomson Gale, Farmington, Hills, pp 504–510 35. Haggart B (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Zuboff S (2018) J Digit Media Policy 10:229–243. https://doi.org/10. 1386/jdmp.10.2.229_5 36. Privacy Enhancing Technologies (2016) Evolution and State of the Art A Community Approach to PETs Maturity Assessment. ENISA 37. Kshetri N (2017) Blockchain’s roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy. Telecommun Policy 41:1027–1038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2017.09.003 38. Dr˘agnoiu Panait A, Olimid R, Stefanescu A (2020) Identity management on blockchain privacy and security aspects. Proc Romanian Acad Ser Math Phys Tech Sci Inf Sci 21:45–52

Design Processes for Interactive Human–Machine Systems Mario Buono , Sonia Capece , Giovanna Giugliano , and Victor F. Muñoz Martínez

Abstract Today the system around design is “complexified”. Digital technologies have reconfigured decision-making processes and the ways in which users interact with tools and the surrounding world. It is necessary to guarantee the user, in the design of interactions, the communication with his surroundings, to increase, amplify and optimize the skills and abilities in carrying out tasks. To explore the boundaries and trace the limits and opportunities of the topics covered, the goal was to transfer the overall mapping of knowledge, good technical-scientific practices, different approaches and languages, resulting from the work of synergistic contamination between academia and industry. The present contribution documents the design processes aimed at defining new physical and digital interactive models applied to the cultural heritage, manufacturing and robotic surgery sectors starting from the study and identification of human–machine interaction factors and through Human–Computer Interaction as analysis tool. Through the interdisciplinary approach, it was therefore possible to hypothesize new models and interactive experiences through multidimensional and multimodal expedients capable of ensuring usability and ergonomic quality for all users. Keywords Digital communication · Interaction design · Human-centric design

1 Introduction With the aim of exploring the boundaries and tracing the evolutionary lines of Interaction Design, the contribution proposes—through the theoretical-methodological analysis and recognition, the pinpointing of requirements and the identification of

M. Buono (B) · S. Capece · G. Giugliano Department of Engineering, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Aversa, Italy e-mail: [email protected] G. Giugliano · V. F. Muñoz Martínez Department of Systems Engineering and Automation, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_2

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advanced technologies—new physical and digital interactive methods, which stand between human and machine. The first “theoretical” section deals with the examination of the methods, principles and theoretical tools that guide the design processes of human–machine interaction in a human-centred perspective, investigating physical-cognitive components and variables that define forms of communication and advanced language and influence interactive processes. The second “practical” section documents, through a systematic process, approaches, methods and tools for investigation and evaluation used to translate needs into structured forms within the industrial design processes following the principles of “Good Design”.

2 New Forms of Human-Centred Interaction Design, once guided by technical requirements, rarely took into account the needs and characteristics of operators, who only in the mid-twentieth century acquired relevance in the process of designing work environments, bringing changes in design paradigms, focusing on the user. With the introduction of ergonomics—or human factors—the health and safety of workers has been improved by adapting machines and tools to human abilities, limitations and anatomy. The focus of the design process is no longer based solely on functional requirements and on what is technically possible but focuses on the needs of the user. Technologies such as artificial intelligence are helping to redesign production activities, modifying the forces necessary for work, no longer “physical”, tiring and wearing, but focused on the activity and intellectual abilities of the operator [1]. To ensure the accessibility and usability of digital and advanced systems, predictive and adaptive solutions must be designed, capable of meeting the needs of the operator. The design will have to use technologies to configure new forms of interaction capable of optimizing and improving processes through preventive diagnosis and constant monitoring of production environments. We move from a task-centric vision of design to a human-centric vision, where the entire system is designed to ensure well-being and usability; tools such as sensors, body scanners, biometric and anthropometric studies, allow instant detection of user specific characteristics. With the improvement of human–machine interaction technologies, especially brain-computer interfaces, it will be possible to overcome some of the biological limitations typical of our species [2]. The cognitive and ergonomic analysis facilitates the methods of use and reduces standardization, favouring a process of adaptability and flexibility of the systems through methodologies and tools that identify and characterize the user profile. Only through what Kurzweil [3] defines the reverse engineering of the human brain, useful for understanding its functioning and decision-making methods, will it be possible to configure intelligent machines.

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Within the processes of sensory organization, a significant part of the brain is devoted to the processing of visual information: at least half of the brain cortex and over twenty distinct areas are involved in some way in visual processing. According to Milner and Goodale [4], the importance of visual information is such that in our cognitive system there are two distinct systems for processing this information: allocentric and egocentric. The first involves the central system and aims to analyse the spatial relationships between visible objects to identify their properties—such as shape, size and relationship between the parts—that do not change with the change of the observer’s point of view. Through allocentric processing, the subject learns to recognize objects. The egocentric processing, on the other hand, involves the dorsal system and aims to analyse the spatial relationships between the environment and the observer’s body. Through egocentric processing, the subject learns to plan and control actions in space [5]. By measuring cortical activity, it is possible to identify the neurophysiological correlates of some affective states, positive and negative, and therefore to infer if what the user is experiencing is, for example, pleasant or unpleasant, or to evaluate the intensity of a particular emotional state [6]. Today, this information allows the user to control, with little mental effort, machines that respond and adapt to needs [7]. The Brain-Machine Interaction becomes a direct communication tool between human cognitive thinking and the digital devices that surround it. It is proposed to make the machine perform even simple movements, through processes of transmission of electrical signals that reproduce the way in which the neurons of the brain communicate with each other. This step would help to understand the levels of functioning of ever-increasing complexity and the acquired knowledge would find useful applications in the diagnostic or therapeutic field, up to cognitive and behavioral problems [8]. In the near future, neural interfaces, neurostimulation and virtual/augmented reality could converge in a new form of integrated care, where neuroimaging techniques guide, in real time, both the optimal localization of stimulation and the level of intensity/difficulty of the virtual exercise in relation to the progress of the process [9]. This would allow developing an integrated neuro-experiential rehabilitation environment to apply targeted and personalized interactions [6]. We will be able to correctly and quickly process the infinite flows of information to which we are exposed daily, make more accurate decisions in the industrial, medical or legal fields, advance scientific research and technological progress [2]. New solutions are being searched that could be used to manage relationships with other individuals, ensure access to information on the network and enrich the interaction with the integrated physical world of objects connected to each other and with users. Through the change in relationships between people, mediated by technologies and social networks, we move from the dimension of digitization to that of digital transformation.

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2.1 Perception, Interpretation and Cognitive Planning The continuous integration of the human with technology—with the plausible implementation of cybernetic grafts within the human body itself and the development of revolutionary neural interfaces—mean that the designer has to deal with the questioning of the perceptive bond of human with the “external” reality [10]. One of the first representations of human behaviour is based on the theoretical principles of cognitive psychology for the identification of the cognitive process and the definition of human errors. This model is based on the Information Processing System (IPS) paradigm referring to fundamental cognitive and behavioural functions: perception, interpretation, planning and action [11]. The reference model used for identifying human reliability is the skill-ruleknowledge (SRK) postulated by Rasmussen [12] which classifies human behaviour according to three typologies [13]: – skill-based behaviour (a1): concerns behaviour based on learned skills where reasoning is automatic and cognitive commitment is low. – rule-based behaviour (a2): relating to behaviour guided by rules where the operator—following reasoning and cognitive commitment—carries out the operations by applying the appropriate procedures. – knowledge-based behaviour (a3): referring to behaviour aimed at solving problems in unforeseen situations, for which there are no specific rules or procedures of reference. This type of behaviour is called knowledge-based precisely because it requires a high cognitive commitment in the search for an effective solution. The user interacts with the system by exchanging two-way messages, user-system and system-user, through conflicting methods of communication and intention. The user communicates with the system to achieve a goal; this communication takes place in mental-cognitive terms. The system, on the other hand, interacts with the user to inform the latter about his state, using interfaces and other communication tools. This language discrepancy generates spaces that separate the mental models of the user from the physicists of the system; these spaces are called by Norman [14] “interactive gulfs”. The “Gulf of execution” as the space between the intentions of the system and the possible actions of the user, measuring how much the system allows the person to perform the desired actions directly, without additional effort. The “Gulf of evaluation”, on the other hand, defines the amount of effort required for the user to interpret the physical state of the system. Therefore, the interaction design process must be centred on the user to guide and consider the user’s emotional responses in using the interface [15]. An interactive Good Design is measured above all based on the quality of the experience of the possible interactions between the object and the end user [16].

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According to McCarthy and Wright [17] there is a direct correspondence between technology and experience that can be conceptualized in four equally important and intertwined “threads”. The “sensual thread” is the way in which we participate directly in the world around us: it concerns the involvement of the senses in the situation that guides us to experience a concrete and visceral experience. The “emotional thread” reminds us that there is no emotion distinct from the context that generated it: the technological artefacts and the context of use where the person experiences, determine part of the emotional response. The “compositional thread” refers to the relationships between the parts and the totality of the experience. An artefact is composed of discrete sections by itself but the experience we have of them is global. It is therefore important that the relationship between the part and the whole, the transition between one section and another of the artefact, or between a moment and the other of the interaction with a system, are designed so that the experience of the single party contributes in a coherent way to the overall experience. The “spatio-temporal thread” is the hallmark of every experience: an intense and engaging experience can change our perception of time [18]. According to Norman [19], each type of interaction develops through the relationships that are created between the user’s mental model, the image of the system and the conceptual model of the system. The user’s mental model is a representation of all the knowledge and information regarding the machine that the user holds intrinsic in his knowledge and is based on all the notions available to him relating to technology in general. The previous knowledge that guides the user in the interaction is built on the image of the system, that is, on all the elements that make it up, such as shape, appearance, type of interaction and information content. The conceptual model of the system, on the other hand, constitutes the model for achieving the goal adopted by the designer in configuring the system. This model is configured through interaction with the system, carrying out actions and examining the related responses thanks to the formation of a mental model. For this reason, the design of interfaces must include a sufficient number of information to allow the user to develop an accurate mental model [5].

2.2 Usability Applied to Human–Machine Interaction Design is about making decisions that shape a user experience, whether it is flying in an airplane, reading a magazine or browsing a website. In the early 1980s, Dieter Rams with the canonical 10 principles of “Good Design” claimed to design things that can be seen and heard. However, we are entering a new era, where designers create experiences that focus not on physical objects but on the fabric of digital information, that surrounds us. This allows the user experience to be designed through ergonomic and cognitive study, the analysis of the interaction systems and the assessment of usability and

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accessibility requirements useful for optimizing the relationship between user and device. A designer has to think about what happens when an object enters the world of people, how political and social behaviours change. Many studies on emotions and well-being have their roots in the social sciences and cognitive psychology with the observation of human behaviour, attitudes and facial expressions [20]. A look that shifts to the experience and to the functioning of things. It must be able to fully integrate the plane of the real with that of the virtual to ensure that a hybrid interaction is created between user, personal media and environment in which the information flow defines the space of interaction, intersecting the concrete daily experience [21]. Different guidelines and standards have been developed to design products characterized by a good level of usability. Currently, the author who seems to meet the favor of the Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) community is Shackel, according to whom the usability of an artifact consists in the possibility, in terms of human cognitive characteristics, to be used easily and effectively by a specific category of users to carry out activities within defined environmental contexts. Shackel was among the first to develop the usability model starting from the acceptance that is declined in utility, usability, likeability and costs. Jakob Nielsen, on the other hand, defines usability as the measure of the quality of the user’s experience in interacting with something, be it a website or a traditional software application or any other tool with which the user can operate. According to Nielsen, a product is usable when it is easy to learn, allows efficient use, is easy to remember, allows few, low gravity interaction errors, and is pleasant to use [22]. At the heart of usability is the awareness that each design alternative must be evaluated with potential users, in such a way as to have sufficient margin to correct the wrong design choices, not in line with the physical and cognitive characteristics of the end users. In fact, Ben Shneiderman in 1986 identified eight “Golden Rules” [23] to design digital interfaces applied and adapted to different types of systems and interaction environments. These include consistency (d1), usability (d2), informative feedback (d3), dialogue with users (d4), error prevention (d5), reversibility (d6), control (d7) and short-term memory load reduction (d8). According to Norman [14], however, the correct method to guarantee a harmonious interaction between users and intelligent mechanisms is to improve the way in which each party is able to coordinate and operate with the other while respecting the principles of visibility, good conceptual model, good mapping and feedback. Usability studies applied to human–machine interaction aim to configure an interface that «meets the user’s needs, expectations and abilities in a qualitative sense. The achievement of this goal passes through the evaluation of usability understood as the measure of the quality of the interaction» [15, p. 236]. In fact, between 1990–1994, Nielsen and Molich [24] developed new parameters for the correct understanding of the usability of a system through the Heuristic Assessment such as visibility (e1) of the system status, correspondence (e2) between the system and the real world, control and freedom (e3) of the user, consistency and standards (e4), error prevention (e5), recognition rather than recall (e6), flexibility

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and efficiency of use (e7), of aesthetic and minimalist design (e8), help to recognize (e9), diagnose and recover errors (e10). Although usability is one of the dimensions that define the overall quality of an interactive product, it is measured through the interface, which must immediately account for the possibilities, limits and operating modes of it, highlighting the relationship between the actions that the user can perform on the interface itself and the results it can achieve [22]. Therefore, in order to improve performance and facilitate the use of a productsystem, the design process should also make use of the references of “Good Design” [25], i.e. principles and requirements that guarantee greater usability (b1) and accessibility in use of a system such as correspondence to a conceptual model (b2), affordance (b3), error tolerance (b4), constant feedback (b5), mapping (b6), adaptability (b7), unambiguousness(b8), simplicity (b9). All this in line with ISO 9241-110: 2020 (en) “Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 110: Interaction principles” [26] which specifies the general principles of ergonomic design. This legislation is based on seven principles that apply to the interaction between people and information systems [27]: – suitability for the user’s task (c1): the dialogue or product must be suitable for the particular task of the user; – self- descriptiveness (c2): dialogue should be transparent at every stage of the interaction; – controllability (c3): the user should be able to control the steps and speed of the interaction. – conformity with user expectations (c4): the dialogue should be consistent with the user’s intuition or competence; – use error robustness (c5): dialogue should anticipate user actions and compensate for any errors; – user engagement (c6): The interactive system presents information in an inviting and motivating manner supporting interaction with the system. – learnability (c7): dialogue should support or facilitate learning. With the introduction of new automation expedients, the user builds new forms of interaction with technology that require cognitive skills and abilities and the designer, in addition to having to provide a formal value to the system, will have to know the techniques and observe the reality that surrounds him, to interpret the experience and the past of users. It is therefore necessary to evaluate each component of ergonomics through the human-system-machine interaction according to a succession, which, starting from the physical-dimensional condition of the interaction and the correspondence of the product to the anthropometric characteristics and the ability to move of the users, involves aspects relating to the perceptual and cognitive sphere and to the emotional sphere [28]. In particular, Factor 1 (F1)—Human Factors—useful for defining and evaluating the dimensional and functional requirements characterized by the compatibility between the characteristics of the system-product and the context in which it

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is inserted; the specifications and capabilities of the users as well as the constraints and variables of the reference context. Factor 2 (F2)—User-Centred Design—useful for defining and evaluating the subjective dimension of the interaction, contextualizing the results of the analyses and supporting the active involvement of the user who must simulate the use model of the system-product associated with the reference activity. Factor 3 (F3)—New Human factors—useful for defining and evaluating the aspects concerning the sensory pleasantness of the users with reference to the tactile, prehensile, functional, thermal, chromatic, acoustic sensations and finally the gustatory and olfactory sensations (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Framework of Human Factors principles and requirements related to physical-dimensional (F1), functional (F2) and perceptual-sensory (F3) compatibility as a result of the correlation between the Rasmussen model (1986), the Golden Rules (1986), the Nielsen Heuristics (1994), the principles of Good Design (2010) and the principles of ISO 9241-110:2020

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3 Doing Industrial Research From the definition of the theoretical and methodological reference framework, multidisciplinary experiences of applied and industrial research were set up and developed in the sectors of Cultural Heritage, Manufacturing and Surgical Robotics. Specifically, the first experimentation concerns the advanced use in the cultural heritage sector, capable of generating new interactive experiences and favouring high levels of personalization for users-visitors. The second illustrates the research activities carried out as part of an industrial project for the definition of new tools useful for the design and evaluation of human–machine interactions in manufacturing production processes. The third research experience, currently under development, describes the activities carried out for the configuration of interactive devices that improve communication and visualization in human–robot collaboration processes in the surgical environment.

3.1 Hyperconnections in Museums: Wearable and Interactive Devices for Augmented Fruition In recent years, the quality and methods of approach in museum contexts have changed. The perception of space changes, the user matures a new cognitive and physical experience activated by constant inputs that often escape the passive use of museum environments. New forms of visualization and dissemination of knowledge are adopted, modifying the cultural experience of the user and the perception of the works, through the aid of new interactive human-system-environment methods. The ability to interact with museum environments or sites that no longer exist thanks to simulation and virtual immersion technologies represents the opportunity to make the Cultural Heritage accessible and enhance it. To ensure this accessibility and interaction capacity, the devices must ensure constant user-systemenvironment synergy, also considering the limitations that may represent physical, cultural or cognitive constraints for the user [29]. Digitization and virtualization have contributed to the birth of digital museums that are configured as flexible places using intelligent devices capable of adapting to the needs and characteristics of the user to improve interaction and use in museum contexts. Digital culture is understood as “widespread” and refers not only to communication and to the accessory technological tools for the visit or to multimedia installations, but also to the redefinition of the mission and digital strategic redesign, that pervades all processes. It is necessary to combine inclusive design dimensions, new 3D experiments and reconstructions, real and virtual simulation tools, information dissemination systems and the use of mobile devices to be poured into a network of “digital interactions” to guarantee the user new forms of knowledge and refine their sensory perceptions in the museum environment.

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Designing the interaction by improving the process of accessing content and enhancing the methods of use allows to fully exploit the information potential, make the best use of interfaces and transmit cultural content to users-visitors with the support of devices designed to explore virtual environments by optimizing the relationships between “real space” and “virtual space”. Despite the considerable progress made in recent years by research and industry in the field of acquisition, use, interaction, digitization, computer graphics and visualization techniques, most of the applications dedicated to the communication of cultural heritage on site and online present limits in the ability to involve the public. It should be noted that most of the cultural and architectural heritage still make extensive use of older generation audio guides, effectively forcing the visitor to a specific path without integrating other sources of information and limiting the experience to just the visit. The reasons are probably to be found in the difficulty of finding adequate and standard technological solutions on the market, but at the same time flexible and easily configurable for different uses (in the user profile, in the context of use, etc.). Applications for the use of cultural heritage are often lacking in terms of narrative metaphors, sensory and emotional involvement, the interaction interfaces are difficult for most visitors. In many cases, applications have little or no dialogue with the real context, remaining accessory, self-referential and quickly obsolete. The experience is scarcely attractive if not frustrating and the applications are abandoned after a first superficial contact even when they would have great potential from a scientific point of view. The use is static and predetermined while the contents are the same for all users. Therefore, overcoming the state of the art, a research path was launched that involved the survey and in-depth study of methods, tools and themes that are transversally related to history, design, automation, representation, mechanics, information technology, technologies and theories of communication for the configuration of an innovative form of use of cultural heritage. The research group made use of advanced interdisciplinary skills capable of configuring, designing and developing new systems and products through the tools of design and invention. Through the integration of different disciplines, from the area of design and history of architecture to mechanical and computer engineering, it was possible to examine the processes and technologies in the different production and cultural heritage sectors in order to start the transfer process and contamination of knowledge. The existing models of historicisation, narration and interpretation of cultural heritage have been classified starting from the possible uses of innovative technologies increasingly present in museum and cultural contexts. Following the schematization and graphing of competitive devices, the evaluation and comparative analysis of existing technologies, the “knowledge collection” and benchmarking activity on the “architectures” of hardware and software devices for the interactive use of cultural heritage was carried out. This made it possible to structure a critical mapping in which the strengths and weaknesses of the current models and devices for immersive use were highlighted. These systems identify the object of interest of the observer through semantic recognition and positioning of the observation point through georeferential systems, which are insufficient in the absence of information on direction and

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Fig. 2 Schematic and design characterization of the System “WID. Wearable and Interactive Devices for augmented fruition”

orientation. The georeferential systems adopted do not guarantee the correspondence between what is observed and the information offered by the user system, just as the semantic recognition systems are slow and impose high loads of information and data not always necessary to guarantee the emotional rhythm of the immersive experience. Therefore, the main objective of the new research project concerned the development of wearable devices based on the already patented technology [30] that allow the absolute determination of the orientation (spatial localization of the observation point, direction and orientation). Thanks to this technology placed inside the wearable device “WID Wearable and Interactive Devices for augmented fruition”1 (see Fig. 2), it is possible to determine the spatial orientation of the device with respect to the reference cultural context to allow the constant detection of the trajectory between the observation point and the object of interaction (direction and orientation), maximum flexibility and high adaptability in use; the ease of interaction and correspondence between input and output and the high level of customization of user-mobile device use. 1 The

“WID” device has been developed, within the SME CAMPANIA Operational Programme financed by the FERS CAMPANIA 2014–2020 - Priority Axis 1 research and Innovation - Specific Objective 1.1_Increasing innovation activities of enterprises - CUP B13D18000250007, at the Department of Engineering of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, in collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II, the CNR Spin-Off - ALA - Advanced Lidar Applications S.R.L., the CNR - Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials and the company SADAS Srl. The research team is composed of M. Buono (scientific manager), S. Capece (scientific coordination), C. Chiv˘aran (architect), G. Giugliano, E. Laudante, C. Scognamiglio (designers), S. Pirozzi (automation), A. Capozzoli (electromagnetic fields), E. Amendola (materials), N. Spinelli, G. di Donfrancesco, W. Xuan (physics and electronics) and A. Goglia (company manager).

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Relations and communications are established between natural and artificial worlds without intermediaries, using an exclusively perceptual-motor approach: gestures, proprioception, images, sounds, narrations. These solutions are adequate to the needs of the user, whose use is satisfactory and pleasant and guarantees the possibility of carrying out the required actions effectively and efficiently. The innovative wearable devices are characterized by principles such as equity of use (usable by people with different abilities); flexibility (adaptable to different personal preferences and abilities); simplicity and intuitiveness (ease of understanding regardless of user experience, knowledge, language properties or level of concentration); perceptibility (of the necessary information regardless of the conditions of the context and the sensory abilities of the user); error tolerance (which minimizes risks and accidental or unwanted actions); containment of physical effort (can be used with minimum fatigue) [31]. In this case, the user’s needs will be represented by the usability of interaction of the system, i.e. by the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specific users can use the devices within the reference context, by the comprehensibility of the information available and the language in which they are presented, the ease with which it is possible to complete the input and output procedures (see Fig. 3 and Fig. 4).

Fig. 3 Left: Photorealistic images of the “WID. Wearable and Interactive Devices for augmented fruition”. Right: photo-insertion of the WID device applied to “Fuga dal Museo, al MANN di Napoli. San Giovanni a Carbonara” (frame taken from “Fuga dal museo”, photographic exhibition by Dario Assisi and Riccardo Maria Cipolla, MANN, December 2019 - February 2020)

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Fig. 4 Modalities of use and user-device interaction in the Royal Palace of Caserta

In the future, it will be possible to provide visible and invisible fruition experiences through mobile devices guided according to one’s needs in those contexts inaccessible to on-site use (archaeological sites, museums, etc.). Other forms of use and communication of the visible and invisible cultural heritage can take place through individual and collective experiences, in a context of collaborative and inclusive exchange and social interaction whose fulcrum will be represented by the historical heritage projected in each place [32].

3.2 Safe Connected Industry: Multidimensional Human–Machine Interactions in Manufacturing In production contexts—flexible, fast and adaptive—the entire system-process is conceived according to dynamics of predictiveness and accessibility guaranteed by high levels of information and digitalization. In this context, ergonomic analysis and the design of workstations become essential factors to ensure the user-operator can act and interact in productive activities with the “digital tools”. The rapid and real-time digitization and dissemination of large data streams will improve the dissemination and management of information, accessible to the user to govern and guide processes efficiently and effectively. These systems in fact improve the monitoring and control phases of the processes, promoting visibility and connection between the elements to the entire system, thus facilitating the maintenance phases of the stations. The sophisticated tools for using the information will be able to transfer constant inputs to the user, capable of changing and updating in real time. It regards new wearable devices designed for virtual, augmented and mixed reality that allow immersion in three-dimensional models with which the user establishes a hybrid interaction that conforms to the real one, favouring the acquisition of information [29]. It will be possible to move to the 5.0 dimension, designing intelligent environments as an interaction scenario between men and advanced computational systems through the involvement and synergy with the IT, communication and

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mechanical disciplines, such as Ubiquitous Computing, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Extended Reality, Internet of Things and Robotics in the industrial field. Automation and the constant development of new technologies in industrial contexts have led to the integration of complex control systems that have changed the user’s working methods, increasing the workload. It is necessary to configure human– machine interfaces to ensure natural interaction, capable of reducing the cognitive and physical workload induced by a communication that pervades all work activities. In this scenario, the industrial research project—in line with the Factories of the future [33]—proposes the development of a “New adaptive interface model for human–machine interaction”2 able to respond to the needs of the user-operator using advanced technologies for manufacturing production. The aim of the research was to configure a new interaction model to increase and innovate industrial automation processes. Paying particular attention to the needs concerning the transformation strategy in the manufacturing sector of Industry 4.0, the research path was developed with close collaboration between the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, the University of Malaga and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. A dynamic and multidisciplinary approach has been developed, characterized by complementary skills that have aided in the definition of advanced innovation processes and which have seen a valid intervention tool in the simultaneous action of research and training (see Fig. 5). The research activities carried out at the ergonomics laboratory in FCA have allowed for in-depth ergonomics techniques and strategies for the configuration of workstations in production processes. In fact, in the laboratory it is possible to replicate and simulate physical interaction activities through 3-D models of virtual mannequins. This allowed the verification of the configurations of the working environments and the postures assumed by the worker during the performance of the individual operations-activities, thus strengthening the ergonomic investigation carried out with standard methods. Through simulations with immersive reality it is possible to virtualize the working environments and the analysis of the use of spaces for ergonomic evaluation. Therefore, the first survey carried out in the industry concerned the assessment of the physical-dimensional requirements of postural and movement type (F1), verifying the compliance of the requirements relating to the user’s body compatibility with respect to the areas of reachability and accessibility for the design of working spaces useful for carrying out certain activities.

2 The research project “Design for multidimensional human–machine interactions” has been devel-

oped, within the framework of the MIUR-PON 2014–2020 “Innovative doctorates with industrial character”—32° cycle, at the Department of Engineering of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, the School of Industrial Engineering - University of Malaga and the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles industry. The research team is composed of G. Giugliano (PhD student industrial design), M. Buono (supervisor industrial design), S. Capece (co-supervisor industrial design), F. Caputo (co-supervisor mechanical engineering) V. F. Muñoz Martínez (co-supervisor Systems Engineering and Automation), S. Spada (co-supervisor Fiat Chrysler Automobiles industry).

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Fig. 5 Spaces for sharing, experimentation and innovation in doing industrial research

In order to carry out the ergonomic evaluation of the workstations, the anthropometric criteria were analysed to adapt the workplaces to the physical-dimensional needs of the operators. This study ensures the design of work systems for a wide range of the reference population in order to respond to the needs of workers with different characteristics and specificities [34]. Using a 3-D BodyScan, (see Fig. 6) surveys were carried out to identify the anthropometric variables that characterize the male and female population of FCA, identifying the elements of greater and lesser variability, useful for design.

Fig. 6 Simulations and anthropometric survey at the Ergonomic Analysis Office and Ergolab laboratory of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles industry under the coordination of engineer S. Spada, in collaboration with the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” and the University of Turin.

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From the processing of the data obtained, a database was configured for the study of anthropometric variables, the validation of percentile models and the creation of 3-mannequins for virtual simulations of production processes. These data were also decisive during the ergonomic analysis phase—for reachability and accessibility tests—of the designed workstations. Further investigation and experimentation activities carried out at the ergonomic analysis office and the laboratory of the FCA industry concerned the analysis of an interface system for a company application with regard to the evaluation of functional compatibility through usability checks by adopting an iterative process. Tests were carried out for the evaluation of the requisites useful for guaranteeing an easy use and interaction for the different types of users. Therefore, the involvement of end users was requested, for the collection of data and analysis of detailed observations of the tasks, study of the methods of use and of the criticalities characterizing the system. A qualitative analysis—GOMS Analysis— was carried out to verify the efficiency of the interfaces, by analysing the tasks and actions to be carried out to achieve the expected objectives. From this analysis, it was possible to intercept the first critical issues relating to the comprehensibility, ease of use and affordance of the system, given by the difficult intuition and adaptability of the system in carrying out the actions. Direct interviews were carried out with users with respect to specific and different tasks through the investigation of the tasks performed, the criticalities encountered in use and the needs that characterize the specific competence. During the performance of the activities, users were asked to report the procedures in place, expressing observations and doubts during the use of the system, motivating the specificities that characterize the sequences of the actions carried out. A hierarchical analysis of the tasks was carried out through the Task Analysis of the system based on the subdivision of the individual activities into the sequence of tasks and sub-tasks required and articulating each task based on specific objectives. From the collection and systematization of data, the nodes on which to intervene were highlighted, through a reconfiguration of the operations that the useroperator should perform, minimizing errors, improving the requirements of visibility, comprehensibility, accessibility and ease of use (F2). Following the cognitive investigation of the system and comparison with user users, a new interface was defined, implementing the system’s functions. The observation and analysis of production processes and the comparison with experts and operators in the sector, have allowed the configuration of new interfaces following the user-centred methodological approach in which the evaluation of usability, user needs and impact with the system have become essential factors. This study led to the configuration of tools and guidelines that guide designers in the design of interfaces—physical, virtual, neural—and in the ergonomic and functional evaluation of interactive systems.

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At the end of the entire course of research and doctoral experimentation with an industrial character, a new “Operating Manual for the design and evaluation of Multidimensional Human–Machine Interactions”3 has been drawn up to govern interaction processes in manufacturing industries. The manual—divided into two macro-sections—contains information useful for configuring the reference context, the definition of methods and tools for analyzing and evaluating human–machine interactions and the augmented and neural technologies present in the contemporary scenario. Specifically, the first section of the manual includes: – Intervention actions: definition of the context and of the “actions” that affect human–machine interaction. (Control and maintenance, process simulation and training, ergonomic analysis and design of workstations, data management and information visualization) and of the functions that characterize the interactive interfaces. (Visualization, information, interaction, digitization, accessibility …); – Reference standards: definition of the regulatory framework for the design and evaluation of interactive systems. (User-Centred Design, Usability of interactive systems, Principles of interaction design and evaluation); – Principles and requirements referred to Human Factors: identification of the requirements for the configuration of interactive systems accessible and usable to different users; – Compatibility levels: identification of requirements oriented towards physicaldimensional, functional and perceptive-sensorial compatibility; – Evaluation methods: definition of tools and methods for the evaluation of interactions according to the compatibility levels. Physical-dimensional (load transport, manual lifting of loads, biomechanical overload, biomechanical load mapping), functional compatibility (user-role definition, usability evaluation, interface efficiency comparison, use satisfaction and cognitive reliability evaluation) and perceptual-sensory compatibility (usability and cognitive load); – Adaptive, augmented and neural technologies: identification and continuous updating of new technologies supporting interactive human–machine processes. The second macro-section shows operational examples of human–machine interaction through illustrations following the adaptive and digital mode. In this section the different phases of human–machine interaction processes are depicted, described and evaluated through the physical-dimensional, functional and perceptual-sensory compatibility levels. These new models of advanced visualisation and use will be useful in defining new forms of information dissemination in production contexts, ensuring greater safety and constant communication between user, system and perceived space according to the dictates of accessibility and usability in the broadest sense. 3 The

“Operational manual for the design and evaluation of multidimensional human–machine interactions” has been elaborated by G. Giugliano in the framework of the doctoral thesis “Design for Multidimensional Human–Machine Interactions” within the programme MIUR-PON 2014–2020 “Innovative doctorates with industrial characterisation” - 32° cycle.

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3.3 Reliable Robotic Surgery: Multisensory Human–Robot Control Advances in technology contribute to the development of accurate procedures for minimally invasive surgery and evolve through technological innovation and robotics. Sophisticated machines have been introduced in the operating rooms to perform precise and minimally invasive interventions compared to traditional surgery, improving the procedures and collaboration between the user-surgeon and the innovative robotic systems that have represented the element of innovation in the surgical sector capable to ensure ease of interaction and increase in efficiency [35]. The practice of robotic surgery involves inherent problems for the patient and the surgeon. The advantages brought by innovative systems to surgical practice have the counterpoint of creating problems in the interpretation of orders and information of the operative flow between the surgeon and the robotic assistant. These changes affect and modify the training and skills of surgeons who have to adapt to new robotic tools. The interaction with the patient’s body occurs exclusively through instruments and means that the surgeon does not perceive the touch or the anatomical structures. Therefore, there is a tendency to develop interfaces with decision-making skills to assist the surgeon autonomously in some complex tasks, favoring an intuitive communication between the surgeon and the robot [36]. The new generation of robots, with the help and integration of information visualization technologies, will be able to perform increasingly less invasive, complex and high-precision operations, adding new value to surgical sciences. In the surgical field, the technical complexity pushes research in the direction of new user-robot interaction techniques, devices capable of integrating with the user to interact through intangible interfaces that do not require controllers and that—through the skillful use of Leap Motion technologies, for motion detection and Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies—generate new ways of interaction. This is the direction of the ongoing research project “MULTINTERACT”4 developed in synergy with the University of Malaga and the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, which proposes the configuration of a multimodal interaction and augmented visualization system for robotic control in surgical environments capable of increasing the user’s skills and improving language and perceptual dynamics during human–robot communication. (see Fig. 7). Through the integration of the disciplines of design, mechanical engineering, computer science and robotics, it was possible to examine the interactive methods that intervene in the human–robot collaboration processes and the technologies useful for improving the visualization of information, in order to start the process of knowledge transfer and contamination. 4 The

MULTINTERACT project is being developed at the Department of System Engineering and Automatics of the University of Malaga in synergy with the Engineering Department of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. The research team is composed of V.F. Muñoz Martínez (Systems Engineering and Automation), M. Buono, S. Capece, G. Giugliano (Industrial design).

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Fig. 7 Multidisciplinary experimentation for the MULTINTERACT system

The focus was on the design of the procedures for use, on the safety and protection of users and on the division of labour between robots and human workers, investigating human factors engineering in robotics [37]. Following the User-Centred Design methodology and through the adoption of analysis and design methods for the definition of the parameters and principles of usability—visibility, feedback and predictability, safety and error tolerance— the specificities and characteristics of the wearable have been defined, equipped with a multimodal interface, to respond to the new modes of visualization, control, prevention and safety in surgical procedures, in order to improve human–robot interaction. In fact, the requirements linked to ergonomic risks (incongruous postures) have been identified; controls (safety and reliability of control systems, control devices); data visibility (management and visualization of information flows); feedback and predictability (risk warnings, instructions for use, signalling and warning, indications). From the evaluation, management and monitoring of operating procedures, new ways of displaying and disseminating information can be configured through the identification of technological tools capable of providing the operator with information relating to the status of the operating process in real-time in order to facilitate the acquisition of the data necessary to carry out the operations in total safety. A virtual mock-up was configured for augmented visualization and multimodal interaction capable of analyzing, evaluating and defining forms of interactive communication to improve control processes and facilitate data acquisition during robotic surgery operations.

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The user and the robot, having received the inputs from the interface system, will be able to perform the predetermined actions, which will be monitored by the system of sensors present on the surgical plan and on the patient. The sensors will check the status of the operation, which, if it does not comply with the pre-established plan, will give input to the interface system for local reprogramming of tasks. The constant exchange of information between the surgeon and the interface system will ensure accessibility, control and prevention during all operating phases. This system will facilitate personalized dialogue with the surgeon to maintain control over the operations in progress. Intuitive controls for instrumentation guidance and vision will reduce mental workload, ensuring usability and safety. Maximum suitability for the tasks performed by the user-surgeon will be guaranteed, adapting to the reference task in completing it and configuring itself as an adaptive, predictive and intuitive system. This will allow to assist the user-surgeon in the prevention and reduction of errors and, if they arise, to implement planning reconversion procedures. The technology, supported by complementary skills, will be able to expand the user’s abilities, also facilitating complex operations and helping for specific tasks.

4 Diffused Interreality The connections that are interposed between human and machine become “digital relations” and take on a symbiotic value such as to configure expedients that renew the boundaries between the natural world and the artificial world. The paradigm shift sees the human–machine interaction undergo a radical renewal; interconnection and cognitive processes become factors of regeneration of interactions that modify human–human relationships and dematerialize the barriers that interpose themselves between them and technological systems [38]. «As happened with the mobile device revolution, and before with the web, machine learning will lead us to rethink, restructure and reconsider what is possible in almost all interactions with the technologies we will design» [39, p. 114]. This horizon of sapiential and cognitive overturning requires a new consciousness built through the combination of elements of humanistic culture and technological knowledge [40]. It is indeed possible to speak of Human–Computer Confluence instead of “Interaction” [41], in the sense that human and technology converge in an integration of functions towards specific purposes. The user does not need to make efforts to use it, and the technology does not need user input to work. [18] All this can be achieved by introducing mixed reality in which physical experience tends to hybridize with the digital one thanks to the development of interfaces capable of reading, interpreting and predicting our cognitive/emotional states, which will allow data to flow in a bidirectional way, from the physical to the virtual world and vice versa [6]. Design researches must converge in this direction for the definition of new advanced interactive processes. The Human-Centred Design will have to foresee the coexistence of the factors that affect the communication and interaction modalities

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in order to guarantee new forms—collaborative, augmented and hybrid—of human– machine interaction. “User-shaped” physical, digital and neural tools that improve the user’s conditions, increasing their skills and abilities. New digital language channels and new communication and visualization models that—respecting and anticipating the user’s expectations, needs and emotions—will be more integrated with the body and mind.

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Peripheral Interaction: Shifting Between Periphery and Center of Attention When Interacting with Technology Sílvia Fernandes , Daniel Brandão , and Nelson Zagalo

Abstract Peripheral Interaction is a fairly new area of interaction that arises as a way to reduce the less positive effects of the omnipresence of technology in the daily life of users, through the use of the human capacities of attention. In a predominantly technological era, the development of a new form of interaction that is less evasive and closer to the natural way human beings interact with their surroundings is essential. The exploration of this topic is motivated by the need to understand the real benefits of introducing this type of interaction into current technological systems as well as the challenges and issues that have made this concept more relevant. The goal of this research is to provide a theoretical background that introduces the concept of Peripheral Interaction, including its origin, definition, essential characteristics that define it, and examples of systems that allow us to understand how the concept can be applied in practice. In addition, this study identifies some of the essential perspectives of human attention that are known to be beneficial for the design of attention-aware systems and that are extremely important guides for the development of systems with Peripheral Interaction. Keywords Peripheral Interaction · Human–computer interaction · Periphery · Attention · Digital technologies

S. Fernandes (B) · D. Brandão University of Minho/CECS, Braga, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] D. Brandão e-mail: [email protected] N. Zagalo Digital Media and Interaction Research Centre, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_3

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1 Introduction Peripheral Interaction is a recent and little-explored concept of Human–Computer Interaction, in which it is proposed that interactions with computer systems occur, whenever possible, at the periphery of attention and switch to the center of attention when relevant [2]. The main value of this concept lies in the use of human capacities of attention in the interaction with technology, allowing for a more natural communication similar to the natural process of humans interacting with the outside world [5]. The motivation to investigate this topic arises from the fact that the concept is considered extremely relevant to today’s technological society. The use of interactions that allow for a fluid integration of technology in the users’ daily life, by taking advantage of the capabilities of human attention, is something often used in daily interactions with the outside world but is rarely used in interactions with technology [6]. Furthermore, this type of interaction allows interactive systems to require few resources of attention, which usually does not happen in current systems that require mostly the focus of attention. It should be noted that this concept does not propose the automation and autonomy of technology. On the other hand, it is proposed that users maintain control over most of the interactions, allowing the user experience to be preserved [2]. We argue that research and exploration of a new type of interaction that stands out from the traditional forms of Human–Computer Interaction is necessary. We hope that in the future the procedures in this area will be changed and optimized in favor of the user, the interaction that is natural to him and his limited abilities to process information. Peripheral Interaction therefore has the potential to create new opportunities as well as identify new challenges [5].

2 Peripheral Interaction: The Concept The concept of Peripheral Interaction was essentially inspired, in a first phase, by the theory presented by Weiser [20] about the ubiquitous future of technology [2, 10, 12]. The author argues that traditional methods of Human–Computer Interaction require focused attention which makes it impossible to seamlessly integrate technology into users’ daily lives. Weiser suggests that technology should have interactions that occur disconnected from focused attention, thus reflecting the way humans interact in the real world. The vanishing of technology into the background will then be a consequence not of technology, but a consequence of human psychology [20]. This theory later evolved into the concept of Calm Technology that grows of the need to adapt technology in an era where computing is ubiquitous and “deeply embedded in the world” (p. 75). The solution is to approach technological interactions in the same way as physical interactions happen in everyday life. For that, it is essential to observe the interactions that happen on the periphery of attention and how they move to the center of attention when relevant or when the user wants it [4]. For Brown

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[8], these interactions should be similar to “taking a walk in the woods” (p. 423). In addition to the inspiration in Calming Technology, Peripheral Interaction is based on other concepts such as: the computational ubiquity perspective, which pictures digital technological systems as ubiquitous systems that go unnoticed in everyday life [2],ambient information systems that introduce the Hausen’s [12] idea of subtly informing through the periphery of attention and the Rogers’s [18] theory of userengaging experiences that defends moving away from the perspective of making environments intelligent and proactive towards the perspective of users being more intelligent and proactive in their everyday tasks. All these perspectives reflect a common reality that defines the origin of the concept of Peripheral Interaction and that brings together essential notions of this type of interaction. These are, therefore, the conceptual pillars on which the concept of Peripheral Interaction is based [2]. Weiser and Brown [21] predicted a future in which computer systems and digitally transmitted information would become ubiquitous. We are currently experiencing that future. Although the concept of Calm Technology was introduced over 20 years ago, creating interactions with technology that integrate fluidly into everyday life remains challenging [2]. Peripheral Interaction arises with the goal of diminishing the less positive effects of the omnipresence of technology by using the capabilities of human attention. This concept was first defined in 2008 [12] as “interaction with computing technology which can take place in the periphery of attention and shift to the center of attention when relevant for or desired by the user” [2], p. 5). It is understood that tasks, when performed in the periphery of attention, require very low levels of attention and mental effort when compared to tasks performed in the central attention that require conscious and focused attention [2]. The theoretical review developed on the concept of Peripheral Interaction allowed us to understand that this is not yet a unified concept, but rather a concept that is in an exploratory phase, with theoretical grounding still under construction. The main value of this concept lies, then, in the use of the capabilities of human attention for the interaction with technology [5] in order to integrate it fluidly into the daily lives of users. The perception of very common everyday situations, such as being able to easily distinguish between morning, afternoon, and evening by observing the outside and the intensity of light transmitted from the environment takes place in the periphery of attention. The periphery of attention translates into a background of attention. When this daily situation becomes relevant for those who perceive it, the attention shifts to the main attention, the center of attention. Human attention supports, although in a limited way, the simultaneous performance of several tasks, in which some happen in the periphery of attention and others in the center of attention, alternating between each other whenever relevant or whenever desired [2]. While this capability of human attention is constantly used in everyday life by humans, it is rarely used for interaction with technology [5] this being the core of the concept of Peripheral Interaction. This process may seem somewhat complex. However, it is carried out with a natural ease that does not overwhelm the user. It was from the recognition of the importance of the interactions that exist between humans and the physical world that arose the need

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to create a type of interaction with computer systems that would adopt this same model and value the interactions that take place in the periphery of attention.

2.1 Periphery and Center of Attention At this point, it is necessary to characterize two essential concepts that appear in the definition of Peripheral Interaction: the periphery and the center of attention. The term periphery in psychology translates to an external boundary which in the context of visual perception the most explored and used context refers to the parts of vision that occur outside the center of the visual field [5]. Visual identification of objects depends essentially on central vision, but we have a biological need to detect stimuli that appear at the periphery of the visual field, whether to perform basic everyday tasks such as walking, or to detect obstacles or situations we wish to avoid. We are usually unaware that we are using the information that the periphery provides us, however, the human motor system is extremely sensitive to visual cues, including the most remote cues provided by peripheral vision [11]. In a way closer to Peripheral Interaction, Weiser and Brown [21] define periphery as what we can perceive without paying explicitly attention. Bakker et al. [5], in the context of Peripheral Interaction, define the periphery and the center of attention on the assumption that attention is the division of resources by potential activities to be performed by humans. The center of attention corresponds to the activity that requires more mental resources to be performed, and the periphery of attention to all other activities that are not in the center regardless of the number of mental resources required. Taking as examples of activities the reading of a book (a) and the preparation of a meal (b), illustrated in Fig. 1, in (a) we can see the total involvement of the individual in reading, which means that all attentional resources are devoted only to this activity without any other activity being performed. In (b) the individual’s main activity is

Fig. 1 Division of mental resources by different activities a and b Adapted from [5]

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preparing a meal. At the same time, he listens to the radio, chews gum, and looks at his watch. The remaining activities receive no attentional resources and are not performed. However, they are on a waiting list to receive the attentional resources that have not yet been used if as we may see in (c) the individual consciously decides to call a friend or unconsciously pay attention to something important that caught his or her attention on the radio [5]. Activities performed at the periphery of attention, then, require very low levels of attention and mental effort compared to activities performed at the center of attention that require conscious and focused attention [2]. The process of dividing mental and attentional resources is extremely dynamic and depends on the mood of the individual as well as the level of stimulus to perform the tasks. A common everyday situation exemplifies the dynamics of the process of dividing mental resources: driving and talking to a passenger simultaneously requires constantly switching these activities between the center and periphery of attention [5]. Peripheral Interaction is concerned with interactions with computer technologies that have the potential to be applied to the perception of digital information, to physical actions performed in interactive systems, and to a combination of both. Although the use of this form of interaction is tempting, it will not be convenient to apply it to all types of interactions since there are interactions that require focused attention that should remain so, such as fire alarms or even to change an online password. The use of Peripheral Interaction is indicated for technological systems that have interactions that are not crucial, but that are relevant in the everyday context [2], such as: systems about the weather, about friends and family activities; and systems that remember tasks [4].

3 Main Characteristics of Peripheral Interaction This section brings together the main characteristics that define Peripheral Interaction. The characteristics presented are the result of both theoretical and practical exploration of the concept of Peripheral Interaction by relevant authors in the area. These characteristics are essential to understand the nature of this type of interaction as well as the procedures that should be used in the development and evaluation of peripheral systems [4]. At the beginning of the Peripheral Interaction conceptualization process Edge [10]—the author who first presented this concept—exposed some characteristics that emerged from the development of a tangible peripheral system: (i) systems with Peripheral Interaction as a reference for possible interactions with both information structures and social interactions, (ii) the possibility of flexible selection of levels of attention by the user depending on the level of meaning the information has; (iii) and the fact that Peripheral Interaction operates only relevant interactions from the users’ everyday life. Bakker et al. [4] more recently point out the existence of two main characteristics which generally define Peripheral Interaction: (i) alternating between the center and periphery of attention, and (ii) the deeply personal nature of this type

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of interaction. The identification of these characteristics emerged primarily from the exploration of the CawClock [7], NoteLet [3], and FireFlies [3] systems. The focus will be kept on these last two characteristics presented by Bakker et al. [4] since they are indicated for Peripheral Interaction in general and are indicated for the development of future designs. Furthermore, they arise from the in-depth study of the concept and the development of different types of systems with Peripheral Interaction.

3.1 Shifting Between Periphery and Center of Attention This characteristic forms an essential part of the concept of Peripheral Interaction. It is essential to be able to tell when an interaction occurs at the center or the periphery of attention. Bakker et al. [4] suggest dividing interactions into smaller states of action using Norman’s action cycle since alternation takes place in different states of the interaction. Norman’s action cycle is often used to describe interactions with technological systems and can be applied to interactions that bring action and perception together which is important for Peripheral Interaction. This model is based then, on how individuals select and evaluate their actions and the emotions that follow from how well or poorly they perform them. Figure 2 represents Norman’s action cycle which consists of seven states of action: one state for the goal, three states for performing the action and three other states for evaluating the results of the action [15]. It is possible to identify two parts that constitute the action: the execution of the action and the evaluation of the results of the action. The action execution part consists of three action states that start from the object. The first state, the planning

Fig. 2 Norman’s action cycle Source adapted from Norman [15]

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state, refers to the determination of one of the possible action plans. Taking as an example that it is dark in a room and the goal is to get more light, the first state refers to choosing one of the following actions: opening the curtains or turning on the light. That is, choosing an action. The second state, the state of specifying the plan, is defined by the need to decide how to do the action. Based on the previous example, it could be turn on the light, open the curtains, or ask someone else to do it. Finally, the third state, the state of action execution, refers, as the name indicates, to performing the action, which in the case of the previous example would be, for example, to be the person himself turning on the light. Moving on to the part of the evaluation of the results of the action, it consists of three states of the action. The first state concerns the understanding of what happened, the second state the interpretation of what happened, and finally, the third state the comparison of what happened and what was intended to happen [15]. The application of Norman’s action cycle to peripheral interactions was exemplified by Bakker et al. [4] in user interactions with the FireFlies [3] prototype system, as shown in Fig. 3. According to the authors, the application of Norman’s model to this type of interactions does not provide a definitive model of how the alternation between the center and the periphery of attention takes place, but rather an example of how this alternation can occur based on the observation of interactions. In order to understand how and why interactions may shift between the center and periphery of attention, it is necessary to: (i) evaluate the division and definition of interactions into smaller states of action, (ii) observe and communicate with users who experienced the interactions, and (iii) analyze the context and everyday life in which they are embedded [4]. Although the model presented by Bakker et al. [4] cannot be considered a definitive model it is a relevant reference since it presents a way to represent the division of

Fig. 3 Example of applying Norman’s action cycle to peripheral interaction Source Bakker et al. [4]

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interactions, which occur between the center and the periphery, considering the user’s experience and their daily context as extremely important features for the Peripheral Interaction as a concept. It is important to consider some aspects that may be crucial to the use of Norman’s action cycle for the division of peripheral interactions into states. States are executed subconsciously when the user is experienced in performing the action otherwise if the user is learning to perform an action or faces a difficulty that suspends the normal flow of action performance the states are executed consciously. Most actions do not require passing through all the states in the sequence presented in the model. There are several sequences and several cycles that are related and that lead to subgoals and sub-plans [15].

3.2 Deeply Personal Nature Regarding the second characteristic of Peripheral Interaction, its deeply personal nature Bakker et al. [4] highlight the need to support users’ personal preferences. The shifting between the center and periphery of attention is caused by reasons such as difficulty in performing an action or habituation towards an action. These reasons manifest themselves differently from user to user. For some users it is easier to perform an action because they are more experienced in performing it, and for other users the situation is opposite. The authors then concluded that personal nature is a characteristic that depends on learning, unlearning, and the personal mentality of the users. It is essential to mention that, for interactions to move to the periphery of attention, users need to be used to performing them. As for learning and unlearning, if a task has always been performed in a certain way, the introduction of a system that modifies it will require learning the new form of interaction and unlearning the previous form of interaction. In the case where the interaction does not replace a previously learned interaction this does not happen, and it is only necessary for the user to learn a new form of interaction. Bakker et al. [4] conclude that habituation does not depend exclusively on the degree of difficulty in performing a task, but also depends on the interactions frequently performed in the user’s daily life that provide or not experiences that promote habituation. About the personal mentality of the users, the authors found that this requirement influences the degree to which interaction systems can be used in the periphery of attention. The examples provided, which result from the observation of users, lead to the belief that some interactions can only take place in the periphery of attention given a certain context and a specific user. In that same situation another user could have obtained information in a different way and another context could also have an influence. There are therefore individual user differences in relation to learning, unlearning and habituation that must be accounted in the development and evaluation of systems with Peripheral Interaction [4]. It is then necessary to consider habituation support. Users have to get used to interacting with the peripheral systems that are integrated into their daily lives. It is important that users can interact with the system for a certain period of time that

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allows them to grasp and recognize not only its general features, but also its details. Developing a system with an open design that is a system that does not have a determined purpose of use, is also something to consider since it facilitates this type of interaction [4]. The use given to a system with Peripheral Interaction should be personally relevant to the user and if possible, chosen by them. Providing users with the possibility to adjust some system parameters according to their preferences is also one of the ways to make systems more open [2].

4 Systems with Peripheral Interaction After having explained the concept of Peripheral Interaction and its main characteristics, it is important to check how this concept is applied in practice. In this section, three different types of systems are presented. These systems have been developed under the Peripheral Interaction concept, so they have interactions that are not crucial, but are however relevant in the everyday context [2]. MOTION MONITOR [14] is an example of a system that applies Peripheral Interaction to the visual perception of digital information. This system consists of a peripheral display, which uses the Ambient Orb system, to socially connect two people who are geographically distant from each other by monitoring the amount of activity happening on either side through a luminous glass sphere. The colors of the glowing sphere will change faster if the activity of the other user also increases. Users can monitor each other’s activity, providing a sense of connection with friends and family while focusing on main tasks [14] (Fig. 4). MUSICO [19] is a system that applies Peripheral Interaction to physical actions. It is a tangible cone-shaped object that combines peripheral interaction and implicit interaction,to create and update music playlists suitable for different everyday contexts. An algorithm is used which, through the songs played, repeated and skipped by the user, automatically creates personalized playlists taking into consideration the user’s individual preferences and the different contexts of everyday life. This system Fig. 4 MOTION MONITOR Source Matthews et al. [14]

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Fig. 5 MUSICO Source Tezcan et al. [19]

adopts the grab and touch modalities for the peripheral interactions developed with the goal of being quick and simple [19] (Fig. 5). StaTube [13] is an example of a system that applies Peripheral Interaction to the perception of digital information and physical actions. This peripheral system is composed of a physical object that allows the user to set their status on Skype as well as obtain information about the statuses of their contacts on that platform in a visual way. The system is made of a tube that has rings indicating the status of the user and his contacts on Skype using the same colors that the platform uses to indicate them. By turning the tube, the user can change his status. Pressing it will trigger a timer that informs when a specific contact becomes available. This system allows users to update their status more frequently and to have a greater awareness of the status of their contacts on the periphery of their attention [13] (Fig. 6). From the examples presented above, it is possible to identify the main benefits associated with the application of Peripheral Interaction in interactive systems. The interaction process between human beings and technology is more natural because it is closer to the way human beings interact with the physical world, without overloading them. The integration of technology into the daily lives of humans becomes fluid, softening the less positive effects of technology’s omnipresence. Peripheral

Fig. 6 StaTube Source Hausen et al. [13]

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Interaction requires less mental and attentional resources from humans by adapting technology to their abilities and needs. While promising results have been achieved with Peripheral Interaction research, more research is needed to further explore the potential of Peripheral Interaction. We believe that it is important to focus future research on exploring other areas of application, new styles of interaction, and exploring evaluation strategies [2].

5 Essential Perspectives of Attention for Peripheral Interaction and Systems that Are Sensitive to Attention The present time is characterized by the omnipresence of technological systems and the communication of digital information, which has changed the balance between the amount of information available and the human capacity to process it. It is essential that technological systems support the processes of human attention. More particularly, considering the cognitive limitations of humans and assisting the processes that guide the allocation of attention so that the actions defined by technology can be performed successfully. The development of these systems must recognize as a theoretical influence the deep understanding of the mechanisms of human attention [17]. Peripheral Interaction has as one of the main goals to take use of the natural capabilities of human attention to fluidly introduce technology into the daily routines of users. It is proposed, with this concept, that interactions can be performed in the periphery of attention shifting to the center of attention whenever relevant. In this line of thought, systems with Peripheral Interaction should, whenever possible, require low levels of attention from the users. The study of human attention, as the most significant aspect of cognition, is essential in order to understand in detail the capacities of attention, the processes of attention management, and the use of attention resources in the execution of actions. Most of the theories exploring the capacities of attention have been developed by Psychology and Neuroscience [2]. It is believed that these theories provide valuable insights into the topic and, according to authors relevant to the field of Peripheral Interaction, they can be applied to interactive systems that use the human capacities of attention [2, 12, 14]. Throughout time, attention has been studied from different perspectives from where different theories have grown. The purpose of this section is to bring together the perspectives on human attention that are considered essential for the study and development of human attention-sensitive systems. Roda [17] highlights as one of the most active areas of research on attention the investigation of the relationship between attention and working memory. Within this topic the author highlights some distinct positions that have been taken on the topic: (i) the relationship between attention and learning assuming that attentional processes and working memory are equivalent, (ii) attention as a mechanism that intervenes in the encoding and consolidation of information in working memory, (iii) and the identification of activated items in working memory that drive perceptual processes.

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In Cognitive Psychology, an area that has had a major impact on Human– Computer Interaction, we seek to understand whether all stimuli are processed by one central system or whether multiple systems process different types of stimuli. This question was first explored by Allport et al. [1] by organizing attention into distinct channels associated with different modalities. The interaction and integration of these channels, however, has not yet been sufficiently explored, and research has been focused primarily on the auditory and visual modalities. Roda [17] also points out the importance of investigating the bottom-up and top-down processes that guide attention, especially visual attention, and that facilitate the perception and understanding of messages transmitted by digital devices. Understanding what determines the noticeability of elements in a digital environment and developing models that integrate these two types of processes has been a priority in Human–Computer Interaction research. Recently, the debate over the early/late selection dichotomy has raised some questions about the central assumptions of these theories that are particularly relevant to Human–Computer Interaction. One of the questions stands out: the importance of understanding whether attention changes the way we perceive the environment or whether it affects the response to what is perceived. Another area of study that has potential for the design of attention-sensitive systems is the relationship between attention and emotion because emotion influences the reaction to stimuli at all levels of processing. Social attention is also emphasized for improving understanding of the constraints and motivations that guide attention allocation. There are two interesting strands of study in this area: joint attention related to communication and collaboration and collective attention related to the allocation of attention in communities of people. An opposing view of collectivity also appears as a topic for discussion. Personal differences in attention allocation seem to be significant factors, especially age and gender, and it is plausible that attention-sensitive systems are able to adapt to these differences and provide greater individual attention support [17]. Caldeira and Ferreira [9] claim that one of the areas that has most contributed to new knowledge in Cognitive Psychology is the creation of interfaces between men and machines in which Human–Computer Interaction plays an important role. These authors mention that the analysis of the influence of attention and perceptual mechanisms reveals that in concrete situations the user when performing a task focuses his attention on the elements necessary for that task. Therefore, they argue that attention is selective, and that the capacity of attention is associated with a cognitive load or mental workload. Similar to Peripheral Interaction the question is how to manage the increased mental or cognitive workload so that there is no information overload. They point to the research of Nygren et al. [16] as one possibility to get the answer to this question. These authors demonstrate that there is information obvious to the user that can be transmitted by lower cognitive processing, even if it is essential information, without the performance of the main task being affected by a lower attention capacity. In other words, instead of the information being interpreted at a high level of the cognitive system it is just perceived releasing valuable resources for the performance of the main task.

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Regarding Peripheral Interaction, Bakker [2] believes that the theories developed since the second half of the twentieth century about the capacities of human attention and its management provide very important knowledge for the development of peripheral interactive systems. The author highlights selective and divided attention as the two most important functions of attention. Bakker et al. [5] present their own model that brings together the parts of the attention process that they find relevant for everyday situations. This model can be used in the design of systems with Peripheral Interaction and in the research of the concept. Hausen [12] considers that the capacity of attention that is essential for the study and development of Peripheral Interactions is divided attention. According to the Peripheral Interaction concept, attention is divided between a focus task (primary task) and at least one peripheral task (secondary task). Within divided attention the author highlights the theory of multiple resources and the concepts of multitasking and interruptions, and habituation and automaticity. Bakker et al. [4] believe that the concept of Peripheral Interaction was originated by the fact that several activities of daily life are performed at the same time. Therefore, they consider that it is based on the theory of divided attention and in the multitasking theory. These authors mention that the management of attention resources depends on several factors highlighting the degree of difficulty of the task, automation and habituation that influence the number of resources needed. The attention supervision system is mentioned as an important system because it refers to the probability of activities being performed. Certain activities are more likely to be performed than others. Regarding multitasking theory, they emphasize simultaneous multitasking, coming from the chained cognition theory which holds that for each activity performed a cognitive chaining is generated. They also highlight the theory of multiple resources because several cognitive chains can be simultaneously active. Several theories are presented at this point. They all explore different possibilities of looking at attention processes when performing tasks in technological systems. We see a need to explore these possibilities further and ascertain which of them are best suited for systems with peripheral interactions through concrete experimental evidences.

6 Conclusion This chapter explores the essence of the concept of Peripheral Interaction, a new form of interaction that has great potential to improve the interaction between humans and technology. Essential topics are explored in order to understand the concept, namely its origin, definition and characteristics as a type of interaction. The importance of investigating Peripheral Interaction seems clear in order to rethink the way we interact with technology. The fact that this type of interaction allows interactive systems to require few mental and attentional resources, integrating them fluidly into the daily lives of users, is something extremely beneficial to today’s technological society. The mitigation of the less positive effects of the omnipresence of technology is crucial in an age so closely followed and dependent on technology. Peripheral

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Interaction appears as a way to achieve this goal. The use of interactions that allow for the fluid integration of technology by using the capabilities of human attention, is something often used in everyday interactions with the outside world, but rarely used in interactions with technology. We believe it is extremely important, at this stage in the exploration of Peripheral Interaction that its theoretical bases are solidified mainly in relation to the construction of methodologies that allow the identification of which interactions take place in the center or in the periphery of attention. In addition, it is essential that more advanced methods of system development and evaluation are developed. For this type of interaction, it is mandatory to base them on the processes of human attention, considering the cognitive limitations of humans and assisting the processes that guide the allocation of attention. In this way it will be possible to direct tasks when secondary to the periphery of attention, and when relevant to the center of attention. There is still much to explore in this area and many questions remain to be asked regarding this type of interaction. This chapter thus provides an understanding of the concept of Peripheral Interaction, as well as the need to apply the essential perspectives of human attention in the development of technological systems. We hope that the information presented in this chapter can provide a foundation for future research work in this area.

References 1. Allport DA, Antonis B, Reynolds P (1972) On the division of attention: a disproof of the single channel hypothesis. Q J Exp Psychol 24(2):225–235 2. Bakker S (2013) Design for Peripheral Interaction. Eindhoven University of Technology. Eindhoven University of Technology. https://pure.tue.nl/ws/files/3532354/754544.pdf 3. Bakker S, van den Hoven E, Eggen B (2012) FireFlies: supporting primary school teachers through open-ended interaction design. In: Proceedings of the 24th Australian computer-human interaction conference. ACM, pp 26–29 4. Bakker S, van den Hoven E, Eggen B (2015) Peripheral interaction: characteristics and considerations. Pers Ubiquit Comput 19(1):239–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-0140775-2 5. Bakker S, Van Den Hoven E, Eggen B (2010) Design for the periphery. In: EuroHaptics 2010, p 71 6. Bakker S, Van Den Hoven E, Eggen B (2010) Exploring interactive systems using peripheral sounds. In: International workshop on haptic and audio interaction design. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 55–64 7. Bakker S, van den Hoven E, Eggen B, Overbeeke K (2012) Exploring peripheral interaction design for primary school teachers. In: Proceedings of the sixth international conference on tangible, embedded and embodied interaction. ACM, pp 245–252 8. Brown JNA (2012) Expert talk for time machine session: designing calm technology” as refreshing as taking a walk in the woods”. In: 2012 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME). IEEE, p 423 9. Caldeira P, Ferreira A (2007) Psicologia cognitiva: um laboratório simples. Editora: Climepsi 10. Edge D (2008) Tangible user interfaces for peripheral interaction. University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory Technical Report. Citeseer

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11. Goodale MA, Murphy KJ (1997) Action and perception in the visual periphery. Exp Brain Res Ser 25:447–462. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melvyn-Goodale/publication/289912 378_Action_and_Perception_in_the_Visual_Periphery/links/569f714008aee4d26ad22fe2/ Action-and-Perception-in-the-Visual-Periphery.pdf 12. Hausen D (2014) Peripheral interaction-exploring the design space. University of Munich 13. Hausen D, Boring S, Lueling C, Rodestock S, Butz A (2012) StaTube: facilitating state management in instant messaging systems. In: Proceedings of the sixth international conference on tangible, embedded and embodied interaction. ACM, pp 283–290 14. Matthews T, Dey AK, Mankoff J, Carter S, Rattenbury T (2004) A toolkit for managing user attention in peripheral displays. In: Proceedings of the 17th annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology. ACM, pp 247–256 15. Norman D (2013) The design of everyday things: revised and expanded edition. Basic Books (AZ) 16. Nygren E, Lind M, Johnson M, Sandblad B (1992) The art of the obvious. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, pp 235–239 17. Roda C (2011) Human Attention in Digital Environments. Cambridge University Press. https:// books.google.pt/books?id=chcrD4rG8i8C 18. Rogers Y (2006) Moving on from Weiser’s vision of calm computing: engaging ubicomp experiences. In: International conference on ubiquitous computing. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 404–421 19. Tezcan P, Bakker S, Eggen B (2017) Musico: personal playlists through peripheral and implicit interaction. In: Proceedings of the 2016 ACM conference companion publication on designing interactive systems. ACM, pp 121–126 20. Weiser M (1991) The computer for the 21st century. Sci Am 265(3):94–105 21. Weiser M, Brown JS (1997) The coming age of calm technology. In: Beyond calculation. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 75–85

Understanding the Barriers and Challenges Between Older Users and Smartphones: A Systematic Literature Review Luis Carlos Paschoarelli , Nathan Martins Fernandes , and Larissa R. Ferro-Marques Abstract Older adults are a significant part of the world population and new Information Technologies (ITs) will have an essential role in maintaining the quality of life and social integration of this population. However, the interfaces of different Its—especially smartphones—do not yet satisfy the characteristics, needs and expectations of older adults since they present physical, cognitive and emotional barriers that disappoint these users. The present study was based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), and aimed to analyze the main barriers experienced by older adults when using smartphones. Three aspects were highlighted for the present analysis: the physical, cognitive and emotional. The SLR has shown that much progress has been made to understand the interaction problems between older users and smartphones. However, many barriers remain, creating difficulties of use and limiting the effective contribution of IT to these users. Thus, guidelines based on physical, cognitive and emotional aspects, essential for the new ergonomic design of smartphones, are compiled and presented. Keywords Smartphone · Older users · Emotion

1 Introduction The human life cycle is characterized by different evolutionary phases, each one with its own characteristics and peculiarities. The older adult phase is described, among other factors, by the reduction of the regenerative capacity of the organism of the individuals and, consequently, by the alteration in their physical, cognitive and emotional abilities. This condition reflects new needs and demands which influence the way these individuals interact with other people, products and technological systems. Beyond its individual conditions, Population Aging also exist, which is the increase in the rate of the older adults population in society. This is due to the L. C. Paschoarelli (B) · N. M. Fernandes · L. R. Ferro-Marques São Paulo State University, Bauru 17033-360, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_4

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advances in medicine, urbanization, sanitation and nutrition, which represents an expressive social advancement [1]. According to the United Nations [2], in 2020 there were 727 million people over 65 years of age in the world. Projections indicate that, in 2050, the number of older adults in the world will more than double, in other words, to 1.5 billion. The characteristics of older adults and the high proportion of this population has become a large-scale social problem which can be minimized with the application of new technologies, which can contribute positively to the autonomy and daily life of these individuals [2, 3]. In the field of Information Technologies (ITs), particularly in the field of Information Design, this should be considered a strategic opportunity for the development of new products and more empathetic systems, aiming to satisfy the needs and expectations of older users, enabling a full life in all their activities with a high level of well-being. This is also related to living with quality, defined by the World Health Organization [4] as maintaining and conserving five abilities: “meet their basic needs; learn, grow and make decisions; be mobile; build and maintain relationships; and contribute to society.” Among the IT that can help many of these abilities, smartphones stand out, which are capable of performing more advanced computational processing from internet connectivity, providing the user with the ability to customize software and to communicate via data (e.g. email), audio and video [5]. However, the majority of smartphones do not take into account the characteristics and capabilities of older users, offering deficient interfaces and providing uncomfortable experiences [6]. It is believed that the difficulties, barriers and constraints faced by older users with smartphones can be physical, cognitive and emotional. Therefore, it is necessary to broaden the analysis and discussion about studies that aim to understand the barriers and challenges between older users and smartphone use. Thus, the present chapter presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of experimental studies; proposes a reflection on the state of the art of the main challenges (physical, cognitive and emotional) faced by older users in the relationship with smartphones; and presents guidelines to improve the ergonomic design of these interfaces.

2 SLR on the Interaction Between Older Users and Smartphone Methodological procedures of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) [7] were applied in the present study, adapted into six steps: 1—theme identification and research question; 2—inclusion and exclusion criteria; 3—identification of selected and preselected studies; 4—selected studies categorization; 5—analysis and interpretation of results; and 6—knowledge review/synthesis presentation.

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The research question was defined by “what are the main barriers for older users when using smartphones?” As inclusion criteria, the following stand out: articles published in the last five years (between 2015 and 2020), written in Portuguese and English. As for the exclusion criteria, the following stand out: studies without older adult participants and studies that did not deal with the older users daily interactions with smartphones. The searches were made in three databases—Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science—having as analysis elements the “Title”, “Abstract” and “Keywords”. Ninety eight studies were found and after the application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria and filters, 22 papers were selected. After the lecture of the studies, a categorization was made based on the type of barriers and challenges—physical, cognitive and emotional—resulting from the interaction between the users and the product.

3 Barriers in the Interaction Between Older Users and Smartphones Aging is a process inherent in all living beings and as it happens, countless physical and physiological alterations occur in the sensorial systems (especially touch, vision and hearing) [8]. Among these alterations, it is possible to mention difficulties in the basic system of orientation and movability; decreased ability to differentiate sounds and understand speech; decreased visual acuity and, consequently, decreased peripheral vision, notion of depth perception, color distinction, light and dark adaptation, among other difficulties. All these characteristics of aging can influence the older users´ perception and experience for some technologies, including smartphones. Consequently, in the user-artifacts interaction, some barriers and challenges can emerge that need to be understood so that they can be finally addressed. For example, Lai and Lai [9] investigated the two main reasons that influence older users to use smartphones: internet and convenience. In addition, the authors categorized the older adults into two groups of users: those who do not require the use of a smartphone (they prefer conventional mobile phones); and those who prefer smartphones, but would be happier if these better met their needs. According to Anjos and Gontijo [8], that can occur because the cellphone actually has exceeded the status of a device for only communication purposes, gaining countless other functions over time. However, when older users are exposed to this complex and unfamiliar artifacts, they can ignore and abandon their use if they were not designed to support their limitations and needs. Among the older users most used functions, Lai and Lai [9] pointed: 01—those that meet their basic needs (e.g. make and receive calls, access audiovisual content, access the internet, take notes, take pictures, make emergency calls and adjust alarms);

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02—those that were considered less necessary (e.g. reading on-line news and write emails); and 03—those that are useless for older users (e.g. calendars and planners). Lai and Lai [9] also appointed that most difficulties faced by older users using smartphones include: accidental dialing, small screens, complex emergency call systems, very complicated configurations changes, touch-screen sensibility, digitations errors, misunderstanding about the meaning of the app’s icons and problems caused by the lack of repertory and history of use. According to Anjos e Gontijo [8], these difficulties can be associated with the fact that older adults were born in an era when electronics were difficult to access, not part of the reality of most individuals, besides being too complex. And these barriers, although small, can be serious problems due to the need for the insertion of technology in the daily life of older adults. So to minimize or repair all of these problems, it is necessary to improve the interaction between older users and smartphones so that these individuals can have a chance of utilizing these technologies even more complexly, however, with facilitated use and a chance for better learning. In addition, through interface design, smartphones must meet the demands of older users, which we categorized in the present study as those related to physical, cognitive and emotional.

3.1 Physical Aspects One of the priority ways to observe the interaction between older users and smartphones involve the physical aspects. The present SLR found experimental studies that dealt with interaction questions regarding the following: surface and material of the screen [10]; navigation and operation with gesture commands [6, 11, 12]; efficacy of different ways of text input [13]; development of an assistive accessory attached to smartphones [14]; character’s legibility and readability [15]; and icons and color comprehension [8, 16]. Liu et al. [10] performed an experimental study involving the older users´ touch sensibility evaluation in different screen protectors. As a result, they noticed that the performance of a tempered glass with 0.35 mm of density was a better option for the user experience in comparison with the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) screen protector, which was the favorite in the questionnaire with the users, who pointed it out because of its transparency, which attenuate the brightness of the screen and makes reading more comfortable. Regarding the screen interaction, Zhao and Men [6] studied the information input through gesture based interaction and the older adults’ capacity to execute them. The authors concluded that the designs of gesture commands must be studied by human– computer engineering, considering the older adults finger characteristics, including the pressure distribution and the anthropometrics dimensions; the flexibility and the frequency of utilization of the combined gesture operations, and the investigation

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through experimental analysis. These aspects were defined by touch screen technologies, whose younger users can adapt with more facility, but this condition was not applied for the older adults. Arruda et al. [11], in turn, investigated the gesture-based interaction and found that older users have great difficulty in executing the zoom movement and suggests the adoption of a lateral bar that can use only one finger. They also realized that it is difficult to insert text in the digital screen due to its dimensional incompatibility with the anthropometry of the older adult fingers. The authors suggest the functionality of text input by voice command and the gesture based operations to minimize the usability failures. This problem is also verified by Fang and Hong [12], especially for the older adult difficulties in performing activities by two finger commands. (e.g. the zoom command, already reported by Arruda et al. [11]). Fang and Hong [12] recommend the redesign of these functions for operation with only one finger. The relationship between older adults that have never been in contact with smartphones and different input methods of data—on screen qwerty; tracing; physical qwerty (a mini-keyboard extern for the smartphone); and voice command was studied by Smith and Chaparro [13]. The results pointed out that the voice command was preferred by older users, in second place stands the physical qwerty because of its similarity with the computer keyboard. Yet, with regards to different alternatives to input data, Fuglerud, Chan and Sørli [14] developed an assistive and age friendly device, characterized by a case to which it is inserted in the smartphone, making it similar to the flip format, allowing the user to access the screen and a physical keyboard. When closed, the case presents buttons for rapid calls and emergency calls. The device was evaluated by older users, which related to positive feedback. Hou et al. [15] conducted a study with the aid of an Eye Tracking software and an application of an questionnaire intending to evaluate the reading aspects of the Chinese characters. The results pointed to guidelines to maximize the legibility and readability of the Chinese characters on smartphones, with design recommendations for font size, font spacing and kerning according to the task to be requested by the older users. Lastly, Anjos and Gontijo [8] have adopted a holistic approach in the mobile phone interfaces through the method of cardsorting and satisfaction questionnaires with older users. The results pointed out 56% of participants prefer larger screens and 82% also prefer a non-sensitive screen. From that data, a series of recommendations were generated for the development of an interface approaching better typography, icons, colors, navigation, gesture commands, feedback and adjusts. In general, it is possible to notice that the studies regarding the physical aspects in the interaction of smartphones by the older adults involves the analysis of barriers due to senses of touch and vision, corresponding in majority for operationalization and/or handling problems, above all during the input data on screen, a normal procedure for smartphones. It is possible to also list the reading, comprehension and recognition of the inserted information and/or already presented in the interface, which demonstrate the importance of the sociocultural aspects of these individuals when developing new projects.

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3.2 Cognitive Aspects The cognitive analysis of the interaction between older users and smartphones is another important factor to consider in the design analysis of the interaction of these devices. In this aspect, the SLR identified experimental studies who tested the comprehensibility and interpretation [17] and the cognitive load related to color use [16] also on the icons; comprehension of functioning and use of applications [18, 19]; and, particularly, the adaptation of use in instant text messaging apps [20]. As for the understanding and interpretation of the icons for older adults, Ghayas, Al-Hajri and Sulaiman [17] evaluated this situation and concluded that to maximize the smartphone’s usability, it is necessary to facilitate the learning of the icon uses. Regarding the influence of the colors in the usability of the icons, Sha, Li and Chang [16] developed an experiment conducted with the Eye Tracking software, with the aim of verifying the effectiveness of the flat icons, monochromatic and multicolored, with older adults. The results has shown that multicolored icons overload the cognitive capacity and disturb the user’s memory, despite that most older adult individuals prefer multicolored icons due to their visual experiences; and verified that monochromatic icons are more concise than the multicolored. The authors suggest the conduction of studies that can evaluate other factors that can influence the color perception, for example, brightness and contrast. Salman, Ahmad and Sulaiman [18] evaluated the applications of “alarms” and “cameras” of a specific smartphone model with the participation of a specialists in the User Interface field (however, the older users did not participate), in which it was possible to detect up to 75% of the usability problems according to the authors. They highlighted six problems that the older user can face: 1. The alarm function is hidden inside the clock application; 2. For a full week with the alarm on, it is necessary to touch the screen seven times; 3. Touching the screen each day of the week can lead to errors; 4. There is no feedback when the programmed alarm is deactivated, leading to accidental disactivation; 5. The “camera” function presents icons in different sizes, which violates the heuristic consistency; and 6. For the same heuristic principle, the function “mode” is a smaller and squared button compared to the other buttons shown on the same screen. From a collaborative approach with older users, Mansson et al. [19] developed an app for stimulating fall-prevention exercises, whose validation occurred though a method originated in the User Experience field, named Honeycomb (optimized by Karagianni [21]). The results showed that the codesign process has influenced the user’s interest for the application and its utilization and comprehension. Tzu-ning, Po-liang and Po-lun [20] conducted an application evaluation experiment for instant messaging in smartphones, with the use of questionnaires and the Likert Scale. The results showed that it is more acceptable for utilization as the users were getting acquainted with the smartphone and the interface. Note that most reviewed studies indicate that it is important to consider the cognitive load in the reading, such as the recognizing and learning of the activities and functions in the smartphone’s interface, especially regarding the comprehension and

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interpretation of the visual elements which deserves special attention for the icon design essential for the functionality of the interfaces in this type of technological device.

3.3 Emotional Aspects Consideration of emotional aspects in the interaction between older adults and smartphones is still incipient and little explored. However, smartphones can be an important tool to minimize some emotional problems experienced by older people [22], such as the difficulty of contact with other persons. Yang and Huang [23] indicate that the User Experience of the older adult with the smartphone is strongly associated with their perceptual conditions, need for attention, and understanding of their emotions. Therefore, it becomes essential to consider these aspects in an age friendly interface design. Garcia and Lara [24], from an approach with caregivers of the older adults, prepared a briefing to develop the “MobiCare” app. This app contributes to an improvement in the health care of the older users through reminders, but can also be extended to caregivers and family members. As an unfolding, they suggest the implementation of the photo album function so that the older users feel emotionally associated with the app. Zareei et al. [25] evaluated 303 older users to understand empathy relations and the use of mobile phones. The authors found that older users rarely use instant messaging apps since the interfaces are not age friendly. Therefore, they propose that the new Interface Design should be more empathetic, preferably considering the emotional demands of these users. Briede-Westermeyer et al. [3] applied a questionnaire integrating variables such as utility, satisfaction and ease of use, and validated it with a group of ten experts among geriatricians, public health professionals, designers and psychometrists. As a conclusion, they found that the level of interaction of the older users with smartphones is directly associated with their social activities. Consequently, the use of this equipment is statistically correlated with their level of education, family income and health level, inversely proportional to their age. In addition, according to Kang et al. [26], among the older adults there are users who feel embarrassed, or who prefer to hide any aspects that might appear to be a person in need of help, negatively impacting the emotional interaction with the smartphone. Therefore, emotional aspects, although little explored yet, can become a differential element to understand the difficulties of interaction between older adults and smartphones. It is clear from these studies that the emotional factor is activated by the social need to use this device, since it is a device used to relate to other persons, being present in the daily lives of all individuals. Understanding these variables helps us to better understand all the other variables (physical and cognitive) involved in the older user relationship and smartphones; and to present recommendations for the ergonomic design of these interfaces.

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4 Guidelines for the Design of Smartphone Interfaces for the Older User The SLR results reiterated that the main barriers for interaction between older users and smartphones involve physical, cognitive and emotional aspects. However, these barriers should be studied to generate recommendations for the application of the methods of the Information Design; Human–Computer Interaction; User Experience and other areas related to the development of systems and interfaces. In the present case, the challenges involve, among other factors, presenting support guidelines for the ergonomic design of the smartphone, since the consequences and characteristics of aging are too heterogeneous. In addition, other aspects that touch on user-system interaction should be considered, such as instruction, socio-cultural and socio-demographic aspects, familiarity with new technologies, income, among others.

4.1 Guidelines for Physical Aspects Handling Recommendations – Application of a translucent Tempered Glass Screen Protection with 0.35 mm [10]; – Use of a single finger in gesture operations [27]; – Zoom option operated by sidebars [27], preferably at the bottom of the screen [11]; – Use of a specific button to rotate images [11]. Input/Output of Data Recommendations – The text input by voice as a standard alternative for data input with the qwerty keyboard [11, 13]; – Smartphones with a physical keyboard should continue to be commercialized. Visibility, Legibility and Readability Recommendations – The function for resize text must be easily available so that the user can customize their preference [8]; – For Chinese characters, use the font size 20px and font spacing 1.4. [15]. Operating System (OS) Recommendations – Alternatives must be available for the roll screen function so that information is always shown [8]; – Do not “miniaturize” the interface [11].

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Color Recommendations – All colored information must be available, optionally, in a monochromatic format [8]; – Must accentuate the contrast between the text and background considering the limitation that some users may have about the color spectrum [28]; – Avoid the use of colors between yellow, green and blue, because when over 70, there is a greater incidence of low perception between these colors [28]. Feedback and Support Recommendations – Provide tangible, visual and audible feedback whenever possible [11].

4.2 Guidelines for Cognitive Aspects Handling Recommendations – Use of commands that make it possible to pause, stop or hide pop-ups [8]; – Possibly less steps for navigation commands and commands [8]. Input/Output of Data Recommendations – Use of marks or instructions when necessary for the user’s input data [8]; – Use of feedback for automatic error detection [8]. Visibility, Legibility and Reability Recommendations – Use of easily identifiable functions without the possibility of double interpretation [8]; Recommendations for Icons, Texts, Buttons and Shortcuts – Must be designed to be recognizable, monochromatic and easy to learn [16, 17]; – The Help button must be more intuitive [11]; – Must be comprehensive considering the repertory of the users [8]; – Shortcuts must be easy to create and configure with the fewest numbers of steps [8]. – Icons must be designed in a flat style because it’s better to learn and recognize [16]. Operating System (OS) Recommendations – The system navigation must present a sequential indication that is clear and objective [8, 11]; – The most important functions must be placed on top, avoiding white lines [8]; – Prioritize the selection of a desired option rather than requesting typing [8].

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Feedback and Support Recommendations – Feedback should be offered when the user wants to press and move objects [11]; – Interruptions should make it possible to return to the point where they occurred, offering the user the possibility of not reinitiating a function [8]; – Feedbacks should be offered for the automatic detection of errors in data entries [8].

4.3 Guidelines for Emotional Aspects Visibility, Legibility and Readability Recommendations – The use of acronyms and technical jargon should be avoided in order to limit the constraint of the users [8]. Operating System (OS) Recommendations – The interface should allow customization [8], making it possible to increase empathy of use. Feedback and Support Recommendations – Feedbacks should be as quick as possible, avoiding states of frustration, and consequent abandonment of users [8].

5 Conclusion The population rate of older people in the world is growing rapidly, and in the coming decades, governments and civil society will make great efforts to meet the demands and expectations of these individuals. New technologies in Information Systems will play a major role in maintaining the quality of life and social integration of older adults. Currently, the interfaces of various information systems—especially smartphones—do not yet meet the characteristics and expectations of older adults since they present physical, cognitive and emotional barriers that disappoint these users. The present study aimed at applying a SLR, to analyze the main barriers encountered by older adults with using smartphones. The studies point out that much has already been done to understand the interaction problems between older users and smartphones, such as: the limitations of user interaction and the touch screen; the difficulties of understanding icons; and the emotional impact on the difficulties of use. Older adults have particularities which can influence the autonomy of smartphone users and, consequently, the complexity of the solutions that seek to meet these

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demands. Such complexity should be carefully observed by IT development teams, especially designers, who are directly responsible for the user interfaces. Acknowledgements The present study was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES - Process 88887.484276/2020-00 and 88887.484258/2020-00); and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq - Process 304619/20183).

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14. Fuglerud KS, Chan R, Sørli HT (2018) Studying Older People with Visual Impairments Using Mainstream Smartphones with the Aid of the EziSmart Keypad and Apps. Stud Health Technol Inf 256:802–810. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-923-2-802 15. Hou G, Dong H, Ning W, Han L (2018) Larger Chinese text spacing and size: effects on older users experience. Ageing Soc 40(2):389–411. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x18001022 16. Sha C, Li R, Chang K (2017) Color affects the usability of smart phone icon for the elderly. In: Digital Human Modeling. Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics, and Risk Management: Health and Safety, vol 10287, no 2. Springer, Cham, pp 173–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/9783-319-58466-9_17 17. Ghayas S, Al-Hajri SA, Sulaiman S (2018) Experimental study: the effects of mobile phone icons characteristics on users’ age groups. J Comput Sci 14(8):1134–1143. https://doi.org/10. 3844/jcssp.2018.1134.1143 18. Salman HM, Ahmad WFW, Sulaiman SH (2018) Evaluation of the smartphone applications in supporting elderly. In: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 843. Springer, Cham, pp 781–790. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99007-1_72 19. Mansson L, Wiklund M, Öhberg F, Danielsson K, Sandlund M (2020) Co-Creation with older adults to improve user-experience of a smartphone self-test application to assess balance function. Int J Environ Res Public Health 17(11):3768. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17113768 20. Tzu-Ning W, Po-Liang C, Po-Lun C (2017) Evaluate the usability of the mobile instant messaging software in the elderly. Stud Health Technol Inf 245(2017):818–822. https://doi. org/10.3233/978-1-61499-830-3-818 21. Karagianni K (2021) Optimizing the UX Honeycomb: A Small Amendment to the Classic Diagram Hopefully Improves Its UX. https://uxdesign.cc/optimizing-the-ux-honeycomb-1d1 0cfb38097. Accessed 21 Jan 2021 22. Minagawa Y, Saito Y (2014) An analysis of the impact of cell phone use on depressive symptoms among Japanese elders. Gerontology 60(6):539–547. https://doi.org/10.1159/000363059 23. Yang M, Huang H (2015) Research on interaction design of intelligent mobile phone for the elderly based on the user experience. In: Human aspects of it for the aged population. Design for aging, vol 9193, no 1. Springer, Cham, pp 528–536. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-31920892-3_51 24. Garcia AC, Lara SMA (2018) Enabling aid in remote care for elderly people via mobile devices: the mobicare case study. In: Proceedings of the 8th international conference on software development and technologies for enhancing accessibility and fighting info-exclusion - Dsai 2018, Thessaloniki. ACM Press, pp 270–277. https://doi.org/10.1145/3218585.3218671 25. Zareei H, Yusuff RM, Salit SM, Sar SN, Mohd RH (2016) Assessing the usability and ergonomic considerations on communication technology for older Malaysians. In: Universal access in the information society, vol 16, no 2. Springer, Cham, pp 425–433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10 209-016-0470-3 26. Kang HG, Mahoney DF, Hoenig H, Hirth VA, Bonato P, Hajjar I, Lipsitz LA (2010) In situ monitoring of health in older adults: technologies and issues. J Am Geriatr Soc 58(8):1579– 1586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02959.x 27. Liu SF, Wang MH (2018) High-aged using smart phone interface gesture operation research. In: Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, vol 7, no 40. IOS Press, pp 231–238. https:// doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-898-3-231 28. Levdikova T. Designing Apps for Elderly Smartphone Users. https://clutch.co/app-develo pment/resources/designing-apps-for-elderly-smartphone-users. Accessed 25 Jan 2021

Ageing Related Human Factors to Be Addressed in the Design of Visual Interfaces of Digital Applications Developed for Seniors: A Literature Review Leonardo Pereira , Daniel Brandão , and Nuno Martins Abstract The present work seeks to identify, through a survey conducted in specialized literature, which human factors related to ageing should be addressed in the Design of visual interfaces of digital applications for elderly people, as if otherwise these may not suit the specific characteristics and limitations of this specific population, such as possible difficulties of perception and interaction experienced by them. Therefore, our aim is to map the theoretical and conceptual framework on which Interface Design for seniors is currently based on. We start by identifying and characterising, based on the approaches and research work already carried out by other researchers, the factors that these researchers claim that should be considered in Digital Interface Design for Elderly people. From this characterisation and survey, we then extract from it and present the Design Guiding Principles that the limitations and humans factors related with ageing mentioned and described by these authors suggest. Keywords Ageing · Visual interface design · Human factors

1 Introduction 1.1 The Growing Ageing Population Today digital technology populates and saturates a huge variety of spheres and tasks of human life. They are, therefore, essential everyday tools, without which the parts of the population that cannot benefit from them, are relegated to a form of digital L. Pereira (B) Aveiro University, DeCA, DigiMedia, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal D. Brandão Institute of Social Sciences/CECS, Braga, Portugal N. Martins Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave/ID+, Barcelos, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_5

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exclusion that can and must be fought. To this extent, the elderly population, due to its specific characteristics and due to its hard relationship with digital technological devices, is naturally disadvantaged when these are not designed and conceived to meet their needs and specific characteristics. Moreover, “the interfaces developed for most technologies, excluding those of special devices, are designed for young people” [1, p. 3297], which is naturally a barrier to their adoption by seniors. On the other hand, the world’s human population is clearly growing older. According to a 2011 publication by the US National Institutes of Health, in 2010 about 524 million people were 65 years of age or older, which is equivalent to about 8% of the world’s population (p. 04). According to the same publication, by 2050 this number was expected to triple to 1.5 billion, which is equivalent to about 16% of the world population (p. 04). However, according to the World Health Organisation’s website, by 2019 the number of people over 60 was already one billion and it is expected that by 2030 and 2050 this number will grow to 1.4 billion and 2.1 billion respectively [15]. These figures show that this growth in the world’s senior population is not only taking place at an unprecedented speed, but will in fact accelerate in the coming decades [15]. Therefore, in the context of this world’s population ageing phenomenon, it becomes relevant to study the characteristics of the elderly population and it also becomes increasingly necessary to suit the development of any digital product with a digital interface, to the elderly population’s characteristics in order to amplify their accessibility to them. In this sense this work identifies, through a survey in specialized literature, which human factors related to ageing should be addressed in the interface design of digital products for seniors and suggests some recommendations that Designers can adopt in order to minimize the typical problems that seniors experience when interacting with the visual interface of a digital product.

2 The Cultural, Motor, Perception, Cognition and Memory Limitations As the world’s population is ageing, and as all countries in the world are seeing an increase in the number and proportion of elderly people in their population [13], it is necessary to understand its characteristics, namely the changes in faculties such as perception, cognition, memory, among others, imposed by ageing, in order to adapt visual interfaces’ design of digital applications to this population. Thus, and based on the surveyed literature, we describe the faculties that are generally affected by ageing and that, according to the surveyed authors, should be addressed in the Design of visual interfaces of digital applications developed for seniors.

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2.1 The Hearing Problems Hearing is one of the human faculties that suffer a decline with age and, according to Czaja et al. [3] the state of hearing can affect one’s ability to successfully interact with a system (p. 18). Its decline is due, on the one hand, to the loss of hair cells in the inner ear, and, on the other hand, to neurological changes [7, p. 76]. It is estimated that at the age of 65, between 50% of men and 30% of women have hearing problems [3, p. 18] and 11% of adults between 65 and 74 years of age feel buzzing and hums [6, p. 76]. Although the decline in hearing affects the ability to detect tones at all hearing frequencies, those most affected are the highest [6, p. 76]. While young people are able to hear pure tones with frequencies of up to 15,000 vibrations per second, in seniors (aged 65 or 70), due to Presbycusis, frequencies above 4000 may be inaudible, while frequencies below 1000 vibrations do not seem to be affected by ageing [3, p. 18]. This does not mean, as McLaughlin and Pak [9] explain, that when designing an interface that includes sound components, one should simply increase the volume. This is because some sound frequencies are more commonly lost with ageing than others, such as sound frequency extremes (p. 35). Although the first to be lost are the highest [4, p. 16, 9, p. 35]. And while increasing the volume would certainly make the frequencies lost audible again, those that were already naturally audible would become too high and distracting [9, p. 35]. Pure tones are also problematic for this population since, according to Hawthorn [7], it has already been found that their reaction time to this type of tones is relatively slower than in young people (p. 78). Carmichael [2] also states that pure tones are problematic, although for a different reason than the one mentioned by Hawthorn [7]. Pure tones, being too simple and linear, with no differences in rhythm, timbre, scale and volume structure, do not minimise the risk of being confused with the ambient sound or accidental noise that may occur in the environment around them (p. 62). Another problem related with hearing decline, one who derives from the decline in cognitive faculties associated with ageing, is the reduction of the so-called human Attentional Control, i.e. the reduction in the ability to select a sensory stimulus among many [9, p. 40]. This means that, in the case of sound stimuli, seniors find it more difficult than a young person to abstain from background noise (…). This can saturate the listener’s attention and, according to McLaughlin and Pak [9], contribute to some form of misunderstanding (p. 40). This population also finds it hard to distinguish between similar sounds, both in their intensity and frequency, and even more difficulty in following female voices than the male ones. Females tend to have higher frequencies than males and are, therefore, not recommended due to Presbycusis [7, pp. 76–77]. From the previously described seniors’ characteristics, we next present the design recommendations that from these arise: • Avoid the use of high frequency sounds. Do not exceed sounds with frequencies above 4000 vibrations per second; • Avoid the use of pure sounds or tones;

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• Avoid the profusion of the use of sound effects triggered simultaneously. And if the interface has a sound component offer the user the required means for him to activate or deactivate them, if desired; • Use rich sounds with differences in the structure of their rhythm, timbre, scale and volume; • Avoid the use of female voices due to their tendency towards higher frequencies.

2.2 The Vision Problems Although vision is not exclusively affected by age, according to Czaja et al. [3], the arrival of vision problems increases with age (p. 17). Visual acuity, i.e. the level of definition with which a human being is able to perceive an image [9, p. 11] or the ability to correctly discriminate objects at 6.1 m, is affected with age [4, p. 17] because the size of the retina reduces [7, p. 59]. This means that this distance to discriminate objects is progressively reduced by ageing. Due to changes in the eyes, the decline in vision starts, in most cases, around 40 years of age (…) [3, p. 18, 4, p. 17]. This beginning of decline is essentially the result of two factors. First, it results from the reduction in the ability of the eye to focus on near objects - Presbyopia [3, p. 18, 7, p. 58]. Secondly, it results from the reduction in the amount of light transmitted to the retina [7, p. 58], which is then filtered out by its yellowing [7, p. 59]. As the most notable consequences, individuals often have to wear glasses to read, become very sensitive to intense brightness, suffer from reduced sensitivity to colour discrimination and encounter problems related to depth perception [3, pp. 17–18, 4, p. 18 & p. 25, 7, p. 58]. It should be clarified, however, that regarding the reduced sensitivity to colour discrimination, the problem is concentrated mainly on short light waves, i.e. green and blue [7, p. 61]. These problems intensify with age but between 55 and 65, and added changes in the retina and central nervous system, also reduce the range of useful visual field, the ability of the eyes to adapt to darkness and the ability of the human eye to detect flashes and intermittences [3, p. 18, 4, p. 18 & p. 25, 7, p. 58]. Other vision problems that arise with ageing include reduced sensitivity to contrasts [9, pp. 13–14], reduced speed in processing visual information [3, p. 18], reduced sensitivity in detecting small movements of visual objects, difficulties in distinguishing similar objects in their visual characteristics [7, p. 62] and increased difficulty in perceiving fine detail and shapes with hard or precise limits [9, p. 12]. According to Hawthorn [7], vision problems related to ageing also include degenerative diseases. More than 10% of seniors suffer from diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration (p. 58). Animation and visually intermittent elements, for example, are not advisable for those suffering from Cataracts or Glaucoma [5, p. 44]. These changes in human vision, and in particular the reduction in visual acuity, have, according to McLaughlin and Pak [9], strong implications for the use of screens. Studies with seniors using computers have shown that in certain cases, some of

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the participants weren’t even able to begin an experimental and interaction task because they couldn’t read what was displayed on the screen where the test was being conducted (p. 12). Other consequences of the reduction in visual acuity mentioned by McLaughlin and Pak [9] are an increase in the time it takes seniors to search for icons in an interface and some confusion in distinguishing them from each other. In addition, these problems get accentuated when icons are abstract or very similar in shape, colour and size (p. 12). So, these are perfect examples of how vision problems brought by ageing can be strong constraints and barriers to the adoption of digital applications that have visual interfaces, if these are not designed taking into account these characteristics of seniors. Thus, from the previously described seniors’ characteristics, we next present the design recommendations that from these arise: • The reduction in visual acuity suggests not using very small graphic elements and especially text in very small sizes or bodies; • The reduction in the ability to focus on near objects suggests avoiding Blur’s effects on the treatment of graphical elements, so as not to make the visual perception of graphical elements even more difficult for seniors; • Extreme sensitivity to intense brightness suggests avoiding very strong and vibrant colours; • The low sensitivity to colour discrimination in short light waves, such as blue and green, suggests avoiding the use of these colours, at least in the most important interface elements that need to be distinguished from others, such as text, menus, interactive buttons and iconography; • The reduction in the ability of the eyes to adapt to darkness and the consequent reduction in sensitivity to flashes and intermittences suggests that either their use should be eliminated or, if animations with such visual elements have to be used, they should be slow so that they become more easily detectable by the eyes of seniors; • The reduction in contrast sensitivity suggests that the contrast between graphical elements and backgrounds should be as high as possible; • The reduction in the range of useful field of view suggests that designers should concentrate the interface’s graphic elements in the centre of the screen rather than on its side areas; • The hard time in distinguishing visually similar objects suggests that visual and graphic elements that have to forcefully be distinguished (such as menu items and iconographies, for example) should be accentuated in their visual differences in terms of colour and shape.

2.3 The Reduction of Speed and Cognitive Capacity Due to the reduction in cognitive abilities, in tasks requiring substantial cognitive effort and processing, it is expected that senior individuals will take longer

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to complete a given task than young individuals [7, p. 56]. An accepted estimate is that it will take senior individuals 1.5 to 2 times longer than a young person to complete a task with which they are unfamiliar, when that task involves a mixture of information processing operations (…) [3, p. 22]. The same is true for learning that in senior users takes much longer than in young users [7, p. 534]. This reduction in speed and cognitive ability is closely related to the combination of declines in specific human faculties that will be identified and discussed below.

2.4 The Decline of Cognitive Faculties Associated with Memory and Learning According to Zajicek [16], it is relatively accepted that ageing is associated with the reduction of cognitive abilities, which in turn interferes with the absorption of new information (p. 60) and therefore with learning. But although this consensus extends to what happens with memory, the truth is that not all types of memory are equally affected by age. In fact, the extent of the decline varies according to the type of memory in discussion [3, p. 24, 7, p. 94]. [3, pp. 24–26, 4, pp. 18–20] and McLaughlin and Pak [9, pp. 58–61] identify different types of memory that have to be distinguished and that we have to understand how they are affected, or not, by age: these are the Short-Term memory, the Working memory, the Semantic memory, the Prospective memory and the Perceptive Speed. These are presented and discussed below. The Short-Term Memory According to Fisk et al. [4], Short-Term memory refers to the storage of information that has just been perceived or acquired (…). Information stored in this type of memory is quickly lost if it is not constantly recalled and used (p. 19). The ability to make use of the information stored in this type of memory declines with age and becomes slower [7, p. 106]. One example and effect of the decline in this type of memory is the problem of understanding very long text messages [7, p. 106]. This means, therefore, that long messages become difficult to interpret for this population. So, bottom line, this type of memory basically refers to the ability to retain new information and to learning. The Working Memory This is a type of memory that is related with the ability of a human being to remember specific information at the same time as he or she performs any other task. That is, (…) it is used in any situation that requires the user to hold temporarily (for a short period of time) in memory a piece of information that he needs to use later while performing another associated task [3, p. 24, 9, p. 60]. According to McLaughlin and Pak [7] in laboratory tests focused on the use of the Working memory, it has been found that ageing implies a decline in this faculty (p. 60). But regardless of this decline, the truth is that human beings, young or senior, can only retain a small amount of information

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in Working memory [9, p. 61], which is naturally worsened by ageing. Therefore, this suggests that in a system or visual interface one should avoid requiring the senior user to retain information in the Working memory while performing any task with the system and its interface. Thus, and optimally, the interface should only display to the user the information that is relevant or appropriate to the task he or she is performing, so that he does not have to resort to the Working memory, as it declines with age [9, p. 61]. The Semantic Memory Semantic memory, according to Fisk et al. [4, p. 20] and Czaja et al. [3, p. 25], corresponds to the storage of factual information of knowledge that one accumulates throughout life and learning. It includes information on vocabulary, historical facts, cultural conventions, language, (…) etc. This type of memory, unlike Short-Term memory, does not decline with ageing [4, p. 25] and the information it stores is generally not lost in its entirety [3, p. 25]. Therefore, from a design point of view, making use of Semantic memory, namely through the use of culturally and commonly recognised stereotypes by a significant group of people, may be important to make an interface easier to use for elderly people [3, p. 25]. The Prospective Memory Prospective memory regards to the ability of an individual to remember to do something in the future [3, p. 25, 4, p. 25]. However, it is divided into the so-called Time-based Prospective memory and Event-based Prospective memory. The first type refers to the ability of one to remember to perform a certain task after a certain period of time (e.g. taking a pill in four hours). In this type of memory there is some decline with age. The second type refers to the ability of one to remember to perform a certain task after a certain event has occurred, (e.g. remembering to take a medicine after meals). In this second type of memory there isn’t so much decline with age [3, pp. 25–26, 4, pp. 20–25]. Perceptive Speed Perceptive Speed refers to the speed with which a human being is able to perceive and compare different visual stimuli [9, p. 58] (…). This ability, combined with others, underlies the most diverse human cognitive tasks related to memory and learning, such as remembering and entering a telephone number, or learning the rules of a new video game [9, p. 59]. According to McLaughlin and Pak [9] a discovery that is constantly referred to in specialised literature is that perceptual speed, based on tests that measure this ability, declines consistently with human ageing (p. 59). From the characteristics of the seniors related to cognition and memory, the design recommendations they raise are now presented: • Due to the reduced ability to make use of the information stored in short-term memory, i.e. data and new information, it is not advisable to use very long texts or messages in interfaces. Short texts and messages are more advisable because they are more easily interpreted by seniors;

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• The non-declining of semantic memory suggests that the information stored in an interface, namely cultural stereotypes, should be used in visual representations and language, since it is expected that seniors will be able to recognise and understand them more easily; • As Perceptive speed (e.g. the speed with which a human being is able to perceive and compare different visual stimuli) reduces with age, it is advisable to visually clearly distinguish between graphic elements with different functions (such as distinguishing interactive elements from non-interactive elements). This becomes even more necessary for elderly users.

2.5 Decline of Dynamic Visual Attention Another cognitive ability that is affected by ageing is the ability to visually focus on something and redirect that same attention to another element or object. For example, looking for visual elements in an interface with which to interact with requires the focus of the user’s attention. According to Fisk et al. [4], as an interaction task requires more attention from the user, more problems arise for senior users (p. 21). This suggests that, in cognitive terms, the ability to focus visual attention on a given task decreases with age. On the other hand, the so-called Dynamic Visual attention is slower in a senior individual than in a young one [4, p. 21], which clearly converges with what McLaughlin and Pak [9] say about shifting the focus of visual attention from one point to another. For these last authors, shifting or moving our focus of visual attention takes time (p. 65), which only gets worse with age as seniors have fewer ‘attention’ resources (p. 64). This suggests a clear decline in this ability with age. For example, Hawthorn found in evaluations and tests of computer application interfaces with senior users that when they had to use the keyboard as a data input device, they often did not look at the screen by not typing in the text field they were supposed to be typing in [7, p. 521]. Also, one of the authors of this work also observed similar behaviours in some seniors that are consistent with the degradation of dynamic visual attention. In tests carried out in his PhD’s field work, where he tested the Usability of an Interactive Television application with senior users, he observed that when participants had to resort to the remote control as the interaction device with the graphic interface displayed on the TV screen, they often fixed their visual focus and attention on the remote disregarding the visual interface displayed in the TV screen. As a consequence, they did not see or perceive the result of their action with the graphic interface displayed on the television, which naturally caused disorientation and prevented them from continuing and completing the requested interaction tasks [11, pp. 158–159]. On the other hand, McLaughlin and Pak [9] state that the attentional performance of a human being is greatly affected by the characteristics of the interface, since the presence of elements that are irrelevant to the task of interaction being performed may have a distracting effect, so it’s advisable to either clearly distinguish them from the relevant ones or even remove them (p. 65).

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From the characteristics of seniors related with visual attention, the design recommendations they raise are below presented: • The decline in visual attention suggests reducing the number of graphic elements in the interface to the essential ones in order to avoid visual distractions that further interfere with the need for a senior user to focus its attention on a specific interface element relevant to the execution of the interaction task in question. Therefore, it is considered that the interface should visually be as simplified as possible and populated with only the relevant graphical elements; • The decline in dynamic visual attention suggests that graphic and interactive elements that are related in an interaction sequence should be visually close together to reduce the gaze path between one element and another; • The decline in dynamic visual attention in seniors suggests that, in animated transitions between screens of an interface, the speed in which the transitions occur should be slow, as a way of conducting the visual attention of users and as a way of providing the necessary time for them to redirect their gaze from the remote control to the screen, without feeling disoriented or lost.

2.6 The Decline of Language Comprehension The comprehension of language is another faculty that suffers some degradation with human ageing, but not in its entirety. According to Fisk et al. [4], this faculty remains intact if a certain term is already part of the Semantic memory of the individual (p. 26), that is, if language uses terms with which seniors have become familiar throughout their life experience. If, on the other hand, the link between a term and its meaning is not explicit, this forces the cognitive production of an inference. However, the production of an inference depends on an intact Short-Term memory which also suffers some degradation with ageing. Therefore, seniors have a greater difficulty in understanding language when inferences are necessary [4, p. 22]. Based on the characteristics of seniors related to the comprehension of language, the design recommendations they raise are below presented: • Since the use of semantic memory is not affected by age but the use of short-term memory is, this suggests that the vocabulary used moves away from recent terms and technological jargon and approaches terms that typically senior individuals have encountered throughout their life experience.

2.7 Problems with Knowledge Acquisition about Procedures According to Fisk et al. [4], knowledge about procedures refers to the accumulated knowledge about the steps necessary to perform a given task. Procedures that have been well apprehended and learnt in the past remain until old age and become hard to inhibit (p. 26). This makes seniors, generally speaking, much slower learning new

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types of procedures compared to young people [4, p. 26]. In other words, patterns and models of procedures with which they are unfamiliar are usually hard for them to understand and learn. This problem is accentuated when learning a set of procedures involves memorising many combinations of steps and their consequences [16, p. 62]. On the other hand, Hawthorn [7] warns of another problem concerning the learning of procedures in seniors. According to this author, seniors tend to be impatient. It is expected that they will try to use an application with which they are unfamiliar without investing much time in learning its manipulation (p. 529). This suggests that this population is somewhat reluctant to learn different things, especially in acquiring knowledge about system manipulation procedures that they are unaware of. From the characteristics of the seniors related to the learning of new interaction procedures, the design recommendations they raise are below presented: • The decline in memory and learning capacities suggests that, in the design of visual interfaces of digital applications for seniors, the use of memory should be alleviated by using simplification strategies such as, for example, simplifying the functioning of an application, reducing the number of interaction steps required to perform a task and, reducing the number of functionalities and areas of the application to the essential; • Since seniors have learning difficulties with new models and conventions of procedures and are very impatient, this suggests using models of tasks execution with which they have already been confronted throughout their life experience.

2.8 The Decline of Motor Control As far as motor control is concerned, several faculties are affected by ageing. The first of these faculties is the time spent performing a given task or physical movement. With age these response times increase due to losses in muscle strength and endurance [7, p. 83]. According to Fisk et al. [4], the senior population becomes 1.5 to 2 times slower in executing a movement than young individuals (p. 26). However, McLaughlin and Pak [9] also say that the increase in the physical execution time of a senior’s movement is more related to the response time involved in the decision to execute it than the execution of the movement itself (p. 88). According to these authors, response time increases by about 25% when humans reach the age of 65 and has implications for interactions with computer interfaces such as clicking on icons or menu items [9, p. 88]. Regardless of the causes, these changes in motor control (associated with the response time and the movement’s execution time) can raise problems of interaction with visual interfaces of digital applications in senior users. For example, according to McLaughlin and Pak [9], many interactions with screen interfaces require fast movements like double clicking (…). As the control and speed of these movements decrease with age, and if double clicking is executed more slowly, the system may offer different responses to user input (…). This can create, in seniors, frustration and confusion by not giving them the expected response from the interface (p. 88).

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A very clear example of this type of problem is the case of “Likes” in the Instagram application. Where for a user to do a “like” in a post he has to use a double click (though in a touch logic and not a mouse click logic) on the post’s image. If the double click is too slow the response of the application will be to show the user, the possible users “tagged” in the post therefore not complying with the seniors’ expectation. The second of these faculties is related with the precision of execution of the movements. This is also affected by age [4, p. 26]. Hawthorn [7] states that in describing a movement between two distinct points, it is likely that the second half of the movement will be divided into small fractions of as the senior corrects the trajectory in relation to the second point or point of arrival of the movement (…). This is due to the lower cognitive speed in obtaining feedback on the progress of movement as it is being executed (p. 86). The third faculty of these faculties is production of force. Seniors have less control over the force they apply to an object. Since control over force production is vital for the control of movements of body members, it’s natural that this reduction contributes to the overall reduction of control over the accuracy of the movements described [7, p. 87]. These changes in motor control will also have negative implications for the socalled precision of movement execution. And in the digital world this is particularly important since the interaction with the interactive elements of an interface, be it mediated by a computer mouse, or directly by the contact of the user’s finger on the screen (touch screen), or even by the control through a remote control, implies that there is some precision in moving the hand or fingers towards the interactive target in question. The ability to reach an interactive target accurately (such as physically clicking on a remote control key or clicking on an interactive item from a digital interface) decreases with ageing [7, p. 89]. And so it will be necessary to take into account in interface design, this decrease of motor precision, with strategies that minimize it. Finally, there is also a deterioration in coordination between movements. In movements or tasks that require coordination between two movements, such as grabbing an object - which implies the movement of the arm reaching the object and the opening of the fingers to hold the same object - seniors have a greater difficulty in coordinating these two movements simultaneously [7, pp. 87–88]. From the characteristics of the seniors related to motor control, the design recommendations they raise are below presented: • Since it is expected that seniors, when interacting with an interface by means of a remote control, need to first look at the remote control, only then looking at the screen to see the reaction of the interface, this suggests that such a reaction, if it includes animation and movement of the graphic elements from one point to another, has to occur in a relatively slow pace, because in seniors the coordination of movements deteriorates. This is because the senior user needs to be given the necessary time to shift their attention and gaze from the remote control to the TV

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screen and thus still be able to see at least part of the interface’s reaction to his interaction input; The changes in motor control brought about by ageing suggest that in interactive tasks requiring text input via a digital keyboard displayed on a screen (e.g. writing a comment in a mobile application such as Instagram), it is expected that a senior will take much longer to type the characters that make up the message than a young person would. Therefore, it’s desirable, if possible, to implement other forms of input and data filling, such as voice input, in order to speed up this interaction task; Since the response and execution time of a movement increases in a senior, it is desirable that, for example, in the execution of a double-click mediated interaction (e.g. a “like” in Instagram) the execution time of the double-click is increased in order to accommodate this change in the execution time of senior movements; The reduction in the precision of the execution of the movements suggests that, in terms of the design of the remote controls, the keys are firstly large, and secondly few and clustered, in order to reduce the difficulty in the description of movements between two points. If the keys are too far apart it becomes harder for seniors to interact with the remote control, because the description of movements between two distant keys can become slow and fragmented, even because the range of movement of the finger operating the remote control is small; On the other hand, the reduction in accuracy in hitting interactive targets on screens, such as digital keyboards, menu items, or even icons, suggests that these interactive elements have, in the first place, to be large. Secondly, if the input and interaction mode is mediated by a touch screen (as in the case of a smartphone), due to the decreased precision of the movements, it is desirable that there be some visual distance between the interactive elements that compose the interface (for example, a text menu, icons or even a digital keyboard) otherwise a senior user may inadvertently click (which is more problematic in a touch screen than in a mouse-mediated interaction) on an item that is not the desired one, given proximity to the initially desired item.

2.9 The Decline of Haptic Perception A human faculty that, due to the increasing profusion of touch screen controlled interfaces, assumes a greater importance within the problem of the Design of visual interfaces of digital applications for seniors, is the haptic or touch sense. The term haptic also refers, as an area of emerging interest in Design, to the science that studies everything related to touch and its sensations as a means of control and interaction with machines and computers [12, p. 13]. As such, with digital interfaces that take advantage of this faculty to provide the user interaction feedback, it’s important to understand the extent to which this faculty is also affected by ageing. According to Czaja et al. [3] as we age there is a greater variability in haptic control and a widening of the limits of tactile perception regarding temperature and

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vibration (p. 19). Therefore, from a design point of view, it is natural that different senses, namely tactile, can make senior users less sensitive to haptic feedback [3, p. 20] by cancelling or minimising the effect of their use of this feedback strategy. So from the characteristics of seniors related to haptic perception, the design recommendations they raise are presented below: • The reduction in tactile perception levels suggests that, for seniors, it is advisable to accentuate the vibration of haptic stimuli in interactive elements, so that these can be more easily detected by this kind of user; • Alternatively, this sensory reduction also suggests replacing haptic stimuli in interactive elements with feedback either through slow visual animation or sound stimuli.

2.10 Adverse Effects of Ageing on Seniors’ Relationship with Information and Communication Technologies Ageing also affects the seniors’ relationship with new digital technologies. And there are several causes for this degradation. Zajicek [16] focuses on human factors. The faculties necessary for an individual to be able to correctly and comfortably interact with a graphical interface (…) are exactly those that deteriorate most with age (p. 62). Sometimes reduced visual acuity makes the interface difficult to see. The degradation of memory faculties reduces the ability to build new conceptual models regarding the functioning of an interface, since this construction depends on the individual remembering sequences of procedures and reasoning about them (…). Motor dexterity is also affected by making the computer mouse difficult to use. This reduces the confidence of the individual in dealing with new situations, which in turn promotes a reluctance to face new challenges (p. 62). On the other hand, it’s in this reluctance to face new challenges that another cause for the degradation of seniors’ relationship with new digital technologies lies: the problem of self-confidence and the fear of making mistakes. As seniors do not have the predisposition that young people have today to learn how to deal with the new digital technologies, they encounter obstacles in adopting them [5, p. 32]. This is because many develop a great fear of misusing the computer and damaging it [5, p. 33]. This fear has been observed in experiments where seniors have been tested on their relationship with the Internet, namely in studies conducted by Zajicek [16] and Rice and Alm [14]. In the experiments conducted by Rice and Alm [14], participants would automatically criticize themselves for not understanding certain aspects of the interface, rather than blaming the interface (p. 12). Also in the tests of Zajicek [16], where she tested the usability of an internet browser, it was found that the senior participants did not have the necessary self-confidence to make browser navigation decisions and felt confused and frustrated (p. 62). These observations illustrate how much the fear of making mistakes by seniors can be a barrier to the adoption of new digital products.

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However, there are other barriers, of cultural nature, which impose greater difficulties on senior citizens. These are condensed into the so-called digital illiteracy. New technologies very often go beyond the capacity to adapt to them, as they develop very fast and quickly. With the senior population this problem is even more acute [10, p. 01]. And today’s new digital communication technologies are no exception. According to several web accessibility studies, cited by Johnson and Kent (2007), seniors have a greater difficulty in using the internet because they generally have less experience with computers and the internet (p. 210). On the other hand, the difficulties in the interaction of senior citizens with new digital technologies also arise from the fact that they are less familiar with the applied interaction conventions and techniques, as well as with the metaphors used today in these media, which derive directly from those used in computers (Goodman et al. 2004, p. 01) [10, p. 09]. On the other hand, the language conventions used in the new digital technologies can also be a problem for seniors. In Rice and Alm’s [14] experiments with senior users, they found that some of the individuals involved in them complained of difficulties in understanding the terminologies used in digital technology instructions (p. 04–05). Therefore, normal computer jargon is not the most appropriate for senior users as they are not familiar with it. Based on the characteristics of seniors related to their relationship with the new digital technologies, the design recommendations they raise are presented below: • The typical fear of making mistakes, characteristic of seniors, when confronted with a new technology, suggests that strategies should be used to strengthen seniors’ confidence in interacting with new technologies, such as the introduction of descriptions and interaction aids in the interface and the inclusion of messages confirming that the user has taken one option over another; • The typical digital illiteracy suffered by some senior citizens suggests not to use the conventions of navigation and interaction currently used in new digital technologies such as the Internet, but to use conventions with which this population is familiar; • The difficulties of understanding technological jargon suggest not using this kind of language, but language and terminology with which senior citizens are familiar.

3 Conclusion This research work carried out a survey in specialized literature about the researches and researchers who have already developed work that is considered relevant in the area of Design of visual interfaces of digital applications for seniors. It was verified in the approaches of the consulted authors that, in the first place, designers who want to design interfaces suitable and easy to use by this population, must understand the characteristics and limitations imposed on this population by their own ageing process and the way it affects their ability to interact with and to adopt new digital technologies and their digital interfaces. Otherwise the either visual or interactive, models, conventions and solutions applied to digital applications’ interfaces will

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probably and most certainly be inadequate, creating natural barriers to the adoption of new digital solutions and applications by seniors. Secondly, it was also found that these limitations and characteristics of human ageing go far beyond the strict scope of visual perception limitations, typically associated with seniors, and include hearing limitations, motor limitations, memory limitations, haptic limitations and cultural limitations. And therefore, the limitations above described indicate specific care and attention that designers should consider when designing the interfaces of digital products for seniors, especially regarding: • Sound use and appropriate sound frequencies, type of tones and sound activation or deactivation control; • The configuration of the warning sounds; • The design of graphic elements, in terms of their size, number, sharpness, colour vibrancy, colour brightness and contrast; • The layout/organisation of the visual information in the visual interface’ pages or screens; • The navigation design and models used to navigate through the various pages that make up an interface; • The design of interactive elements in terms of clearly distinguishing between interactive and non-interactive elements/items; • The appropriate and pertinent use of animation in transitions; • The appropriate size of written messages or instructions; • The appropriate use of language and terminologies for naming the most appropriate interactive interface items; • The appropriate design of interaction feedback; • The appropriate use of text input models.

References 1. Becker SA, Webbe FM (2006) Designing for older adult users of handheld technology. In: Proceedings of the annual international conference of the IEEE engineering in medicine and biology society, New York, NY, USA, pp 3297–3300. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEMBS.2006. 260370 2. Carmichael A (1999) Style Guide for the Design of Interactive Television Services for Elderly Viewers, I.T. COMMISSION Ed., Kings Worthy Court, Winchester. https://citeseerx.ist.psu. edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.96.2933&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 25 Dec 2020 3. Czaja S, Boot W, Charness N, Rogers W (2019) Designing for older adults. In: Principles and creative human factors approaches, 3rd edn. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton 4. Fisk A, Rogers W, Charness N, Czaja S, Sharit J (2004) Designing for older adults. In: Principles and creative human factors approaches, 1st edn. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton 5. Garcia HD (2001) A terceira idade e a Internet: uma questão para o novo milênio. Masters thesis, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Marília, Brasil. https://acervodigital.unesp.br/handle/123456 789/48098. Accessed 15 Dec 2012. Banco Digital de Teses e Dissertações da Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” database

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6. Goodman J, Brewster S, Gray P (2004) Older People, Mobile Devices and Navigation, Glasgow, Interactive Systems Group, Glasgow, UK 7. Hawthorn D (2006) Designing effective interfaces for older users. Phd thesis, The University of Waikato, Waikato, New Zeland. https://hdl.handle.net/10289/2538. Accessed 05 Dec 2011. Research Commons database 8. Johnson R, Kent S (2007) Designing universal access: web-applications for the elderly and disabled. Cogn Technol Work 9(4):209–218 9. McLaughlin A, Pak R (2020) Designing displays for older adults. Human factors and aging series, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton 10. Obrist M, Bernhaupt R, Beck E, Tscheligi M (2007) Focusing on elderly: an iTV usability evaluation study with eye-tracking. In: Proceedings of interactive TV: a shared experience, 5th European conference, EuroITV 2007, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp 66–75. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-3-540-72559-6_8 11. Pereira L (2013) Princípios Orientadores de Design de interfaces para aplicações iTV orientadas para seniores portugueses. Phd thesis, Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal. https://sigarra.up.pt/fbaup/en/pub_geral.pub_view?pi_pub_base_id= 23692. Accessed 28 Dec 2020. Sigarra UP database 12. Pérez Ariza VZ, Santís-Chaves M (2016) Interfaces hápticas: sistemas cinestésicos vs. sistemas táctiles. Revista EIA 13(26):13–29. https://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext& pid=S1794-12372016000200002&lng=en&tlng=en. Accessed 28 Dec 2020 13. Portugal’s United Nations’ Website. https://unric.org/pt/envelhecimento. Accessed 28 Dec 2020 14. Rice M, Alm N (2008) Designing new interfaces for digital interactive television usable by older adults. Comput Entertain 6(1):1–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/1350843.1350849 15. World Health Organization’s Website. https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageing#tab=tab_1. Accessed 28 Dec 2020 16. Zajicek M (2001) Interface design for older adults. In: Proceedings of the 2001 EC/NSF workshop on Universal accessibility of ubiquitous computing: providing for the elderly. Alcácer do Sal, Portugal, pp 60–65. https://doi.org/10.1145/564526.564543

The Potential of Interactive Digital Narratives Towards Literary Linear Texts Ana Isabel Ferreira

and Soraia Ferreira

Abstract Stories are pivotal for human beings. For centuries, oral tradition and books carried them. However, faced with an increasingly digital society, in which stories are explored mainly through digital narratives, often interactive, it is crucial to understand the literary linear texts’ place. While these linear stories are already being used to construct interactive digital narratives, it seems pertinent to ask about these interactive objects’ potentialities towards increasing the public’s interest in linear literary texts. For this purpose, we revisit literature’s history, in all of its forms, looking for the potentialities already imminent. Afterward, we will gather case studies similar to the research we intended to carry out. Finally, we go through our own experience studying interactive digital narratives’ potentialities towards linear literary texts. Our results suggest many potentialities due to interactive digital narratives captivating users/readers and facilitating reading the story. However, more studies in the field are urgent for understanding how this potential can be optimized. Keywords Literature · Interactive · Digital · Narrative · Twine

1 Introduction Stories are one of the bases of what it is to be human. They build and shape our reality and essence. There is no Humanity, no thought, nor a human conscience without stories [1]. In fact, it is unreasonable for us to think of a nation, a society, people without stories [2]. Human beings use storytelling for the passage of knowledge and the creation of affective bonds, a consciousness of the self and the world, its rules, and its premises. The stories of our world, stories of what surrounds us, and, above all, our own stories shape who we are [3]. In this way, and according to Lamberti [4], storytelling, whether traditional or digital and/or interactive, contributes to creating a shared identity and a common A. I. Ferreira (B) · S. Ferreira Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, s/n, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_6

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memory. Thus, it is the language that determines the very definition of what it means to be human. This language defines the “I” and the “you” and contributes to the development of relationships between them, allowing for the establishment of empathic ties, and ultimately to build our discourse and, consequently, define the world [5, 6]. However, stories go far beyond what was mentioned. We can tell what we know, but we can also tell what we never saw and what others know. Ultimately, we can see far beyond our reality, and we can imagine stories that we did not live, that we do not know in person, but that, in some way, we managed to create. Therefore, storytelling is a magical and powerful tool, one which everyone uses, whether aware of it or not. This is why, from Aristotle (Poetics) to Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Hero’s Journey), to Christopher Vogler (The Writer’s Journey), we have been on a constant quest in trying to understand further the narratives we tell and so much enjoy [7]. And although not all stories are written, such as oral narratives, in one way or another, writing became a privileged medium for storytelling. However, performative art, painting, and music are other popular mediums. The truth is that, although language is “universal” to those who understand the structures and rules which give it meaning, sometimes a painting or a song is far more effective in carrying a sensation or a causal relationship, as Francastel [8] mentions, besides being way more universal. Thus, and in agreement with Aristotelian theory, it seems clear that narrative constitutes a sequence of action. And according to the means of transmission, reception conditions, and possible technology used (both printing technology, visual, and sound systems), the narrative relates with the public differently [9]. Just as the first printed books did not have many differences in relation to medieval manuscripts [10], the electronic book or e-book also didn’t change much in relation to the previous printed literary medium. In the 1990s, there were several discussions regarding the future of digital narrative from printed literature. While some predicted no future for this form of reading, others predicted the printed book’s disappearance [11]. However, since the beginning of the new millennium, none of these predictions became a reality. Today we know that both media coexist and changed according to technological advances, from books that allow augmented reality to interactive e-books and others [1]. There were several studies and developments at the level of narratives (both printed and digital) since the first conversation robot Eliza (1966), by Joseph Weizenbaum, considered the first interactive digital character, until the nineties, when a new media practice began to be used. Still, much remains to be said. The rapid growth of interactive digital narratives underlines the urgent necessity to study the phenomena at an equally fast pace [11, 12]. What is certain is that it is impossible to overlook the role of literature, whether in teaching and learning or as a provider of knowledge, as well as a propagator of aesthetic understanding and a source of high-personal, collective, and cultural entertainment [13]. Reading a book involves using complex skills that activate all major areas of the human brain. In addition, the reading process involves strengthening language, sustained attention, cognition, and imagination [14].

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While some may still believe that the new technological age has deliberately and largely contributed to the sequential extermination of reading, especially among the younger age groups, there seems to be no concrete basis to support it. Spaces for multimedia exposure indeed replaced many literary spaces, but reading habits have been a concern since long before the current hyper-technological period. We still read, but there seems to be more “zapping reading” than ever, as stated by Fabrice Piault in 1995 [13]. Thus, we underline once more the necessity to explore new reading media to spark a greater interest in literature and contribute to a population closer to the cultural and social value of these artistic objects [13]. The use of digital storytelling contributes to multiple facets of literacy such as digital literacy (the ability to communicate for the discussion of topics, gathering information, and seeking help); global literacy (the ability to read, interpret, respond, and contextualize a global perspective); technological literacy (the ability to use computers and other technologies to improve learning, productivity, and performance), visual literacy (the ability to understand, produce and communicate through visual images); and information literacy (the ability to allow for finding, evaluating, and synthesizing information). Therefore, it seems evident that all these potentialities cannot and should not be ignored [15]. The new digital age, which was mentioned as the main exterminator of reading habits, may contain in itself the fundamental tool to foster literary interest. Thus, with this chapter, we intend to revisit literature’s history, searching for the potentialities already imminent in all of its forms. Then, we will take a critical look into other researchers’ findings in the field. Finally, we will go through our own experience studying interactive digital narratives’ potentialities towards linear literary texts. By comprising all this information and critically analyzing it, we hope we can underline the urgency to study new means of literature and, most of all, of its usage towards enhancing and wide-spreading the marvels of literature, the one that came before and the one created today.

2 Digital Literature 2.1 The Beginning Narrative forms have been evolving alongside the communication and expressive media, including technology evolution. However, this kind of art is not exclusive to the internet age. In 1962, Umberto Eco published The Open Work. The author refers to the interactivity between a work of art and the reader/experimenter/spectator [16]. Indeed, initiated in France also in the sixties by poets and mathematicians, such as Marcel Duchamp and Italo Calvino, the literary chain OuLiPo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle or Potential Literature Workshop) proposes the liberation of literature and the creation of infinite literature, through the combination of literature and mathematics

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[6]. A great example is Raymond Queneau’s Cent Mille Milliards de Poèmes, where the reader is faced with the possibility to combine verses to create different poems in an infinite-kind of way. It is evident that the movement seemed to prophesize the literature of the future we can find today. Literature that follows the rules of computing besides those of language, including both texts born directly from the digital realm, especially the hypertexts used by the first digital generation, and those included in what Jessica Pressman (2014) calls “digital modernism.” This digital modernism refers to a second digital generation who, through new software, especially Flash, is able to produce a multimodal, interactive, and multimedia aesthetic [6, 17]. But what frequently happens in digital literature is that there is the subversion of the narrative order, which creates an immersive and participatory environment in a story. But this also happened with literature way before the digital era, as demonstrated by the Choose Your Own Adventure books. However, digital media’s advancement has undoubtedly allowed the development of content with multiple narratives, parallel, and interrelated stories [9]. Hence, new forms of “hybrid” artistic creation have emerged. An example is the digital poetry of Jim Andrews. His “pop-up poem” is the fusion between the internet and literature. Other examples include the poets whose literary (hybrid) art was part of the “Poems That Go” online literary journal (now accessible as an archive only). Admittedly, what happens when a new medium appears is that it becomes an extension of another previously existing medium. There are a lot of studies about the process, such as that of Brenda Laurel (1991) in video games, Janet Murray (1997) in the literary field, and Lev Manovich (2001), regarding filmography [9]. Manovich (1999) explains that after the novel and the cinema privileged the narrative as the elementary form of cultural expression of modernity, the computer age presents its correlate - the database. Here, the film critic introduced the necessary bridge between tradition and contemporaneity [17]. Indeed, there has always been an appropriation of older media languages by the new media, especially in terms of audiovisual media. The cinema appropriates the theater for the construction of its narratives and structures. Radio and television also carry out the same process of appropriation. More recently, this same process happened on the internet and interactive digital television. Thus, this dialogue between art, language, and technology provides an instrument of analysis of extreme richness, which allows for a shift in the traditional ways of producing meaning and enhances a path towards a world of new possibilities for the collective construction of subjectivity [9, 18, 19].

2.2 Multimedia, Interactivity, and Literature In its definition, a computational multimedia system is one that is capable of inputting or outputting from more than one medium. Usually, the term is applied to systems that support more than one physical output. As for computer input, multimedia refers

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to using various input devices to interact with a computer system. The purpose of these multimedia systems is to facilitate communication by making the most of human senses [20]. Therefore, one could summarize the definition of multimedia as a computational rhetorical artifact, in which multiple elements of multimedia are integrated into an interactive whole [21]. The World Wide Web evolution, which included incorporating new multimedia applications, boosted new forms of creation and reuse, ultimately allowing for greater interactivity to take place [22]. Thus, the proliferation of digital products that do not fit comfortably in our critical traditions began to emerge quickly. In response to this spread, there was a revival of critical theories and the development of a multimedia production craft [21]. This led to contemporaneity being characterized by a digital culture’s experience, which brought inherent consequences in several human activity areas. Imminently, literary creation, as well as teaching literature, were affected on a large scale, not only in terms of production but also in terms of greater diffusion, contact, and the reception approach [13, 17, 23, 24]. Hence, the rise of computer technology in the literary system supposes the transference of a printed context to a digital one, consequently creating electronic literature. It has a corpus that integrates, on the one hand, printed works transformed into the electronic format and, on the other, original productions created in and for the digital space. In the first case, and directly related to the study we conducted, new extraordinary possibilities are generated since we can find innovation strategies in digital modernism through the use of contemporary technology to reformulate and remodel old literary practices [17, 23, 24]. By remodeling we mean, not only the transformation of linear stories into nonlinear ones but also new ways of interactivity to happen. It is essential to mention this because there were already popular literary works that allowed a certain interactivity. A particular case is the Choose Your Own Adventure books (1979–1998), previously mentioned. These were formed from, and in this case, incorporated in the literature. Through them, readers make decisions and directly change the course of the story they have access to. These became a reference example of non-linear narratives, especially in the literary realm. Hales (2017) stated that the saga was thus a great enhancer of the popularity of interactive narratives, whose significant increase coincided with the year of the launch of the books in 1979 [25]. Curiously, these stories are also available today as interactive audiobooks, created with Amazon’s Alexa [26]. However, there are many examples of non-linear literature, such as the experimental novels by Vladimir Nabovok, Pale Fire (1962), Julio Cortazar, Hopsotch (1963), and David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (1996). These works use footnotes or other textual mechanisms to connect texts and allow the navigation through a networked narrative, rather than following a linear path [17]. But with technology, non-linear stories gained new life. Stories of mythological heroes from classical literature have always been sources of inspiration and reused over time in painting, music, theater, comic books or manga, films, documentaries, anime and cartoons, computer games, and other interactive digital narratives. Similarly, Adventure (1976), by Will Crowther, considered the first interactive fiction

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title, was inspired by the famous role-playing board game Dungeons and Dragons. And expressions like “text adventure” and “adventure game” for electronic games arisen from this program. Its antecedents include the talking robot Eliza (1966), by Joseph Weizenbaum, previously mentioned, as well as Gregory Yob’s cave crawling game, Hunt the Wumpus (1973), and Terry Winograd’s artificial intelligence system, SHRDLU (1968–1970). Thus, early interactive fiction (software that simulates environments for players to interact) started being developed at universities in the United States and abroad, as is the case at the University of Cambridge, which produced a wide variety of games [27]. Four programmers developed an important follow-up for Adventure from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Zork (1977), which Infocom marketed. But many other companies, including several created in Australia and England, launched interactive fiction games in the meanwhile. However, in the 1980s, there was a decrease in the market for interactive digital narratives, at the same time that the first major academic project, the Oz Project, started at Carnegie Mellon University, which ran between 1989 and 2002 [27]. ˇ cera was also experimenting Switching our focus from games to cinema, Radúz Cinˇ with interactivity at the time. In 1990, he created Cinelabyrinth, a pavilion in which it was possible to explore an interactive cinema experience. But even before creating ˇ cera had created Kinoautomat (1967), a prototype of interactive this project, Cinˇ cinema, recognized as the first interactive film in the world, which captured the public’s imagination at Expo’67 in Montreal [25]. But nowadays, big streaming companies, like Netflix, have also been investing in their interactive content. As a first example, we find the interactive series Minecraft: Story Mode (2015), which uses the world of the popular game Minecraft. Netflix also offers Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale (2017). By using the classic fairytale “Puss in Boots” throughout its interactive episodes, viewers/users have the opportunity to change the course of the cat’s story of the movie Shrek, as well as its ending. We also find Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile (2017), released shortly afterward by Netflix, which follows the same model with the same goals, for the same target audience: children (Newton, 2017). We can mention the interactive animated episode Stretch Armstrong: The Break Out (2018) within the same genre. More recently, Netflix also launched an interactive series entitled You vs. Wild (2019), in which “viewers” can make decisions for the famous adventurer Bear Grylls in harsh environments. In addition to the examples already mentioned, other television series, such as Try Life, from 2012, Late Shift, from 2016, or more recently Black Mirror, a series also from Netflix, in its episode Bandersnatch from December 2018, offer interactivity as well. In fact, based on the latter’s popularity, platforms like YouTube now hope to also invest in interactive digital narratives [28]. In retrospect, it is easy to understand that the days of Kinoautomat are long gone, when the projectionist needed to quickly put the tape chosen by the spectators in a cinema room [29]. Going back to the literary field, there are also companies, like the Brazilian StoryMax, which already explore the transformation of classic literature in interactive stories for mobile phones and tablets to enhance literature for younger generations.

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Vivros, another Brazilian company, also holds the same objective, despite doing it in another way. In this case, previously unpublished children’s books are published on paper but provide a complement through an application that allows interactivity [30]. Moreover, there are some applications in which literary texts were used for creating interactive digital narratives. An example is iClassics Productions [31], a company focused on making this type of application, offering a great variety. However, no studies were conducted on their potential as far as we know. From all that was mentioned up until this point, we clearly understand that with the evolution of new technologies, other forms of storytelling have emerged, while others saw an opportunity to expand. Digital narratives reach the public through technology and digital means, such as microprocessors, wireless signals, the internet, DVDs, among others. While analog technology supports older multimedia elements, such as films or audio tapes, new technologies have allowed the appearance of something new in their functionality: interactivity [7, 17]. Hence, these media often become narrative games that involve the reader in processes that involve recombination, transformations, and increased complexity, leading them to assume unconventional positions in their relationship with the medium [32]. As Pressman (2014) refers, we live in a society obsessed with contacting new media and the new in general. However, this is somewhat contradicted by digital literature. This type of literature has a strong preponderance in the creation of something original, in a way that shows that something old was transformed into something new, which, in a way, enriches our sense of literary history [17]. Thus, we find several artistic projects that incorporate pre-modern literary works. Just as Joyce sought to renew Homer’s The Odyssey concept, contemporary artists manipulate a continuous parallel between contemporaneity and antiquity. As T. S. Eliot refers, Joyce uses a methodology that others would follow. In this sense, using Joyce’s work, Ulysses is the perfect irony in this case. That is precisely what Ian Bogost and Ian McCarthy did by turning the book’s “Wandering Rocks” section into a Twitter performance in 2007. In 140 characters, Joyce’s work’s main characters were able to communicate in the first person with readers/users. Here, we find a digital literary exploration that uses a database to produce a narrative in a “stream of consciousness” way [17]. Similarly, we find the project The Jew’s Daughter, which also adapts a part of the work Ulysses. This was a 2000’s project that generated controversy by returning to simpler ways of presenting a narrative without using a vast amount of multimedia elements [17]. In addition, we may refer to the work My Molly (Departed). In it, it is possible to remix text, image, audio, and video, which is triggered by interaction with the keyboard. In the same way as “Wandering Rocks,” it is allocated on Twitter, and in the same way as The Jew’s Daughter, uses Joyce’s Ulysses as a source for their intertextual references [17]. On the other hand, we can also point out works that use digital media strategies to show that, just as MacLuhan affirms, creating something new constitutes a recursive act of involvement with the literary past. An example of this occurrence can be found

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in the book Only Revolutions, a book printed in 2006, which requires interactivity with the reader. The work uses printed poetics and a page design (360 pages with 180 words each, in addition to other singularities), which forces the reader to read and reread to experience the story in different ways. Thus, digital modernism, in which this work is included, demonstrates how digital literature can support a reflection on older literary practices and reading technologies [17]. In conclusion, through everything explored thus far, it is evident that there is an exchange between the different supports in which literature is currently found. If it is true that multimedia has been using printed literature, especially in terms of content (but not restricted to it), it is also clear that strategies of the digital medium can also happen in contemporary printed formats. Just as the work referred above, Only Revolutions, the relationship between printed literature and digital literature also appears to occur in a 360º loop. This confirms that the potential for crossing these artistic objects is an area of interest worth studying.

2.3 Case Studies By analyzing digital storytelling case studies, we find several where the participants end up being the creators of the narratives themselves, not so much as their experimenters. These case studies reflect the many possible and positive uses for communities, minorities, children, and adults to create digital narratives, at a cultural, personal, social, and learning level, both in a general way and for more specific subjects, such as new languages. As examples, we find Miller’s, 2017, with Latin immigrants in the United States [33]; Pardo’s, 2014, for learning English as a non-native language [34]; Di Blas and Boretti, 2009, with nursery school children [35]; and Hull and Katz, 2006, with children and adults from disadvantaged social backgrounds [36]. Regarding the use of linear narratives for the construction of interactive digital stories, we find the work of Cavazza, Lugrin, Pizzi, and Charles from 2007. The researchers used excerpts from the 19th-century literary work Madame Bovary, by author Gustave Flaubert, to create an immersive interactive storytelling system in which the user could interact with characters from the book [37]. Later, in 2010, Lugrin, Cavazza, Pizzi, Vogt and André, investigated how users felt when using this same prototype. Using a sample of thirty-eight participants, they tested it in forty-fiveminute sessions. They randomly divided the participants into two different groups. One group of candidates would assume the role of Emma’s lover (an interactive character in the narrative). The other group, the role of a ghost, able to whisper to the characters. In the end, they concluded that users could successfully engage in an immersive interactive narrative, with a good exploration of the story, both in terms of duration and contentment [38]. Regarding the use of a marginal narrative for the creation of an interactive digital narrative, we found a case study carried out in 2016, in which twenty participants divided into two groups, the control group and the experimental group, experienced a fable, Magnet, in its traditional printed version and an augmented reality one,

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respectively. The participants in the experimental group reported a greater sense of expressiveness in the book experienced through augmented reality, as well as ease of usage, with a greater sense of involvement. On the other hand, in terms of comprehension, both the control group participants and those in the experimental group seemed to achieve the same results. However, the participants in the control group slightly outperformed those in the experimental group. The authors viewed this as a possible consequence of the fable’s brevity, which allowed for a broader understanding when simply read. They also investigated the greatest impact of the interactive content. The participants homogeneously considered that there is a more significant impact in terms of entertainment and involvement, at the expense of comprehension [39]. Another study, by Vosmeer, Sandovar, and Schouten (2018), investigates the passage of narratives from one medium to another. In this case, a historical novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob, by Zoet, became a radio drama, and then two scenes were converted into an interactive virtual reality project. The researchers found that through storytelling in virtual reality, the users’ total attention can be maintained. It isn’t easy to fully emerge a listener in a radio drama due to the different stimuli around them, especially visual ones, such as television and the internet. Thus, virtual reality allows blocking these external stimuli, placing the user in a virtual reality environment created for the narration they are listening to. Moreover, this optimization allows for more emotional content in the story. Although the interactive elements do not inform the user about the plot, they reinforce the scene’s atmosphere and feeling. Hence, the user can focus on the narrative more effectively, as reported in the previous case study. Vosmeer, Sandovar, and Schouten also refer that the interactive element allowed for greater satisfaction, with increased entertainment and fun. In this segment, the authors concluded that the more traditional work, the radio drama, can benefit from the qualities of virtual reality, which opens doors to the study of the same process from books to interactive digital narratives [40].

3 Our Research 3.1 Methods We conducted an experimental procedure regarding the potentialities of the transformation of linear printed narratives into digital interactive ones. The study’s name being From a Linear Literary Narrative to an Interactive Digital Narrative: A Study on Potentialities through Two Tales: “The Mystery of the Tree” and “Red Riding Hood” [41]. The study’s main objective was to find meanings, opinions, and reasons underlying the subject in question through a qualitative approach. The research did not intend to obtain feedback regarding interactive digital narratives’ design nor interaction design.

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For this purpose, we transformed two linear narratives into interactive digital ones through the software Twine. The software allowed us to generate interaction with the user through cards connected by links. Both stories follow a “Fishbone Narrative” structure [42], which means that there is a main path, despite various choices as well, as shown in the following figures (Figs. 1 and 2). We also prepared a printed version, similar to the interactive one in format, using the same font, colors, and similar sizes. Later, we selected a convenience sample of thirty-two students from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Firstly, we randomly divided the participants into two groups: the experimental and control groups, each with sixteen participants. The experimental group read the well-known linear narrative called Red Riding Hood [43], published in 1857 by the Grimm brothers. The control group explored the less known linear narrative, The Mystery of the Tree [44], published in 1926 by Raul Brandão, a Portuguese writer. These two short stories are related because of their theme, with both embodying elements of horror. Within these two groups, we divided the participants once more into two more groups. In one, participants first read the printed version and then experimented with the interactive digital one. In the other group, participants performed this in reverse order. We ended up with four groups of eight participants each. Before experimenting with the narratives, the participants filled in an informed consent document and responded to a brief questionnaire. After the experimentation, we performed an interview with the participants, which we recorded, and later transcribed for analysis.

Fig. 1 Structure of the interactive digital narrative of “Red Riding Hood,” built on Twine

Fig. 2 Structure of the interactive digital narrative of “The Mystery of the Tree,” built on Twine

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3.2 Findings Through the analysis of the questionaries, in general, regardless of gender, age, or degree, all participants considered reading as something important. The overall average was 4.56 out of 5. While 40,6% of participants read more than three books per year, 46,9% read between one and three books per year, and four participants did not read any book within a year. Regarding their perception of the reading experience, only one participant considered it as something bad. The remaining participants found the experience satisfactory (37.5%) or very satisfactory (34.4%). When it comes to the usage of interactive digital narratives, the majority of the participants rarely used them (31.3%) or did it a few times (27.9%). Despite this, a considerable number of participants used them sometimes (18.8%) or a lot of times (18.8%). Through the analysis of the interviews, we found that 67.9% of the participants preferred the interactive digital version of the narrative, while 32.1% preferred the printed linear narrative one. Of all participants, 55.6% reported that they didn’t feel that the story changed from one medium to another (from linear to non-linear and vice-versa). On the other hand, 44.4% reported feeling some differences in the story. Regarding the possibility of interactive digital narratives being able to increase the consumption of literary texts, eleven participants did not directly respond to this question out of the thirty-two participants. However, 100% of the twenty-one respondents considered that the interactive digital narrative could contribute to such an effect. After going through the quantitative results, we performed the qualitative analysis method, which constitutes a thematic content analysis. Thus, we looked for specific patterns of the participants’ answers and coded them as themes, as is displayed in the following figures (Figs. 3 and 4).

3.3 Discussion Through our research, we hoped to answer two research questions: • What is the experience of reading a linear narrative and an interactive digital narrative? • Does it make sense to construct interactive digital narratives from linear narratives to increase the consumption of literature? Regarding the first question, about the experience of reading a linear narrative and an interactive digital one, we found that Individuals who already had reading habits before the experience are the ones who typically prefer the printed linear story. We believe that this type of outcome fills a gap in the literature concerning the creation of interactive digital narratives from linear narratives since we were able to

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Fig. 3 Pros of the different types of narratives

Fig. 4 Cons of the different types of narratives

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identify a pattern of a certain level of discontent. This pattern can be used for future investigations by separating individuals with established reading habits and those who do not, to research how it is possible to increase general satisfaction. Overall, reading a linear narrative is a process that participants consider safer when reading technical knowledge. This result may be due to these participants having had more contact with linear printed texts during their school education. Thus, further researches on transforming technical books into interactive digital narratives are required. Participants also considered that experiencing an interactive digital narrative is very similar to playing a game. Thus, many participants considered that the narrative became more straightforward or that it provided greater involvement. Since they were invited to participate in constructing the story in the interactive experience, they became more attentive. This probably led to participants feeling a better understanding of the interactive text. These results are the same as those of other studies that explored interactive digital narratives, although linear narratives were not used to create interactive digital ones [39, 45]. But the possibility of participation in the story also appears as a negative factor, with reasons that some participants do not enjoy having to make decisions or actually just prefer a more traditional text. We find this result vital for understanding what influences interactive digital narratives (or the lack of it) by the population. However, some participants suggested creating interactive digital narratives that would resemble reading a book, for example, with pages to turn. Future studies may use this suggestion to test if it would increase the user’s satisfaction. Some participants also considered that more than one possible ending to the story could increase its effectiveness since there is only one ending in the “fishbone” structure. However, these participants were the ones in the group of the well-known story. This shows that this factor could not be determinant if the original story wasn’t already known. Furthermore, it is essential to add that knowing the story before the experience influenced the way participants viewed the interactive digital narrative, how they interacted with it, and their responses to interview questions, as we anticipated. Thus, the data denotes that interactive digital narratives are most effective for stories not previously known. Notwithstanding, while different sensations were felt, and there may have been a greater or lesser satisfaction, it seems that users can get the same meanings from both formats. This is a significant result as it shows an increased value for interactive digital narratives, which can preserve the original narrative’s story. This also indicates that this type of narrative may be used for educational purposes regarding literature. In short, the results mentioned are per the ones of the case study performed by Lorenzini, Evangelista, and Carrozzino [39]. These authors found that, although participation and entertainment are increased through interactive digital narrative, when it comes to understanding the text, some participants have a preference for the linear text, especially for shorter texts, such as the ones used in our study. When it comes to the second research question regarding the construction of interactive digital narratives from linear narratives to increase literature consumption,

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our findings suggest a positive answer. Regarding the potential of interactive digital narratives created from linear literary texts, participants, in general, agree with its existence. Even those who didn’t enjoy the interactive digital narrative as much believe it can help with the increment of reading habits and the exploration of more classic texts. We find this result very significant since, despite there being several studies on interactive digital narratives, few refer to the usage of linear stories or literary texts for their creation [46–49]. If this potential exists, either for educational purposes and entertainment, interactive digital narratives can be used and optimized to reach those that wouldn’t typically bear interest in such texts. Moreover, this may be considered the decisive opportunity to preserve reading in such a digital world, especially of older stories that potential readers would not usually select. Also, since these interactive digital narratives require more user participation, they can boost reading, particularly by younger generations and children. Nevertheless, participants consider that, even for other age groups, interactive digital narratives show immense potential because of the amount of entertainment it provides, as well as of involvement. Because of these features, it has been found that the interactivity may also enable a higher focus by the user. These results are the same as those previously mentioned and once again establish how much interactive digital narratives may contribute to a greater desire to explore literary texts. The results are also in line with those of Vosmeer, Sandovar, and Schouten [40], who concluded that increased entertainment and focus were significant advantages of interactivity. In other considerations, the participants performed a successful and active involvement with the experience. There was a satisfactory general level of content regarding the interactive digital narrative, independently of the type of narrative preference, which is in accordance with the results from the case study by Lugrin, Cavazza, Pizzi, Vogt, and Andre [38]. With this in mind, we can conclude that the use of interactive digital narratives to explore older and classical texts can contribute to an increment in the general population’s interest in this kind of literature. Thus, it is of high interest to explore the creation of interactive digital narratives to reach a broader audience, not only for its potential for schools but also for entertainment. More studies are necessary to open new doors and acquire more knowledge on good practices for creating interactive digital narratives from linear literary narratives since, currently, there are a lot of possibilities still to be explored.

4 Conclusion From the state-of-the-art analysis we performed, it is clear that there is already an established relationship between literary narratives and interactive digital narratives. Nonetheless, we gathered that there isn’t that much being performed in the potentialities of interactive digital narratives towards linear literary texts when it comes to research. Although the use of interactive digital stories for education, in general, has

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been partially studied, it is crucial to assess further the potentialities of this format of storytelling for other specific areas, such as literature. As we saw, interactive digital narratives became ubiquitous artistic objects, which have been developing rapidly, at the same pace as technology. It is no surprise, though, as today’s developed countries’ generations live surrounded by digital technological mediums and information. Thus, it becomes evident that interactive digital narratives play a pivotal role in the future of the transmission of stories. While there are already new stories being produced in the digital realm, it is ever so important to preserve stories that came before. They are the ones that can enlighten us about our traditions, culture, and history, enriching our knowledge and sense of belonging. As we explored in the literature review, there is already a bridge between mediums, with interactive digital storytelling using linear literary stories to create new artistic digital objects. Thus, as the saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them,” there is the possibility of inspiring more interest in literature through interactive digital narratives. But the objective of this process goes further, as we also believe that, by getting interested in literary texts through interactive digital means, users could become more active readers of linear literary texts. In fact, regarding our research, through the analysis of the questionnaires and the interviews conducted, the results suggest that the interactive digital narrative allows for greater comprehension, focus, involvement, and general satisfaction regarding the reading of the story. Another interesting finding is that this story, according to participants’ general perception, does not change much from one medium to another at its core, changing mostly in the way it is felt. This underlines the great possibilities that are yet to explore, both in maintaining culture and for the transmission of tradition and knowledge. However, our research also suggests that individuals who have established reading habits prefer printed linear narratives. This result points towards a constrain for those who wish to propagate the use of interactive digital narratives. Even so, in general, all participants agree on the great potentialities of interactive digital narratives, especially for those who do not yet have reading habits. The findings of our overall research suggest the same. Hence, we firmly believe and recommend other studies to assess different potentialities and characteristics, such as design, creation software, different types of users, and others.

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Real Possibility of an Entirely Open-Source Pipeline for Indie Games Design and Production. Altamira Game as a Case Study Dario Lanza, María de Iracheta, Carmen Pérez, Borja Jaume, Lara Sánchez, and Marcos Casero Abstract Videogames, and their powerful industry, constitute a hugely appealing sector for a large proportion of creative profiles—however, it is difficult for them to access this small number of companies organized as huge production conglomerates. On the other hand, the movement of free software and open source is headed in precisely the opposite direction, empowering individuals by giving back the creative control and freedoms limited by commercial software licenses. In the middle of the tension generated by these two extremes, we have tried to highlight the power that independent creators hold today through produce videogames, from their inception right through to their distribution, exclusively using open source software and free resources. This chapter, which aims to be a guide for future indie creators, analyzes these alternative offerings from their praxis, and explains the entire process. The conclusions drawn from this experience have been surprisingly positive. Keywords Free software · Open source · Videogames · Design

D. Lanza (B) · M. de Iracheta · C. Pérez · B. Jaume · L. Sánchez · M. Casero Faculty of Fine Arts, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. de Iracheta e-mail: [email protected] C. Pérez e-mail: [email protected] B. Jaume e-mail: [email protected] L. Sánchez e-mail: [email protected] M. Casero e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_7

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1 Individual Takes Control. From Software in Rebellion to Indie Gaming Since the mid-80s, we have been witnessing a true revolution at the heart of the software industry, through the consolidation of such concepts as freeware, shareware, and free and open source software, which offer alternatives to licensing-system software distribution models. Although these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, their limits are well-defined and they have clearly distinct focuses. The first of these initiatives, free software, arose at the MIT in 1971 from the creation of a software named ITS, which was developed by several programmers. Richard Stallman, who would go on to become the founder of the free software movement, belonged to this collective, which he described as a simple “software exchange community” [9] which as yet had no specific appellation. This burgeoning alternative community began to observe how companies selling computers used privative licenses to limit technological growth via distribution modalities such as trademarks or copyright. In an attempt to combat this structure, in 1983, Stallman decided to develop the free operating system GNU, which would later turn into the popular operating system GNU/Linux thanks to his work alongside Linus Torvalds. Closely related to this, but with a different motive, in 1997 the concept of open source emerged from developers who had belonged to the free software community, such as Eric Raymond and Tim O’Reilly, who felt that this initiative was being perceived as “anti-commercial” and that this was hindering its acceptance by certain sectors and users. With the aim of reaching people who had been previously reticent about the notion of free software, the idea of open source came about as a variant that was, to an extent, less restrictive. While free software focused on promoting “social solidarity, exchange and collaboration” [8], an objective that implied public access to source code in such a way that users could freely use software in addition to modifying it and distributing new versions, open source did not require the code to be obligatorily shared. As such, it placed less emphasis on freedom of use, in order to encourage more developers to adopt it. While free software was born as a movement based on the social benefits of sharing code, open source was based on the idea that attracting more developers to a software will necessarily make it better. One seeks maximum freedom for individuals, while the other focuses more on business and technological development: two different philosophies, albeit existing in the same context, oriented toward the free development and distribution of software. From a conceptually different perspective, we find the programs denominated freeware and shareware. The term “freeware” came about in 1982, based on the work of programmer Andrew Fluegelman, who aimed to alternatively commercialize filesending software he himself had created, named PC-Talk III. Its distribution model consisted of sending users an executable copy of the software and suggesting they made a voluntary donation [10]. Users of PC-Talk III could copy and redistribute the program freely and free of charge, though this did not involve access to the source code. Another example of a program under freeware license is the popular videocalling platform Skype [7].

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This voluntary-payment usage system shares similarities with “shareware”, though this latter type operating from a somewhat less permissive position. The Association of Software Professionals considers Jim Knopf to be the father of shareware who, in a strategy similar to that employed by Fluegelman, created a software named PC-File with the aim of sharing the creation of a “good program with others” [11]. Unlike the free and permanent use permitted by freeware licenses, shareware programs suggest two other distribution alternatives: either to allow the free-ofcharge use of the software for a trial period but paying for it once this period is over, or offering a free version with limited functionalities compared with the paid version. The debate surrounding the social, cultural and industrial implications of the free distribution of software continues to generate controversy almost forty years after its inception, and this debate is highly nuanced, which is why we deem it appropriate to begin by explaining the defining principles of these alternative distribution methods and their main differences. This is useful for understanding the current school of thought based on freedom of use and the exchange of knowledge, which has also penetrated the industry of the development and distribution of videogames. While the first videogames came about at important research institutions such as MIT [6, 12], university faculties [13] and military projects such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense [4], the democratization of access to personal computers that occurred in the 80 s began to throw up a burgeoning community of amateur videogame developers operating at the fringes of large institutions. By the mid-2000s, a considerable number of indie creators existed. It was during this decade that accessible multi-platform game engines appeared, such as Unity (private software with free license since 2005), Unreal Engine (used since the late 90 s by the mod community and with free access to the engine since 2015) and Godot Engine (free, open-code software since 2014). These platforms, united by advances in internet connection speeds over those same years, formed a breeding ground for the appearance of a significant indie scene. These factors have given rise to dynamic and highly active communities, such as TigSource, in which creators can share and comment on the development of their projects, and the appearance of new distribution channels partly furnished by players themselves. These included Steam, a PC gaming platform developed by Valve Corporation in 2003, Apple App Store for iOS games and apps since 2008, Google Play Store for Android since 2008, Itch.io, a repository for video-leisure content for PC since 2013, and Epic Store, which, since 2018, has been attempting to compete with the widespread use of Steam. In addition to this explosion of independent projects, new festival circuits specializing in these types of productions have appeared, as well as arcade and market exhibitions for indie content, such as the Independent Games Festival, part of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco since 1998, or Indiecade, which started as part of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles before becoming an independent event. The 2000s also saw the emergence of a new current of critics and journalism surrounding these new games, expanding on the notion of pleasure that these types of creations bring about, diversifying design quality criteria and reaching new player profiles.

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Beyond all these factors, interwoven with technological advances, it is also necessary to situate the phenomenon of indie games within the wider context of independent DIY culture it shares with other cultural aspects, such as music, film and comics, born of a common desire to reject the practices laid out by big businesses. So, indie videogames came about as a reaction to a series of existing problems within the industry, such as frequent dismissals [1], the gender wage gap [5], the alienation of creative profiles determined by market research figures, or long, 60- to 80-h working weeks to meet excessively tight deadlines: a phenomenon known as crunch time. Indie creators responded to this with the implementation of flexible timeframes and different development cycles from those in the industry, early prototyping and regularly publishing iterations, in order to maintain a fluid feedback loop and work on polishing and commercializing only those ideas proven to work. From a commercial point of view, videogame sales worldwide grow year on year at the same rate as increasing production costs, but the average videogame loses more and more money, forcing editors to make these losses up with profits from the few economically profitable games there are [3]. This drags the industry into a widespread issue that sees big-budget productions saturating the market, feeding into conservatism by opting to rely on lucrative formulae rather than taking a gamble on more experimental products [2]. Indeed, it is sporting franchises and various editions of sagas such as Call of Duty that every year head up the lists of most profitable games (see Fig. 1). But what essentially characterizes an indie project is not actually a reduced budget, but rather a self-managed, experimental, venturesome and personal work. Seeking funding outside of big capital has given rise to new models, such as the collective of independent developers Indie Fund, created by professionals who found commercial success with independent productions and who now support new ventures, Humble Bundle, an initiative offering games packages for which users pay what they feel is Fig. 1 SuperData 2020 Year in Review Report Source Nielsen Group

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right, micro-funding sources like Kickstarter, or micro-sponsorship platforms such as Patreon. Another characteristic feature of the indie scene is the sense of belonging to a community of collaboration and support, to a group of adherents who cooperate rather than competing and who attempt to build a more inclusive and diverse community in terms of gender, race, educational profile, and so on. Ultimately, the indie scene aims to conceptualize the creation of games as an artistic and cultural practice, not necessarily as an industrially-organized job. Within this context, we wanted to experience the reality of an indie creator, beginning by locating projects carried out by independent developers—often in collaboration and with the use of open source software. Of the many examples worthy of mention here, we can only present a small, representative selection; examples include the 1992 tank simulator with a recreational vehicle aesthetic, BZFlag (Chris Schoeneman 1992), flight simulator FlightGear (Olson 1997), which was developed collaboratively by a considerable number of creators worldwide, the arcade game Armagetron Advanced (2001) based on the famous motorcycle race from the film Tron, and the musical videogame Frets on Fire (Assembly 2006) inspired by the popular Guitar Hero and requiring players to press the correct keys in order to play the selected song. Among the strategy and battle games are notable examples such as the collaborative The Battle for Wesnoth (David White 2003), UFO: Alien Invasion (UFOAITeam 2006), set in a future invaded by extraterrestrials, and the first-person shooter AssaultCube (Rabid Viper Productions 2008), which was created using the open source game engine Cube Engine. But outside this catalog of brilliant independent creations, an already interesting topic of research in itself, our aim is to explore first-hand the possibilities and resources at the disposal of indie creators from a practical point of view. For this, we elected to propose the production of a videogame with no budget through the development of which we could shed light on the available tools and confirm whether or not it is currently feasible to enter this industry completely independently, without using large software companies. This implied the exclusive use of open source and free software tools, although we also considered freeware, shareware and free online resources, as long as they did not require any payment. In the following sections we will describe the creation process of our videogame, Altamira Game, via the tools we used for the various stages of its development, and thus assess the viability of our proposal.

2 Open Tools for Pre-production and Design Every videogame begins as an idea which is subsequently developed into a script and then shaped through a process of design. This pre-production stage, which seeks to define the videogame’s theme, narrative and treatment, should be as developed as possible before beginning the production stage itself. Whether working individually or as a team, before looking at how to develop the game and what software to

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use, creators must determine what it is that is to be created. The idea should be sufficiently interesting to capture players’ interest, while the script must describe the setting, characters and narration upon which the very coherence of the game will later be constructed. To carry out this task, indie developers have at their disposal completely free scriptwriting editors, such as Celtx and Trelby. A storyboard is normally developed alongside the script; this document offers a visual description of the events being narrated. The free software Storyboarder allows for the creation of storyboards and easily assembles the animatic in order to watch how the story works in time. Once the script is in place, the game’s interactivity is then written up, describing how it will be played and how the character will evolve throughout the various settings. All of this is laid out in the design document, which, in addition to playability, also includes reference images that help to contextualize the game. As the idea is gradually consolidated, the visual materialization of the content is defined through the development of concept art: a stage in which all the elements of the game are imagined, including characters, scenery, props, vehicles, and so on. Characters are designed in detail using model sheets, which represent a turnaround of each character from every point of view: their poses, actions, expression sheets and color palettes. It is at this stage that the basic animations for each character are also designed, including walking, running and jumping cycles, anticipation and reaction expressions, and so on, to develop a library of movements for each element of the game that must be as exhaustive as possible. In order to experience first-hand if this process can realistically be developed we proposed the creation of a 2D platform videogame –or, at least, a full playable level– using solely open source or free software, stipulating that no financial cost must be incurred. Among our main benchmarks for this project were well-known platform games Limbo (Playdead 2010) and Apotheon (Alientrap 2015). We were inspired by the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the Altamira cave in Spain to develop a Paleolithic-themed adventure in which a prehistoric hunter explores the interior of a cave inhabited by the animals painted in Altamira and must collect torches to light his way, flint tools for hunting, and so on. The first step consisted of designing the animals, using original cave paintings for reference. Basing our designs on these, we sought to homogenize their aesthetic, styling them and developing their potential movements in individual frames: first on paper, and then using the open source digital drawing program Krita (see Fig. 2.). For the game’s protagonist, we took inspiration from the hunters drawn in the caves of Abrigo de Mulano and Valltorta (in Spain), since there are no drawings of humans in the Altamira cave itself. Once the animals, props, and character were designed and their model sheets, actions and movements developed, the pre-production stage was completed with animation tests, for which we recommend free animation software such as Synfig, Pencil 2D, Blender or Opentoonz. With them characters’ movements and actions can be tested as part of the step prior to the production of all the aforementioned elements.

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Fig. 2 From the sketch to the character model sheet

3 Production Once the pre-production stage is complete and the narrative, aesthetic, and plot have been determined, along with all other elements to be integrated into the project, production itself can begin. This stage involves materializing said components as they will appear in the game. Using sketches of the animals, we proceeded to create their definitive design and color them using the programs Krita and GIMP in conjunction with one another: the former for its range of brushes and considerable capability for layering work, masks and pictorial effects (see Fig. 3.), and the latter for its photo retouching tools. For the protagonist, we wanted an aesthetic of flat colors that visually differentiated the character from the animals, so we elected to make him vector, necessitating the use of the open source design software Inkscape and its powerful vector tools. Given that our narration occurs within a cave interior and its protagonists are rock paintings, we were aware that the stone walls themselves would play an important part in the game’s aesthetic. Another factor that would help to set the stage was suitable lighting and shading, to evoke the inside of a cave illuminated by torches. To achieve this, we decided that the walls and all stone elements, such as the platforms, should be created in 3D in order to show the physicality of the setting. For the three-dimensional construction of the cave we used Blender and, specifically, its polygonal modeling and digital sculpting tools. In a practice common in videogame design, we used a modular construction strategy, creating just one wall fragment and developing its texture carefully using GIMP to ensure horizontal and vertical continuity. This enabled the fragment to be repeated, like a tile, as many times as necessary to complete the level, which kept demands on the graphics processor low.

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Fig. 3 Character coloring and frame-to-frame animation

Once all the 2D and 3D elements had been individually produced, it was time to integrate them into the game itself. For this task, we chose Unity, which –while not free– can be used free of charge for any videogame with profits lower than 100,000 USD. Unity allowed us to incorporate 2D images, 3D models, animation and sound clips, and to situate the cameras, define lighting and effects, produce logical actions and player dynamics, and finally to export a playable product for mainstream gaming platforms such as PS4, Xbox, iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Linux (see Fig. 4). Here, where we needed specific functionalities, such as gradual fading and brightening of the torchlight, teleporting, platform behaviors, configuration of enemies and control of the character itself, Unity enabled us to program them using C#. This programming language lent us enormous flexibility and allowed us to expand the basic tools of the program by using code to create any functionality required. While the relief and texture of the stone walls and the careful lighting were effective in achieving the cavernous mood called for by the game, sound also played an important role in increasing the sensation of immersion in the surroundings. To this end, we used sound libraries with Creative Commons licenses, such as SoundBible and FreeSound, and obtained free audio clips which we used to create the sound settings of the cave’s interior: drips, crackling flames, and galloping bison. The sound files were edited using the open source audio editing program Audacity which enabled us to modulate their tone, volume, duration and add a multitude of effects. The production stage was complete with the exportation of the project from Unity to the various gaming platforms: in our case, PC, Mac and WebGL, this last format

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Fig. 4 Assembling the game pieces and tying it all together with C#

Fig. 5 Screenshot of Altamira Game

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allowed the game to be run online from a web browser. This done, it was time to distribute it to the public (see Fig. 5).

4 Distribution and Promotion Once the design and production stages of the videogame were complete, it was time to show the results. In the case of Altamira Game, this being a project with a didactic focus, distribution consisted of hosting it on the web server of the university where it was created,1 and circulate it within groups specializing in digital design, academic communications and distribution articles in free-access repositories. But an indie creator, looking to penetrate the industry, needs specific high-impact strategies to allow their target market to access their product. The distribution channels we found most frequently on the indie scene included hosting games on personal servers from which users can run and/or download them, and popular platform stores such as those of iOS and Android, which allow for access to this type of product, either free or paid-for. In terms of promotion, it is common now to do this free of charge and autonomously via social media, which can generate a significant market for independent, self-managed products. It would be remiss not to mention here the role of conventions, fairs and gaming demos in the marketing of these products. Dedicated to the exhibition of unpublished productions, these are recommended as places where a sense of community can be generated, ideas shared, new products explored and contacts and networks established. Currently, the number of these fairs and events –both generalized and specialized– is considerable, and their impact on the industry is noteworthy, so it is fundamental for anyone wishing to enter the sector to bear in mind some of the most well-known examples. One of the most popular conventions worldwide, the Electronic Entertainment Expo –often referred to as E3– is held in Los Angeles. Originally conceived as an event oriented solely toward industry professionals it has been open to the general public since 2017. In 2019, 66,000 people attended. Las Vegas hosts the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), focused on e-sports and fighting games and home to tournaments between players from all over the world. Another big event is the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a San Francisco event for developers which involves conferences, presentations of new products, workshops and many other activities including the Independent Games Festival (IGF), which has focused on giving exposure to indie games since 1998. In Europe, Gamescom –held in Cologne– also has an area dedicated to indie videogames, and Paris Games Week (PGW) has had over 300,000 attendees in recent years. Also of note are Madrid Games Week, NiceOne Barcelona (N1B), and London’s Mobile Games Forum.

1 https://www.ucm.es/altamiragame.

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On the Asian continent, we have the Tokyo Game Show (TGS), which principally exhibits products developed in Japan, as well as ChinaJoy in Shanghai and G-Star, which began in Seoul in 2005 and has been held in Busan, Korea, since 2009. In Latin America, the biggest international indie games event is the Brazil’s Independent Games Festival (BIG Festival), hosted in Sao Paulo since 2012. However, if a creator is looking for an online event through which they can, without needing to attend in person, reach a global audience, market their product and obtain feedback from players, the recommended option is the Steam Game Festival, which offers the chance to try videogames for free in order to enrich the development process through the experiences and feedback from future users. As we can see, the range of alternative distribution channels, promotion networks and events for marketing independent videogames is today far-reaching and offers indie creators myriad options for making their work known to the public without incurring the high costs of publicizing it via traditional distribution circuits. It is an environment in which creators take the helm over the entire process, from its idea and production to its marketing and commercialization, participating in a collaborative effort which is, today, richer than ever.

5 Conclusion Neck-and-neck with the consolidation in recent decades of the videogame industry and its establishment as a powerful sector in the hands of a handful of companies, where it is difficult for a creator to make their individual voice heard, the free and open source software movement has come about, with a philosophy that seeks precisely to return power to the individual creator, and atomize those rigid corporate structures. In an attempt to explore whether an independent creator has sufficient tools at hand as an alternative to those imposed by the industry, we created a videogame with the stipulation that, throughout the process, we would use solely open source software and free resources. The experience has been surprisingly positive and has served to validate the power and versatility of said alternative solutions. While in past years, the notion of free software was generally associated with amateur programs with very limited features, today we see that the collaborative work of thousands of developers worldwide in the same source code has driven spectacular development in recent years, with tools as reliable as the commercial ones. From design and pre-production, through to the complete production of a game and its subsequent distribution, creators have now at their disposal a bank of tools as trustworthy as Blender, Inkscape, Krita, GIMP and Audacity, which defy traditionally-used industry tools, as well as –more importantly– an environment of collaboration that views videogames more as cultural creations than as products for commercial gain. The social, cultural and economic implications of this movement remain to be seen, but it is clear that this empowerment of individuals will continue to drive us towards freer, and undoubtedly more creative, horizons.

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Free Resources for Indie Game Creation As a summary, we would like to include here a list to serve as a guide to open source and free resources for videogames creators, which we have tested for reliability in the process of this project: GIMP

Photo retouching

Open source

Krita

Digital drawing and 2D animation

Open source

Inskcape

Vector design

Open source

Blender

3D modeling and animation

Open source

Audacity

Audio editing

Open source

Unity

Videogame creation

Privative, but free

Cinemachine

Camera control library

Privative, but free

C#

Programming language

Privative, but free

TextureHaven

Texture library

Creative commons

SoundBible

Sound bank

Creative commons

Freesound

Sound bank

Creative commons

Reference 1. Alexander L (2010) Analysis: Is The Game Industry A Happy Place? Gamasutra, The Art and Business of making Games. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/120171/Analysis_Is_ The_Game_Industry_A_Happy_Place.php. Accessed 02 Jan 2021 2. Costikyan G (2000) The Scratchware Manifesto. https://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/scratc h.php. Accessed 14 Jan 2021 3. Costikyan G (2004) Games in crisis, when an exponential curve meets a linear one. In: Austin games conference, Austin, Texas 4. Crowther W (1976) Colossal Cave Adventure [PDP-10]. Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense 5. Prescott J, Bogg J (2011) Segregation in a male-dominated industry: women working in the computer games industry. Int J Gender Sci Technol 3(1):205–227 6. Russell S (1961) SPACEWAR! [PDP-1]. MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7. Skype Terms of Use. https://www.skype.com/en/legal/ios/tos/. Accessed 14 Jan 2021 8. Stallman R (n.d.) Gnu.org. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en. html. Accessed 21 Jan 2021 9. Stallman R, Lessig L (2007) Software libre para unasociedad libre (2a ed). Traficantes de Sueños Publishing 10. Stu Sweetow (2012) Remembering Andrew Fluegelman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= BUkDNjKM270

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11. The Origin of Shareware. Association of Software Professionals. https://asp-software.org/ www/history/the-origin-of-shareware/. Accessed 14 Jan 2021 12. Thomson G (1974) MAZE WAR. MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 13. Whisenhunt G, Wood R (1975) Dungeons & Dragons [PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations)]. Southern Illinois University

Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project Pedro Beça , Sofia Ribeiro , Mónica Aresta , Rita Santos , and Ana Isabel Veloso

Abstract In a context where the urgency to act towards the promotion of environmental awareness is imperative, the Gamers4Nature (G4N) project aims to encourage the active participation of students in the creation of mobile games addressing environmental-related themes. This chapter introduces the G4N Cards Set Canvas, a tool integrated into the G4N portal-repository. The G4N Cards Set Canvas is a digital tool that allows the design of environmental-related thematic cards and has two main goals: (i) to provide the G4N project with a tool to ease the creation of the thematic cards for the Toolkit to Game Design by environmental organizations and/or teachers; (ii) to be used by users with no experience in the design field. This tool will be developed following a User-Centered Design approach, with iterative and systematic reviews of the tool, and it will emphasize the connection between the physical (i.e. Toolkit) and digital (i.e. portal-repository) artifacts. A snowball literature review and an overview of design and presentation tools and platforms currently available did not reveal the existence of suitable platforms to create graphical design contents while complying with a brand’s standard’s manual for non-experienced users in the design field. Thus, an opportunity for novelty arises from this gap, adding a layer of concern with designing a usable and accessible tool for the end-users. The original version of this chapter was revised: this chapter was previously published non-open access. It has been changed to Open Access. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_29 P. Beça (B) · S. Ribeiro · M. Aresta · R. Santos · A. I. Veloso Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] S. Ribeiro e-mail: [email protected] M. Aresta e-mail: [email protected] R. Santos e-mail: [email protected] A. I. Veloso e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2021, corrected publication 2022 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_8

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Keywords Digital tool · Layout design · Suggestive interfaces · Canvas · User-Centered Design · Environmental preservation · Games

1 Introduction The undeniable progression of global warming, the rise of pollution levels [1] and the widespread of microplastics in “every crevice on Earth” [2], stresses the urgency to act towards the promotion of environmental awareness and behavior change in all age-groups. Starting from this premise, the Gamers4Nature (G4N) project1 —prompted by the interest of younger audiences in game creation and development activities [3– 5]—aims to implement a set of strategies able to promote behavior change and environmental awareness. The research team expects to achieve this purpose by involving upper-secondary and undergraduate students in the creation of their own mobile games. As one of those strategies, the G4N project’s research team designed and developed a Toolkit to Game Design—a physical artifact—that includes a set of resources (i.e. cards and game design documentation) able to support the game creation process, namely the narrative development and the definition of a game thematic [6]. In addition to the creation of this Toolkit, the research team developed a web-based portalrepository (See footnote 1) to host the project’s outputs and resources, as well as the games developed under the scope of the project [7]. The contents are available as open-access resources, thus allowing the creation of new contents deriving from the G4N project’s outputs. Whilst promoting the use of the Toolkit, either in educational or non-educational contexts, the G4N project promoted the organization of Game Jams sessions addressing environmental themes. In some of these sessions, the G4N research team was responsible for exploring, writing, designing, evaluating and, finally, printing the materials. Other entities (e.g. institutions of social solidarity or environmental organizations) defined the content to be included in the Toolkit’s cards, as there was the need to create thematic resources (G4N thematic cards) related to the environmental contexts of the places where the game creation sessions were going to take place (e.g. Gouveia, a Portuguese city—the thematic cards set included the local biodiversity). The process of preparing the thematic cards for other entities to fill with their own contents required the research team to prepare templates based on the project’s layout design, to ease the insertion of other entities’ contents. Notwithstanding, some issues emerged from this card set creation process: (i) the research team had to correct design mistakes (e.g. text overlaps); (ii) originally, the cards contained iconographic compositions according to the cards’ theme, withal, in these contexts, these compositions cease to exist because, for the most part, there are no designers or illustrators in these entities teams; (iii) brand and project’s identity standards were not met, mainly due to the user’s lack of design and technical skills. In 1

https://www.gamers4nature.pt/index.php?lang=EN.

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short, and since most entities did not have the necessary skills to do it, these entities could not complete the whole card set creation process. It is the project’s intention that any entity, user or organization should be able to use the Toolkit autonomously and to produce their own thematic cards sets. Considering all the aforementioned limitations deriving from the use of the digital templates adopted, the project team decided to define and produce an authoring tool to create physical artifacts (i.e. G4N thematic cards) to be integrated into the G4N portalrepository: the G4N Cards Set Canvas. Therefore, the production of the G4N Cards Set Canvas seeks to achieve two main goals: (i) provide the G4N project with a tool to ease the creation of the G4N thematic cards by other entities (e.g. environmental organizations and/or teachers); (ii) produce a tool for non-experienced users in the design field. It is expected that this digital tool to create the G4N thematic resources (Fig. 1) will be a resource able to be used by teachers and environmental organizations staff,

Fig. 1 G4N Microplastics Thematic Cards (Physical artifacts from the Toolkit)

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aiming to spread environmental awareness through the creation of digital games in several contexts, whether in classrooms or environment preservation events. In this process, it is crucial to design an intuitive tool, suitable for audiences (e.g. teachers and environmental organizations staff) without design or digital skills who wish to design their own thematic cards. This chapter presents the groundwork that set the basis for the G4N Cards Set Canvas development. Following this introduction, Sect. 2 provides a snowball literature review of tools and platforms that allow the production of graphical contents by either experienced or non-experienced users, called Layout Design Tools, as well as discusses two of the main components of these tools—Suggestive Interfaces and Canvas. Moreover, Sect. 2 also presents a summary of the performed UX benchmarking. Section 3 depicts the development methodology, prefaces the functional and non-functional requirements, and introduces the G4N Cards Set Canvas’ User Interface (UI) first prototypes. The chapter finishes with the presentation of conclusions and potential directions for future work.

2 Layout-Design, Design, and Presentation Tools Presentation Tools (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint, Apache OpenOffice Impress, Prezi, Google Slides, and Keynote) are well-known and commonly used in personal and professional contexts [8–10]. In fact, in the Education field, nearly all teachers in Europe use “Information and Communications Technology” (ICT) to prepare lessons and in schools, while teaching those lessons [11]. In fact, from the research team’s empirical experience, in the context of the University of Aveiro, most teachers and researchers use Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote to produce their multimedia presentations. The recognition of these tools’ usefulness, the evidence of higher levels of student’s engagement [12] and the tools’ good usability justify its use as the first option when the goal is to produce a presentation—with or without multimedia content—or even to design. Furthermore, the availability of design templates conquers lots of users as they do not need to start designing from a blank canvas—a situation that, as mentioned above, is often seen as a discouraging difficulty. Moreover, these tools also allow users to customize their contents, therefore provide a sense of control over what they produce [13]. However, even though these tools are adequate for their main purposes—to produce customizable multimedia presentations and designs—they do not hold the required specifications to be adopted as a tool to design resources that need to comply with specific brand standards (e.g. G4N project’s layouts, font types and sizes) and design principles (e.g. alignment, visual hierarchy), which could lead to legibility and graphic balance errors. Beginning to design a UI or any graphical content from a blank canvas can be a challenging task, especially for non-experienced users, as there is no support in understanding where or even how to start. Most of the existing and renowned tools, from intuitive and simple (e.g. Inkscape) to more professional and elaborated (e.g. Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer) systems, do not provide suggestions or

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models to follow while designing [14]. By contrast, multimedia presentation tools (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint, Keynote) provide these suggestions but do not fulfil the need for compliance with brand standards. Notwithstanding, Microsoft PowerPoint contains a feature, called Design Ideas, which suggests design ideas based on users’ content.

2.1 Snowball Literature Review and UX Benchmarking Nowadays, in the HCI research field, there is an interest in the identification and use of systems that aim to fill these gaps (i.e. lack of tools that allow the compliance of brand standards and design principles), such as DesignScape [14], Sketchplore [15] and others [16, 17]. In these tools, known as Layout Design Tools, a balance must be established, not only in terms of users’ freedom and constraints—to respect design principles—but also on how to design these systems by levelling the incorporation of professional software features more intuitively, therefore supporting its use by novice users. Regarding the balance between freedom and limitations, some tools, such as DesignSpace [14], provide smart guides that snap objects to specific locations and assist in the alignment of objects in the canvas. Rather than completely constrain the user, these details promote the adequate placement of objects in the canvas according to some design principles (e.g. alignment). DesignScape also allows the user to lock objects (i.e. preventing them from moving), and displays layout suggestions— based on the user’s current layout—and brainstorming suggestions—completely independent of the user’s layout. The tool incorporates two modes: (1) Suggestive interface (presented with more detail in the following section) —there are three different suggestions available based on the elements’ current position, ordered by the level of modifications, being the first with small suggestions and the last with more severe modifications; and (2) Adaptive interface—the adjustments occur automatically, allowing for more fluid interaction. Overall, the users preferred the Suggestive interface mode since it is less limited than the Adaptive interface mode [14]. From this experience [14], researchers understood that the Adaptive interface mode became frustrating for users, as they had less control over the final result. In both modes, on mouse over event users can observe the suggestions, and by clicking they can accept them. Other tools, such as automatic magazine layout covers [16, 17], DesignScape [14] and Sketchplore [15] incorporate features from professional software, such as: moving, resizing, adding or removing, font styling, alignment and smart guides. These aspects must be taken into consideration because of their recognition and universalization as basic features in similar tools. Layout Design Tools with template-based structures offer advantages for users with or without design experience and produce better results [18]. In fact, the way users interact with these tools becomes more agile and concrete when templates similar to the user’s choices are suggested. Additionally, according to Lee et al. [18],

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the concern to integrate design principles and users’ choices produces intuitive tools, suitable for both experts and novices. On the whole, presenting suggestions according to the users’ design is understood as a helpful method of interaction, as it allows for the compliance of design principles without excessively constraining the users’ experience [14–18]. Suggestive Interfaces. Suggestive Interfaces (SI) provide the user with some control over its work or design. Most research on SI are focused on 3D sketching and drawing [19–22], modelling tools [23, 24], gesture-driven interfaces [25, 26] and Layout Design Tools [14–18]. SI are often applied in contexts where ambiguity is placed in question, and the decision-making process is assigned to the users, allowing them to choose the result they aim to achieve. These interfaces are integrated into any UI—either mobile or desktop—are generally displayed on an interface section and depend on the users’ current design layout or model. Concerning the DesignScape tool’s study [14], the SI is one of the modes made available to the user (Fig. 2). On the left side of the screen, the tool allows the user to hover the suggestion to see a preview and, by clicking, to execute the change. DesignScape also allows users to lock design elements, fixing their position and scale, both in the suggestions provided and the design itself. In sum, suggestions, if not invasive, can represent good support for novice users. Even though these systems are mainly designed for users with no experience, they can also be used by experts. However, the suggestions must only represent a section of the UI, avoiding to overload users with unnecessary suggestions. SI may be adopted when users are first entering the tool and later be disabled when they are no longer needed. Canvas. Some interaction models, such as dragging, zooming, scaling, rotating, and moving, are integrated into both professional design tools (e.g. Adobe Illustrator) and Canvases or Layout Design Tools.

Fig. 2 Suggestive Interface in DesignScape [14]: Left shows the current layout, and right shows the suggested refinements—aligning the three elements on the left and changing the size of the image

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Canvases derive from the physical world, meant for artists to paint their art pieces, and are now, for many years, into the technological world through its digitalization [27]. A canvas is a type of Graphical User Interface (GUI) that contains graphic elements. Some canvases are divided into workspaces dedicated to each design element, while others contain individual canvases, typically with smaller workspaces, dedicated to the production of single artifacts [28, 29]. An overview of available online canvases and research of its use allowed for the identification of a set of features able to characterize a canvas, such as: (i) dedicated workspace with a single or several windows [29]; (ii) use of icons to describe the functions available in the workspace [29, 30]; (iii) use of drag and drop graphic elements to build the design [29–31]; (iv) availability of multiple models of interaction, such as scrolling, zooming, scaling [32]; (v) the ability to save the design automatically and to recover previous versions [30]. UX Benchmarking. Alongside the snowball literature review of tools and platforms’, a UX benchmarking2 comparing the features of a set of Presentation and Design platforms/tools currently available on the market was conducted. The goal of the UX benchmarking was to identify the structure and main characteristics of these systems in order to have an overall perception of the systems currently available. It was intended that these perceptions, combined with the empirical knowledge of the experts from the G4N project’s research team, would contribute to the creation of a usable tool accessible for potential users. The exploratory analysis focuses on comparing the most common platforms [8– 10] for the general public (i.e. non-experienced users) but also the most used platforms in educational contexts, regardless of whether the goal is to design (e.g. Canva,3 Piktochart4 ) or to create multimedia presentations (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint, Keynote). In this analysis, structural similarities and characteristics were identified: the left side was mainly allocated to libraries of images, illustrations, shapes and templates, while the right side, predominantly, was reserved for artwork settings (e.g. font size and type, opacity manipulations and color). Both the exploratory benchmarking and the Layout Design Tools analysis supported the design of the developmental research methodology stages and the requirements definition, as well as the process of designing the first prototypes of the UI. Table 1 summarizes the main characteristics and features identified in the correspondent tools: The analyzed platforms/tools were found through a snowball literature review and a web search, using the keywords “tools or/and platforms”, “online”, “graphic” and “design”, and was performed between December 2020 and January 2021. 2

The benchmarking can be observed here: https://www.gamers4nature.pt/benchmarking.png, last accessed on February 23th , 2021. 3 https://www.canva.com/en/, last accessed on February 19th , 2021. 4 https://piktochart.com/, last accessed on February 19th , 2021.

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Table 1 UX Benchmarking summary Characteristics/Features

Tools

Library of images, illustrations and shapes Canva, Gravit Designer, Crello, Stencil, Piktochart, Visme, DesignBold, Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi Present, Google Slides, Keynote, Apache OpenOffice Impress Font settings

Lucidpress, Visme, DesignBold, Prezi Design and Present, Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, Apache OpenOffice Impress

Basic image edition

Piktochart, Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi Present, Google Slides, Keynote, Apache OpenOffice Impress

Color customization

Visme, DesignBold, Prezi Design and Present, Noissue., Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides

Templates

Canva, Gravit Designer, Crello, Stencil, Piktochart, Lucidpress, Visme, DesignBold, Prezi Design and Present, Noissue., Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, Apache OpenOffice Impress

3 Defining a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts As mentioned in Sect. 1, in order to support the game creation process, two main strategies were adopted: (1) the development of a Toolkit to Game Design (Fig. 3) comprising a set of physical resources to support the game creation process [6]; and (2) the design of a Portal-repository (See footnote 1) (Fig. 4). The portal would act as an extension of the Toolkit, and work as the G4N project’s online presence, hosting its main outputs, publications and resources, and acting as a repository for the games developed under the project’s scope [7]. The design of this portal-repository aimed to address two concerns: (1) create a connection that visually related the two artifacts—the physical (the Toolkit) and the digital (the portal-repository); and (2) to reflect the feeling of gaming and nonlinearity present in gaming activities. Following the same approach taken during the portal-repository’s design and implementation process [7], the G4N Cards Set Canvas will be designed in compliance with the projects’ brand and identity and following the same design approach: involving users, intending to fulfil their needs and expectations and creating an accessible product that meets their technical and design skills. Hence, the development of this tool will apply a User-Centered Design (UCD) approach comprised of several evaluation stages and iterative improvements of the final product (detailed in Sect. 3.1). The G4N Cards Set Canvas will provide the necessary instruments for users (e.g. teachers and environmental organizations staff) to produce G4N thematic cards addressing their location’s environmental issues without the need for any previous design or technical knowledge or experience.

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Fig. 3 The Portuguese version of the G4N Toolkit to Game Design (physical artefact) with the Game Construction Cards Set (in the model’s hand), Environmental-themed Cards (with watercolor marks) and the Rapid Game Design Document (in the left side pocket)

The development of this Canvas and its use will also ensure the compliance with the G4N project’s Brand Standards Manual. Furthermore, it will withdraw more complex tasks from the users’ role—therefore minimizing their cognitive load—by providing not only design specifications but also the necessary information regarding the layout, the export formats, the printing materials and the adequate sizes for all design elements (e.g. icons, colors, typography).

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Fig. 4 In the background, the G4N Portal-repository (digital artefact), and in the foreground, the G4N Toolkit to Game Design (physical artifact)

3.1 Development Research Methodology Higher levels of usability are more likely to be achieved through users’ involvement by assuring that the final product meets their needs and considers their limitations. There are different methods to involve users, either from the beginning of the process or only in specific situations (e.g. exploratory interviews, redesign stages). On the one hand, some research only allows users’ direct input in redesign stages, whenever the majority of the design derives from the empirical analysis [33]. On the other hand, in some cases, their involvement starts at the very beginning of the process, and they participate throughout all stages [34]. Some research fields, such as Health, Autonomous Cars, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, involve users in their research process since the beginning [34, 35] or assign users to specific tasks or moments [33]. Indeed, users’ involvement substantially reduces Usability errors and is proved to be effective in iterative design processes. In every design iteration, fewer errors tend to emerge [33]. Moreover, instead of forcing users to change their behavior due to the design of the interface, the interface is designed to increase its efficiency. Indeed, according to Shneiderman et al. [36, p. 75], “A frequent path to success is through participatory methods that bring designers in close and continuing contact with their intended users”. Taking this into consideration, the Development Research Method is the approached methodology for the development of the G4N Cards Set Canvas. This method is a systematic and iterative process of design, development and evaluation, most commonly related to the development process of a product, to its analysis, description and evaluation [37, 38]. Therefore, this research will be divided in five stages, as it can be seen in Fig. 5:

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Fig. 5 The Development Research of the G4N Cards Set Canvas’ methodology stages

As shown in Fig. 5, after an evaluation, whenever adjustments are necessary, the iterative process anticipates the need to return to previous stages in order to redesign the prototype or to fix any feature of the tool. This iterative process ensures that the final product suits the users’ needs and expectations, resulting in a usable and pleasurable experience for the user. Following a Development Research Method, the G4N Cards Set Canvas development process will be organized in five stages: First Stage. In the first stage, exploratory interviews will be carried out. The goals of this stage of evaluation are: (i) to validate this tool’s concept from the users’ perspective; (ii) to understand the expectations for a tool with presented objectives; and (iii) to grasp users’ needs and limitations when interacting with similar technologies. Second Stage. The second stage consists of prototyping the UI based on the exploratory interviews and literature review results. Low and high prototypes of the G4N Cards Set Canvas will be developed. Third Stage. The goals of the third stage are: (i) to identify improvements to be made; (ii) to identify interaction difficulties that could harm the users’ experience; and lastly, (iii) to gather concrete information derived from the experts’ expertise and knowledge of Usability Heuristics and design guidelines. In this stage, it is foreseen the need to return to the previous stage to correct the high-fidelity prototype, depending on the feedback received from the users’ evaluation. Fourth Stage. The fourth stage comprises the first stage of development of the digital tool. Fifth Stage. Finally, in the fifth and last stage, an online User eXperience questionnaire will be delivered to the participants. The main goal of this questionnaire is to perform a direct measurement of the tool’s UX. In this stage, the first version of the final product will be assessed. Participants will be asked to report their experience after they interact with the digital tool. This stage will take place around April 2021, when teachers from multiple schools around Europe will use this application in reallife contexts (i.e. classrooms). Since the researchers will not be physically attending the classes, the goal is to assess the experience, as soon as possible after it happened, with the maximum accuracy. Similarly to stage 3, it is planned the need to return to the previous stage to perform potential adjustments that may be required from the sessions with users.

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3.2 Requirements The snowball literature review and the UX benchmarking of presentation and design tools enabled the identification of potential approaches and characteristics for the G4N Cards Set Canvas, namely a suggestion-based tool, such as Microsoft PowerPoint Design Ideas feature that suggests design ideas based on users’ content, and the Canvas, as a component of the Layout Design Tools. The G4N Cards Set Canvas will be designed responsively for devices with over 1024 pixels, which is a standard viewport size that encompasses horizontal tablet screens and the majority of desktops and will only be available for this screen format. This way, the eventual frustration and lack of control arising from the interaction with the tool on smaller screens are minimized [39]. In order to avoid the need to create user assistants, such as Clippit from Microsoft Word—colloquially known as Clippy—that sometimes fail at their functionality, design and humanization [40], it is imperative to use suggestions carefully and with moderation. Defining the system’s requirements, as well as their further validation with potential users, aids to avoid creating systems with such issues. The research team defined a set of Functional Requirements (FR) for the tool. NonFunction Requirements (Non-FR) (e.g. data privacy and security that must be assured to convey the system’s reliability; device’s requirements to run the tool smoothly and, therefore, upholding a better performance, among others) are also being defined in future work. The FR depict the tool’s functionalities and features, the expected behavior and interaction, and what the tool offers to the users. The FR are listed in Table 2. The FR listed in Table 2 emerged from the overview of Layout Design Tools and the UX benchmarking of Design and Presentation Tools, as well as from the empirical knowledge of the G4N project’s research team regarding the use of similar platforms. Some FR are correlated: to allow the storage of the user’s design cards (FR 11), it is required the user’s register and login (FR 1) in the G4N portal-repository to link the produced contents to its creator (i.e. the user with logged session). Moreover, moving object in FR 6 unfolds in drag-and-drop items (FR 6.1), which is how the objects will be moved across the canvas. Snap objects and smart guides are present not only in some professional design tools (i.e. Adobe Illustrator) but also in some Layout Design Tools. To ease the workflow, the design will be saved automatically, and the objects will be organized in layers. Lastly, to prepare the cards to be used either in its physical format (e.g. in classrooms or environmental initiatives) or in digital format (e.g. online classrooms), there must be an option to export the artwork to both digital (i.e. digital PDF or image) and printable format (printable PDF with marks, bleeds, and suggested paper size). This feature is also presented in the Tools FR.

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Functional requirements FR 1

Register and Login

FR 2

Onboarding when entering the tool for the first time

FR 3

Access to “Help” button

FR 4

Snap objects

FR 5

Use guides

FR 6

Move objects

FR 6.1

Drag-and-drop items

FR 7

Select icons, illustrations or shapes from the library

FR 8

Search elements by keywords

FR 9

Zoom the canvas

FR 10

See objects in layers

FR 11

Save automatically

FR 12

Show suggestions based on user’s current layout

FR 13

Customize colors

FR 14

Export artwork in digital format (JPEG, PNG, …)

FR 15

Export artwork to print (PDF with marks and bleeds)

3.3 First Sketch and Digital Prototype The Design Tools addressed in the exploratory overview, in general, have onboardings, tutorials or help menus (e.g. Canva, Gravit Designer); provide a range of templates for the user to choose from (i.e. all of the tools addressed in the benchmarking); include libraries of icons, images and shapes (e.g. Crello, Stencil); allow exportation to multiple formats with print settings embedded (e.g. Picktochart, Visme); have smart guides (e.g. DesignBold, Prezi Design); and have zoomable canvases (i.e. all of the tools addressed in the benchmarking, except LucidPress). The Presentation Tools (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi Present), besides providing templates, also have smart guides and canvases, suggest brainstorming ideas, allow team collaboration, font adjustments and basic image edition. Notwithstanding, most of the tools are paid or have very limited free features. The abovementioned characteristics, which are the more prevalent in the analyzed tools and platforms, provide valuable insights to design the first prototypes. For instance, since the G4N Cards Set Canvas target audience—teachers and environmental organizations staff—may present some difficulties concerning visual literacy and information selection [41], an Onboarding and a help menu are useful features to include. As it was mentioned, based on the exploratory overview carried by the research team, the first sketch was designed. The sketch in Fig. 6 proposes a sketch for the G4N Cards Set Canvas. A set of parameters was highlighted in the overview and supported the shaping of the first sketch. Along with the first prototypes’ sketch, and

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Fig. 6 The G4N Cards Set Canvas’s first sketch

with the FR and Non-FR definition, exploratory interviews were considered for the first stage of the Development Research Method (cf. Sect. 3.1). In Fig. 6, on the left side, there is a sidebar containing the library where the user can choose the templates, icons, images and illustrations to use, while, on the right side, the sidebar holds the artwork settings (e.g. font, opacity, and image settings). In the center, there is a zoomable canvas where the production of G4N thematic cards will take place. The most used options, such as zoom-in, zoom-out, and save will be displayed at the bottom, in a bar. As the G4N Cards Set Canvas, will be integrated into the implemented portalrepository, some components of the UI design—such as the G4N project’s logotype, the navigation menu, and the login button—already have a defined place. The G4N project’s logotype, the navigation menu and some main actions are on the top navbar. The top bar, containing the languages of the available versions of the portal (Portuguese—PT—and English—EN), the G4N project’s logotype, the main menu, and two buttons (“Add Game” and “Sign in”), is a fixed element since it already belongs in the portal-repository currently online. However, in the main menu, namely in the “Toolkit” menu, appears a new subtopic: “Build your own cards”. This new section is where the G4N Cards Set Canvas will be framed. Figure 7 represents a low-fidelity prototype of the G4N Cards Set Canvas translation from the first sketch presented (Fig. 6). allowing for a clearer understanding of each section’s goals: on left sidebar contains a search bar to explore the underneath identified elements—templates, icons, basic shapes and illustrations; the right sidebar presents multiple design settings and proposes some modules, such as, for example, displaying a color, a slider and an input to enter measures; the center, which comprises the design canvas, exhibits a card sample with both locked and editable elements.

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Fig. 7 The G4N Cards Set Canvas’s first digital prototype

The digital version of the first sketch was drawn in Adobe Xd5 and aims to provide a more accurate perception of the elements currently contained in the portalrepository. In the design canvas, namely in the card area, in order to assure the compliance of the G4N brand standards, there are locked elements—e.g. the project’s brand logo, marked with a locker icon—to prevent the user from moving it, therefore, breaking predefined standards. While the G4N project’s logotype is locked, immediately below there is a rectangle for the users to place their brand name or logotype. In Fig. 7, the areas outlined with the blue line enclose the design elements and provide precise identification of the G4N thematic card’s elements. The other elements can be modified by the user with some predefined constraints (e.g. the font-face and size will remain the same as the original sets of thematic cards). The next steps will include the validation of the low-fidelity prototypes (framed in the second stage of the Development Research Method), in order to proceed to the 5

https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html, last accessed on February 19th, 2021.

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high-fidelity prototypes’ development and first evaluations (second and third stages of the Development Method).

4 Conclusions and Future Work This chapter presents the process of defining the G4N Cards Set Canvas as an integrated section of the already implemented portal-repository and describes the adopted methodological approach. The UX benchmarking of Design and Presentation Tools provides an insight into the available products on the market, providing the possibility not only to distinguish the differentiating features of the G4N Cards Set Canvas but also to identify errors and issues to avoid, as well as to support the definition of the tool’s FR, and, posteriorly, of the Non-FR. Following this UX benchmarking, some features from professional vectorial design tools were considered for the G4N Cards Set Canvas, such as a canvas to design, image/shape settings, adjustments (e.g. manipulate object’s transparency), and multiple export formats. Among the analyzed tools, in a technical, conceptual and graphical level, some useful characteristics were identified: show/hide tools according to the selected object/element; library with shapes, icons and illustrations; icons combined with text; placement of edition tools; intuitive and sober design; and more. Furthermore, aspiring to produce high-quality resources for the Toolkit in compliance with the G4N project’s Brand Standards Manual, suggestions could be a suitable approach for the tool, which is designed for teachers and environmental organizations who are not professionals in the design field. A detailed definition of the tool’s design and structure is presented, as it is important to maintain and emphasize the connection between the physical Toolkit and the online portal-repository, producing a digital tool to create physical cards about environmental themes. As for future work, the research team plans to proceed to the next stages (cf. Section 3.1), which is to perform exploratory interviews with members from the target audience in order to understand their main needs and limitations in similar platforms. These interviews will be a method of validation of the above presented FR and prototypes. Following these interviews, the research team will proceed to define the Non-FR and design the high-fidelity prototypes. Accessibility and usability concerns, such as the contrast of text and background colors and an appealing, functional and accessible design for the project’s target audience (i.e. teachers and environmental organizations staff), will also be addressed and considered during the tool’s development phase. It is expected that the in-depth and accurate description of the G4N Cards Set Canvas development process provided by this chapter, allows its replication in other research contexts.

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Acknowledgements This work is part of the Gamers4Nature project Gamers4Nature (POCI-010145- FEDER-031047) that has the financial support of FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal)/ MCTES—Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Edu- cation and FEDER under the PT2020 agreement.

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Needs, Expectations and Preferences of Potential Young Readers of the Digital Edition of Diario de Sevilla Juan-Ramon Martin-Sanroman , Juan-Carlos Zambrano , and Fernando Suarez-Carballo

Abstract This paper aims to help the generalist digital media to overcome a problem that affects them all: attracting, keeping and retaining young readers. Our approach focuses on the geographical area of the province of Seville and is based on the data provided by the newspaper Diario de Sevilla (Seville, Spain), although it is intended to be the proposal of a universal model for approaching the problem. For the development of the research, we have used techniques typical of the initial and generative phases of User-Centred Design, such as semi-structured interviews, of which we bring here a good example. The aim is to gain in-depth knowledge of the habits and motivations of this type of young audience, with an emphasis on qualitative findings. The results reveal a type of reader attached to their mobile phone and social networks, also interested in the most serious current affairs, but in need of references capable of interpreting the reality of the news in a rigorous and truthful way. Keywords User experience research · User-centered design · Young readers

1 Introduction Since the days when the written press exerted its hegemony, few generalist media have been able to boast a large readership under the age of 30. Nowadays, where information circulates with great immediacy through digital channels and multimedia devices, the situation has not changed in essence. The disaffection of young people towards the consumption of information products generated by the media is a problem whose solution does not seem simple and which points to multiple causes, as shown by Teso and Piñuel [1], Reuters Institute [2], AMP [3], AIMP [4] Galán

J.-R. Martin-Sanroman (B) · F. Suarez-Carballo Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 37002 Salamanca, Spain e-mail: [email protected] J.-C. Zambrano Universidad Loyola Andalucía, 41704 Sevilla, Spain © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_9

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[5], Góngora and Lavilla [6], Salaverría [7] and Martín-SanRomán, Suárez-Carballo and Zambrano [8]. It is our intention to expand the functions of the Design and Publishing department of newspapers towards other horizons closer to the attraction and loyalty of readers by improving the user experience in the environments where we offer information in digital format. The work focuses on the analysis of young people in the province of Seville and their potential relationship with the digital media Diario de Sevilla. The research, a fragment of which is presented here, is based on three techniques. Firstly, the study of the website’s audience data. Secondly, a group of semi-structured interviews, in which ten young people from the province of Seville were interviewed. And thirdly, a survey aimed at potential young readers of the digital press in Seville and its province.

2 Objectives and Methodology 2.1 Main Objective As shown in the scientific literature presented in the previous section of this paper, we start from the idea that, in general, journalistic companies do not know exactly the attitude that young people aged between 18 and 24 have towards the consumption of current affairs information. Thus, and within the framework of the principles of User-Centred Design, our main objective is to find out the interests and information habits of potential young readers, aged between 18 and 24, of the digital media Diario de Sevilla. This research aims, through the study and understanding of their own nature and particularities, to lay the future foundations for implementing measures that will help to boost the presence as readers of this group in the digital information products of the media in general, and Diario de Sevilla in particular.

2.2 Specific Objectives Describe Access to the Media. How they access the media (through which devices). When they access the media (when news consumption occurs) and how often. How they access the media (social networks, blogs, organic traffic, etc.). Discovering Information Preferences. What topics they would like to be informed about. What topics scare them away from the media. Which are their media of reference. Discovering the Most Suitable Format and Narrative Type. Discovering the most suitable format and narrative type.

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Understanding How They Combat Disinformation How they measure the degree of credibility of a news story. What role the traditional media play in uncovering the truth. Understand the Civic Value and Social Responsibility of the Media. How important it is for citizens to be informed about current affairs. What role the media play in a globalised world.

2.3 Research Approach Before describing the methods used in this work in depth, it is useful to situate the space occupied by this research within the process of improving the digital product of Diario de Sevilla. As our aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of the interests and motivations of the potential young users of our product, it seems appropriate to situate ourselves in the earliest and initial stages of the research. Let us look at the place of this generative approach in the disciplines most widely accepted by the research community. User-Centred Design. User-Centred Design (UCD) comprises a set of methodologies that aim to create products or services that solve specific needs of end users, achieving the greatest possible satisfaction and user experience, with the minimum effort on their part, as pointed out by Norman and Draper [9]. Other authors, such as Hassan Montero and Ortega Santamaría [10] state that UCD “encompasses or relates to a heterogeneous set of methodologies and techniques that share a common objective: to know and understand the needs, limitations, behaviour and characteristics of the user, in many cases involving potential or real users in the process”. The UCD principles draw directly from ISO 92,241–210 Ergonomics of humansystem interaction - Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems [11], revised in 2010. It dictates six principles that enjoy a broad consensus among design professionals, ergonomists and, in particular, developers of interactive digital products: 1.

2.

3.

Design is based on explicit understanding of users, activities and environments. Methodologies need to be addressed to define who the users are, what their expectations and needs are, where they are, what difficulties they encounter when using the product and in what context they use it. Users are involved throughout the design process. Users are encouraged to be involved at all stages of the process to avoid distancing themselves from their point of view. The design is driven and adjusted by user-centred evaluation. Throughout the whole process, it is the user who evaluates the product. This is the only way to ensure that the user’s initial expectations are met.

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The process is iterative. Iteration gives meaning to the circular evaluation process of UCD. Every advance in the development of the product implies constant readjustments in other phases of the design process. The design responds to the complete user experience. It also includes the emotional side of the interaction, the feelings that the product leaves in people. The design team includes multidisciplinary profiles and perspectives. This is the only way to integrate into the product all the approaches and points of view that the user values.

As can be deduced, this discipline emphasises research into the needs and requirements of real users and the continuous and cyclical validation of the characteristics that are added to the products by the people who are going to use them. At all times, the aim is for products to be adapted to the needs and motivations of the users and not the other way around. The UCD cycle comprises several steps that are essentially driven by two key attitudes: research and design. At the origin of product conception, methodologies that seek to understand the user and his or her context take precedence. As this understanding progresses, ideas are generated and then materialised in designs that are finally evaluated. Allen and Chudley [12] define this relationship between research and design as the “virtuous circle of user research”. In summary, and according to ISO 9241–210, this would be the logical sequence of UCD: 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Identification of needs. The problem to be solved is defined. Understanding and specifying the context of use. Knowing the user, the environment in which he/she lives and how he/she makes use of the product. Specify the requirements of the user and the organisation. Knowing the objectives pursued by the user, those to be met by the product and those that the promoting company is willing to achieve. Produce the design solutions. Different design solutions are produced in the form of low and high fidelity prototypes. Evaluation. Validation of whether the solutions provided by the product meet the user’s requirements. Iteration. With the results of the evaluation, the design improvement cycle is restarted.

Based on this approach, we could assign our research on young readers of digital media to phases 1 and 2 of the UCD process, i.e. those where the research attitude takes precedence. This study focuses on understanding young readers, their needs and the context in which they operate. However, it is beyond the scope of this research to devise design solutions and evaluate the results, although proposals will be offered that could certainly be useful in a project with a broader approach.

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3 Qualitative Study For the research presented here, with the aim of finding out about the attitudes of young Sevillians in this age group towards the consumption of current affairs information, we carried out ten semi-structured interviews with young Sevillians aged between 18 and 24. This series of qualitative tests allowed us to approach the problem by observing it from the point of view of the potential users themselves. Through them, we obtained the necessary information to discover motivations, identify limitations and find new opportunities.

3.1 Preparing for Interviews Screening. Four basic requirements were identified for all participants who were to take part in the interviews: 1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

To be aged between 18 and 24 years (the age group we are studying). Have at least two mobile devices with internet connection (mobile phone, tablet, laptop, smart watch, etc.). As described above, this group accesses digital media at any time and from anywhere, thanks to this technology. Be active in at least two social networks that are used frequently. We have already noted that it is through these networks that young people’s relationship with the media is often forged. To be studying some kind of studies, whether at university or vocational training. We seek to ensure that the interviewee has an average socio-cultural level, a requirement which, as we shall see below, is relevant in the opinion of the directors of Diario de Sevilla, the medium on which this study focuses. Residence in the city of Seville or its metropolitan area. Insofar as we intend to focus our research on the Diario de Sevilla web portal, it is essential to live in this city or its immediate surroundings in order to provide greater richness to the study.

Sample Definition. To carry out the interviews, it was decided to recruit ten young participants. Given that the aim is more to understand than to make an X-ray of how young Sevillians think, this number seemed sufficient, taking care to ensure the diversity of the interviewees. According to the audience measurement figures provided by the newspaper, the gender of the young readers of Diario de Sevilla does not seem to be a variable that needs to be taken into account when selecting the potential audience that is the subject of this research. Although, according to these data, women outnumber men, we do not consider the difference to be overwhelming, which is why it was decided to divide the group into 5 men and 5 women, within the age range covered by this study.

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In order to sample the participants in this group of interviews, we contacted young people living in the areas where the newspaper has the greatest physical presence, taking as a basis the level of distribution of the print product, adding together direct sales and subscriptions. Although the Diario de Sevilla brand is known and accepted, it does not enjoy the same recognition in all the districts of the capital, nor in all the regions of Seville. The idea of this study is to target people who live in areas where the product we are studying is well established. We believe that, if the paper newspaper is familiar to the interviewees, the information of interest related to the digital product that they can provide us with will be easier to obtain. Therefore, according to the data provided by the distribution and subscriptions department of Diario de Sevilla, it was decided to focus on the Centro, Nervión and Triana-Los Remedios districts, together with two large towns in the metropolitan area, Tomares and Dos Hermanas. Based on this criterion, and in accordance with the fulfilment of the requirements described above, these potential users were selected, with residence in significant areas in accordance with the distribution of sales and subscriptions of Diario de Sevilla. As recommended by Báez and Pérez de Tudela [13], in order to recruit the interviewees, we opted to use secondary networks, i.e. “those that form part of the researcher’s natural environment and are put into practice when the researcher uses all his or her professional and/or personal relationships” (p. 118). This allows for greater control in the recruitment process, insofar as compliance with the requirements is better ensured. Technical and Material Conditions. All interviews were conducted face-to-face (before the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic). The average duration ranged between 35 and 50 min. The place chosen for the interviews was a pleasant and comfortable office located in the offices of Diario de Sevilla, with a high degree of privacy. All interviewees were rewarded with a gift voucher for a shopping centre and two cinema tickets. Technical and Material Conditions. The semi-structured interview is based on the knowledge of the interviewee’s point of view on a series of topics that obey the objectives set out in the research. In this case, the list of objectives and their themes is as follows. • To find out how young people access current affairs information: What technologies do they use when they are looking for or consuming current affairs information? How many times a day do they consume news and at what times? What is the channel that leads them to the news: social networks, blogs, newspaper home pages? • To discover young people’s information preferences (also in the local context): What topics do they like and would like to find in the media? What topics do they dislike in current affairs? What are their media of reference for information? What topics in the city of Seville would they like to be better informed about?

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• Determine the type of narrative preferred by young people: how do they like the news to be presented? What formats do they like best: photographs, videos, texts? What do they suggest to make the news more attractive? • To understand how they combat misinformation, how they measure the degree of credibility of a news item, and what they rely on to share a news item on social networks. • Understand the civic value of the media: What value do they place on being informed about current affairs? To what extent do the media facilitate the process of socialisation? Metrics and Evaluation. The evaluation of the results of the ten interviews was carried out using the following method of analysis. 1. 2. 3.

4.

5.

Detailed transcription of the audio of each interview, highlighting the main phrases that respond to the themes. Careful reading of the content, extracting the first ideas. Grouping of ideas by thematic categories. The ideas were divided into six groups. Five of them corresponded directly to the research objectives. It was decided to create a sixth group concerning the complaints expressed by the interviewees about how the media deals with certain issues. The following is the list of categories: Access to the media; Information preferences; Preferred type of format; Attitude towards misinformation; Civic value of the media; Criticism of the media. Colour coding of the sentences of the text with the established categories and selection of the most significant ideas. A colour was assigned to each category and the most relevant sentences that could correspond to each group were shaded with their distinctive shade. Finally, the main ideas were listed with their corresponding category. Interpretation of the results. Extraction of the findings revealed in each test focused on opportunities for improvement.

3.2 Conclusions Understanding How Young People Access Current Affairs Information. Young people in this age range tend to access news more than once during the day. The times of consumption do not follow any pattern, although there is a certain tendency to maintain the routine of getting information at breakfast time and just before bedtime. The device used is almost always the mobile phone, far behind the second most important, which is the laptop. They land on the media attracted by links that have caught their attention on one of these three platforms (listed in order of importance): • Twitter. This is the network from which most of the young users who reach the media originate. The channels for disseminating news tend to be the media’s own

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accounts on this network, the accredited users that young people follow or the accounts of their friends. It should be noted that there are young people who never leave Twitter in search of more information because they consider this network in itself to be a fairly complete repository of news. The latter group is satisfied only with the news headlines and rarely goes further. • Instagram. Many links posted on this network end up directing young users to the media, although to a lesser extent than Twitter. • Google. More often than not, it is the Google search engine that directs young people to the media. Many of them find out about the news on a social network or on a traditional channel (television or radio) and turn to organic traffic for further information. Most of them access those digital media links that Google ranks at the top. Facebook does not seem to be particularly popular among 18–24 year olds. Rather, it would seem to be a network in decline, greatly affected by the lack of trust generated by the news that is shared on it. Many see it as an older person’s network. The notification systems that the media are trying to install on mobile browsers do not attract much traffic. The user’s explicit consent required to activate them often acts as a barrier. However, once this hurdle has been overcome, it is an effective channel for accessing news, as some interviewees state. In most of the interviews, the difficulty of generating a clear memory of the medium read in the minds of this type of reader was noted. The reason for this lies in a pattern of consumption of current affairs news based on the pecking order of various news sources. This poses a challenge for meeting the objective of building new reader loyalty. Discover Young People’s Information Preferences (also in the local context). In relation to the topics preferred by this group of young people, three categories can be established, all three of which are equally important in their information menu. Topics that affect them. Here we include those whose knowledge helps them to make decisions in the short or medium term to define important aspects of their personal or professional future: • Politics. Knowledge of those in power and their decisions occupies an important place. There is a certain preference for national politics, followed by regional politics. Although local politics is perceived as less attractive, many interviewees admit that it is important to know about it, because of the high degree of impact of the decisions taken there. International politics also appeals to them, especially on issues involving several nations, such as Brexit or US-China trade policy. • Studies, scholarships, employability and the labour market. Everything related to the professional opportunities of the different degrees generates a high level of interest. Also the possibility of accessing subsidised programmes or any type of job opportunity. • New companies. Related to the previous point, they are very interested in knowing which companies are coming to their city and which are leaving, which are emerging and which are going under.

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• Science, technology and research. Knowing about the advances made in different disciplines helps them to focus their future and awakens their curiosity. • Urban planning and mobility measures. They like to be informed about anything that involves a transformation of the urban environment or infrastructures, with special attention to transport, especially for those who live in the metropolitan area. Issues that concern them. This section covers issues that activate the critical awareness of these young people, who are generally very committed to the idea of achieving a fairer and more liveable world: • Immigration, social inequality and gender discrimination. Information about refugees, latent wars or people at risk of exclusion attract their attention. Rather than big numbers or official versions, they are interested in stories that tell the story of a problem from the point of view of the people involved. They also say they are very aware of the fight for equality between men and women or the eradication of gender-based violence. • Animal rights, environment and climate change. They advocate for a more sustainable world where species at risk of extinction or that are being subjected to some kind of suffering are respected. In this sense, animosity towards bullfighting shows is more than evident in the majority of those interviewed. • Police incidents and interventions. They are interested in this information in order to draw conclusions on how to prevent possible threats. Although they are attracted by this topic, they are very critical of the morbid treatment of certain events and demand ethical behaviour from the journalist. Topics that help them organise their leisure time. The following is a list of topics that focus their attention when they are looking for inspiration for their hobbies or activities to spend their free time on: • Sport. Information about local teams (Sevilla and Betis) occupies a prominent place among their preferences. • Concerts, shows and other artistic performances. Many of those interviewed expressed an interest in keeping up to date with the city’s leisure activities, which they sometimes find too widely dispersed in various sources. • Gastronomy, tourism and travel. They like to know about new proposals in the field of local hospitality. Routes and places of interest, both in Seville and in other cities, also attract their attention. In general, they consider themselves to be a generation that travels a lot. • Curiosities of the city, traditions and festivities. They are attracted by the curious stories behind the places they know, opening up the possibility of an interesting way of narrating culture. Holy Week and the brotherhoods also arouse, in general, quite a lot of interest in the group of young people interviewed, both in their social and artistic aspects. • Technology. As a generation that lives surrounded by technology, new developments in this field attract their attention, especially everything related to mobiles and their applications.

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• Series. If there is one cultural aspect that stands out among their preferences, it would be information about series, much more than books. In all cases, the young people interviewed showed signs of conceiving the world beyond local or national borders. They are a globalised generation, very used to looking at reality with a transnational perspective. Discover the Type of Narrative Preferred by Young People. We are analysing an audience group that is permanently invaded by an infinite number of claims that arrive at all hours and from almost any place to their consumption channels. Their preferences regarding the format of the news are therefore influenced by this need not to waste more time than is strictly necessary in consuming information. These two would be the preferred presentation models: • A photo with a prominent caption, followed by ideas (subtitles) summarising the information. This seems to be the most accepted format, very similar to what can be found on social media. Most young people do not object to a long article text, as long as it is well summarised at the beginning and its design is interspersed with photographs, videos and other graphic resources. What is more, many of them appreciate the fact that there is the possibility of going deeper into the information through this longer version. • Short subtitled videos that tell a story. Video does not always satisfy everyone, due to the need to activate the audio or the impossibility of speeding up playback. However, there is one format that is popular, especially among those less accustomed to traditional digital news consumption. This is a video that tells the news story through the montage of a succession of clips of moving images and photos, accompanied by large labels through which the narration runs. In these videos, which are no longer than 30 s, the sound is not decisive for their comprehension, so they can be consumed muted. This format, once made fashionable by Playground and Greenpeace, has now been taken up by many general media and enjoys a certain popularity on social networks. Understanding How They Combat Disinformation. Young people aged 18–24 say they are very concerned about the proliferation of fake news being spread through social media. In any case, they see themselves as much better equipped to detect them than older generations, whom they blame for being too casual in sharing news that turns out to be hoaxes. These are the mechanisms they activate to check the veracity of information: • Check the source of the news. If the issuing medium is trustworthy, the news automatically acquires a high degree of credibility. This media source may be a prestigious digital channel or an influential person (an expert in a certain field or a well-known journalist). It can be seen in the interviews that digital newspapers with a long tradition in the press (if they also have a paper edition, this adds to their prestige) or large generalist television and radio channels have already gained the trust of many young people.

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• Read in various places and of different ideological inclinations. They are a generation accustomed to verifying for themselves the information that interests them, sometimes resorting to media whose ideology does not coincide with their preferences, in order to obtain the most accurate portrait of what has happened. In this sense, they blame the older generations for being installed in a kind of “single thinking” due to the unhealthy habit of always consuming news from the same channel. In this second facet related to personal research in the search for the truth, a correct positioning in search engines is once again very important for the media, as it is usually through Google that they start their research. Understand the Civic Value of the Media. All the young people interviewed, without exception, were convinced of the need to be informed in today’s society. The phrase “what I don’t know I don’t talk about” was repeated on several occasions and points to a certain tendency to go deeper into issues beyond the simple headline. In short, these would be the reasons why young people value being up to date with current affairs: • To have richer and more productive conversations in their social groups. They confess to being attracted to people who know how to defend a point of view with arguments based on full knowledge of the facts. • To not fall easy prey to fake news and to understand the fundamentals that can dismantle it. • To be well-informed about the developments of those factors that can affect them in their near future and in any vital plane. The media can therefore be seen to play an important role in shaping the identity and values of young people. From the conversations analysed, it is clear that the opinions of experts interpreting current affairs play a very important role here. For these young people, it is often not enough to have a well-written and well and contrasted news is often not enough for these young people. They also need to be accompanied by explanations that provide context and depth.

Reference 1. Teso Alonso G, Piñuel Raigada JL (2015) Multitarea, multipantalla y práctica social del consumo de medios entre los jóvenes de 16 a 29 años en España. In: Arrojo Baliña MJ, Piñuel Raigada JL (eds) Contenidos digitales y multipantalla. Cuadernos Artesanos de Comunicación, n. 95. Sociedad Latina de Comunicación Social, La Laguna, Tenerife, España, pp 93–107 2. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Digital News Report 2018. https://media.digita lnewsreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/digital-news-report-2018.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb 2021 3. Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid: Informe anual de la profesión periodística. https:// www.apmadrid.es/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Informe-profesi%C3%B3n-2018_baja.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb 2021 4. Asociación Española para la Investigación en Medios de Comunicación: Marco general de los medios en España. https://www.aimc.es/a1mc-c0nt3nt/uploads/2019/01/marco19.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb 2021

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5. Galán E (2017) Transmedia y crossmedia. antecedentes y definición de una nueva narrativa. In: Sabes Turmo F, Varón Lassa JJ (eds) Algo más que un click. reflexiones y debates sobre el mundo digital desde la perspectiva de la investigación en la universidad. Asociación de Periodistas de Aragón, Zaragoza (2017) 6. Góngora Díaz G, Lavilla Muñoz D (2018) La prescripción de información: el prosumer y el ciberactivismo en los tiempos del storytelling. In: Varón Lassa JJ, Sabes Turmo F (eds) Libro de comunicaciones del XIX congreso de periodismo digital de Huesca. Asociación de Periodistas de Aragón, Zaragoza 7. Salaverría R (2010) Estructura de la convergencia. In: López X, Pereira X (eds) Convergencia digital. Reconfiguración de los medios digitales en España. Servicio Editorial de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela (2010) 8. Martín-SanRomán J-R, Suárez-Carballo F, Zambrano J-C (2019) La Experiencia de Usuario en los productos periodísticos: un enfoque desde el diseño centrado en el lector-usuario. El Argonauta español (16) 9. Norman DA, Draper SW (1986) User centered system design; new perspectives on humancomputer interaction. Lawrece Erlbaum Associates Mahwah, Nueva Jersey 10. Hassan Montero Y, Ortega Santamaría S (2009) Informe APEI sobre usabilidad. Gijón: APEI, Asociación Profesional de Especialistas en Información. https://www.nosolousabilidad.com/ manual/. Accessed 23 Feb 2021 11. ISO (1999) 13407: Human-centred design processes for interactive systems. ISO, Geneva (1999) 12. Allen JJ, Chudley JJ (2021) Smashing UX design: foundations for designing online user experiences. Wiley, London 13. Báez J (2009) y Pérez de Tudela: Investigación cualitativa. ESIC editorial, Madrid

Research Methods and Strategies

It Takes Two to Tango—Research and Education Cross Pollination at Design Higher Education Rita Almendra

and Fernando Moreira da Silva

Abstract Design Research and Education relationship can be viewed as a complex and rich ‘dancing process’, supported by rules and constant training, but also dependent on human passion and intensity, like ‘Tango’. This text reflects the research that has been developed for several years centered on Higher Education, trying to understand the intrinsic relationship that can be established between Education, Research and Society, working on the specificities of each of them, in order to find bridges that can lead to a holistic and epistolary stance of what should be the understanding between these three vectors that determine a new way of acting at the Higher Education System level. The bidirectional relationship between research and education implies to understand and describe the ways research support teaching as well as the modes teaching feeds research, having in attention the different ‘actors’ and correlations that we can take advantage of. In the case of the Design area we recognize two ways of researching while educating: researching through design and researching through education. It is intended that this investigation may be founder of an urgent reflection on this dynamic process of cross-pollination between Education, Research and Society. Keywords Design Higher Education · Research · Society · Cross-pollination

1 Introduction Tango is a dance that needs the interaction of a couple. We are two—a man and a woman—both researchers and teachers. Tango is also a dance in which movements must be synchronized between the dancers and from those with the music that presents as some of its marking characteristics: sudden changes in dynamics, richness of instruments uses and sounds. It is an energic, passionate and intimate dance that needs on the part of the couple of dancers a deep complicity, training and rigour. R. Almendra (B) · F. M. da Silva CIAUD, Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-063 Lisboa, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_10

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It appears to us as being a correct analogy to be made with Design Research and Education relationship that can be viewed as a complex and rich ‘dancing process’, supported by rules and constant training, but also dependent on human passion and intensity. Furthermore, we see this engagement process as a cross pollination one: one in which cross areas ties and affect each other in a cyclic evolving process.

2 Research and Education at Design Higher Education System Nowadays it is mandatory to research in higher education since the first cycle. It is even unquestionable that a university is the place in which education and research go hand in hand. As Eggink and Mulder-Nijkamp [1] stated: “A university can be defined as a place where the search for new knowledge (research) and the dissemination of that knowledge through the raising of new professional talent (education) meet.” Being so, we easily recognize that is also required that research makes part of the teaching–learning process. Thus, the challenge is one of understanding how to manage it in different education cycles, defining the levels of complexity, competencies to be acquired and knowledge to be developed. Assuming research and education has having a bidirectional relationship implies to understand and describe the ways research support teaching as well as the modes teaching feeds research. It is important to acknowledge that there is much more evidence regarding the first relationship [2] being recognized that research activity has a significant relationship with the efficacy of teaching activity [3]. The research support to education approach is clearly linked with the Design teaching–learning process that some authors suggest being better improved thru the creation of academic communities of practice [4, 5] that proportionate to students an intimate daily contact with research activity and research inquiring in a collaborative environment. This particular issue of collaboration is underlined by Hagstrom and Lindberg [6] that defend that research should be the base of education action since it has a high potential and impact on that action as well as for its collaborative possibilities. In the case of the Design area we recognize two ways of researching while educating: researching through design and researching through education. The fact is that research apprises education allowing it to develop and to be innovative, but the opposite is also true and there are mutual benefits on this relationship. Education feeds research, challenges it, and pushes it to new reflections in a constant search for new knowledge. Besides this vital connection between education and research it is mandatory to acknowledge the vital role of society.

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RESEARCH FOR ABOUT THROUGH

INTERNAL

Research about research

EXTERNAL

EDUCATION

SOCIETY EXPERIENCE DESIGN APPLY RESEARCH

TEACHING DESIGN TEACHING RESEARCH EXTERNAL

Design for society

Fig. 1 Research-Education-Society—a network of knowledge (the author)

In Fig. 1 we present a scheme that exposes the fluxes among research-education and society. Although this paper focus on the first relationship it is mandatory to recognize that even the connection Research-Education feeds and it is fed by society. The more relevant aspects to underline in Fig. 1 are: 1.

2.

The fact that there are both internal and external dimensions in the relationship (considering that internal gives respect to what gives respect to Academia environment and external what depends on outside inputs, collaboration etcetera). In terms of the relationship Research-Education we acknowledge the existence of: a. b. c.

3.

4.

Research as a content of the education system; Research on the education system—for it; about it; through it; Research about the way research is being developed;

In terms of the relationship Research-Society we devise investigation that aims to improve wellbeing and that benefits from partnerships of its context of action—the communities, society in general, companies, institutions, people; Moreover, in what concerns the link Education-Society we distinguish the design practice that questions society in order to design solutions that will enhance human experience.

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Finally, it is essential to underline that there are no univocal movements, i.e. all the connections presuppose that it occurs information fluxes in both directions although it can not be seen as a trade that it is done directly, with immediate results or even equal intensity and value.

3 Design Research—Its Specificity. As advanced by Rodgers et al. (2019) [7] contemporary design research is growing in extension and in depth (in terms of conceptual, methodological and theoretical approaches) inquiring several areas of knowledge and often promoting new interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary dialogues beyond single disciplinary spaces. Although Design Research privileges disciplinary dialogues it is important to recognize that it has according to Henseler [8] a peculiar a place within scientific research: “Design research differs fundamentally from behavioral sciences or natural sciences. While behavioral sciences or natural sciences seek to describe and explain the existing world, design research is about shaping it. Design research focuses on what the Argentinian philosopher Bunge calls “technological rules”. Technological rules are of the nature, if you wish to achieve objective A, then come up with the solution B. Consequently, a typical research question in design research is Does it work? while behavioral research would ask Is it true?” [8]. To understand the field of Design research is easier if we adopt the taxonomy proposed by Frayling [9] that is extensively accepted. This taxonomy identifies three types of design research: Research for Design, Research About design, Research through design. Research for design (research with a small r, according to Frayling) is research that is led in preparation of, or during a design project and is destined to inform a specific design solution. Research about design is research about the act of designing, encompassing issues such studying designers’ practice or the history of design and that usually results in recommendations, tools and methodologies. Research through design is the type of design research that differs the most from research in behavioural and natural sciences. In this type of research, the act of designing itself is the source of new knowledge. Being so, doing design in practice can be the central part of doing design research. Figure 2 from Findeli [10] shows how design practice, embedded in an academic context, is related to design research in “research through design”. That is the dimension most intimately related with the design practice and process.

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Fig. 2 Research through design scheme; the design question is a derivative of the research question. The design answer is then a partial answer to the research question. [10]

4 The Role of Teachers and Students Teachers and students are the agents of this “communicating vessel’s process”. In the case of our faculty in which teachers are also researchers, although being rather intense and time consuming, it becomes easier for academics to promote and facilitate the fluxes between research and education. Taking into account the work of Visser-Wijnveen et al. [11] the crosspollination between research and education occurs in the practice in five ways: thru teaching research results; by making research known; by showing what it means to be a researcher, by helping to conduct research and by providing research experience. The advantages on the part of the teachers are relevant since they can gain deeper understanding of a subject by teaching it thus facilitating research advances in that subject; they also benefit from the feedback provided by students on research analysis. Furthermore, as Casanovas-Rubio et al. [12] recognize, teaching encourages a wider intellectual context for researchers who are highly specialised and finally a ‘researchbased’ student learning activity can produce new research materials. On the side of the students their learning experience is improved since they participate in research activities that have a growing level of complexity depending on the cycle they belong to. The principle is the one that advocates that similarly to Project Based Education, research will be better learned if the student makes part of a real research environment.

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5 The Tango—Internal and External Levels of Engagement As it occurs in Tango where there are basic steps but also complex ones that contribute to the creation of a choreography, in this cross-pollination process between Education and Research there are also simple and more direct levels of engagements as well as complex and elaborated ones. On that respect it makes sense to refer the diagram proposed by Eggink and Mulder-Nijkamp [1] presented in Fig. 3 in which we have the circles referring to levels of aggregation and the rectangles representing the research results possibilities. In this unpretentious scheme we can understand that we have interaction between Education and Research starting from a simple lecture and arriving to a new discipline while passing through the creation of a new course. These events will allow us to research about educational developments such as the implementation of new courses, results of the application of a new methodology etcetera, as well as to develop new methods processes and theories. It is worse to mention that in the case of Fig. 3 we are just talking about the Research through Education practice that let us fine tune approaches optimizing the results of both education and also research in constant bases. It is what we can call the dimension one of this dance—the internal dimension, the linkage that is constantly fed internally and that depends heavily on students, educators and researchers’ interaction within academia context. The importance of researching within the design practice allows both researchers and educators to develop and/or test Design in two basic directions identified by Prediger [13] as: “theories that influence (but do not determine) the design decisions and the methods and perceptions in the empirical investigations of the teaching– learning processes that have been initiated (theories as a framework for research). On the other hand, empirical investigation aims at generating and eventually testing or refining theories (theoretical contributions as outcomes of research)”. It is of extreme richness the interplay between theories as frameworks and outcomes of research applies to both Design research and education. As a second dimension and in parallel we have the Research done in different areas of Design that it is not intertwined with the Design Education practice bridging Fig. 3 Research results derive from different levels of design education practices. [1]

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academia with society, thus allowing the design education and research system to benefit from this collaboration and joint work. Regarding the first dimension it is relevant to underline some of the actions that characterize this modus operandi such as: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Master student’s integration in ongoing research projects PhD and Post Doc student’s acting as lecturers Offering the possibility of engaging/ participating in courses’ classes to research projects and ongoing research Creation of internal structures to monitor and enhance education and research practices and to boost its interactions—observatory Promotion of research and research education and use of the knowledge created Reflection on research knowledge applied in education feeding new research on research and education—cross pollination process Capitalization on pedagogical and scientific projects created by candidates to teacher’s vacancies/positions as professors In what concerns the second dimension some of the relevant actions are:

1.

2. 3.

Benchmark of external institutions—Monitorization and continuous learning about this relationship education/research abroad and the way they transfer knowledge Continuously maintain of a net of knowledge’ share related with the issue namely thru actions such as conferences, seminars, workshops etcetera. Investment in joint projects and actions among different research and education institutions and society’s partners

Keep multiple communication channels between these research processes and the education system so an updated and informed approach can be adopted in Education.

6 Enhancing the “Choreography”—First Act There exists some evidence that allow us to envision space to progress and enhance this cross-pollination system. In fact, there is a growing disconnection between funding research systems and publication cultures since the first ones usually encourage enthusiastic proposals with team members from differing spheres while the second is assessed according discipline-focused criteria by specialized editorial boards. Academic collaboration is critical to knowledge production, especially as teams dominate scientific endeavours. Typical predictors of collaboration include individual characteristics such as academic rank or institution, and network characteristics such as a central position in a publication network.

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6.1 Master Student’s Integration in Ongoing Research Projects Higher education can maximise students’ cognitive and social capabilities, confidence, knowledge and imagination. It is a process of self-formation whose character incorporates modes of learning and work with techniques and knowledge absorbed by the students as an act of will and become part of the mental process [14]. Seeing higher education exclusively as a process leading to a set of competences is reductionist. However, developing competences is an important part of the mission of higher education. Competences are, still, not a neutral issue. The kind of competences that higher education should develop depends on what we see as the purposes of higher education. ‘Knowledge is crucial, but it only works if it is accompanied by understanding and an ability to act.’ [15] Universities not only produce most of the technical knowledge that society needs, they also produce independent analysis and critique of social, political, economic and environmental aspects, among other, making not only account for most of the basic advances in knowledge but leading to new products and new processes as well as to progress in several fields, such as design. Higher education institutions have the capacity to meet the challenges of all aspects of globalization, managing the complexity of our globalized society. One of the aspects to reach this target is the integration of master students in ongoing research projects. These students can contribute to a closer relationship between teaching and research, bringing a new vision of the problems, a current knowledge of the techniques and technologies to support research, but they also start to accumulate a greater knowledge of investigative practices, methods, processes, used tools, transposing them to the courses they attend, namely in the development of their own research to support the master dissertation.

6.2 PhD and Post-Doc Students’ Acting as Lecturers In the European Higher Education Area, especially for PhD students, there is a change in the education model, taking them a leading role and working autonomously, acting the teachers as managers and catalysts for knowledge [16]. So, we can state that the previous focus on the teacher has shifted to the PhD student, who plays an active role in the construction of knowledge, either individually or collaboratively. The European Universities Association report [17] pointed to the existence of a repeated separation between study and research: PhD students are involved in research through research centers but in general they are not involved in teaching, making research generally not part of the education of undergraduate and master students.

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With studies developed and published since 2000 on the relationship between teaching and research, Healey [5] suggests the existence of four ways to integrate research into teaching: research-led teaching, research-oriented teaching, researchtutored teaching and research- based teaching. Research-led teaching: in this type of teaching, the contents result from the research carried out by the teachers, based on the traditional model of information transmission, as is the case of the theoretical lectures, without taking advantage of the impacts of teaching/learning on research. Research-oriented teaching: learning uses research methods to apply them in teaching, taking advantage of them at the level of certain stages/phases of teaching. Research-tutored teaching: learning takes place through the critical analysis of research produced by others using reflection and discussion based on scientific articles. Research-based teaching: the learning methods are based on the bidirectional relationship between research and teaching, through the formulation and solving of research problems, integrating research projects of the own teachers in the teaching and, thus, abolishing the barriers between teachers and students. These forms of investigation in which research is more present are a way of making profitable and highlighting methods, processes, forms of problem-solving through the research produced by PhD and Post Doc students when acting as lecturers, taking advantage of their own investigations. This has been already practiced at the Lisbon School of Architecture in recent years, by PhD students and Post-Doc of Design area.

6.3 Offering the Possibility of Engaging/Participating in Courses’ Classes to Research Projects and Ongoing Research One of the interesting aspects is that for teachers who are simultaneously researchers, research corresponds to the production of new knowledge; for students, research is a way of asking questions and finding answers [18]. This point of view is particularly relevant when we involve students of master’s or doctoral degrees in design in the classes of certain courses that are essential for research projects or ongoing research. On the one hand, we are able to obtain important information for the research that is taking place through the active participation of students in these courses, using, for example, participatory design or human center design methods; on the other hand, students themselves are more motivated in the area of research and the importance it has for fertilizing of the teaching itself or transferring the knowledge produced to society and companies.

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6.4 Creation of Internal Structures to Monitor and Enhance Education and Research Practices and to Boost its Interactions—Observatory In 2015, the United Nations released an important document with a target on the next decade: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This document expresses concern about the future of education and stimulates the implementation of urgent reflection on this issue. Goal 4 has as central objective to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ and it states in target 3: ‘A well-established, properly regulated tertiary education system supported by technology, open educational resources and distance education can increase access, equity, quality and relevance, and can narrow the gap between what is taught at tertiary education institutions, including universities, and what economies and societies demand. The provision of tertiary education should be made progressively free, in line with existing international agreements’ [19]. To be able to achieve this goal or other aims, it is fundamental that higher teaching institutions implement internal structures, such as observatories, to monitor and enhance education and research practices, in a contribution to the so-called cultural sciences. The observatory structure can assume the responsibility of filling the gaps resulting from the fragmentation and discontinuity of relevant data and information about the student universe, gathering data that can be organized, described and interpreted, in order to justify the formulation of policies, strategies and actions geared towards constant improvement. More and more in higher education institutions, there are changes at social level, in the profile of students, in their interests, in the courses offered, in the curricular plans, in the pedagogical resources, methodologies and practices, etc., which trigger mutations that reflect the internal and external dynamics. Thus, these monitoring structures can boost interactions and cross pollination of design education and research.

6.5 Promotion of Research and Research Education and Use of the Knowledge Created Societal demand for competencies goes far beyond digital skills, and includes abilities such as critical thinking, emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility [20]. In addition to the knowledge acquired, design students have to achieve different skills and at different levels. To this end, the promotion of research and research education in design becomes central, allowing students to directly apply the knowledge created. One of the possible ways to stimulate this type of actions is by welcoming students from different teaching cycles to the research units, allowing them to perform specific

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research tasks. The formalization of this type of integration is often done by awarding research grants or conducting research internships in the existing Research Groups. It is also possible to resort to the creation of working groups around research topics, in which professors, researchers and students take part, according to the lines of investigation existing in the research units.

6.6 Reflection on Research Knowledge Applied in Education Feeding New Research on Research and Education—Cross-Pollination Process The research knowledge evidences not only the actual massive capacity for the acquisition, storage and retrieval of information, but also the possibility of digitally modifying information and data. The idea of knowledge limits has been distorted and, therefore, affected the teacher-scholar role, underlining a changing scenario with the need for lifelong learning, updating knowledge and skills during our life [21]. The awakening of the student’s interest in research must lead to the development of thought, to act with autonomy, to authorship of creation and to the reconstruction of accumulated knowledge. Research, therefore, must be directly related to the act of teaching and learning, throughout the training of students. Already in 1999 Paulo Freire stated: ‘There is no teaching without research and research without teaching. (…) While teaching, I keep looking, searching. I teach because I search, because I asked, because I ask and I ask myself. I research to find out, contacting, intervening, educating and educating myself. I research to find out what I don’t know yet and to communicate or announce the novelty’ [22]. Thus, both teachers and students should adopt research as an everyday practice. In this way it is possible to seek a constant reflection on research knowledge, which in turn will allow to apply that same knowledge in education and research: this is really a cross-pollination process in which the two areas must constantly pollinate themselves, carrying acquired knowledge in each of them, permitting to change practices, reflect on what teaching should be and how, underline existing problems and seek solutions to them through the implementation of research, but also seek for their coexistence at the level of higher education institutions.

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6.7 Capitalization on Pedagogical and Scientific Projects Created by Candidates to Teacher’s Vacancies/Positions as Professors During the course of the twentieth century, the lists of knowledge, skills and attitudes that gave rise to an endless list of the so-called “qualities” of the teacher became popular. Regarding the profile of the higher education lecturer, Shulman [23] stated that it is not enough for a teacher to know the latest techniques and technologies, given that the quality of the teaching he/she practices also implies an ethical and moral commitment, which can be called a pedagogical imperative. In competitions for career advancement, one of the elements of the most important applications is the pedagogical/scientific project presented by the candidate. In it, the candidate presents a new pedagogical and/or scientific project for the position he/she is applying for. Most of the time this document, which really reveals the position of the candidate for teaching, as well as how he/she looks at his career as a teacher and researcher if he/she gets the position, being a differentiating document and of central value in the assignment position, is not really used and valued after being hired by the higher teaching institution It is therefore imperative that these projects be capitalized and differentiated even as the institution culture.

7 Second Act of the “Choreography” ‘Higher education institutions have stopped being part of the welfare system to become active in the welfare of society.” [24] Higher education currently faces many changes, some them driven by the way knowledge is produced, organized and transmitted within universities and community, especially through the implementation of empirical research, applied research broadly focused on the social impacts of higher education. The relationship between academia and society has been changing progressively and more intensely in recent years. This is mainly due to an effort of “bridging” and reconciliation between the parties, recognizing the added value of a continuous relationship between them that can allow a greater reflection on the mass model of higher education, transforming it into an instrument for economic progress without forgetting its original role of contributing to human development and enrichment, allowing the creation of more inclusive education systems adjusted to the real needs of society, in order to serve individual intellectual development as well as social progression. We are witnessing a progressive change of the higher education institutions’ place in society from serving as an instrument for national political purpose to becoming part of the production process of a transnational region.

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According to Theocharis Kromydas [25], the purpose of higher education and its role in modern societies remains a heated philosophical debate, with strong practical and policy implications. Higher education institutions cannot be seen as mere suppliers of graduates, that is, products that have some pre-determined value in the labor market. We also know that knowledge acquired in academia is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the job market to create suitable jobs, where graduates use and expand this knowledge. We live in a time of changes that has led to a transformation in the nature of the traditional relationship between higher education and society. As a result, higher education institutions are under constant and growing pressure to show their social relevance. This is partly due to the momentum brought about by the emergence of the knowledge-based economy and, at the same time, the premium attributed to the manipulation and transfer of knowledge assets, in addition to high-level capabilities incorporated into human capital. Higher education is under numerous external pressures that manifest themselves in a variety of ways, including variations in the economy and the nature of the labor market, demographic trends and the demands and expectations of interest groups, which are, to a large extent, associated with the notion of higher education as an instrument to reach certain social agendas, such as democratization, social mobility, economic development and innovation. These external pressures generated a series of strategic responses by higher education institutions, verifying the existence of reforms aimed at modernizing higher education in order to better respond to the mentioned pressures and increase efficiency, quality and responsibility [26]. To this end, it is necessary to have continuous benchmarking with external institutions, implementing structures that allow continuous monitoring and knowledge acquisition on how relationship education/research is developed abroad and how partner institutions proceed at the level of knowledge transfer, being fundamental to establish, increase and maintain a net of knowledge in the area of design that permits constant sharing of knowledge. International conferences, seminars and workshops, among other, are important vehicles for the dissemination of knowledge, but also for the search for partnerships having as main target joint projects in terms of teaching and research, counting with other higher education and R&D institutions, but also of society’s partners. Regarding how a group of partner entities achieves each other’s capabilities, Camarinha-Matos et al. [27], mention the importance of this type of collaboration, underlining that it is a rich and fundamental process for the involved entities that share information, resources and responsibilities to, together, plan, implement and evaluate a program of activities to reach a common goal. Trust between partners, whether in education, R&D or society, is a central factor for the success of collaborative projects, which can take years to achieve, but which drives new collaborative projects, taking advantage of the cross-pollination of areas and partners involved. Higher education institutions should be responsive to external demands while having means of mastering their target and accomplishing their core functions, as well as remaining protected from too great an influence from external interests, being provided with sufficient means to being able to develop their own vision and values

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as to what their roles and functions are and how they respond to global challenges, regardless of market expectations [28]. So, keeping multiple communication channels between the research processes and the education system, allow for a constant updated, as well as an informed approach to be adopted in Higher Education.Conclusion. The population rate of older people in the world is growing rapidly, and in the coming decades, governments and civil society will make great efforts to meet the demands and expectations of these individuals. New technologies in Information Systems will play a major role in maintaining the quality of life and social integration of older adults. Currently, the interfaces of various information systems - especially smartphones do not yet meet the characteristics and expectations of older adults since they present physical, cognitive and emotional barriers that disappoint these users. The present study aimed at applying a SLR, to analyze the main barriers encountered by older adults with using smartphones. The studies point out that much has already been done to understand the interaction problems between older users and smartphones, such as: the limitations of user interaction and the touch screen; the difficulties of understanding icons; and the emotional impact on the difficulties of use. Older adults have particularities which can influence the autonomy of smartphone users and, consequently, the complexity of the solutions that seek to meet these demands. Such complexity should be carefully observed by IT development teams, especially designers, who are directly responsible for the user interfaces.

8 Conclusions From the beginning: Tango is a is a dance that needs the interaction of a couple; Interaction is the base of knowledge acquisition, growth and transformation. Interaction between research and education is a natural but challenging process of co-evolution and co-improvement. The engine of this process are people, the agents that engage in this process of feeding this system and being fed by it. Thus, this desired cross-pollination depends upon heterarchical systems of organizing people that works better in collaborative modes of work and that must involve all the interested parts from the beginning. This organic system must always be kept as an open-system, one that is adaptative, sustainable, long-term oriented and having the persons at its center. Like a Tango, that attracts our look to the dancers in which high performances are achieved by a collaborative continuous work, Cross-pollination between Research and Education should continue its “rehearsal program” with these fundamental guidelines, being this investigation a founder text of an urgent reflection on this dynamic process.

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References 1. Eggink W, Mulder-Nijkamp M (2016) Design-research-in-education; combining the best of both worlds. In: Proceedings of the 18th international conference on engineering and product design education, pp 192–197 2. Casanovas-Rubio M, Ahearn A, Ramos G, Popo-Ola S (2016) The research-teaching nexus: using a construction teaching event as a research tool. Innov Educ Teach Int 53:1, 104–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2014.943787 3. Galbraith CS, Merrill GB (2012) Faculty research productivity and standardized student learning outcomes in a university teaching environment: a Bayesian analysis of relationships. Stud Higher Educ 37(4):469–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2010.523782 4. Brew A (2012) Teaching and research: new relationships and their implications for inquirybased teaching and learning in higher education. Higher Educ Res Dev 31(1):101–114. https:// doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2012.642844 5. Healey M (2005) Linking research and teaching to benefit student learning. J Geography Higher Educ 29(2):183–201 6. Hagstrom E, Lindberg O (2013) Three theses on teaching and learning in higher education. Teach Higher Educ 18(2):119–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2012.694097 7. Rodgers PA, Conerney L, Mazzarella F (2019) Deconstructing design research. Des J 22(sup1):1287–1303. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2019.1594956 8. Henseler J (2015) Is the whole more than the sum of its parts? On the interplay of marketing and design research. Inaugural Lecture, 30 April, University of Twente, Enschede (2015) 9. Frayling C (1993) Research in art & design. In: Royal college of art research papers, vol 1, no 1 10. Findeli A (2010) Searching for design~research questions: some conceptual clarifications. In: Chow, R., Jonas, W., Joost, G. (eds) Questions, hypotheses & conjectures. iUniverse 11. Visser-Wijnveen GJ, Van Driel JH, Van der Rijst R, Visser A (2010) The ideal research-teaching nexus in the eyes of academics: Building profiles. Higher Educ Res Dev 29(2). https://doi.org/ 10.1080/07294360903532016 (2010). 12. Casanovas-Rubioa M, Ramosa AAG, Popo-Ola S (2014) The research-teaching nexus: using a construction teaching event as a research tool. Innov Educ Teach Int 53(1):104–118 13. Prediger S (2019) Theorizing in Design Research: Methodological reflections on developing and connecting theory elements for language-responsive mathematics classrooms. Avances de Investigación en Educación Matemática 15:5–27. https://doi.org/10.35763/aiem.v0i15.265 14. Marginson S (2016) Higher education and society, in the dream is over. University of California Press, Oakland 15. Bergan S, Damian R (2010) A word from the editors, in Higher education for modern societies: competences and values, Council of Europe High Education series, nº 15, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, ISBN: 978–92–871–6777–4 16. Márquez-Ramos L, Mourelle E (2018) On the relationship between society and higher education: what path should we take? Dist Educ 39(1):19–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919. 2018.1436401 17. European Universities Association (2013) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa: Evaluation Report 18. Buckley CA (2011) Student and staff perceptions of the research-teaching nexus. Innov Educ Teach Int 48(3):313–322 19. UNESCO (2015) Education 2030: Incheon declaration and framework for action for the implementation of sustainable development goal 4. Paris: Author. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ima ges/0024/002456/245656e.pdf 20. Titlestad G (2017) Transformation of education in the era of openness and flexibility, Open classroom conference at the 2017 European distance learning week (EDLW), Kaunas, Lithuania (2017).

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Synthesis Models of Project and Design Methodologies Applied in Research Projects in Communication Design Daniela Oliveira, João Neves, Daniel Raposo, and José Silva

Abstract The present study results from a set of studies developed in the scope of project and design methodologies. Through non-interventionist and interventionist methodologies with qualitative basis, the methodologies of several research projects in communication design were analysed. In this way, this study evidences the importance of using suitable methodologies, applying project management and design management concepts, and lastly demonstrates how Design Thinking and visual thinking methods can improve the outcomes of the projects when all these disciplines are used together. This study has as main goals the development of methodologic synthesis models that help in the decision-making process, and to simplify the design process through the visual thinking and Design Thinking tools that allowed the designers to have a holistic perspective of each project. Besides this, it was expected that these synthesis models could be applied in other research projects in the communication design field. Keywords Design methodology · Project methodology · Research in communication design · Design Thinking · Visual Thinking

1 Introduction This study succeeds a set of studies developed previously, which began with an analysis and synthesis of project methodologies and design methodologies used in each case study. J. Neves · D. Raposo · J. Silva Lisbon School of Architecture, CIAUD, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, 1349-063 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] D. Raposo e-mail: [email protected] D. Oliveira (B) · J. Neves · D. Raposo · J. Silva Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, nº 12, 6000-084 Castelo Branco, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_11

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In this study, we will carry out synthesis models of project and design methodologies applied in research projects in the communication design field. This way, it was expected with this study to develop methodologic synthesis models that help in the decision-making process, and to simplify the design process through the visual thinking and design thinking tools that allowed the designers to have a holistic perspective of each project. To develop this study, we used Design Thinking and visual thinking tools that enabled us to understand the projects, carry out the analysis and establish common relations between the information, and carry out a synthesis of the information. These methods provided us with a holistic view of project methodologies and design methodologies used in each project. Furthermore, the design management allows the project manager to coordinate the work team at an operational, strategic and tactical level. The design management area integrates the project management of design. When these two functions are executed by design managers and project managers, it is possible to think of the projects in a strategic approach, make decisions of the methods and the practices for the development of the projects, as well as defining tasks and coordinate the team with a goal to achieve the deadlines and costs defined. Adding the design scientific component to the project management in communication design has several benefits for the design project as to allow the product development with more knowledge about the methods, considering the scientific evidence with a goal of satisfying the consumer needs and to contribute with new knowledge for the scientific community. However, in this case it is important to consider the project processes to understand what methods were used. These processes allowed us to identify and analyse the patterns and to verify if it is possible to develop innovative methods that could be applied in other projects. The process of thinking of the project it is called methodology. The project methodologies are an essential factor to improve, to develop and to contribute theories and methods. To conclude, it was essential to understand concepts about the design management, the project management, the research in communication design, the cases studies, the design thinking and the visual thinking to develop this study. This knowledge allowed us to develop a synthesis model of research projects in communication design, simplifying the decision making and to improve research findings.

2 Methodology In this theorical and practical study, it was used a mixed methodology, integrating non-interventionist and interventionist methodologies with qualitative basis. Relatively to the non-interventionist methodologies we used the literature review, carried out exploratory interviews, developed exploratory descriptive diagrams and analysed case studies, with the goal to understand the state-of-the-art, to find patterns

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between the information and to have a holistic view about the whole information at this stage of the methodology. After gathering the information needed, it was started the interventionist phase of the methodology, through active research where the concepts, the exploratory interviews and the state-of-the art were analysed. Following the divergence of the information, it was carried out the convergence of the information. In this sense, it was synthesized the information through triangulation methods that allowed us to find the patterns and to create the pre-findings of a synthesis methodology model.

3 Research in Communication Design The evolution in this field did not happen at the same time in every country. For example, the Portuguese society started to become aware of the design importance in the 1980s and 1990s, while in England, in the 1960s, a group of researchers in the communication design field made promising advances in design methods. Thus, the basic principles of design methods, emerged in the 1960s through Jones (1962), Archer (1963), Alexander (1964) and Luckmann (1967). The first method emerged in 1962, because Jones didn’t consider the methods used at the time suitable for the design problems. Those procedures were suitable to make local changes and improvements only. [11] (1980) believed at the time that in the future it would be needed a holistic method that integrates all the aspects of the problem and could be applied in several situations. For [11] (1980) “(…) design methods are intended for the design of “all-things-together”, the “total situation” (…) meaning the functions and uses of things, the “systems” into which they are organized, or the “environments” in which they operate.” ([11], 1980, p. XXV). In this way, [11] (1980) proposed us “(…) a way of organizing the design process so that logical analysis and creative thought.” ([7], 1984, p. 2). However, the author argues that these two ways of thinking are distinctive, and that it is necessary to separate them. Moreover, the author warning us for the importance of the intuitive and irrational aspects of design as a logical system of procedures. Regardless this method integrates a three-stage process: analysis, synthesis and evaluation that allows and encourages the creative freedom of designers. Archer (1963) showed us an identical viewpoint but more complex of Jones’s perspective. His model integrates six phases, namely: programming, data processing, analysis, synthesis, development and communication. Besides this six stages, incorporates several feedback phases between each stage. In the analytic phase of this method the goals and the restrictions of the project are identified, and it is developed a list with the sub-problems of the projects ordered by relevance. ([7], 1984). According to Archer (1963) “The result (…) is a statement of the problem, not the answer” (Archer, 1963 apud [7], 1984, p.4). Seeing that for the designers it is important to develop creative solutions through an objective and systematic analysis. Regardless of Archer’s model focusing on creativity, it has objective phases of analysis and performance too.

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In Alexander’s (1964) viewpoint “(…) design activity is based on the formulation of a prescription or model which represents the intention to create some artefact and the activity must include some creative step.” (Alexander, 1964 apud [7], 1984, p. 3) However, the author also warns to the need to “(…) conceptualize new components; to design totally new, more appropriate artefacts, structures and systems.” (Alexander, 1964 apud [7], 1984, p.2) The presented method consists in the hierarchical decomposition of the problem, which gives rise to smaller subsystems. Subsequently, the combination of the smaller subsystems with the main subsystems, results in a schematic concept for the corresponding component ([7], 1984). At the end of 1960s, Luckmann (1964) presented us the Analysis of Interconnected Decision Areas method (AIDA method), with an approach more related with design management, where highlight aspects as the organization of the project and the operational research. This model integrates three stages: analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Nevertheless, this process repeats itself at different levels of the design process, seeing that “(…) the designer is continually cycling through analysis— synthesis—evaluation, proceeding from more general problem levels to the more specific.” ([7], 1984, p.5). According to Luckmann (1964) the decision-making occurs at any level of the process, each time that emerges a sub-solution suitable for a specific sub-problem, allowing the designer to have several suitable solutions and made simultaneous choices instead of sequential choices ([7], 1984). Considering all perspectives of mentioned authors, it is possible to observe that are three stages of the design process commons to the many methods, namely: the analysis, that corresponds to the collect and to the classification of the relevant information to the problem (divergence); the synthesis, where are formulated potential solutions for the problem, taking into account the research developed previously (transformation); and, the evaluation, where is evaluated each solution that aimed the problem resolution (convergence) ([7], 1984). Since then, the project design methodologies got more importance. Methodology is the thinking process that usually designers have, however [11] (1980) believes that this thinking process should be demonstrated to the people (users included), seeing that the feedback of the process is essential to improve the project because the people can present their ideas and suggestions, and this takes critical decisions to improve the product or service. According to Rittel (1972), design methodology has as main goal to clarify the nature of the activity, as well as the structure of the problems ([7], 1984). Nevertheless, according to Lawson (1972), the design methodology can be considered a scientific methodology ([7], 1984). In 1960s, Luckmann’s (1967) work focused on the importance of managing the design to understand the limitations, restrictions and the goals of the design process, and subsequently to know better the research process and the development of research which design integrates ([7], 1984). Thus, it is important to understand that the design process is complex and not only a “(…) set of sketches but a knowledge of the mental process the designer goes through.” (Darke, 1979, apud [7], 1984, p. 177), while [11] (1980) argues that “When a design method (…) is, by itself, sufficient to solve a design problem, it is called a strategy (…)” ([11], 1980, p. 75).

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Therefore, the design thinking became more and more important to answer to the problems in the most suitable way. Due to the relevance that design thinking got during the time, it became a discipline inherent to the design, being considered a “(…) possible design automation, (…) parts of the design process for which the thinking is sufficiently well understood to be represent by a mathematical model or process.” ([11], 1980, p. 61). However, while the theoreticians in this field researched and applied the methods in a trial–error way in a project, we found aspects that could be improved and subsequently applied. Walsh et al. (1988) affirms that “Research provides evidence of a correlation between company performance and design management.” (Walsh et al., 1988 apud [3], 2003, p. 48). Considering Findeli’s (2008) approach, the research through the design “(…) proceeds from a methodologic critical to the current two methods most practiced in field, the research for design and about design.” ([9], 2013, p. 78). Nevertheless, this is the research model most benefit to the education, due to the significant theorical component. This research model became strong enough for the development of research projects based in practice, in practical research, in research of action in design, in clinical research and in research based on project. For that reason, Jones (2007) considers the approach mentioned is “(…) the only genuine research paradigm because it is here that new knowledge is created through an actionreflection approach” (Jones 2007 apud [10], 2010, p. 6). This type of approach of action-reflection, have emphasis on the goal of the research, in creation of knowledge in design and not in the project findings. It is in this field that methodologies belong. This field has methodologies suitable to solve problems of research at design level, seeing that integrates general theorical knowledge of how to do research in design. Also, in this field we can research and generate knowledge of fundamental design epistemologies. Moreover Friedman (2000) suggests the idea that “The practice aims incorporate the knowledge. The research aims to articulate the knowledge.” (Friedman 2000 apud [9], 2013, p. 80). To conclude, the last forty years of the twentieth century were essential to the develop design as a scientific discipline and for its consolidation in society. In 1960s, the basic principles of design methods were developed and in 1990s years, with the goal of study each of them in a deepen way the research areas were compartmentalized.

4 Design Management and Project Management From the 1960s to the early 2000s, there has been a great antagonism between design and management. When the design management and project management concepts started to emerge in corporative environment, the design focused on aesthetics and functional of product development, brand and services. While design management has interest in the whole aspects of the corporation, the project management defines strategic goals suitable to each organization, always with the intent to obtain return of

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that investment. On the other hand, the authors have been able to explain the design value for the organization. The arguments most used are related with the attractiveness and aesthetics in a product, the innovation and differentiation of products in market. The author Gorb (1990) defines design management as a determinant progress to help organizations to achieve goals, thus as Powell (s.d.) considers that design management is an essential tool for innovation and create sustainable competitive advantages, that improves the user’s quality of life ([3], 2003) and [2] (2006) considers that “Design management is about the management of design.” ([2], 2006, p. 6). More than 80% of strategies developed and the tools used have a goal to acquire value instead of create value. These strategies are important to maintain the good functioning of corporation, however, they don’t create value. In this aspect Design Thinking becomes the essential catalyst to the success of organizations and leaders. The Design Thinking allows a balanced strategic decision-making at a qualitative and quantitative level through intuition. In this way, [12] (2013) considers that is important renounce to the current rational-logical-linear models and suggests that is better using more intuitive methods through the simplification of work flows and make a corporative hierarchy more equitable ([12], 2013). Through the use of methods more intuitive and equitable it will be possible to develop a knowledge base and obtain new insights that aims to clarify the relation between problem–solution and culminate in an efficient strategic management. According to Topalian (1986), it can exist a “(…) short-term design management, which involves managing a design project, and long-term design management, or management of “global design.” (Topalian 1986, apud [3], 2003, p.70) Simultaneously, “(…) design management concerned itself with developing methods and practices to structure the design process, introduce predictability and cost control.” ([6], 2011, p. 23). In [2] (2006) viewpoint, the project management in graphic design field, results from a translation of strategies and process of design in a solution. To do that, it is important to plan the tasks and coordinate the work team, with a goal to develop the project in time and in costs defined ([2], 2006). Towards to [2] (2006) and [6] (2011) the design management must be defined at a strategic, tactical and operational level, to establish long term goals, to benefit the decision-making of business or project through the design. Besides this, [2] (2006), considers that “Design can be active on strategic, tactical or operational levels, in setting long-term goals and in day-to-day decision making. Design is a function, a resource and a way of thinking within organisations and one that can be active in the strategic thinking, the development processes and, crucially, the implementation of projects, systems and services; the ways in which an organization connects with the costumers and stakeholders.” ([2], 2006, p.16). This kind of planning and coordination in design management, created the need to write briefings, with the objective to improve the management and the client delivery process. The authors Ravasi and Stigliani (2011) mentioned that a focused and concrete briefing, allows the entrepreneur to consider the design activity as a tool to the

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problem solutions according with the organization goals. ([6], 2011). A good briefing can benefit both parts, seeing that it makes easier the transference of the information and reduce the ambiguity relatively to the expected results of the project. In addition, the permanent contact between designer and entrepreneur during the development of the project allows to have a bigger comprehension of the solution of the problem. According to [12] (2013) “Applied design thinking in business problem solving incorporates mental models, tools, processes, and techniques such as design, engineering, economics, the humanities, and the social sciences to identify, define, and address business challenges in strategic planning, product development, innovation, corporate social responsibility, and beyond.” ([12], 2013, p. 60). The symbiosis between the traditional management approach and the design approach, allowed the development and the implementation of multidisciplinary approaches that aimed the problem’s solution that includes the application of design thinking. Besides this, [12] (2013), “Only by combining models and methods can organizations establish more complete and competitive bodies of knowledge and insight that empower a human-centric, future-oriented approach.” ([12], 2013, p. 61). While the traditional management approach is integrated by a rigorous organisational structure and hierarchized that needs to report all the processes developed, the design thinking approach is more flexible to combine elements as the creativity, the sensibility and the social relationships that unifying the organisation. Bringing together these two types of approaches it is possible to develop a holistic approach more analytical, influential and solid, with special attention to the details and that improve the duality of problem–solution thinking at another level. According to [2] (2006) the “(…) design management engages design thinking in the organisational strategy, identifies opportunities for design, interprets the needs of the organisation and its customers, and looks at how design contributes to the business as a whole.” ([2], 2006, p. 26) Through the previous affirmation of [2] (2006) it is possible to observe that the Design Thinking is a tool indissociable of design management. In [4] (2009) viewpoint, the Design Thinking methodology integrates five stages: the inspiration, that consists in the problem or opportunity that motivate the designers searching for solutions; the ideation, that involves the generative thinking process; the development; the testing of ideas; and the implementation in market ([4], 2009). The Design Thinking experience is based in logical and deductive thinking alternated between divergent and convergent stages. In this way, the divergent thinking allows to make choices, while the convergent thinking allows to find solutions related with consumer behaviour or with products/services that the market offers, as well as the creation of new interactive experiences. However, the analytical and synthesis stages complete both the divergent and convergent thinking. The process of analysis and synthesis is equally important, seeing that it is important analysing all the components and identify the most relevant patterns, being essential to the process and to create options and innovative choices. The mental processes as the perception, the memory and the thinking are complex and functional systems. When we put on the paper these mental processes, that can build new knowledge, new concepts are created. However, the drawings, the

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paintings, the schemes and other methods have elevated levels of abstraction, but they can translate the thinking to visual models, with a goal to enable on the solution of the problem. ([1], 1969). According to [8] (2007) the visual thinking “Simplify a complex process without losing details. Identify key common areas at project level. (…) [and] Provide a powerful tool for visualization of project assessment and re-evaluation.” ([8], 2007, p. 5). Besides this, it is considered a powerful tool to identify and to analyse the details of the complex information, intensifying the research projects. In this way, the cognitive mapping assumes some importance in the definition of structure of the methodology. The authors [15] (2015) define visual thinking as “(…) the way we classify our mental images by using forms, lines, colours, and composition to make them meaningful. It acts together with critical thinking to show how learners perceive, interact, and respond to a visual environment.” ([15], 2015, p. 9). Nevertheless, both authors believe that visual thinking “(…) helps us to recognize what we “read” in images and how others “read” them.” ([15], 2015, p. 9). According to [5] (2014), “(…) information visualization offers the potential to elucidate salient structures, patterns or relationships, which would otherwise not be accessible using traditional presentational graphics or information communication techniques.” ([5], 2014, p. 3). In addition, the visual techniques to represent the information allow to have a better knowledge of the project due to the holistic view of qualitative information. In summary, through the several studied authors relatively to the de-sign management, project management, visual thinking and design thinking, we can conclude that these fields have a correlation between them. The visual thinking methods are enabled to visualize the design thinking methods, that are essential to access the information in an accessible and compact way, to share constructive and systematic knowledge, and lastly to identify the concepts and relations to have better outcomes. These tools allow to improve the strategies and to have insights that made design and project management more efficient.

5 Research Projects in Communication Design Within the scope of the research theme, were selected five cases studies related with areas of agri-food; cosmetic/pharmaceutic development; exportation markets; cultural research; and environmental promotion and valorisation. Towards to understand which methodologies were used in each project, were made exploratory interviews to the designers and other professionals involved on projects. The projects realized aimed the involvement and the valorisation of resources and local communities, as well as respective involved regions. After an analysis of the research methodologies and the design methodologies applied on projects, we could observe some common points, mainly exploratory studies, the state of the art related with each problem, followed by an analysis and synthesis phase of the accomplished study. However,

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as we said previously, this study succeeds a set of studies developed and published before. As previously mentioned, this study succeeds a set of studies developed and published before, related to project methodologies [13] and design methodologies [14].

5.1 Mountain Olive Oil Promotion and Valorisation Project The Mountain Olive Oil Promotion and Valorisation Project was intended to increase the sector productivity and competitivity, the innovative products development, with quality and added value, as well as the economic and social development of Beiras and Serra da Estrela sub-regions. In order to achieve these objectives, the project methodology was split into two parts: one related with research project and the other with promotion and design. The research project methodology integrated an action plan constituted of six actions related with the state of the art, the analysis, the synthesis, the development of project, the communication design management (definition of means and communication strategies, content production, prototyping and validation), the final product, the implementation of the project in market and the content dissemination at scientific level. Relatively to the design methodology of the project was split into two parts: the design methodology for project communication and the design methodology for product communication. During the analysis of both design methodologies, it was possible to understand that they were divided in nine parts: Diagnosis, preliminary research, research, analysis, system definition, design, validation, production, and implementation.

5.2 Project to Promote and Enhance PNTI—Tejo International Natural Park The Project to Promote and Enhance PNTI—Tejo International Natural Park, had as main objectives the promotion of the dissemination, the promotion and the valorisation of territory, in harmony with fundamental principles of nature conservation and biodiversity. Towards to promote and improve visitation conditions, were defined many means, particularly the development of corporate and visual identity and an elaboration of information and orientation system. Thus, was possible to observe that the project methodology was split into two parts: The visual identity system and the orientation and information system. Each one of the programs contain their action plan. However, they had in common eight components such as: the state of the art, the analysis, the synthesis, the development of project, the communication design management which includes the definition of means and communication strategies, the content production, the prototyping and the validation, the final product, the

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implementation of the project in market and the content dissemination at scientific level. Concerning to the design methodology of the project was split into two parts: The design methodology for the visual identity system and the design methodology for the orientation and information system. Seeing that the orientation and information system comes from the development of visual and identity system, the study began for the comprehension of the design methodology of the visual identity system of the project. In this way, was verified that design methodology was subdivided into nine parts in both of systems: Diagnosis, preliminary research, research, analysis, system definition, design, validation, production and implementation.

5.3 DERMOBIO—The Development of DermoBiotechnological Applications Using Natural Resources in the Beira and Serra da Estrela Regions The development of dermo-biotechnological applications using natural resources in the Beira and Serra da Estrela regions Project, consisted in the exploration of this territory, with the objective to develop new innovative products for the health sector, settled in the concept of nature territory, through the thermal water use and essential oils. This project methodology was divided into three parts: the development of pharmaceutic product, the project communication and the product communication. Nevertheless, these parts of project methodology had in common elements as the state of the art, the analysis, the synthesis, the development of project, the communication design management which include the definition of means and communication strategies, the content production, the prototyping and the validation, the final product, the implementation of the project in market and the content dissemination at scientific level. However, the design methodology was split into two parts: The design methodology for the communication of the project and the design methodology for the communication of the product. These two parts of design methodology of the project were subdivided into nine phases: Diagnosis, preliminary research, research, system definition, design, validation, production and implementation.

5.4 Ordo Christi—Artistic Heritage of the Order of Christ Between the Zêzere and Tejo (centuries XV and XVI) Project Through the Ordo Christi—Artistic heritage of the Order of Christ between the Zêzere and Tejo (centuries XV and XVI) Project, it was expected the development of a holistic vision of territorial brand, in the way to promote cohesion and the reinforcement of identity, with focus on valorisation of patrimonial properties, in definition

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of interurban routes, along with the promotion of Heritage of the Order of Christ. The intention wasn’t about creating a new brand, but to motivate and to promote synergies existing between the many public, religious and private organizations. In this way, the project methodology integrated an action plan constituted for seven actions, that had the following aspects: the state of the art, the analysis, the synthesis, the development of project, the communication design management which include the definition of means and communication strategies, the content production, the prototyping and the validation, the final product, the implementation of the project in market and the content dissemination at scientific level. Relatively to the design methodology developed to accomplish the project it was divided into nine parts: Diagnosis, preliminary research, investigation, analysis, system definition, design, validation, production and implementation.

5.5 REINOVA—Re-industrialization, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Traditional Productive Sectors The REINOVA—Re-industrialization, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the traditional productive sectors Project, had as main goal the development of a business model that stimulates creativity, favouring entrepreneurships and SMEs of agri-food sector. Considering the various Portuguese and Spanish partners, was realized an activity and action plan, in the way to achieve the objectives of the project. Thus, the methodology was developed in seven stages, six main activities, sub-divided into various actions, through which was possible to obtain some pre-results and, thereafter, pre-conclusions. Besides this, this project methodology integrated elements as the state of the art, the analysis, the synthesis, the development of project, the communication design management which include the definition of means and communication strategies, the content production, the prototyping and the validation), the final product, the implementation of the project in market and the content dissemination at scientific level. Concerning to the design methodology, it was divided into two parts: The design methodology for the project communication and the design methodology for the product communication. In this way, was possible to understood that both methodologies were subdivided in nine phases: Diagnosis, preliminary research, research, analysis, system definition, design, validation, production and implementation.

6 Findings In order to establish and to find these patterns, we used Design Thinking and visual thinking tools that enabled us to understand the projects, establish common relations between the information, that culminated in eight stages in project methodologies

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(Fig. 1) and nine phases in design methodologies (Fig. 2). Using these methods provided us a holistic view of project methodologies and design methodologies used in each project and helped us to simplify the information. In this way, through the analysis of the previous five research projects in communication design presented, it was possible to understand that project methodologies and design methodologies have common points. In this way, the project synthesis model is: the state of the art; the analysis; the synthesis; the development of project; the communication design management which included the definition of means and communication strategies, the content production, the prototyping and the validation; the final product; the implementation of the project in market; and the content dissemination at scientific level [13, 2020]. In other hand, the design synthesis model is: the diagnosis; the preliminary research; the research; the analysis; the system definition; the design; the validation; the production; and the implementation [14, 2020]. In summary, through this study we could identify some similarities between both methodologic synthesis models, but we also could understand the importance of the project and design management during the development of them. These components allied to the Design Thinking and visual thinking methods can improve the outcomes of the project. Fig. 1 Synthesis model of project methodologies. (Source The authors)

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Fig. 2 Synthesis model of design methodologies. (Source The authors)

7 Discussion The present study allowed us to develop two methodologic synthesis models: a project methodology model and a design methodology model, that were used in the development of the research projects in communication design. To collect that kind of information of methodologies used in projects, the Design Thinking methods, the visual thinking tools, the exploratory interviews and the analysis of briefings were fundamental. Seeing that the projects integrated multidisciplinary teams, a focused and concrete briefing make easier the transference of the information and reduce the ambiguity relatively to the expected results of the project. In addition, the permanent contact between the project team and the client during the development of the project, allows both parts to have a bigger comprehension the of solution of the problem. However, it is essential to manage design project as well as to implement suitable methodologies to the design process and to the workflow of the team. As referred previously, methodology is the thinking process that usually designers have, however [11] (1980) believes that this thinking process should be demonstrated

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to the people (users included), seeing that the feedback of the process is essential to improve the project because the people can present their ideas and suggestions, and this take critical decisions to improve the product or service. According to Rittel (1972), design methodology has as main goal to clarify the nature of the activity, as well as the structure of the problems ([7], 1984). In this way, as we can see in Findings during the project development were developed several validations in a way to have feedback of consumer/public to improve the products or services. In addition, when we realized which methodologic patterns were used in the development of the project and in the design process, we obtained a clarified perspective of the structure and of the problems of each project. Besides this, the methodologic patterns that we found have common points with the perspectives of Jones (1962), Archer (1963), Alexander (1964) and Luckmann (1967). The common aspects that both methodologic synthesis models of the research projects have with authors perspectives are: the analysis, that corresponds to the collect and to the classification of the relevant information to the problem (divergence); the synthesis, where are formulated potential solutions for the problem, taking into account the research developed previously (transformation); and, the evaluation, where is evaluated each solution that aimed the problem resolution (convergence) ([7], 1984). However, using the most suitable methodology in the development of the project isn’t enough. It is necessary managing the project and developing strategies through Design Thinking and visual thinking methods. During this study, were referred some authors that have this perspective. The author [2] (2006), defends that “(…) design management engages design thinking in the organisational strategy, identifies opportunities for design, interprets the needs of the organisation and its customers, and looks at how design contributes to the business as a whole.” ([2], 2006, p. 26). In addition, according to [2] (2006), considers that “Design can be active on strategic, tactical or operational levels, in setting long-term goals and in day-to-day decision making. Design is a function, a resource and a way of thinking within organisations and one that can be active in the strategic thinking, the development processes and, crucially, the implementation of projects, systems and services; the ways in which an organization connects with the costumers and stakeholders.” ([2], 2006, p. 16). Furthermore, during this study we understood that visual thinking tools were essential to achieve the outcomes due to the simplification of the information and the holistic view that they provided to us. According to [5] (2014), “(…) information visualization offers the potential to elucidate salient structures, patterns or relationships, which would otherwise not be accessible using traditional presentational graphics or information communication techniques.” ([5], 2014, p. 3). Besides some similarities that we identified between both types of methodologies, we understood that it was essential to manage the design project. Once defined all the components that project management and design management needed, at a strategic, tactical and operational level and to establish long term goals, to benefit the decisionmaking of business or project through the design, it is necessary to define a suitable methodology to apply in the development of the project.

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In summary, in this study we realized two methodologic synthesis models to apply in the development of research projects in communication design field. Through the Design Thinking and visual thinking methods it was possible to find patterns between several research projects of several areas. In this way, the synthesis model of the project methodology and the synthesis model of the design methodology presented in Findings could be applied in other research projects in communication design field. Using methodologies in the development of the project are an essential factor to contribute, to improve and to develop theories and methods. Besides this, the synthesis models developed are suitable to help in the decision-making process, and to simplify the design process through the visual thinking and Design Thinking tools that allow the designers to have a holistic perspective when applied in future projects.

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Building an Archive of Perception: The Role of Observation and Intuition in Design Practice and Research Renata Arezes , Joana Quental, Anabela Pereira , and Raquel Guimarães

Abstract As a recent field of study, design resorts to a perspective of methodological integration or mixed method research. Both as a discipline and a practice, design is driven by the endeavour to develop creative and innovative solutions for the most diverse issues outside its scope, through a particular way of thinking and knowing. Within this framework, combining both the areas of design and health (psycho-oncology), this study aims to identify and understand the role and contribution of design practice to the borrowed methodological tools used in the pursuit of deep observation of systemic and contemporary phenomena by means of data collection methods and analysis methodology. Specifically designed to collect information through contextual inquiry (Beyer and Holtzblatt in Contextual design: defining customer-centered systems, San Francisco, 1998) and interview (Coutinho in Metodologia de investigação em ciências sociais e humanas: teoria e prática., 2a edição. Almedina, Coimbra, 2016) methods and applied in personal interviews to breast cancer patients from the São João Hospital Breast Centre in Porto, a field research instrument in the form of a questionnaire/interview was analysed from its design and application to the results obtained from the collected information. The conducted analysis revealed that the appliance of design’s unique vision allowed to go beyond a methodical and pragmatic approach by seeking beauty, poetry or a R. Arezes (B) DeCA, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture (ID+), DeCA, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal FCT Grant Holder, Lisbon, Portugal J. Quental DeCA, Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal A. Pereira DEP, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal R. Guimarães São João Hospital Breast Centre, Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_12

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hidden meaning through personal observation. Through this, designers are able to assemble an archive of perceptions that nurtures inspiration enhancing the creative process and the development of creative solutions. It is shown that multidisciplinary research teams may benefit from the early integration of designers through their challenging ‘designerly’ ways of thinking and knowing (Cross in Design Research Now: Essays and Selected Projects, Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Germany, 2007), granting from the start that the ethnographic collection constitutes relevant and valuable material capable of fostering innovation. Keywords Design research · Design practice · Design methodologies

1 A Quest for Deeper Perception “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” [4]. Design is fascinating in its constant endeavour for creativity and innovation seeking intelligent solutions to the most diverse issues for the benefit of human beings [5]. With such a wide and vigorous motto, design is increasingly working within any field of knowledge or activity—design is fundamentally pluralistic. This leads to the establishment of relationships between the involved fields that can be translated into symbiotic connections. As in nature, some of them are mutualistic or commensalistic, while others are predatory or parasite (competitive relationships are intentionally left out as this quality is intrinsic to the process of design, as seen forward, in a perspective that we consider more relevant for this particular study). From an ethical point of view, the first two types are undoubtedly the more valuable ones. But as far as reality is concerned, in both cases, there is some kind of benefit that leads to sustainability, growth and expansion. Taking a deeper look, we can even dare to say that the quality of the established relationship depends mainly on the participants and the role and level of commitment and openness they are willing to play. The ability to design is inherent to humankind itself. Therefore, it lives inside every human being as a natural form of intelligence [6] that can—and mainly is— applied without much thought about. Though we can recognize thousands of years of design as a human feature, it is very recent as a conscious practice as well as a discipline itself, which includes design research. Design practice is a main influence in design research (Cross; Buchanan; Jonas [7]). So, it is natural that as a recent field of study, still on the verge of its own definition while actively operating and thus with no unique data collection methodologies and desperately needing the tools to do so, and in a very ingenious way—with its own modus operandi—establishing a similar relationship as used in its practice with other fields of interest, design research gathers and applies widely validated methodologies from distinct areas, particularly human and social sciences. This resorts to a perspective of methodological integration or mixed method research [8], also widely used nowadays in current health research, which is of particular relevance for us since this study combines both fields of design

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and health (psycho-oncology). This methodological perspective allows the use of qualitative and quantitative methods. Favouring the successive search for relevant information to the development of research through design or the application of a problem outside this field, it will allow an approach through design in search for an innovative resolution [9]. Yet, how much of a paradox can this be? Design, under its own epistemology, is far from having scientific purposes, within its rhetorical and exploratory nature [6] in the pursuit for a logic of creativity, sometimes elusive or even incomprehensible. As Alexander clarifies, science aims to identify the elements that integrate existing structures while design aims to shape the elements of new structures. Science operates on what exists, design is a behaviour that leads to things that do not exist yet: “Science is analytic; design is constructive”.1 So this leads us to “understanding the design process through an understanding of design cognition, or the ‘designerly’ ways of knowing and thinking”.2 Also, and according to Cross [3], there is a critical distinction that should be made about method: while it is vital to the practice of science, as the unsurpassable validation of results, it is not to the practice of design, where not only do results not have to be repeatable but, in most cases, must not be replicated, since design should be innovative and creative in any solution it creates. So, what kind of relationship can there exist between design and the fields from which it borrows methodological tools? In an attempt to shed some light on this question, this study in particular narrows its vast application and aims to identify and understand the role and contribution of thinking through design in specific as it relates to data collection and analysis methodology—particularly contextual inquiry [1] and interview [2] methods in design for health research. Will design practice, as a “reflective practice”3 with its own distinct intellectual culture [3], bring some contribution of its own to the borrowed methodological tools used to collect information in quest of deep perception of systemic and contemporary phenomena? If so, how does design do it?

2 Conflict and Conciliation Design is inquisitive—Through project practice in addition to data analysis and interpretation, design seeks to extract and acquire reliable knowledge that allows to find the 1 Alexander, C. (1964) Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

In Cross, N. (2007) From a Design Science to a Design Discipline: Understanding Designerly Ways of Knowing and Thinking. In: Design Research Now: Essays and Selected Projects. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Germany, pp 41–54. 2 Gregory, S. A. (1966) Design Science. In: Gregory SA (ed.): The Design Method. Butterworth, London. In Cross, N. (2007) From a Design Science to a Design Discipline: Understanding Designerly Ways of Knowing and Thinking. In: Design Research Now: Essays and Selected Projects. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Germany, pp 41–54. 3 Schön, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. Temple-Smith, London. In Cross, N. (2007) From a Design Science to a Design Discipline: Understanding Designerly Ways of Knowing and Thinking. In: Design Research Now: Essays and Selected Projects. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Germany, pp 41–54.

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ideal solution for each situation. Design research seeks to look at reality by focusing on human experience as the basis for explaining what motivates people and their behaviours towards finding what moves them. By observing experiences—present and past, either directly or indirectly—certain attitudes, reactions and emotions are perceived and analysed based on how much they are capable of influencing experiences alone or within some other context. The reflection upon the collected data provides a phenomenological perspective of people, their motivations and performed activities despite the inherent nature of qualia and the vital interpretative approach in the construction of meaning. The user- and activity-centred approach [10] can therefore render suggestions and promote the development of new solutions. In this exercise, as opposed to exclusive objectivity imposed by science in itself, subjectivity is not only desirable but necessary—necessarily along with the former—for achieving unique and creative solutions, as the very own personal insight of the subject (designer) may ideally provide a unique and original way of looking at and addressing the issue. In this process of knowledge creation and as active subjects, observers and decoders, from Gil’s epistemological perspective, designers reconcile objectivity and subjectivity, which are distinct but complicit in a radical interdependent relationship,4 surpassing the limitations of the present reality and its point of view when ‘I think’ becomes intuition, in the intelligibility of evidence.5 By using empathy and imagination, observation and interpretation, designers look at and frame what is taking place in the present and, simultaneously, uncover themes and patterns that suggest new avenues for the future, in search of innovative proposals. Exercising imagination is allowed by the dynamic and interactive complement of rational thinking, based on evidence and information, as well as intuitive thinking, which arises from inspiration, thus enhancing the creation of broader and more creative options through unique and innovative solutions. Fulton Suri [11] refers to this as a new research paradigm in which unconscious intervention is recognized and accepted in the generation of creative ideas along with conscious mental processes. Designers are developers, creators, ideators, by nature and etymology. They can even be named as poets, as they exercise poiesis (Ancient Greek) in its purest form as in to create or to make, by bringing something into being that does not exist yet. Genesis happens by projecting—throw(ing) forth [12] or launching from oneself [13]—to a space and time ahead—the future. Metaphysically, this can be seen as the anticipation of time through the revelation of the hidden truth [14] although of a time and space inevitably submitted. According to design practice, the consciousness of this required ability to travel back and forward in between timelines is of utmost importance as anthropologically implied in the very own ability to design [15]. This is even more exciting if, looking ahead, we can perceive that the future may also imprint the present. In other words, while it is easily to accept and understand that 4 Gil,

F.: Modos de Evidência. Lisboa. Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, pp. 3–4 (1998). In Jácomo, A. O que conhecemos quando intuímos. Porto: Universidade Católica Editora, p. 91 (2014). 5 Gil, F.: Tratado da Evidência. Lisboa. Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, pp. 145–153 (1996). In Jácomo, A. O que conhecemos quando intuímos. Porto: Universidade Católica Editora, p. 90 (2014).

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the present is a result of the past, a more challenging exercise is required—which is to think of it being shaped by the future, by bringing tomorrow’s hopes and dreams to the present day [16]. There is almost an existentialist urge and impermanence in this way of thinking and creating. Given the necessary time and space to explore each issue, the persistent curiosity of designers transcribes in a progressively deepening questioning—Why? How? For what? For whom? Where?—in the expectation of finding new perspectives and insights that ultimately defy the limits of reality. This is powered by inspiration that feeds also from this process, allowing the (re)design of successive response attempts. Results can thus emerge from intuitive thought. Inception is validated in Jácomo’s provisory truth [17] and Gil’s access to the truth.6 This places intuition in line with epistemology. Intuition is therefore recognized as a different yet valid and liberating form of observation (apprehension/comprehension), capable of enhancing and expanding the outcome beyond any predefined limitations: “(…) the poet does not register an existing reality, but creates a new world, giving an abode to the being; thereby also design as a metaphor and visual poetry, as an abode of the being” [18]. Therefore, with this emphatical reliance on intuition, design is abductive [6], as the ‘designerly’ ways of thinking [6] begin with divergence [19], with the clear intent to expand generative and strategic possibilities as a suggestion of what may be, rather than narrowing and limiting them. The nature of the approach taken is then of great importance to trigger the most creative solutions. Empathy—Martin Buber’s intersubjectivity [20]—is one of the most significant factors in this solutionfocused process. Designers build a relationship and connection with the object of study, as if a long dialogue takes place between them through a state of vulnerability. As suggested by Kant, this is exactly where objectivity arises as the construction of the object comes not from itself but from the connection to it.7 Yet, going further requires full inspiration. This can be achieved when empathy is combined with what Jácomo calls intimate knowledge, which underlies objective knowledge [17]. Through this, according to Fulton Suri [21], both observation and the creative process are allowed to perform within their own sensitivity, in a state of necessary freedom that blends skill, intelligence and imagination, far from the rigid limitations of purely rational and linear processes. But maybe what seems to be the opposite and contradictory is, after all, closer than what it seems. Wittgenstein proposes that both rational and irrational belong to the imaginable, as opposed to the unimaginable, separated from the former by intuitive distinction. Or maybe conflict, at a certain degree, is needed for creative thinking, as rising tension that dares to speculate with courage in order to defy the predetermined, diving into what was previously unimaginable to conceive new solutions. Intuitive and rational thinking are critically complementary in each of their own unique role in the creative process. Intuitive 6 Gil,

F.: Modos de Evidência. Lisboa. Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda. (1998). In Jácomo, A. O que conhecemos quando intuímos. Porto: Universidade Católica Editora, p. 86 (2014). 7 Gil, F.: Mimesis e Negação. Lisboa. Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, p. 485 (1984). In Jácomo, A. O que conhecemos quando intuímos. Porto: Universidade Católica Editora, p. 90 (2014).

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thinking is spontaneous (fast thinking [22]) and promotes the generation of nonbiased ideas that function as a sequence of free and apparently arbitrary hyperlinks and metatexts. Rational thought (slow thinking [22]), more judicious, analytical and reflexive, operates by dissecting and building upon, cooling down and giving shape and substance to what was firstly ethereal. As this process happens through practice (design practice or design research practice), designers may be seen as knowledge generators, whose cognizance, revealed by research through design [23], diverges from formal knowledge.

3 Layers of Insight In an attempt to find answers to the earlier raised questions of if and how design practice may bring some contribution of its own to the borrowed methodological tools, contextual inquiry [1] or questionnaire [2] and interview [2] methods were analysed. A field research instrument specifically designed to collect information through the former methods and in the form of questionnaire/interview was analysed. The personal interviews to breast cancer patients took place at the São João Hospital Breast Centre in Porto, comprising a universe of 18 women in different disease stages that go to psycho-oncology appointments which grant them continuous psychological follow-up. Objective data collection is essential as a way to crystalize experiences and events that can later on provide solid information on the phenomenon to be examined and analysed. In this particular case, the aim was to study communication between breast cancer patients and their family/caregivers. For ethical and practical reasons, direct observation was not possible. The design of a resourcefully tailored questionnaire/interview allowed to collect essential quantitative and qualitative data. So, design is grabbing a pre-existent validated tool used widely in scientific disciplines and crafting it to its own needs. To understand what happens next, it is important to look once again at some fundamental differences between design and science [6]. Operating within realistic paths (designers do materialize), design looks for possibilities of introducing variations, most of the time in a randomly non-replicable way, that can later on even function as new change generators, as what may now be desirable. Designers challenge themselves to break the determinisms of the past in a creative quest for new proposals for the future. Design needs objectivity as much as subjectivity either to spot, identify, unravel, understand, project or propose. Design needs to go beyond language, as sometimes the possible futures still have no adequate vocabulary, one that is usually created later on. Recognizing an inherent and indispensable factor of freedom (liberation) is fundamental to the creative act. With this clearly in mind, realizing that design and science operate in distinct ways, even if they have common issues, it can be easily understood how a questionnaire that started with the initial goal to gather objective answers, quantified by means of precise metric scales, that would allow to obtain a large amount of

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information in a short period of time, was rapidly enough taken over by the ‘designerly’ ways of thinking and doing with its argumentative, persuasive, exploratory and emergent nature [6], transforming it predominantly into a qualitative interview. The introduction of open questions, in addition to closed ones, enables to gather valuable information that will later on allow us to broaden our knowledge of how people deal with reality [24] by gaining deep insight on attitudes and socio-affective variables [2]. The questionnaire/interview is composed of 52 questions in total and divided into three main categories, each designed to collect different types of information: affective/emotional, cognitive and behavioural. Dealing with a contemporary, complex and systemic theme, and, at the same time, of a personal/familial, intimate and highly emotional nature, both quantitative and qualitative information are required in order to obtain data that will allow for a deeper understanding through both apprehension and comprehension. Closed questions (either multiple choice or classification types), with answers that translate into quantitative information, represent 65% of the total number of questions. A large part requires a straight answer (50%). The remainder requires the indication of an agreement level using Likert’s satisfaction scale (15%). These questions mainly collect informative data on the patient in order to guarantee a diverse sample and at the same time browse for patterns (characterizing information like age, education, occupation, household, background, etc.), the disease (on detailing aspects like stage, date of diagnosis, type of treatment and duration), and the degree and characterization of the relationships between patients and their family circle, as well as their role and support throughout the process. Open questions, inquisitive and exploratory, allow for the interviewee’s free expression that will later pour into qualitative information, constituting the remaining 35% of the questions’ total. These questions focus mainly on the emotional and behavioural aspects of patients, the disease, communication within the family/caregivers’ circle and adopted coping strategies. The answers will provide a wider perspective and understanding on how these women dealt with such a violent event, for some the confirmation of a whole lifetime expectation, for others the shocking surprise of something that “only happens to others”. How do they feel? How do they really feel? What are they allowed to show? In what ways do they deal with this new reality? Do they accept, deny or rebel against it—physically and emotionally? Why? How? Can they find some kind of meaning in the disease? Is it really a life-changing event? Do they talk about the treatments? Do they talk about the disease? When? Do they talk about their feelings and emotions? Can they do it? Did their view and the relation with their body changed? Which coping strategies did they find? What did they discover or learn about themselves and others during or after this experience? What is it like to survive? What was harder for them during the whole process? What was the hardest? These are some examples of parallel questions that can be answered through a deeper analysis of the collected responses that are critical to understand the presence, role and importance of qualities like homeostasis, resilience and flexibility within such different personalities and contexts. This will allow for a better understanding on the impact of such a high level of stress and its

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influence on the way these women think, assimilate, react, communicate, create. At the same time, it will be helpful in identifying the real needs of women in similar situations of major health-related distress events (chronic illnesses), that threaten both physical and psychological health. By allowing personal and unconditional expression, open questions significantly contribute to the collected data’s fertileness by the many layers of information they contain and that can be successively uncovered and analysed through a process of constant (re)questioning. With this, designers are able to gain deeper insights in the case under study, while silently, progressively and virtually immersing themselves in it, as if embodying it. This is fundamental to design project practice not only in terms of problem framing, but also as a profound and sensitive understanding of the reality in question with this feeling-thinking [25], which will enhance the creative process and increase the potential for innovative solutions.

4 Awakening Inspiration Theoretically speaking, the questionnaire/interview designed through project practice’s design premisses as willingly all that is needed for the best possible data collection that will allow the sought kind of information that designers crave for their work process. But will it actually work? The 18 interviews conducted at the São João Hospital Breast Centre in Porto were carried out with this—hopefully—useful tool. Field research started by navigating between the feelings of enthusiasm and excitement for trying something new and carefully designed to meet the anticipated needs of the project, and the anxiety for the many uncertainties this moment brought along with too many what ifs (remember the natural compulsion designers seem to have to make questions). With each and every woman that participated, the questionnaire/interview was conducted from the same starting point. Since the broader objective was to go deeper into the collected information, seeking answers that would later on translate into meaningful psychological and emotional data, it was of utmost importance to establish a relationship of trust with the interviewees that would allow them to speak freely on expressing their emotions, needs and victories. With this in mind, the first questions—qualitative ones, designed to collect informative and characterizing data on the patients and their illness –, that required emotionally neutral answers (as far as humanly possible since there is no possible way of one’s complete emotional detachment from reality, as a way of apprehension, except for psychopaths and people with physical brain damage), enabled the necessary time and opportunity to break the ice between the interviewer and interviewees. Answering questions like age, occupation, academic qualifications, which allow for brief side comments that show active listening, and then gradually focusing on the disease stage, type of treatment and duration, provided the opportunity to establish a connection that made space for the toughest questions. It is then time to start to dwell around emotions: What did you think about breast cancer prior to being diagnosed

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with the disease? And during? And after this experience, what do you think? What changed? How would you now define this disease? Questions focused on women— on their experience,—on themselves, their emotions, their feelings. By now, they start to feel this is really about them, about their own perspective, that someone is actually willing and interested in listening to. They start to believe that their words and thoughts do matter—they are free from the imprisonment of illness, that steals away their own being far too many times. At least for a moment, they can speak from the self. They feel empowered. From this point on, the conversation proceeded at its own pace. It was different for each and every woman that participated. The topics of conversation were introduced—and induced—by open questions that revolved around diverse issues: – family: the relationship between both parties, their role and participation in the process, their support and its importance, their willingness and need to communicate, and the topics of conversation around diseases; – coping mechanisms related to the disease: the conversation with their family/caregivers and friends, the physical and emotional consequences of this event, their daily life and strategies of empowerment; – emotions: the need to communicate the psychological shock, with whom and in which terms, the need for professional psychological help. Directly or indirectly based on the questions, on their own initiative and usually after answering them directly, women started to increasingly report personal episodes that immensely enriched their primary responses, providing an in-depth and more emotional understanding of the experience and the subject of study. This happened as they felt they had the space and time needed to do that. Furthermore, interested and active listening is a process of design inquiry, thoughtfully posing related parallel questions that in a progressive and tactical way seek to go deeper into the human experience that shapes each reality. This results in collecting data that is fundamental to design practice. The cooperation between the interviewer and interviewee gave rise to a constructive dynamism. Conversations took a life of their own as a result from the flowing dialogue and the need to fully understand the addressed issues. This means that the questions were answered not following the outlined order of the questionnaire/interview and sometimes even simultaneously, as a long response could contain many of the issues related to the one that initially incited it. In the end of the interview, the interviewer ensured every question on the questionnaire/interview had been answered. Much like a living organism, the interview gained momentum from the triangular pyramid: subject of study (the women), object of study (their experience), the inquisitive tool (the questionnaire/interview) and the catalyst/moderator (the interviewer)—the last two fundamentally representing the systematic inquiry in design process and illustrating design as a cultural mediator, with rather an active role instead of a neutral or passive one. This fomented a lively dynamic as a result of free and willing (inter)connections between parts, singularly or simultaneously, predefined or randomly, straightforward or ambiguously, every time they were needed for expansion, opening the way to exploring new possibilities. Curiously enough, it was seldom

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observed that even if the subject of study and the object of study are personified in one being, there were times when the first seemed to pull itself out of the second materializing it from the outside to gain a different perspective over it, allowing for a point of view with a distinct level of consciousness. The women felt freedom to speak and confidence in the process. They also felt the importance of their role in this process. As a result, they provided relevant information in several reports of parallel episodes related to the disease and their experience with their active contribution. This translated into an abundance of emotions and feelings, whose semantics was revealed in subsequent analysis, upon which it is possible to go beyond the contextual and informative observation of evidence and acquire a valuable and fertile collection that is capable of informing and awakening inspiration. This happens sometimes in a very subtle and delicate act through intuitive thinking, in which Gil’s producing imagination, where diversity of sensitivity is reconciled with diversity of comprehension,8 leverages to work on better and innovative possibilities. The questionnaire/interview’s design along with the results of its practical implementation in patient interviews, reveal that the prevalent role of design as project practice in a methodological instrument conception has the capacity of transforming it into a tool with the ability of enabling observation through designers’ own sensitivity. This will, ultimately, allow for the creative process development by favouring the design of what is yet to come—the future.

5 An Archive of Perception There is a certain degree of tension needed to design in order to push creativity. Either to wittily build it or to make the necessary reflection that will lead us to solve it as a way of innovation, we need to be able to look first in order to construct the means and aims to think about. As designers doing research, they possess the practical knowledge to impregnate, from the beginning, the tools that are used in order to obtain the data that will ultimately feed the need to immerse themselves into the studied reality and thus create their own relationship with it. Immersion allows for an emotional interaction that implicates the designer with what is being described, as to subjectify [26] may involve a greater reach outward, within or beyond the limits of the mind and imagination, reaching out for the unimaginable. Each design project is rigorously carried out with a methodical and pragmatic approach. However, in addition to that, designers seek the beauty, poetry or hidden meaning of things and situations through personal observation. This is what invites and allows designers to assemble an archive of perception driven by their own

8 Gil, F.: Mimesis e Negação. Lisboa. Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, p. 504 (1984). In Jácomo,

A. O que conhecemos quando intuímos. Porto: Universidade Católica Editora, p. 90 (2014).

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curiosity and embodied knowledge [27] that defies and dares to go beyond any previously determined rigorous plan, as the genesis of creation of any type of information—visual, sonorous, sensorial, emotional, etc.—is contained in this poetic observation [21]. This archive of perception nurtures inspiration and makes it possible to overcome the practical purpose of existing needs and go beyond their mere functional resolution. By “deciding morally on beauty” [18] this allows for the creation of poetic solutions that add a new dimension to the world [21]. Suggestive material is often used by designers that surround themselves with sensitive material (usually but not exclusively visual), cropping and clipping all kind of objects in mood boards that function as a source of inspiration. This is a way towards a creative vision sometimes achieved by expanding themselves when connecting the most unexpected dots. As a way of collecting an archive of perception, inquiries contribute to what might be called as a language mood board. If the limits of each one’s world are defined by the limits of each’s language (Wittgenstein), as only the possibility of expression embodies existence, it is possible to look at these archives of perception as a committed search for expanding language. This continuous demand for expression (translation into words—language), through inquisitiveness [3] and expansion, promotes the building of a wider world, one that constantly increases its own limits in the pursuit of innovative knowledge and creativity. This happens by inducing further relationships that lead to the exploration of new combinations from the adjacent possible [28][28] derivative structure, in which new connections with what is near may translate into apprehension in the form of a new possibility. It might also be interesting to consider the nature of these connections as meaningful relationships, as opposed to causal ones, from Jung’s synchronicity perspective within space and time projection plans. In addition, this allows designers to work along parallel lines of thought [3], in which certain levels of open and ambiguous thoughts are simultaneously considered as a permanent expectant enthusiasm towards the unexpected. It seems possible to conclude that it is advantageous to integrate designers and their design practice in multidisciplinary research teams since they constructively contribute with their very own way of thinking and acting, searching for innovative and creative solutions by challenging the entirely rational and linear practices and processes. Furthermore, and as illustrated, provided the necessary time and space for designers project practice’s development, it is of particular relevance to guarantee their presence since the project’s inception, as through their poetic observation [21], it is possible to collect and build an archive of perception, a fundamental tool to the creative process. Through this, it will be granted from the start that the ethnographic collection constitutes the relevant and valuable material capable of enhancing the creation of innovative solutions. It is important to mention that the designed questionnaire/interview presented in this study is appropriate for use in small focus groups. It results in a vast amount of collected data which requires a considerable effort of time and energy to process and analyse.

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A far better understanding is still needed of how much design practice and its own contribution to borrowed data collection methodological tools applied in systemic and contemporary phenomena studies can add to its own field of research and to the different disciplines it interacts with. Nevertheless, it would be exciting to uncover how the creation of multidisciplinary relationships might influence and benefit the involved fields of knowledge. More studies on this issue may lead to different perspectives and a deeper knowledge of this subject. Acknowledgements FCT—This research is being funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.

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Participatory Co-design: Approaches to Enable People Living with Challenging Health Conditions to Participate in Design Research S. Neves , A. Macdonald , M. Poole , and K. Harrison Dening

Abstract People are living longer and are affected by challenging chronic, lifestyleand age-related conditions such as dementia and stroke. The increasing number of people living with challenging health conditions highlights social concerns and their implications for the successful delivery of healthcare services. Research on improving dementia care [Alzheimer’s Disease International (2016) World Alzheimer Report 2016: Improving healthcare for people living with dementia: coverage, quality and costs now and in the future. Alzheimer’s Disease International, London] shows a need to involve people living with dementia, their families, and health and social care professionals when designing improvements to their healthcare services. In addition, involving patients recovering from stroke in discussions about rehabilitation services has been considered important to enable making decisions that better address their health care needs [Kristensen HK, Tistad M, Koch LV, Ytterberg C (2016) The importance of patient involvement in stroke rehabilitation. PLOS One 11(6). 10.1371/journal.pone.0157149]. This paper presents two case studies of a participatory co-design approach used to engage people; (a) living with dementia, and (b) recovering from stroke in design research, where co-design-led methods were used to enable participation. The paper describes the importance of each of the roles of—and relationships between—individuals involved in the participatory co-design research process and how people living with challenging health conditions are enabled to participate in a form of three-way relationship. It discusses lessons learned, reflections and recommendations for a new collaborative model S. Neves (B) Laboratório de Investigação em Design e Artes, ESAD.CR, Politécnico de Leiria, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] A. Macdonald School of Design, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow G3 6RQ, UK M. Poole Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK K. Harrison Dening Research and Publications, Dementia UK, 1 Aldgate, London EC3 1RN, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_13

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for people living with challenging health conditions engagement to enable a more equal and reciprocal partnership for participation in design research into healthcare improvements. Keywords Participatory co-design research · People living with challenging health conditions’ engagement · Co-design-led methods

1 Introduction As a consequence of people living longer, there is increasing prevalence of chronic and age-related diseases, which can lead to people having to live with challenging health conditions (PLwCHC). Lifestyle choices, modifable risk factors and other illnesses can also lead to challenging outcomes, adding to the list of conditions to which people will need to adapt their lives. These health outcomes can invariably be life-changing, so it is important that PLwCHC are involved in the decision-making processes that can affect not only their treatment, recovery, rehabilitation and care, but also their successful adaptation to modified lifestyles. The issues arising from living with challenging health conditions are developed in Sect. 2 below. Health reports highlight that “involving patients in making important decisions about their lifestyle or their healthcare improves their experience of healthcare and the quality of their lives” [3, p. 5]. The recognition of the importance of PLwCHC’s actual voice in healthcare research is clearly emerging [1, 2], as only they can provide valuable insights that may be useful to improve future care and living experiences to better meet their needs, derived from their own personal experiences and aspirations [4, 5]. By acknowledging that PLwCHC possess invaluable experiential knowledge and promoting an equal partnership between health and social care professionals (HSCPs), PLwCHC and design researchers, we can enable more equitable participation to include, “not just those who are already more able, articulate, and socially advantaged” [6, p. 17]. This allows us to construct a more balanced discourse and bring forth new insights that might otherwise be difficult to achieve. If the experiences and insights of PLwCHC are acknowledged as being fundamental to understanding and developing better care and lifestyle experiences, how can they be better involved in the research and development of these, particularly given that individuals can be living with very challenging conditions? Various models of participatory engagement have been used in healthcare, each with their strengths and weaknesses, and these are discussed in Sect. 3 below. In Sect. 4, two case studies are used to discuss how particular aspects of a three-way relationship—between PLwCHC, HSCPs and design researchers—were acknowledged and rebalanced using participatory co-design-led methods to better engage PLwCHC in research and to provide new insights that could be used to improve their future experiences. The first was a doctoral study to enhance the patient mealtime experience in stroke rehabilitation [7]. The second was a study concerned with supporting excellence in end-of-life care in dementia [8, 9]. Section 5 reflects on the

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value of interrogating and rethinking models of participatory engagement, particularly given the challenges of design research and co-designing with PLwCHC. Also discussed is a model that emerged during these two studies which recognised the value of building and supporting a three-way relationship between PLwCHC, HSCPs and design researchers. Recommendations for further work are made in Sect. 6.

2 Issues arising from Mealtime Experience in Stroke Rehabilitation and End-of-Life Care in Dementia Two challenging health conditions are discussed here: dementia and stroke. The prominence of dementia and stroke highlights social concerns and their implications for the successful delivery of health and care services.

2.1 Context 1: The Mealtime Experience During Stroke Rehabilitation In the context of stroke, research focused on improving stroke rehabilitation services should involve patients recovering from stroke (PRfS) in decision-making [2]. Engaging PRfS in research is especially important when designing healthcare improvements, as they are the individuals who receive care and treatment in their everyday lives [7]. Facilitating such engagement with PRfS is challenging, as, when a stroke occurs, it requires a series of sometimes life-changing adjustments or adaptations to be made by the individual or family so that s/he can continue to conduct his/her daily life. People recovering from stroke can experience physical weakness and be easily fatigued and may be depressed or have underlying neurological and cognitive conditions [10, 11]. They may have difficulty in articulating thoughts, with speech that might be ‘slurred’, and with limited movement on one side of their body, due to paralysis and/or weakness [10, 12, 13]. These conditions render them unable to perform everyday routines or make adaptations without someone to help them [14]. In addition, recovering from stroke involves people having either a short or long stay in hospital [15]. In particular, people who present with eating difficulties need a longer hospital stay [16] whilst they are undergoing a process of having to rehabilitate their swallowing function or are (re)learning the everyday, taken-forgranted act of eating. Thus, rehabilitation becomes central to both the survival and recovery of people affected by stroke. If such a recovery process is to be had, PRfS need to experience mealtimes in hospital every day; this will be assisted by eating dishes with appropriate food textures to rehabilitate their swallowing function, along with assistance in transporting food to the mouth and handling the cutlery during that time [17]. Thus, there is a need to better understand this context of the mealtime in hospital through the patient’s

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perspective. Research has shown that the patient’s mealtime experience during stroke rehabilitation is poor [18, 19], which may be demotivating and is a negative factor in influencing recovery. Research from a doctoral study [7] focused on improving the mealtime experience for patients in stroke rehabilitation and contributed to the issue of engaging PRfS in co-designing an improved patient experience. Ideas for an improved mealtime experience were incorporated into a new scenario. This was used, as a design tool, to communicate—to the stroke rehabilitation community— opportunities to enhance the quality of patient experience so as to better address patients’ needs and aspirations. This is described in detail in Sect. 4.1 below.

2.2 Context 2: End-of-Life Care for People Living with Dementia Recent research focusing on improving end-of-life care in dementia [20] has identified the need for people living with dementia (PLwD) to start planning timely discussions about their future care to help their family and professionals to confidently make decisions on their behalf that are aligned with their wishes and preferences when they are no longer able to do so themselves [21]. Research focused on improving dementia care should involve people living with the condition, and their families, in addition to care professionals. Facilitating such engagement with people living with advanced dementia is challenging, as their memory, speech, recall and word sequencing deteriorates [22]; in addition, talking about death and end-of-life care (EoLC) can be a sensitive topic for their families. Regardless, it is particularly important for PLwD to have the opportunity to talk about their wishes and beliefs regarding future care whilst they are able to do so. If such discussions are to be had, PLwD and their families need to feel confident that their wishes and preferences will be acted upon; this will be assisted by formally recording, in writing, such discussions and decisions, and sharing this information with health and social care professionals [23]. However, research to date has shown that having such sensitive discussions with PLwD about planning ahead for future care is difficult; healthcare professionals struggle to find the right time, whilst the person and their families may be reluctant to record their wishes in case they change their minds at a later date [24, 25]. There thus appears to be a need for resources and/or tools to help initiate these early anticipatory care planning discussions, not only for families living with the condition, but also for healthcare professionals [26]. In the SEED programme [8], our research contributed to the issue of engaging PLwD in co-designing digital resources to address these issues. This took the form of a Care Plan Guide app, as a tool to help initiate early discussions about anticipatory care planning [27] for PLwD to ensure good personalized care and that important wishes were honoured. The approach and process are described in detail in Sect. 4.2 below.

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3 Models of Participatory Engagement used in Healthcare Evidence shows that members of the wider public and patients, when they are involved in research, can make a difference in healthcare decision-making processes [28]. This raises the question of how to approach the design of participatory engagement. An understanding of strategies for patients’ involvement [29] can have different results on the healthcare system, depending on the purpose of the research. For example: (1) conducting research with rather than on patients can result in researchers obtaining a better understanding by placing a focus on ensuring that data are collected appropriately; (2) involving a wider range of stakeholders can result in obtaining a wider understanding from different perspectives about the matter in discussion; (3) adopting a patient-led approach can help to identify health priorities for change; and (4) encouraging patient participation can help to develop new levels of knowledge and consequently help patients obtain a better understanding of the outcomes achieved [29, p.195]. Various models of engagement and participation have been developed in healthcare, such as those by Savory, Arnstein [30] and NEF [31]. Arnstein’s was the influence for the more recent NEF model, using the analogy of a ‘ladder’ showing the possible modes of participation from passive coercion to active co-production (Fig. 1). Over the last two decades, a number of participatory design (PD) models have also been described to actively consider when working on new methods for healthcare improvements [5, 6, 32, 33]. These models had the objective of creating conditions for involving collaboration as a way to drive innovation in healthcare. In seeking collaboration, these models focus on co-creation, co-production and experiencebased co-design. However, a recent review of public and patient involvement (PPI) models [34] concluded these were still too narrow, often tokenistic, not acknowledging equality and diversity. What they suggest is “the adoption of models and

Fig. 1 The shifting nature of engagement ( Adapted from: New Economics Foundation (2014) Commissioning for outcomes and co-production. A new model for commissioning public services.)

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Fig. 2 A participatory design model that brings a conceptual three-way relationship to enable PLwCHC, HSCPs and design researchers to work together in a more equitable partnership in research into the improvements of healthcare

frameworks that enable power and decision-making to be shared more equitably with patients and the public in designing, planning and co-producing healthcare” [34, p. 626]. In fact, participatory design models are increasingly being adapted as a way of engaging people with a variety of health conditions [35–40]. The shortcoming of these adapted models is that PLwCHC can be at a disadvantage due to their modified capabilities as a consequence of a health condition. Think, for example, how PLwCHC can experience physical weakness and be easily fatigued or have difficulty articulating their thoughts. A participatory design model, using a conceptual three-way relationship (see Fig. 2) between PLwCHC, HSCPs and design researchers, can enable a more equable participation which goes beyond a single tool to support patients who have difficulties with speaking [41], in adapting methods to suit each individual [37] and personalizing [36] and supporting their creative tasks [42]. As highlighted in Sect. 2, the impacts that stroke and dementia have on an individual’s functionality reveal people who may be highly dependent on health and social care professionals and/or their families, both for understanding what they are trying to say, and in performing physical activities [43]. Having health and social care professionals work alongside design researchers is essential in this area of research, due to the designer’s lack of clinical knowledge. A question arises about whether HSCPs’ voices might dominate those of the PLwCHC when working together in co-design activities. How do we use co-design-led methods to rebalance dialogues to better represent PLwCHC, while encouraging health and social care professionals to play more of an assisting role for both the PLwCHC and the design researcher? In the following section, we will show how this conceptual three-way relationship

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emerged through reflections on Case Study 1—exploring future possibilities at mealtime experience in stroke rehabilitation and then was used more consciously in Case Study 2—co-designing a Care Plan Guide app to support early conversations about end-of-life care in dementia.

4 A Three-Way Relationship in Co-design 4.1 Case study 1: Exploring Future Possibilities at Mealtime Experience in Stroke Rehabilitation This research study was developed in collaboration with a hospital stroke rehabilitation unit (SRU) within the National Health Service Scotland. Rehabilitation following acute treatment is an important component of the continuum of care [44, p. 47]. Stroke patients can remain in an SRU for several weeks [15]; rehabilitation in hospital is crucial in restoring patients’ functionality to allow them to recover as much as possible before returning home. The project information sheet was required to follow the UK’s National Research Ethics Service (NRES) governance requirement for community care research in the UK, thus the design researcher was required to understand and use appropriate medical language in order to make informative and constructive proposals that made sense to the healthcare community. An ethics application was submitted to NRES and was granted. In this, the criteria for recruitment were clearly defined—people who: had a clinical diagnosis of stroke; were outpatients at the SRU but were still undergoing the recovery process at home and/or were in day-hospital-based care; had experience of the mealtime element of stroke rehabilitation in their stay in hospital; and who presented of a variety of stroke-related difficulties at mealtimes. Potential participants were identified through the Stroke Manager, by initially approaching those nurses who support patients in their own homes after discharge from hospital and utilising their knowledge and experience to determine who would be interested in participating. Three women and two men were invited. Although they all had participated in the previous stages of the research, just three patients attended on the day of the co-design workshop. The reasons two did not appear were not revealed. Stroebe, Stroebe and Schut [45, p. 238] report that this seems to happen often when working with patients, which is problematic for research: “because they fear that this might increase their grief” or “because they have “got over it”, and do not want to look back”. Conversely, this group of PRfS may have been perfectly happy to participate on a one-to-one basis in their homes, but may have struggled to cope in a group, due to their conditions, particularly when required to interact in social situations [46]. However, the three patients who did attend the workshop had a sufficiently varying range of capabilities and mealtime experiences to meet our objectives, i.e., not only those who were more able to participate [6], but also those who possessed the key characteristics of the inclusion criteria for the specific population being studied

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[47]. The figure below (see Table 1) provides details about PRfS participating in the co-design workshop, illustrating their characteristics. Before we start to demonstrate how this workshop was developed, it is important to explain how this socialised and materialised situation was created to support and promote a collective dialogue (see Fig. 3). Two nurses attended the workshop in order to indirectly support communication and assist PRfS with any health situation if required. Two design students at the Glasgow School of Art also attended this workshop to help visually illustrate the PRfS’s voices throughout the workshop. Structuring this workshop was based on the idea of ‘design-by-playing’ as a way to encourage participants to express their ideas in different ways. Ensuring that PRfS’ capabilities were supported was fundamental to allowing nurses to be involved in design research. Here, nurses were involved for a specific role: to assist PRfS in verbalising during participatory work. Some participants were Table 1 The PRfS who participated in the workshop PRfS

Time in hospital at time of interview (in weeks)

Stroke conditions

Age

Gender

P1

15

Swallowing difficulties Cannot speak Cannot walk

66

Woman

P2

15

Swallowing difficulties Cannot get up out of bed

52

Man

P4

5

Swallowing difficulties Weakness on one side

75

Man

Fig. 3 The environmental overview of the workshop conducted with patients, involving the researcher (R), two nurses (N), three PRfS (P), two design students as facilitators (F) and a participant’s relative as assistant (Family)

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Fig. 4 The conceptual three-way relationship showing: the nurse indirectly supporting communication between the PRfS and the researcher (e.g., by verbalising what the patient said to clarify any issue to the researcher or simply helping PRfS to verbally express what he/she was saying); the researcher directly mediating a conversation with PRfS (e.g., prompting questions, encouraging participation), PRfS (e.g., sharing views, ideas, experiences), tools (e.g., game boards, colour cards, etc.) and illustrators (e.g., illustrating PRfS’s views on game boards on the wall to allow everyone see what we were doing together)

unable to speak, having to use an iPad to communicate, while others had difficulties verbalising their views due to a ‘dribbling mouth’, giving the design researcher some difficulties in understanding clearly what they were saying. Here the nurse brought into play their knowledge about patients. This underlines the issue of trust: the PRfS, hearing the nurse’s verbalising of their contribution, was important in allowing PRfS to witness and verify her/his response instead of this just being the nurse’s own opinion or view. How to best to engage PRfS in this study was enhanced by using a conceptual model to acknowledge the three-way relationship (see Fig. 4) between nurses, PRfS and the design researcher during a workshop to co-design an improved mealtime experience (over that described in Sect. 2.1 above). Given the assistance that PRfS would require, we were aware that involving a nurse could inhibit PRfS being open with their views. To address this issue, co-designled methods were selected and materials were designed to support communication and promote rich dialogues between PRfS and the design researcher. The methods involved “exploratory design games” [48] to facilitate participation. ‘Games’ in the sense used here are not competitive but exploratory in nature, centred on structuring participatory co-design activities through play as a performative design activity of ‘design-by-playing’ [49–51]. Instead of putting an emphasis on participants competing to win a game, these games involve pieces, boards and rules to encourage people to express their thoughts meaningfully, and to help create a common

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Fig. 5 Tools developed showing a storyboard (top) to map patients’ ideas about the mealtimes throughout three stages—before, during and after the mealtime—under four themes: sensorial, physical, social, and emotional (colour cards on the left side below), and the format of the workshop while playing the mapping game (right-hand bottom illustration) Fig. 6 The workshop set-up with PRfS acting in a game that connects thinking (what if), imagining (the magical situation) and suggesting (what would make a significant difference at mealtimes) to explore ideas

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Fig. 7 Building the mealtime scenario based on PRfS’ ideas for improved mealtime experiences

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language (see Fig. 5). Here, PRfS were not asked to perform physical tasks, such as making artefacts to evoke ideas [52, 53], as this would be too challenging for them. Instead, there was a need to involve PRfS in ‘playfulness’ experiences [50] that supported and encouraged their participation in the creative dialogues, through a more convivial approach. The aim of designing games emerged to evoke PRfS’ thoughts, but the attempt at playing games created an active and supportive dialogue for PRfS, revealing both verbal and visual components. This also allowed PRfS to see—collectively—what they were saying. In particular, it provided patients with a sense of being part of something to bring about change in future experiences. This workshop was designed with the important point of collecting ideas from the PRfS and then using these ideas to generate creative directions to build a new mealtime scenario concept. In doing so, the workshop with PRfS entailed ‘games’ to connect thinking, imagining and suggesting (see Fig. 6). This was seen as a research process that allowed continuing exploration of the PRfS’ ideas within three stages of the mealtime experience (before, during and after) from three different ways of thinking: (1) what if?; (2) the magical situation; and (3) mapping what would be significant to change in the future [7]. The first game was focused on stimulating the patients’ reflections about designing. By prompting a question as a game piece, “What if the mealtime experience was created by your favourite chef? How would s/he create it for the patient?” The intention was to invite PRfS to change their position of expertise, as a way of inspiring participants to express ideas. The second game aimed to evoking PRfS’ desires and aspirations. Here the word ‘magical’ was used in the sense of exploring what is unknown. The idea was to obtain a better understanding of what the most delightful and enjoyable experiences would be like. The third game was focused on encouraging participants to think about what can be done to improve the mealtime for patients undergoing stroke rehabilitation in hospital. In exploring this idea of what can be done, a mealtime storyboard was created to invite PRfS to suggest ideas of what should be done. This helped open up a discussion around improving key aspects, e.g., space, atmosphere, food menu, and key social interactions. In doing so, this also helped the design researcher to start building an improved mealtime scenario (see Fig. 7) based on the PRfS’ contributions, facilitated through outcomes devised from the games’ activities.

4.2 Case study 2: Co-designing a Care Plan Guide App to Support Early Conversation about End-of-Life Care in Dementia This study (2) was part of the larger SEED study [8] involving a co-design process (see Fig. 8) with a range of relevant stakeholder groups [9] to co-develop a Care Plan Guide app as a tool to help initiate early anticipatory care planning discussions (over that described in Sect. 2.2 above). Engaging PLwD in this co-design process required the support of Alzheimer Scotland (AS). Alzheimer Scotland provides local

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support to help people and their families live with dementia [54]. Engaging PLwD in this research required following both the Glasgow School of Art Ethics Policy and Alzheimer Scotland Ethics requirements. An ethical application was submitted to the Glasgow School of Art and AS and both were granted. In this, the criteria for recruitment were clearly defined; people who: were living with mild/moderate dementia and/or family, relatives, friends with experience in dementia. Potential participants were identified through the project manager at Alzheimer Scotland for Dementia Circle, by initially approaching those dementia groups in their communities and utilising their knowledge and experience to determine who would be interested in participating. Two local groups, A and B, at Alzheimer Scotland for Dementia Circle were invited. From the local group A, 2 PLwD, 3 family carers and 2 occupational therapists working with PLwD attended on the day of the co-design workshop 3. From the local group B, 2 PLwD and 2 family carers attended on the day of the co-design workshop 4. Engaging PLwD and their family carers in design research was developed by using, again, the three-way relationship model (see Fig. 9), this time between the project manager at Alzheimer Scotland for Dementia Circle, PLwD/family carers and the design researcher in the two workshops (3 and 4) to co-develop the digital Care Plan Guide (CPG) prototype app. In this Case Study (2), the format of the workshops (see Fig. 8, workshops 3 and 4) were similar (see Fig. 10). The project manager at Alzheimer Scotland’s Dementia

Fig. 8 The co-design approach as an iterative process. Our co-design approach comprised two main phases: (1) development of inicial prototype via internal workshops with (i) the multidisciplinary SEED team which included a patient and public involvement (PPI) representative, and (ii) the project’s external PPI advisory group (PPIAG) and (iii) external workshops involving PLwD and family carers at Alzheimer Scotland for Dementia Circle

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Fig. 9 The three-way relationship, as a model, showing how the project manager indirectly supports communication (e.g., encouraging by talking with PLwD or by writing down what the person wants to say but is too timid to do so). The design researcher supports direct communication with PLwD and their family carers (e.g., prompting questions, encouraging by talking about their participation, illustrating their views on a map on the wall, mediating their conversation, facilitating any issue emerging at the time). PLwD and their family carers are actively participating in the dialogue (e.g., sharing views, ideas, opinions and experiences) and digital prototypes (e.g., tables with CPG prototype app installed) as interactive objects to allow everyone experiment and have a say about it

Circle attended both workshops in order to indirectly encourage individual participation. Here, the environmental arrangements were similar to case study 1, however, structuring these two workshops were based on this idea of testing, discussing and refining the first stages of the CPG digital prototype app from the PLwD and their family carers’ perspectives and opinions, and then using their feedback to make improvements to build the best possible CPG prototype app. We were aware that talking about ‘death’ and ‘end-of-life care’ would be a difficult and sensitive topic for the participants and that some participants may not be comfortable talking about it straight away with a ‘stranger’. As in the previous Case Study (1), we also considered it important to involve the project manager at AS to work alongside the design researcher and PLwD/family carers in the two workshops. Here the project manager was involved for a specific role: introducing the researcher to the groups before the workshops actually began to allow them to become familiar with the purpose of the study, and during the workshops to stimulate participants to express their views, as she had worked with the groups and knew their anxieties and life stories. Some participants were comfortable in talking about and expressing their opinions, while others were timid, or, perhaps, had some difficulties in talking about these sensitive issues, so having someone familiar alongside them was important to generate trust and confidence. Although we applied the model of the conceptual three-way relationship that emerged in the previous Case Study (1) (Fig. 4), in this Case Study (2), the model required some adaptations (see Fig. 9). For example, the project manager had a different role and the methods used had a different purpose. In

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Fig. 10 The environment overview of workshops 3 and 4 conducted with PLwD/Family carers, involving the design researcher, the project manager at Alzheimer Scotland’s Dementia Circle, and the participants

Case Study 1, the aim of involving nurses was to support PRfS to verbalise their ideas and wellbeing. In Case Study 2, the aim of involving the project manager was to allow PLwD to feel comfortable talking about sensitive issues such as ‘death’ and ‘endof-life care’. The tools used in Case Study 1 were designed to encourage thinking and create a convivial and visual experience while conversations were happening. Here, PLwD/family carers were asked to interact with tablets with the prototype of the Care Plan Guide (CPG) installed to enable the participants to navigate through the content of each screen and to express their own suggested improvements (see Fig. 11). The aim of involving digital prototypes such as an app in the workshops was to create an iterative dialogue. In addition, a workbook questionnaire was also provided to capture individual comments on key aspects of the CPG, e.g., content, format, language, medium, design and title. Feedback on the general CPG format (see Fig. 12), with its overview, general introduction to each plan, details and links to further information, with all information kept in a single place together with the record of progress and decisions against each plan, were all seen as helpful. Suggested improvements, such as the navigation, the

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Fig. 11 The mock-up of the CPG app and workbook

Fig. 12 Sample CPG app prototype screens showing the registration page (left side top), a menu page with recommended plans (left side below), a plan page with sections to fill with information (right side top) and the summary page with an overview of the completed plan to validate and send it to family carers/healthcare professionals by email (right-hand bottom image)

way in which colour was used to differentiate different sections, the font size, and the arrangement and amount text, were embodied in further versions of the CPG app for subsequent workshops. The initial use of acronyms and formal legal language were regarded as unhelpful and were later revised. Although some individuals in these workshops were unable to use, or were not at ease in using, apps, preferring the printed version, tablet-or smartphone-based interaction was regarded by the younger generations in the families as being convenient, enabling them to make direct links to further web-based command features to enhance usage.

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Feedback from PLwD and their family carers helped the design researchers, in collaboration with the GSA’s app developers, to continue redefining the CPG prototype app based on improvements required and to collectively reflect with them on the best CPG app configurations to achieve optimum user, technical and care requirements.

5 Discussion and Reflection on the Outcomes Involving people having to live with challenging health conditions in research, such as those in Case Study 1 affected by stroke, or those in Case Study 2 living with dementia, requires a sensitive approach, recognizing not only the disability, but also empowering and supporting capability. Within the context of healthcare, there has been a lack of conceptual clarity about how to better enhance and support PLwCHC to make a more equable contribution in these types of multi-participant design research activities. Approaches to participation seem often to reflect more on the perspectives of healthcare providers [55], and repeated calls advocate for the meaningful engagement of PPI in research [29] to improve healthcare [34]. Indeed, there has been a discernible shift in PPI thinking from ‘doing to’, through ‘doing for’ to ‘doing with’ people, i.e., from ‘coercion’ to ‘co-design’ ‘and co-production’ [31]. Participatory design (PD) values are based on: giving democratic voice and agency to people; the growing emphasis on the social and material network of stakeholders; putting people and tools together in interacting to design for change; and designing for and with people, because this is seen as being a source of valuable information to create new services and experiences. Despite the progress of PD models in healthcare contexts, PPI in healthcare improvements is still limited [5, 6, 32, 33]. Recent observations highlight that engagement approaches and methods are largely focused “on inputs, activities and processes (the methods of gathering data, how to capture views, etc.) over impact and outcomes” [56, p.22]. However, the value of the direct participation of PLwCHC can be wider reaching in design research. Based on our experience of developing a three-way relationship with HSCPs, PLwCHC and design researchers, we came to the same line of thinking as Cottam [57]. Here, the three-way relationship, as a model, suggests creating capability to support PLwCHCs’ individual ability to collaborate. The benefit of this model is that allows connections to be created and communities to work together to create change. In Case Study 1, when looking at the impacts of stroke on people, it became clear to us that the participatory co-design approach would require particular attention because of the conditions and vulnerability of the kind of people with whom we would be working and the settings in which they are located. Thus, this combination of a three-way relationship with nurses, PRfS and the design researcher and the use of co-design-led methods helped to support individuals’ capabilities to enable the engagement of these people in the research. In fact, the co-design-led methods used, such as the ‘games’ we developed, created a space for this socio-material

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assemblage to be enacted, thereby changing the dynamics of constructing conversations by allowing new forms of information to be mobilised. Think, for example, how combining visual (storyboards, games) and verbal (prompt questions, voices for verbalisation) components helped to develop ‘communicative artefacts’ (scenarios) which operate as a vehicle for communication within the healthcare setting. Instead of focusing on using a single tool to support patients with difficulties in speaking [41], we demonstrated the value of multiple adaptable tools to support participants with a range of difficulties in the conversations by providing a more convivial experience for them. This changed the perception of PRfS from that of one who is passive, in recovery, to one who has sufficient agency to suggest how to improve the quality of the healthcare experience, in this case, the mealtime experience. Fundamentally, involving this particular group in co-design required new ways of thinking about the set-up of activities in order to support patients’ well-being rather than influencing feelings of embarrassment [46].

5.1 Issues to Consider in Co-design Formatting dialogues by using “exploratory design games” [48] created opportunities to stimulate PRfS’ discussions in different ways, such as playing what if and imagining. However, playing games brought some challenges; while playing the second game, the magical situation, one participant felt the need to stop for some fresh air. The nurse mediated, and the researcher paused the workshop for 10 min, restarting after checking that all participants felt well enough to continue, when the game returned to ‘play’ mode. What seems to emerge here is that it is not enough only for researchers and designers to adapt methods and strategies to each individual in design practices [37], but also that they need to become mediators [58] and to be adept at dealing with unexpected situations to ensure well-being. This leads us to reflect on the complexity of designing participatory activities in healthcare-related design research, revealing the need to rethink ways of capturing and sharing information, and demonstrating the value of providing materials and situations to involve mediators (here these were the nurses and the design researcher) with different expertise and knowledge types to re-frame a social and material practice to support PRfS in creative dialogues. In addition, using games revealed some challenges in getting PRfS engaged in this idea of ‘thinking about the future’. For example, in playing ‘the magical situation’, PRfS revealed their thoughts about things that had happened in the past, rather than describing more imaginative, projected thoughts about what would be more desirable for the future, perhaps highlighting the issue of uncertainty within patients’ confidence about their future, or that ‘future thinking’ is a way of thinking that is very familiar to designers, but perhaps unfamiliar to many other people, particularly when they are concerned about their current health. Their concerns about the future might be quite different to those of the researcher’s: the issue is one of how to bring together

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the people’s agenda with the researcher’s enquiry and to help them understand what might be mutually important and why.

5.2 Steps to Consider when Co-designing Digital Resources In developing new digital resources, the tendency has been for devices to be created by technologists for older people with little reference to the specific requirements of end users [59]. The involvement of PLwD in co-design and co-development approaches has been increasing [60–63], but is limited in the area of assistive technologies that have the potential to improve quality of life and sustain independence. However, expectations are changing with the realization that older people can continue to contribute, even when compromised by illness and/or disability. In dementia care, international consensus recently advocated user engagement at all stages of technology development as an extension of the principles of person-centred care [64]. Although the three-way relationship contributed to the issue of engaging PLwD in co-designing digital resources, a number of practical considerations still remain that make a participatory co-design approach quite challenging. Based on our experience in Case Study 2, undertaking ‘user’ research projects for digital resources involving older people required being adaptable and flexible, as our older participants did not always know much about apps or digital resources. We found it to be important to provide time and space up front to determine people’s level of familiarity with digital technology and to provide more information about apps if required. In addition, we found it important to provide tablets with mockup of the interactive CPG app, as it helped participants to engage and to navigate through the content via the user interface. This actively stimulated their thinking and discussion about the redesigning of improvements. Our observations showed that the co-design process proved to be a positive experience for participants. For example, participants mention at the end of the workshops, “it shows that people care about things like that” and “it shows lots of information I didn’t know”. The project manager of Dementia Circle also mentioned “It was a good step in helping families in a gentle and thoughtful way. We don’t talk or think enough about the practicalities of death. We all left the session with good intentions”. Despite our concerns and anxiety around the highly sensitive research topic, the most important insight that we gained from this project was the form of active collaboration in the workshops. A more convivial workshop experience was created along the lines of an intimate ‘death café’ [65, 66], but with the sharper focus on the five plans in the app, where discussions could happen while everyone ate cake and drank tea in a calm environment. This demonstrated—through our practices—that we care about people’s sensitive and emotional issues and that we appreciate this as an opportunity for mutual learning, for both participants and the researchers. The three-way relationship, as a model, has helped drive the discourse in these very sensitive matters around end-of-life care.

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6 Conclusion and Recommendations Enhancing experiences and developing digital resources and services around the complexities of healthcare contexts, such as for stroke rehabilitation for PRfS and end-of-life care for PLwD, with all the accompanying issues of sensitive data, and ethical and usability issues, presents a considerable challenge. The central ambition of this chapter has been to demonstrate the value of this three-way relationship, as a model that entails an effort to enable, encourage and motivate the participation of PLwCHC in design research in the context of stroke rehabilitation and dementia care. Rather than presenting our work as a new methods approach, our new collaborative model served to enable the PLwCHC to participate in a more equal and reciprocal partnership in suggesting and designing healthcare improvements. Overall, a partnership between HSCPs and design researchers, as a general concept, would not only positively address the intended purpose of supporting individual capabilities, but would also be helpful to build a new practice that bring a range of skills to work together. Having developed the three-way model in stroke and dementia contexts, we feel that the model is very flexible and certainly benefit other design practices to involve other people with similar needs. According to our experience, there are at least two aspects of the model that make it suitable for additional forms of public engagement: (1) it combines multi-professional agencies to strengthen individual capability to collaborate; and (2) it allows an exploration of techniques and tools to support communication, so it makes it possible to access a diversity of information based on individual needs and experiences. With the current COVID-19 epidemic, it is perhaps timely that new forms of participatory engagement are available to be used more widely to foster partnerships between people with a range of skills, experience and perspectives to engage and make shared decisions about the future of healthcare. Acknowledgements Case study 1 was funded by the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (QREN, POPH e Fundo Social Europeu) [SFRH/BD/64562/2009]. Case study 2 presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research (Grant Reference Number RP-PG-0611-20005), led by Professor Dame Louise Robinson, Newcastle University. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. We are very grateful to all participants for their time and enthusiasm. The article was kindly supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (UIDB/05468/2020), Laboratório de Investigação em Design e Artes (LIDA) and Politécnico de Leiria. Ethics Approval Case study 1: Approval was gained from the National Research Ethics Service (12/WM/0265, 9th August 2012) via the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS). Case study 2: Ethics approval was granted by the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) Research Ethics Committee and research approval was obtained from Alzheimer Scotland in February 2017.

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Quality Perception with Attrakdiff Method: A Study in Higher Education During the Covid-19 Period Iara Margolis Ribeiro

and Bernardo Providência

Abstract The Attrakdiff method assists in understanding the holistic quality perception, through four dimensions. In the year 2020 many things changed with the SARSCOV-2 pandemic, among so many changes at the end of March 2020, in the city of Recife, classes were suspended and returned only in remote mode. Aiming to deepen the Attrakdiff method, two groups of students were invited voluntarily to participate in the survey, answering about their perceptions over the course of nine months. The first group being accompanied in the first semester of 2020: April, start of the remote classes, and June—end of the academic semester. And the second group was accompanied in four moments in the second semester: September, at the end of academic enrollments; October, a little before the first week of academic tests; November, in the period between tests; and December, at the end of the semester. We had 143 valid questionnaires, subdivided in: 28 students in Abril, 17 in June, 18 in September, 33 in October, 30 in November and 17 in December. As a main result, there was a convergence in responses, with subtle variations according to the events during the school year. Keywords Quality perception · Attrakdiff · Pandemia · Emotional design

1 Introduction In December 2019 the world was first notified of a new infectious disease [1], that was later recognized as Sars-Cov-2, related to the Sars group (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), from the coronavirus-2 and denominated from the World Health Organization (WHO) as the “Coronavirus Disease 2019”, or Covid-19 [2]. With a high transmission power, in a short time this virus caused a worldwide pandemic outbreak, changing the global socioeconomic structures. I. M. Ribeiro (B) · B. Providência Lab2PT, Escola de Arquitetura da Universidade do Minho, Minho, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] B. Providência e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_14

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On February 26, 2020, the first Covid-19 case was registered in Brazil and after this confirmation, the control and prevention measures in the country were taken differently throughout the Brazilian territory, social distancing becoming a common practice [3]. In early April 2020, a provisional measure No. 934 was approved, allowing “excepcional standards” in the basic and superior education [4], where distance learning has become a way to minimize the damage caused. The higher education market has become a service “industry”, where immediate interests have created practical and pedagogical problems in the face of market interests [5]. An indicator that something needs attention is the dropout rate of university students. Data from the Higher Education Census [6] point out that the dropout rate of university students in higher education, in the space of four years, reaches 49% in the public sector and 52.7% in the private sector, making it a real problem that deserves attention. In a research regarding the mental health of university students of higher education between 2016 and 2018, it was diagnosed that 83,5% of the students had some emotional difficulty and 23,5% have the feeling of loneliness [7]. Throughout this pandemic, a lot of challenges have been found and we don’t know the exact social, economic or emotional impacts that it will result in society. It is important to emphasize that human responses to objects are complex and determined by several factors, shaping experiences and requiring different approaches [8], this implies that human beings are projected on what they see. However, there is no mastery of how products and systems evoke emotions in people and how these emotions can be understood, measured and accessed [9]. Emotions and feelings are eminent factors in their interaction and differentiation [10]. For Jimenez, Pohlmeyer e Desmet [11] positive design aims to have a long-term impact in people’s lives with the focus on seeking supportive possibilities in a design solution. Its basis is on well-being and on happiness. Walter [12] points out that the principles of design can be an essential guide to solve visual and conceptual problems and emotional design can help to deal with difficult situations that affect a user’s workflow and can also extend emotional engagement. Within this universe of subjectivity, there is a metric that is difficult to measure, but of paramount importance, which is the perceived quality. It is an established “truth” in the user’s mind created through the positive or negative result in face of the expectation and what happened. The expectation is based on a series of experiences, information, interactions, perceived value, among other tangible and intangible processes [13]. The Attrakdiff method is a self-report questionnaire for holistic evaluation of the user experience [14] that can assist in this measurement. Given the subjective aspects and the opportunity of emotional design, this work aims to understand if there was a change in the perceived quality of higher education students over the period of remote classes due to Covid-19. The objective of this work is to investigate the perceived quality of university students, holistically, applying the Attrakdiff method for this purpose.

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2 Quality Perception and Attrakdiff Method Perceived quality is the way the user understands what quality is, in the context of its reflections, opinions, impressions, feelings and interactions with the product or service. In other words, the perceived quality is the truth established in the consumer’s mind and not necessarily the real quality of the product. It is subjective, intangible and dynamic. It is a result between the understanding of what was expected (the expectation) and what the user really perceived to have happened, as a result between good and bad experiences [13]. According to Teas and Agarwal [15], several extrinsic factors can interfere in this understanding, one of which deserves special attention is the price, as it is a parameter that generates confidence and suggests the quality ‘expectation’, but there are other extrinsic factors such as the brand, the name of the store and the country of origin, together with the perception of consumers in relation to the understanding of quality, value and sacrifice understood by the user. Kureemun and Fantina [13] complement this understanding by adding factors such as frustrations, others’ opinions, their own experiences, information, interactions, among many other factors. The fact is that each of these components assists in customer loyalty to the product and the brand [16], in addition to the direct interference of perceived value with perceived quality [17]. For Carmon and Ariely [18] the act of buying goes beyond the cost–benefit analysis, from the consumer’s perspective there is the element of loss aversion, this implies everything that he renounces when buying. Ghinea and Thomas [19] summarize that the perceived quality comprises the process of analysis, assimilation and associated value and that is why it becomes even more relevant to improve the customer experience and the search for information, including the respective perceptions [13]. Due to their characteristic of subjectivity, intangibility and diversity of ways of activating perceived quality, measurement metrics become more complex, as they need to understand consumer perceptions and translate these understandings into improvements and actions, which is why companies often ignore them [13]. There are several strategies for this aspect, such as predicting the user’s perception, understanding what customers see as “superior experience”, having consistency between what they offer and what they promise [20]. Ravalda and Grönroos [21] suggest the analysis of the value chain from the perspective of the consumer, as these actions can encompass two strategies: (1) increase the offer of benefits or (2) reduce the perception of sacrifice by the customer. Zeithamal [17] states that the perceived quality needs caution in its analysis, as it involves situational, intrinsic and extrinsic factors when purchasing and using the product or service. So, he says that strategies based on customer value, standards and their perceptions will channel more efficient resources, meeting, in the best way possible, the company’s expectations. For this reason, a point that must be considered to improve the perceived quality is to aim at reducing the perceived sacrifice and increasing the understanding of value.

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The Attrakdiff method arrives as a tool for the holistic evaluation of the user experience, as it is based on analysis from four perspectives: Pragmatic Quality (QPR), Hedonic Quality/Stimulus (QHS), Hedonic Quality/Identity (QIH) and Attractiveness (AT) [14]. It consists of a self-report questionnaire, using a bipolar 7-point semantic differential scale, composed of 28 pairs of opposite words [14, 22]. One of the ways used is the variation of the scale from −3 to +3, with zero being the neutrality of the answers [23]. Figure 1 details the subdivision of the four dimensions of Attrakdiff a little more. The four dimensions, according to Brennand [22] and Ramos [23] are: • Pragmatic Quality (QPR): items associated with the ease, functionality and utility of a product [22] or associated with usability, in order to find out if users are achieving their goals with the system [23]; • Quality of Hedonic Stimulation (QHS): emphasizes psychological well-being and objectives related to being. They are related to the desire to develop their skills and

QPR

QHS

QHI

AT

Portuguese Humano-Técnico Complicado - Simples Não Prático - Prático Ambíguo - Claro Imprevisível - Previsível Confuso - Bem estruturado Incontrolável - Gerenciável Convencional - Inventivo Sem imaginação - Criativo Cauteloso - Ousado Conservador - Inovador Entediante - Chamativo Pouco Exigente - Desafiador Comum - Único Isolador - Conectivo Não Profissional - Profissional Não apresentável - Apresentável De baixa qualidade - De alta qualidade Alienador - Integrador Me Afasta das Pessoas - Me aproxima das Pessoas Brega - Estiloso Desagradável - Agradável Feio - Bonito Não Amigável - Amigável Repelente - Atraente Mau - Bom Repulsivo - Sedutor Desencorajador - Motivador

English Human - Technical Complicated - Simple Impractical - Practical Cumbersome - Straightforward Unpredictable - Predictable Confusing - Clearly Structured Unruly - Manageable Conventional - Inventive Unimaginative - Creative Cautious - Bold Conservative - Innovative Dull - Captivating Undemanding - Challenging Ordinary - Novel Isolating - Connective Unprofessional - Professional Unpresentable - Presentable Cheap - Premium Alienating - Integrating Separates me from people - Brings me closer to people Tacky - Stylish Unpleasant - Pleasant Ugly - Attractive Disagreeable - Likeable Rejecting - Inviting Bad - Good Repelling - Appealing Discouraging - Motivating

Fig. 1 The 28 word pairs of the Attrakdiff Semantic Differential in Portuguese and English

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knowledge about the product [22]. It also assesses innovation, whether it arouses interest or has interaction, content and presentation resources [23]; • Quality of Hedonic Identification (QHI): analyzes the identification with the product in a social context [22] or how much the user identifies with it [23]; • Attractiveness (AT): measures the global appeal of the product and how it affects the judgment as a whole [22] also seeing the user’s perception of quality [23]. The Attrakdiff method was tested together with self-report tools from Emotional Design and the conclusion was reached that the tool provides a hedonic quality assessment similar to the Kansei Engineering method. In summary, Attrakdiff presents less detailed feedback, identification of fewer QPR attributes, is faster to apply and meets the need for product comparison and analysis of the question of “whether the projects meet the needs of the users”. The word pairs are presented in Fig. 1, in a comparison between the words used in the method in English and with their successful use in Portuguese by Marques [14] and Ramos [23]. It is important to note that in the application of the form, there is an inversion of the columns and the order presented. The analysis of the result can be made from three different perspectives according to Brennand and Ramos [22, 23], namely: • Description of word pairs: shows the average values of each word pair grouped under the four dimensions, with negative values on the left, the central axis corresponding to zero and positive values on the right. The concentration of the middle points should be analyzed, with the predominance of the middle points on the right being considered positive and negative if it is on the left; • Results portfolio: also, from the perspective of the average, but this time analyzing each of the dimensions. The diagram format consists of nine quadrants. The QPR is analyzed horizontally and the QH (for identity or stimulus) is correlated vertically. The final result forms a rectangle, the larger, the more divergent the opinions. The point in the middle is the average of the confidence, with its respective standard deviation; • Diagram of Average Values: shows the average of the four dimensions of the product, where the scale of the semantic difference is vertical and the dimensions at the base. In this analysis, the QPR indicates the degree of success in achieving the objectives, the QHI indicates the level of identification of the user, QHS measures whether the experience is original, stimulating and interesting, and finally, the AT which indicates how much the product is attractive. In the academic universe Ramos [23] applied the tool to 227 undergraduate and graduate students, Brennand [22] applied to 138 graduate students and Ribeiro e Providência [24] 282 undergraduate students, 81 graduated students and 47 teachers. The results of the three studies focused on good quality and attractiveness of the students’ expectations and experiences. In the last study, it was possible to perceive a variation of perception among students, alumni and teachers. It was diagnosed that the perception of the experience tends to improve after the end of the course, as exemplified in the improvement of the positive perception of the hedonic quality and

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the attractiveness of the ex-students when compared with the students of the same course [24]. It is important to note that the method may present the limitation of the participants’ difficulty in understanding some of the 56 words presented [23]. One fact is that people have affective reactions to their interactions [25]. Damásio emphasizes that it is in this integrative perspective that the influences of human rationality [32] in the face of feelings and emotions occur, resulting in interferences from the unconscious decision-making system in the conscious/rational, either through emotions or other brain processes. Oron-Gilad and Hancock [26] demonstrate that the user’s characteristics, such as traits, style, personality, internal or external motivation and life goals, such as belief and worldview, are part of the design process, which converges to the premises seen in the perceived quality. Affective design can be considered the heart of design practices, research and education [27]. Human responses to objects are complex and determined by several factors, shaping experiences and requiring different approaches from companies. However, some of these can be channeled through business actions [28].

3 Methodology In order to analyze the emotional experience throughout the pandemic period, the responses were analyzed from the four perspectives of the Attrakdiff method: Pragmatic Quality. Quality of Hedonic Stimulation, Quality of Hedonic Identification and Attractiveness. On a 7-point bipolar scale, where each interviewee marked their perception as adapted by Marques [14] and Ramos [23], and also used and demonstrated by Ribeiro and Providência [24]. The research was carried out in a University Center located in the city of Recife Brazil, belonging to one of the largest higher education educational companies in the country. The application period was from late March to December 2020, before an opportunity to deepen the method, as discussed in the research by Ribeiro and Providência [24]. However, it is important to contextualize and highlight some points of this research, which are: 1.

2.

The teaching model of the analysis environment has a semester term, that is, all activities related to this discipline start and end in the six-month period. During the academic term, there are two consecutive evaluation weeks and a third if there is a need to recover the grade. Students approved on average in the first two weeks do not need to participate in the third evaluation; The year 2020 was marked with the Sars-Cov-2, also known as Covid-19 or Coronavirus. Within the reality of Recife, the decree number 48809, of March 14, 2020, made official social isolation, quarantine and suspension of various activities in the city [29];

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The decree number 48810 of March 16, 2020, in its 6th article, determined the suspension of the operation of educational establishments, including universities [30].

Therefore, in the first semester of 2020, a class offered from Production Engineering was selected, which included 60 students. The class started in the face-to-face modality, but after the decree it passed to its remote modality. Therefore, data collection started in the week following the lockdown decree, already with remote classes and in the initial context of the pandemic in the city. With this same class, a new collection of information was made at the end of the semester, after the approval of the students. In the second half of 2020, classes returned 100% in remote mode. The opportunity was seen to investigate whether there would be a change in the perception of quality of students throughout the semester, with the possibility of comparison with the previous class. A group of students from the Production Engineering course was also selected, this time in a class of 80 students, but this time the questionnaire was made available four different times. Throughout the second half of the year, the city was no longer under lockdown, but it was still restricted by the pandemic— including face-to-face classes. The first application of the questionnaire was right after the enrollment of the semester was closed, with the class more structured. The second application took place in October, just before the first evaluation week. In November, the third contact occurred, in the period between the evaluation weeks. And in December the last application, after the end of the school semester. In total there were 6 collection moments, in two different classes as summarized in Table 1. At a previous moment, it was asked to each class if the students would accept to participate in a research that would be replicated at another time, with the acceptance of the class in the chosen period, the research was explained and the link was made available to answer. Table 1 Data collection details Form of reference at work Collection date Period Class 1 Apr/20

03/22–04/02

Participants

Lockdown—remote classes start

28 students 17 students

June/20

06/25–07/02

End of the Semester

Class 2 Sept/20

09/10–09/13

Enrollments closed, class 18 students in almost initial stage

Oct/20

10/01–10/03

Period before the tests

33 students

Nov/20

11/07–11/28

Period between the two weeks of tests

30 students

Dec/20

12/01–12/08

Students after receiving grades

17 students

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The link was available online for a specified period (around one week to ten days) and interested students entered the link and filled out a form. A total of 166 questionnaires were answered, but all duplicated or unauthorized answers were excluded from this universe, totaling 143 valid and analyzed questionnaires (as shown in Table 1). Although both subjects are offered by the production engineering course, 13% of the participants were from other courses, such as administration and other engineering. Despite the existence of the website “Attrakdiff.de” [31], which allows the research to be carried out on the website itself and provides the graphics already within the parameters of the method, the website has only options for the questionnaire in English and German. It also has a limitation of 20 responses per analysis. For these reasons, the questionnaire was made available on a Google form, the answers were normalized, inverted and treated according to the method required and the graphs were prepared using Excel software. For the sake of confirmation and security, the answers for the month of June were inserted on the website to check the results and the graphics converged on the responses. However, the Portfolio-Presentation graph was not analyzed due to its complexity and precision outside the system. Ultimately, the sampling was random, as the questionnaire was sent to all participants equally. In all three experiments, the participation of respondents was encouraged, which rules out the possibility of a voluntary sample. The research confidence level is 95%, with a margin of error of less than 15%.

4 Results In order to analyze the emotional experience in the face of the perceived quality in the four dimensions, the Diagram of Average Values for the months of April and June was prepared, as shown in Fig. 2. At the end of the semester there was an increase in all four dimensions, this means in the perception of the facility and functionality

Fig. 2 Diagram of average values—first semester

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of the service (QPR) and psychological well-being (QHS), in the attractiveness and holistic perception (AT) and in the identification (QHI) with the service, resulting in an improvement of the quality perception in higher education. In the second semester, the period before the first evaluation week was the one with the lowest perceived quality in all dimensions. It is possible to observe that the month of September had the best QPR and ATT, while the month between tests (November) had the best perception of hedonic quality (QHS and QHI). This data is shown in Fig. 3. In the comparison between the two semesters (Fig. 4), it is possible to see that all four perspectives are in the lowest positive activation (around +1), but the month of June had better behavior compared to the other months and the month of lower October.

Fig. 3 Diagram of average values—second semester

Fig. 4 Diagram of average values—comparison of the two semesters

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The analysis of each detailed parameter of the bipolar semantic differential is analyzed in the Word Pair graph, shown in Fig. 5. In the first half of 2020, the two collections converged on the negative perception of the ‘technical-human’ (técnico-humano) parameter, having its best performance in June. In April, it was still possible to see the (slightly) negative view of the ‘complicated’ and ‘cautious’ view, in June only the ‘conventional’ item. In the second half of the month, December had the worst perception of the ‘técnico’ (technical) factor and also ‘cauteloso’ (cautious). The best perceptions were in the month of December of ‘gerenciável’ (manageable) and in September of ‘bom’ (good). The month of September also stood out from the perspective of ‘simples’ (simple).

Fig. 5 Word pairs—Attrakdiff—First and second semester of 2020

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In the comparison of the six collections, the divergence of the month of June is noticeable, mainly between the parameters of hedonic quality: ‘chamativo’ (captivating), ‘único’ (novel), ‘conectivo’ (connective), ‘profissional’ (professional), ‘de alta qualidade’ (high quality) and the AT parameter ‘motivador’ (motivating). In QPR, the month of September stands out as ‘simples’ (simple) and ‘prático’ (practical) and in AT as ‘bonito’ (attractive). In the negative comparison, the month of October stands out in the hedonic quality ‘entediante’ (dull), ‘comum’ (ordinary), ‘alienador’ (alienating), ‘me afasta das pessoas’ (separates me from people) and ‘brega’ (tacky). In the AT parameter it also stands out in ‘feio’ (ugly), ‘mau’ (bad), ‘repulsivo’ (repelling) and ‘desencorajador’ (discouraging) the QPR in ‘confuso’ (confusing) and ‘ambíguo’ (cumbersome). Therefore, the month preceding the first week of tests is the one that refers to the greatest amount of negative perceptions in all analyzed parameters. The month of June, which had a comparative change in the face of the pandemic, was the one with the best perception of students. Figure 6 presents the data for the two semesters together. At the end of each questionnaire, it was asked whether any of the 56 words stood out. In total 26 people responded varying in 13 word-pairs, as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 6 Word pairs—Attrakdiff—first and second semester of 2020

Apr/20

QPR

QIH QEH

AT

Technical - Human Confusing - Clearly Structured Unruly - Manageable Unimaginative - Creative Cautious - Bold Conservative - Innovative Undemanding - Challenging Ordinary - Novel Unprofessional - Professional Separates me from people - Brings me closer to people Unpleasant - Pleasant Rejecting - Inviting Discouraging - Motivating

Fig. 7 Words mentioned in the open question

June/20

Sept/20

+, +

Oct/20 + -

+

Nov/20 +, -

Dec/20

+, + + -

-

-

+

+ +

+ + + +

+

+, -

+

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It is noteworthy that the months of October and November, which precede the tests and between tests, were the ones that had the most comments. With a greater positive connotation in November, already with the results of the first tests and a negative connotation in October. ‘Conservador’ (conservative) was the most negatively perceived word and ‘gerenciável’ (manageable) the most positive. The QIH pillar was the most remembered and mentioned, followed by the QPR. Regarding the justifications, the ‘atraente’ (inviting) was correlated with the content and ‘me aproxima das pessoas’ (brings me closer to people), because it allows for new interactions with other people. The two most mentioned items were justified only twice each, being the ‘gerenciável’ (manageable), for the sake of self-management and adaptation, and the word ‘conservador’ (conservative) for the reproduction of practices and for ‘more of the same’ or for being outdated.

5 Comparation of the Results of 2020 With That of 2019 Ribeiro and Providência [24] conducted a study in the same unit in November 2019, in the period between tests with a total of 258 undergraduate students. When comparing the November 2019 result with the 2020 results (Fig. 8), it is possible to see that the result varies within the same perspective as the year 2020. In the Word pair diagram, shown in Fig. 9, it is possible to see in detail that November 2019 is in the middle zone, even with a slightly more negative perspective than November 2020. However, within the convergence of answers. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the Attrakdiff method did not significantly change the perceived quality of university students in the Covid-19 period compared to the month of November 2019.

Fig. 8 Diagram of average values—Comparação with November 2019

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Fig. 9 Word pairs—comparison with November 2019

6 Conclusion In the midst of a different context where higher education classes took place remotely, by decree due to the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, two different school periods were followed up against the holistic evaluation of the user experience and then compared with the research carried out in 2019 with a larger sample universe [24]. In general, using the Attrakdiff methodology, it was possible to observe a convergence in the answers, with subtle variations according to the events in the school year. In conclusion, therefore, there was no significant change in the perceived quality of university students in the Covid-19 period, as well as no significant changes in comparison with previous studies [24]. However, it was possible to perceive a convergence tendency between the answers throughout all interactions, resulting in a slightly positive perception of the holistic experience in the educational service, with some fluctuations throughout the semester stages. There was a subtle improvement in perception in June, with the outcome of the hybrid semester (on-site start and due to the pandemic, modification to remote classes). It is interesting to note that the period leading up to the first week of tests was the one that sent the greatest amount of negative perceptions. The month of June, which had a comparative change in the face of the pandemic, was the one where the students had the best perception. Therefore, even in the face of the whole context of the pandemic, or with the variation in the pressures of the school year, the perception of the students’ holistic experience had a positive tendency in the face of the remote modality. The ease, functionality and utility of the service (QPR), psychological well-being, the desire to know and improve before the product, including interaction (QEH), identification with the service (QIH) and the global appeal, as well as the perception of quality (TA) was positive throughout the surveyed period with significant improvement in June. Finally, the importance of studying emotional design is reinforced, where it seeks to understand human subjectivity and the possession of this information, assisting

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in the development and offer of products and services, as well as in finding new opportunities. What converges with what Walter says, when he says that emotional design can help to deal with difficult situations that affects a user’s workflow and can also extend emotional engagement [12] or to the perspective of positive design, which focuses on product development and better services to promote positive experiences aiming for impact and improving the quality of life and well-being of the user [11]. Acknowledgements This work was developed within the scope of the project UIDB/04509/2020 of the Lab2PT - Laboratory of Landscapes, Heritage and Territory - financed by National Funds through FCT / MCTES

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10. Hartono M, Chuan TK, Peacock JB (2012) Cultural Differences in applying Kansei Engineering to services. In: Southeast asian network of ergonomics societies conference (SEANES), Anais, Langkawi, Quedá, vol 9, pp 1–5. IEEE, Curran Associates Inc. 11. Jimenez S, Pohlmeyer A, Desmet P (2015) Positive design: Reference Guide. Delft: TUDelft 12. Walter A (2011) Designing for emotion. A Book Apart, New York 13. Kureemun B, Fantina R (2011) Your customers’ perception of quality: what it means to your bottom line and how to control it. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, Nova Iorque 14. Marques LC (2019) UX-Tips: Uma técnica de avaliação de user experience para aplicação de software. 166 f. Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brasil 15. Teas RK, Agarwal S (2000) The effect of extrinsic product cues on customers’ perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value. J Acad Mark Sci 28(2):278–290. https://doi.org/10.1177/009207 0300282008 16. Alberts GA, Seteyn JL (2012) The influence of customers’ quality perception of commercial vehicles on their maintenance behavior. In: PICMET 2012: Technology management for emerging technologies (PICMET 2012), pp 3387–3396. IEEE, Vancouver 17. Zeithamal VA (1988) Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a means-end model and synthesis of evidence. J Mark 52(3):2–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298805200302 18. Carmon Z, Ariely D (2000) Focusing on the forgone: how value can appear so different to buyers and sellers. J Consum Res 27(3):360–370. https://doi.org/10.1086/317590 19. Ghinea G, Thomas JP (2005) Quality of perception: user quality of service in multimedia presentations. IEEE Trans Multimedia 7(4):786–789. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMM. 2005.850960 20. Obafemi-Ajayi T, Agam G (2012) Character-based automated human perception quality assessment in document images. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern 42(3):584–595. https://doi.org/10. 1109/TSMCA.2011.2170417 21. Ravalda A, Grönroos C (1996) The value concept and relationship marketing. Eur J Mark 30(2):19–30. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090569610106626 22. Brennand CV (2018) Um estudo sobre a avaliação da experiência do usuário em cenários pervasivos, ubíquos e sócio-enativos. 153 f. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas 23. Ramos JL (2016) Uma abordagem preditiva da evasão na educação a distância a partir dos construtos da distância transacional. 260 f. Recife: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco 24. Ribeiro IM, Providência B (2020) Quality perception with Attrakdiff method: a study in higher education. In: Martins N, Brandão D (eds.) Springer Series in Design and Innovation, no 12, pp 222–233, Springer International Publishing, Cham 25. Helander MG (2002) Hedonomics – Affective human factors design. In: Human factors and ergonomics society, no 46, pp 978–982. SAGE Publications, Baltimore 26. Oron-Gilad T, Hancock PA (2005) The role of hedonomics in the future of industry, service, and product design: panel overview. In: Human factors and ergonomics society, no. 49, pp 1701–1704. SAGE Publications, Orlando 27. Demirbilek O, Sener B (2003) Product design, semantics and emotional response. Ergonomics 46(13/14):1346–1360. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140130310001610874 28. Norman DA (2004) Design emocional: Por que adoramos (ou detestamos) os objetos do diaa-dia. Rocco, Rio de Janeiro 29. Alepe Legis - Portal da Legislação Estadual de Pernambuco, Decreto nº 48.809, de 14 de março de 2020. https://web.transparencia.pe.gov.br/ckan/dataset/legislacao-covid-19/res ource/ada462ab-12c4-4fac-9f09-8229f68d0f5b?inner_span=True. Accessed 22 Feb 2021 30. Alepe Legis - Portal da Legislação Estadual de Pernambuco, Decreto nº 48.810, de 16 de março de 2020. https://web.transparencia.pe.gov.br/ckan/dataset/legislacao-covid-19/res ource/eb46cb7d-c36b-4a95-b8f4-abfdc91cc25f. Accessed 22 Feb 2021 31. Attrakdiff. https://www.attrakdiff.de/. Accessed 20 Feb 2021 32. Damásio AR (2012) O erro de Descartes: Emoção, razão e cérebro humano. Companhia das Letras

A Strategic Framework for Biodiverse Speculative Practices Craig C. Jeffcott

and Ana Margarida Ferreira

Abstract This chapter provides an emerging framework for approaches to speculative practices that engage with the intersecting challenges of diversifying the practice of speculative research, particularly with respect to speculative design, and the challenge of taking action against the ongoing biodiversity and other related environmental crises. By using more than human and queer lenses, this framework explores a number of strategies toward the related goals of caring for a diverse world, taking action to protect it, and staking a claim for biodiverse futures; these strategies are storytelling, material practice, play and performance, and time travel, and the hope is that they inform a toolkit for novel speculative design approaches for biodiversity activism. Keywords Speculative and critical design · Biodiversity activism · Queer ecology · Sustainable social change

1 Introduction This chapter draws on a diverse and almost idiosyncratic source of ideas, from science and technology studies, design practice, social science research, science fiction, visual cultures, queer studies and ecology; these ideas are engaged with through what the physicist and science studies scholar Karan Barad describes as a diffractive approach: “of reading insights through one another in attending to and responding to the details and specificities of relations of difference and how the matter”. Unlike reflection, which “reflects themes of mirroring and sameness, diffraction is marked C. C. Jeffcott (B) · A. M. Ferreira IADE, Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] UNIDCOM/IADE, Unidade de Investigação em Design e Comunicação, Lisbon, Portugal A. M. Ferreira e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_15

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by patterns of difference” [2: 71]. It is hoped that this chapter situates itself in such patterns of difference to draw together a cohesive framework for biodiverse speculative design.

1.1 Speculative Practice Speculative practice, in research and design, is a way to engage with futures that are not simply framed by the reality of the present. A good overview of the background to, standpoint of and necessity for speculative research practice is given by Alex Wilkie, Marsha Rosengarten and Martin Savransky, researchers in Sociology and in Design at Goldsmiths, University of London, in their introduction to Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures [21]. They explained that in European antiquity, time was perceived as cyclical and seasonal, in which ‘nothing essentially new could occur’, but in the eighteenth century, a series of temporal rifts—including the French, American and industrial revolutions, and the Lisbon earthquake—exposed “the present to ever new, and unexpected historical events”, and brought the shocking realisation that the future could be entirely different from the present, and, particularly, that positions of power and influence could change. As a reaction to this, the restoration of a stable present—and thus the protection of the interests of the powerful—is the goal of much of the work of modern society, one that is obsessed with anticipating the future and understands it in terms of the probability of risks to the present. In this way, the only available futures exist in the shadow of what is probable from the standpoint of now, and so our crisis-riven present never quite seems to end. This cannot be good enough. We need to embrace the possibility of futures that are not anchored to our problematic present and seem improbable from its standpoint, but that exist within it as apparent impossibilities. As the authors of Speculative Research argued, “it matters what futures we use to cultivate other futures with” [21]. Speculative practices offer this potential, by considering futures as active objects of practice rather than as subjects for empirical study: as “vectors of risk and creative experimentation” [21], as prototypes, provocations and tools for actively resisting the present and bringing themselves into being. Design pairs well with the speculative practices as described here: on the one hand, design often involves the materialisation of an idea as an artefact, whether in the physical or conceptual world; and on the other, design is an inherently futureoriented practice, with designed artefacts acting as a strong rhetorical case for a particular future that can be used to persuade people to make that future happen—as Cameron Tonkinwise wrote, “to force an aspect of the future into the present so it demands a response” [23: 176]. Speculative (and Critical—often a distinction is drawn between the two practices, but they are often spoken of interchangeably or as a single form of design practice, abbreviated to SCD; in general, references in this chapter to speculative design imply

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and apply more or less equally to critical design) Design can draw on that futuremaking impulse to make artefacts that can act as “lures”, or propositions, for unexpected futures. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, design practitioners, researchers and educators, are closely associated with speculative design, and argue that you can “treat design speculations not as narratives or coherent worlds but thought experiments—constructions, crafted from ideas expressed through design—that help us think about difficult issues” [7: 80]. In theory, speculative design can be powerful way of engaging with futures that allow us to escape the impasse of the present, but is has been criticised in practice, both by its practitioners and by others. Liene Jakobsone presented a comprehensive review of these critiques, but in summary, it has been criticised for falling short of its ambitious goals: that it is too lacking impact, that it is shallow and superficial, and, most saliently, that it lacks diversity, both in its practitioners and in its gaze [14]. Luiza Prado de O. Martins, a speculative designer and artist, has argued that “we have a very serious problem of privilege and entitlement permeating the discipline” and that it operates from “the entitled and privileged point of view of the white, academic, middle class designer from the developed world, who is either unaware of or doesn’t care about realities different from their own” [19]. This is important as a narrow and homogenous viewpoint will necessarily limit the diversity and expansiveness of the futures that may be invoked, with Martins stating that “the few projects that show some concern with the reality of the oppressed have a worrying tendency to speak for them instead of giving them their own voices” [19]. In summary, speculative practices in design and research allow futures that are distinct from the present to be used as prototypes, provocations and tools of their own hastening, but a deficit of diversity of practitioners and in the futures they devise are a serious impediment to achieving these important goals.

1.2 Biodiversity Crisis These issues of limited diversity and viewpoints are entangled and diffracted with what may superficially seem to be an unrelated ground of concern, the biodiversity crisis. But as shall be seen, the futurity of speculative practices has the potential to intercede in challenging the hegemonic, extended-present future that bodes extremely ill for the ecosystems on Earth. That future, of course, is an entirely human-centred one, with most of the levers of power held by those in whose apparent interests lie a future centred on the needs of just a small subset of one species—our own—let alone taking the needs of other organisms, of the global ecosystem into account. That ecosystem is in severe crisis, with a recent UN report on biodiversity loss painting a frightening picture of significant and accelerating loss of varieties, species and habitats, locally and on a global scale. Biodiversity—a plurality of different types of animals, plants and other organisms—is giving way to a human-centred

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monoculture, dominated by humankind and a handful of varieties of livestock, crops, service animals and pets [6]. Such a monoculture is not resilient, and in the long term, cannot sustain life on this planet. What role could speculative practices play here? On the one hand, materialising alternative futures is integral to speculative design, and it should thus be well placed to make meaningful interventions in this arena. But a lack of diversity of practice is problematic if speculative practices in design and research are to have grounds to take a stance on biodiversity. Such practices can only intervene in biodiversity crisis if the deficit of diversity is understood to be a deficit of biodiversity (that there is no difference between the diversity of human bodies and more than human bodies). What might a speculative design practice that is more diverse and more than human look like, and could it more effectively intervene in the biodiversity crisis? These are the questions that underpin this emerging speculative framework.

2 Lenses The entanglement of the diversity deficit in speculative design practice, in society, and in the environment, suggests there is a necessity for the participation in futuremaking of voices and beings who do not belong to the normative human mainstream, whether human beings outside of cultural hegemony or other beings entirely. Thus, the futuring strategies for which this chapter presents a framework draw on two outsider-focused lenses that are similar yet distinct: more-than-human, and queer; these are given an overview in this section.

2.1 More Than Human The more than human lens was described by Maria Puig de la Bellacasa in Matters of Care as her chosen way of “naming post humanist constituencies because it speaks in one breath of non-humans and other than humans such as things, objects, other animals, living beings, organisms, physical forces, spiritual entities, and humans”. She explains the importance of considering such an encompassing category because “in times binding techno sciences with nature cultures, the livelihoods and fates of so many kinds of entities in this planet are unavoidably entangled” [4]. Donna Haraway, the feminist science studies scholar has written extensively about these more than human entanglements, invoking narratives of cyborgs—“we are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs” [13]—of companion species that are “relentlessly becoming with”, a category that allows one to “refuse human exceptionalism without invoking post humanism” [11: 13], and of the ‘tentacular beings’, the feeling and reaching and

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grasping entities that entangle within the earth and with each other: “spiders, fingered beings like humans and raccoons, squid, jellyfish… fibrous entities… microbial and fungal tangles… swelling roots…. nets and networks, IT Critters…tentacularity is about life lived along lines… not at points, not in spheres” [11: 32]. This entanglement of the human and the more-than, of human and the ecological, is a key theme in literature that is drawn on here. Felix Guattari, a philosopher and cultural theorist explored the idea in his essay “The Three Ecologies”, where he argued that the ‘natural’ world of the environment, human society, and the subjective human experience are simply one system: “now more than ever, nature cannot be separated from culture; in order to comprehend the interactions between ecosystems, the mechanosphere and the social and individual universes of reference, we must learn to think ‘transversally” [9: 28]. This inseparability of nature from culture thus casts the category of nature itself into doubt. Mackenzie Wark has suggested that nature is an “elusive category, prone to slippage between the material and divine, between substance and essence…nature is for the moment then a category without content” [24: 4]. As such, Timothy Morton argued, in the paper Queer Ecology, that in this biodiversity crisis “we are losing touch with a fantasy Nature that never really existed, while we actively and passively destroy life-forms inhabiting and constituting the biosphere”; this fantasy Nature is something that is performed as “pristine, wild, immediate” and “pure”. [17] In the paper, Morgan argues that this is a false category, a human fabrication that imagines a boundary and holds the natural and human in an unreal separation. Morton asks if it is in these deboundaried, entangled and transitional ways that the more-than human and queer lenses align, because “ecology stems from biology, which has nonessentialist aspects. Queer theory is a nonessentialist view of gender and sexuality. It seems the two domains intersect, but how? ”[17].

2.2 Queer To explore that question, and to explore what may be gained through a queer lens, the paradoxical ‘category’ of queer and queerness will first be illustrated. MegJohn Barker and Julia Scheele explained that queer theory and the word queer itself “is a much-contested term, always in flux, that is used in different ways”—so far, so like Nature—but that some features that unify it are “resisting the categorisation of people, challenging the idea of essential identities [and] questioning binaries like gay/straight, male/female” [3: 31]—so a queer lens is de-categorical, nonessentialist, and non-binary. More generally, Michael Warner defined queerness as “a resistance to the regimes of the normal” [25], a wider definition which this chapter assumes. A queer ecology that rejects the category of Nature, and embraces the decategorical and the more than human in all its entangled complexity, is what Morton advocated for when he asserts that “any attempt at queer ecology must imagine ways of

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doing justice to life-forms while respecting the lessons of evolutionary biology—that the boundary between life and nonlife is thick and full of paradoxical entities.” Queerness as a lens also draws a line between the more than human and speculative practices, as seen in the queer futurity of José Esteban Muñoz, an academic and writer in cultural and queer studies, performance and visual culture. The core of his queer futures thesis lies the assertion that queer beings, in lying outside of the hegemonic cultural mainstream, are excluded from the present, and that to be queer is to imagine a better, different future: “Queerness exists for us as an ideality that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future… Queerness is a structuring and educated mode of desiring that allows us to see and feel beyond the quagmire of the present… Queerness is the thing that lets us feel this world is not enough.” He argued for a speculative gesture, to “dream and enact new and better pleasures, other ways of being in the world, and ultimately new worlds” [18: 1]. The important word here is enact, as this is a future that is performed and made real in the present, aligning with the outlook of speculative research, which aims to engage with “futures that the present could never anticipate, and these already inhere in it as (im)possibilities to be actualised” [21].

3 Ontology Having established the entangled grounds and theoretical lenses for a framework of biodiverse speculative practices, this section of the chapter attempts to give an overview of the worldview or ontology in which these strategies and practices can be understood; to find a shared grammar and vocabulary for these ideas. The nature of the world, as has been illustrated in the discussions of the entangled grounds and theoretical lenses for this framework for ecologically activist speculative practice, is something that is contested: there are “wildly different images of it”. [24: 4] This section gives an overview of the ontological setting, of the worldview in which this framework can be understood to be situated. These ontological grounds will be explored here in terms of matter and beings, in the way they encounter each other, and way in which time is understood.

3.1 Matter and Beings In Molecular Red: Theory for the Anthropocene, Mackenzie Wark explained the current intersecting crises of environment and society, often invoked as the Anthropocene (the era in which human behaviour is the major influence on the geological record), in terms of a Marxist molecular rift “where one molecule after another is extracted by Labour and technique to make things for humans, but the waste products don’t return so they cycle and renew itself… there is a metabolic rift with molecules that are out of joint” [24: xiv].

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Underlying this is a framing of the world in terms of molecular flows over molar entities which derives from Felix Guattari, where he asserted that “the same elements existing in flows, strata and assemblages can be organised in a molar or a molecular mode. The molar order corresponds to signification that delimits objects, subjects, representations and their reference systems. Whereas the molecular order is that of flows, becoming, phase transitions and intensities.” (Guattari, Quoted by Wark) [24: xvi]. It’s a way of being that de-emphasises individual beings over coherences of flowing matter, of a world in flux and transition, that recalls Timothy Morton’s deboundaried, decategorical queer ecology, with him arguing that “evolution means that life-forms are made of other life-forms. Entities are mutually determining: they exist in relation to each other and derive from each other. Nothing exists independently, and nothing comes from nothing” [17]. But that is not to say that things do not exist, that beings do not have a reality. Morton suggested that other life-forms can be thought of as strange strangers “whose strangeness is irreducible” and that “ecological interdependence implies that there is less to things that meets the eye. Yet this lessens means we can never grasp beings as such. This doesn’t mean lifeforms don’t exist: in fact, it’s the reason they exist at all” [17]. This framing of the strange stranger is challenging and perhaps unintuitive, but it unearths a fundamental question: if this way of thinking about the world sees beings as transitional states in the flows of matter, and lacking independent existence, yet is the reason for their existence, what then is it that makes things exist at all? What is it to be something?

3.2 Encounters Karen Barad, a quantum physicist and feminist science studies scholar, finds a startling answer to this question at the heart of quantum physics, an entangled realm of meaning and matter that is both utterly strange and fundamental to all existence, by considering how such phenomena must surely play out in a macroscopic and social level. The core of this theory of being comes out of entanglements, where “to be entangled is not simply to be intertwined with another, as in the joining of separate entities, but to lack an independent, self-contained existence. Existence is not an individual affair. Individuals do not preexist their interactions; rather, individuals emerge through and as part of their entangled intra-relating” [2]. So, intra-relating that back to Wark and Morton, it is in the encounters of deboundaried, continuous flows of matter and energy that individual beings are formed, such that “it is impossible to differentiate in any absolute sense between creation and renewal, beginning and returning, continuity and discontinuity, here and there, past and future”. Barad describes this ontological framework as ‘agential realism’, providing “an understanding of the role of human and nonhuman, material and discursive, and natural and cultural factors in scientific and other social-material practices.” Thus,

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agential realism is another perspective on moving away from categories and boundaries, including the nature and human binary, but even more fundamentally, the binary of material and meaning. “Matter and meaning are not separate elements… mattering is simultaneously a matter of substance and significance” [2]. This conception of reality lies at the core of all of the myriad ideas that this chapter explores; that the material, molecular, quantum reality of things is inseparable from, and is to some extent defined by, what those things mean in relation to each other.

3.3 Time When Barad wrote of the impossibility to differentiate between past and future, it returns to some of the conceptions of temporality that were explored in the start of this chapter, which a view of time that is not linear, forward-thrusting and objectively measured, but disjointed, simultaneous, and subject to the way in which it is encountered. Speculative research practices can be situated in a temporality that resists “the modern arrow of time” and instead is considered “as it is formed through its own patterns of becoming”. It is a temporality that is described as eventful, in that it’s dynamics are determined by events—encounters between beings—rather than clocks and calendars; “in this way, futures are fundamentally underdetermined with respect to present actualities but inhere in the latter in the form of potentiality to be actualised in present” [21]. This aligns with the queer temporality that Muñoz described, his conception of ‘queer longing’ for “other ways of being in the world” [18: 1], echoing the need to “become lured by the possibility of futures that are more than the mere extension of the present” [21: 5]. This sort of eventful temporality where pasts and presents inhere in the future has been described as the long now or the thick present, with Mike Michael, the sociologist of science and technology arguing that only the present is accessible, with pasts and futures existing within it as rhetorical and performative propositions of what may have been or could yet be [16].

4 Strategic Goals At the heart of this framework for speculative practices is the ideal of the world as a rich, complex, boundary-less place, and that this ideal must be realised if richly diverse beings are to thrive there. So that implies a need to protect what exists, to take action to make better, and to work towards a better future. So, the strategies that will form part of this framework for design must be strategies for those particular goals: strategies of care, strategies of action, and thus work or labour, and strategies for staking a claim on futures.

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4.1 Care Care is a complex and contested idea; as Maria Puig de la Bellacasa asks, “what is care? Is it affection? A moral obligation? Work? A burden? A joy? Something we can learn or practice? Something we just do? Care means all of these things and different things to different people, in different situations… care remains ambivalent in significance or ontology” [4: 1]. A simpler way of considering those questions is whether care is is something you feel, when you have a feeling of concern or affection to another being, or is it something that you do, action or work or labour to protect, to tend and defend, or is it an ethical responsibility. These three dimensions of care “do not sit together without tension and contradiction, but are held together and sometimes challenge each other” [4: 5]. Within the scope of this speculative framework, care takes on aspects of all three; it is the work that is done to protect the environment, it is encouraging others to feel both concern and a moral imperative towards better, more diverse futures. As Bellacasa described, care may not be simply be an act of doing good or being kind; some acts of care may oppress the recipient of care, and all forms of care imply a reciprocal neglect of something else, and to care may be to accept the necessity of futures that are harsh, and dangerous, and cruel, in some ways and to some beings.

4.2 Action and Work Taking action to care for existing diversity and create more diverse situations can be framed as a collaborative form of work or labour. Mackenzie Wark has found in the writings of the Soviet theorist and author Alexander Bogdanov a reframing of the Marxist perspective of labour which can be brought to bear on the molecular rifts, the disjunctions of the flows of and forms of matter that underly our environmental crises; from this perspective, the elusive category of Nature is just “that which labour encounters”, and we need a “labour perspective on the historical tasks of our time”. The question, then, is “how can knowledge and labour be organised to extract a living from nature when that very process produces secondary effects that undermine its own ongoing life” [24: xvi]. Wark suggested the answer lies in an approach to work “which sticks close to the collaborative labours of knowing and doing [and] which opens towards plural narratives about how history can work out otherwise”, that draws on speculative fictions that “make no claims to be a spokesmodel for the object world” and makes a “frank acknowledgement of the untangling of our cyber bodies within the technical” [24: xvi]. This positioning of collaborative labour at the heart of the “work of our time” is echoed in Guattari’s three ecologies, where he similarly argues that the crises that

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the planet faces must be solved not by “clinging to general recommendations” but by “implementing effective practices of experimentation, as much on a micro-social level as on a larger institutional scale” [9]. To put this idea into a more than human context, consider the Tree Snail Manifesto, a joint paper by Donna Haraway and the biologist Michael Hadfield where they discussed how activism is an integral part of the work of the biologist. During a long career of studying rare tree snails around the world, Hadfield found his work encompassing ecological and social activism, not simply studying tree snails as objects of detached interest but engaging in practices of mutual being and caretaking; “living in peace requires protecting and restoring an earth that can be a home for all” [10]. Or from a queer perspective, this returns to Muñoz, where he wrote about the way in which queer being is a collaborative work towards making a better world, or staking a claim for a better future. This utopian impulse of Muñoz leads into the next section; but first, a final thought on where care and work intersect: perhaps the concept of “labours of love” provides a promising ground for considering these complex ideas.

4.3 Staking a Claim to a Future Mike Michael has written about futures as a performative rhetorical device; as a way of staking a claim for and persuading others of the desirability of some future outcome [16]. Muñoz situated queerness as a gesture or a longing for a different future—“it is that thing that lets us feel that this world is not enough, that indeed something is missing” [18: 1]: that being outside the cultural mainstream is by necessity to enact and thus make real in the present, a different, better future. He wrote about three perspectives on queer futurity. There is the positive, integrative form: to make the future a place that is hospitable to queer beings by assimilating into heterosexual norms, allowing queer beings to be included within the “regimes of the normal”; the negative form: the argument by Joe Edelman, that this is impossible, that the straight world will never truly accept queer beings and is framed by a reproductive futurism where normative society is largely structured around and for procreation and children (always in a future sense, in a way that the future children are all that is important, compared to the already in existence adults and children). Therefore there is no queer future, and the only thing to do is to enjoy life in the present. Muñoz’s presented his position as the anti-negative, arguing that Edelman was unnecessarily defeatist and that while it is not really possible or even desirable to assimilate into normative culture, that queer futures can be grounded in hope and manifest themselves in the present, which is at the core of the speculative impulse in research and design. This futurity framed around hope was identified by Munoz as a utopian gesture, but not Thomas Moore’s typical abstract utopia of the idealised nowhere place, but the concrete utopia described by Ernst Bloch, of a better world that is hoped for and incrementally brought into being by collective action in the present; a collaborative

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action towards caring for the world is also an act of future making, of staking out a claim for a particular future [18].

5 Strategic Framework The final section of this chapter draws on the rich body of literature, ideas and practices that have been explored thus far to locate a framework of possible strategies—of care, action and staking a claim for futures—for speculative practice; strategies that can help speculative practices in design and research to meaningfully take action against the crises of diversity in the environment of earth in its broadest, more than human and queer sense. These strategies resonate with the ontological framing of Sect. 3, with material practices linking to matter, storytelling to beings, play and performance to encounters, and time travel to time.

5.1 Storytelling Storytelling deals with another ontological category that can be added to matter, beings, encounters and time: narrative. Narratives are rich accounts of the world— encounters between beings in sequence in a place and a time, and they can be real accounts of the world as it is, or they can be accounts of the world as it might have been or never could be. The power of narrative and storytelling as a strategy for care, action, and staking a claim for the future is that it opens up the space of possibly for thinking about the ways in which beings may encounter one another; storytelling is a primal part of human culture, and is a way of accessing the reality of other beings. Donna Haraway wrote about the power of storytelling as a way of not only knowing but finding joy in the multitude of ways of being a being in the world; that it is a way to make people care, or be emotionally invested in a story: “it’s about a sense of being alive on this Earth, the incredible pleasure of connecting with these rich ways of doing the world. Not to take them over and extract them, but to get a sense of the richness of connection. That nurtures my sense of being committed to taking care of each other” [12]. More than this, she argued that storytelling is not simply an encounter of care, but one that engenders an ethical responsibility; if you care, if you are invested in the story of other beings, then you have a reciprocal duty to take care.

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5.2 Material Practice Design is an effective medium for speculative practices because it is in essence a material or making practice. All forms of design and material practice are powerful as they construct futures: physical things act as strong rhetorical pulls for a particular future; they say in effect, this future is real, because this object from that future exists. This can be seen in the material remains of the past; the archaeologist Andrew Gardener explained that “artefacts are important to the way human consciousness interacts with the world, and particularly we have a strong sense of the temporality of artefacts … they’re the things that keep us located in time, that allow us to imagine both past and future times”. He argued that “there are certain kinds of temporal horizon that draw people’s attention more than others….which are marked by particular material signatures as well… whether it’s hand axes or pyramids or Samian pottery for the Romans, there are iconic material objects which mark those moments.” (Interviewed by Craig Jeffcott for MA Dissertation) [15]. Bruce Sterling invoked how such iconic material objects may operate within speculative material practices through the concept of the diegetic prototype. Diegesis is a term from film-making that refers to things that are real within the narrative of a story; a diegetic object is an object that may be a prototype or model, but that is real within the world it comes from. Such a diegetic prototype within design fiction and speculative design invokes and performs futures and alternative presents, acting as a material lure for an unexpected future: “it tells worlds rather than stories.” [22] Or, as Dunne and Raby suggested, a diegetic prototype or prop “belongs to its own fictional world: it expands our imaginative horizons and provides new perspectives” [7: 90]. James Auger, a speculative design practitioner and educator, has written about the craft of speculation within design; about the material reality of speculative and diegetic objects. Such speculative artefacts ‘require a perceptual bridge” between the object and those who encounter it, and be grounded in a recognisable reality or set of influences. They should possess a certain degree of the uncanny, provoking and unsettling enough to engage a subject, but not so much as to provoke repulsion and disengagement, and need to find the right balance between technical detail and simplicity: “too much technical information can alienate or simply bore the viewer, but too little can leave the concept intangible or whimsical” [1]. Auger’s material speculative practices are rooted in yet depart from the context of product and interaction design, but such approaches can also align with the diverse worlding practices that are being explored in this chapter. Diegetic carpentry is an approach to speculative making practices that can engage with the world from a more-than-human perspective. It draws on some of the ideas of object-oriented ontology: specifically, the notion that the reality of another object or being’s existence can never be truly accessible or understandable to another, but through speculation and imaginative practices it might be possible to approach such an understanding. Ian Bogost has proposed diegetic carpentry as a practical speculative approach, whereby speculative devices are created that could mediate an

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understanding between two different beings; it’s a way into playing with stories and Baradian intra-actions between beings [5]. Finally, Cameron Tonkinwise has suggested that the power of diegetic prototypes or props to engage with futures “does not come from contemplating a removed museological object… it is because you must play with them, performing in improvisatory way. The point is not to imagine the future, but to feel your way in that unknown dimension” [23]. Feeling the way through play leads into the next grouping of strategies in this framework; play and performance.

5.3 Play and Performance Play and performance is a strong feature of the sorts of strategies that are common to the more-than-human and queer perspectives, and are even fundamental to design; as above, the rhetorical role of designed artefacts in staking a claim to a particular future or past is as Mike Michael has argued, a performative gesture, an acting out through an artefact of a particular future [16]. Muñoz suggested that the queer experience of surviving in the margins of normative society means that the hoped for better futures that can be invoked are necessarily ephemeral and performative: the way in which someone offers a drink of Coca Cola, in a gesture, in queer spaces and places where the future is present in the collective performance, a different world that quickly dissipates on returning to the ‘real’ normative world [18]. Particularly in terms of more overtly performative queer settings, like drag performances, dance or collective sexual events, he draws a parallel to the art happening, a form of artwork associated with Alan Kaprow which tend to involve ad-hoc, loosely scripted and spontaneous performative actions that are collaborative and self-generating. Judith Rodenbeck’s text on the history of art happenings considers them to be a form of radical prototype: a way of testing out and exploring different possible relationships and futures [20]. Donna Haraway considered the centrality of play from an agentially realist ontological perspective, discussing with Drew Endy, a synthetic biologist, that all encounters between beings are creative of new beings, and that this is fundamentally, even to the level of subatomic particles, a form of play—beings exploring each others’ reality and finding out new ways to exist together or apart: “The biological world is about recognition and misrecognition. Comings-together that then add on to each other and complexify each other, and then fall apart. Every composing and decomposing produces something in the world that wasn’t there before, that may just disappear, but may become the opportunity for some other kind of composing and decomposing…this is what play is” [12: 6]. The implication of all this is that we must encounter others in a spirit of playfulness, if we are to have any meaningful engagements with or have some understanding of those beings who are unlike ourselves, and thus be able to take action to care for them.

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5.4 Time Travel Strategies for a non-linear temporality—that is, where time progresses at different speeds, and directions, and where the past and the future coexist in a long or thick present—are afforded the opportunity to play with this non-linearity in a form of time travel. If the past and future inhere in the present, then it is possible to consider and move between multiple and alternative temporalities, of pasts that are different to those that the current moment progresses from, and futures that those forgotten pasts can imply. A powerful example of how this form of time travel can be a strategy of resilience in the face of a traumatic history is Afrofuturism, which is a body of speculative fictions that consider alternative pasts for the African people and diaspora other than the history of colonialism and slavery. It is a way in which stolen potential histories can be reanimated, giving a new context to the present and a way to imagine better futures: Ytasha Womak, an Afrofuturist writer and theorist, argued that “there’s an element of resilience that we celebrate in Afrofuturism, the unique things people have done to survive. Part of that is using the imagination, and envisioning ourselves in different ways, or envisioning a future that helps us move out of and survive traumatic circumstances” [8]. In Futures Shaped by Pasts that Could Have Been, Ytasha Womak and the synthetic biologist Betül Kaçar (whose research involves transplanting prehistoric genes into modern bacteria cells and observing how the ancient and modern genes intra-act) discuss how some of these time displacement dynamics play out in their respective works and perspectives on the world; they explored the idea that differences in the past could have bearing on the present, if the past were to be replayed again, or that a being can have existence in more than one time: “you’re talking about alternative timelines, and that goes into this whole notion of the past, future and present happening simultaneously… if you think about yourself as having lived many lifetimes, you’re living all of these lifetimes now simultaneously, so your past and your future lives are happening now, and there’s some relationship” [8: 13–14].

6 Conclusion In this chapter, a framework of possible strategies for speculative practices in design and research has been shaped by lenses of more than human and queer perspectives, and rooted in an ontological ground of molecular flows and rifts, anti-categorial beings that are defined by their intra-actions with others, and a temporality in which the present, futures and pasts coexist. These strategies are aimed at caring for and taking action to protect diversity in the singular ecosystem of humans and the more than human environment, and staking a claim for a better future.

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The strategies are: narrative, related to the power of stories to engage and inculcate an ethical responsibility towards other being; material, related to the ways in which futures can be bound up as possibilities within artefacts; encounter-based, related to the ways in which futures are performative and interactions between beings can be framed as play; and temporal, using a form of speculative time travel to reframe presents according to pasts different to those that happened, alternative presents, and possible or impossible futures. It is hoped that this framework of strategies can form the basis of more diverse and impactful speculative practices that can act to protect the diversity of life on earth.

References 1. Auger J (2012) Why Robot? Speculative design, the domestication of technology and the considered future. https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1660/ 2. Barad K (2007) Meeting the universe halfway: quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke University Press, Durham 3. Barker M-J, Scheele J (2016) Queer: a graphic history. Icon Books, London 4. María Puig de la Bellacasa (2017) Matters of care: speculative ethics in more than human worlds: 41. University Of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 5. Bogost I (2012) Alien Phenomenology, Or, What It’s Like to be a Thing. University of Minnesota Press 6. Brondizio ES, Settele J, Díaz S, Ngo HT (2019) Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES, Bonn, Germany 7. Dunne A, Raby F (2014) Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming. MIT Press, Cambridge 8. Ginsberg AD, Chieza N, Kaçar B, Womack Y, Vilutis J (2018) Future shaped by pasts that could have been. J Des Sci 9. Guattari F (1989) The three ecologies. Bloomsbury Academic , London 10. Hadfield MG, Haraway DJ (2019) The tree snail manifesto. Current Anthropol. 60(S20):S209– S235 11. Haraway D (2016) Staying with the trouble: making kin in the chthulucene. Duke University Press, Durham and London 12. Haraway D, Endy D (2019) Tools for multispecies futures. J Des Sci 4 13. Haraway DJ (1981). A cyborg manifesto: science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century. In: Simians, cyborgs and women: the reinvention of nature. Routledge. 14. Jakobsone L (2017) Critical design as approach to next thinking. Des J 20(sup1):S4253–S4262 15. Jeffcott C (2016) Citizens of Nowhere: Designing for Deep Time. Goldsmiths College 16. Michael M (2000) Futures of the present: from performativity to prehension. In: Contested futures. Ashgate, Aldershot, pp 21–42 17. Morton T (2010) Queer ecology. PMLA 125(2):273–282 18. Jose Esteban Muñoz (2009) Cruising Utopia: the then and there of queer futurity. NYU Press, New York 19. Martins LPDEO (2014) Privilege and oppression: towards a feminist speculative design. https:// a-pare.de/2014/privilege-and-oppression-towards-a-feminist-speculative-design/. Accessed 9 Dec 2018 20. Rodenbeck JF (2014) Radical Prototypes: Allan Kaprow and the Invention of Happenings. The MIT Press 21. Savransky M, Wilkie A, Rosegarten M (2017) Speculative Research : The Lure of Possible Futures. Routledge

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22. Sterling B, Bosch T (2012) Sci-Fi Writer Bruce Sterling Explains the Intriguing New Concept of Design Fiction. https://slate.com/technology/2012/03/bruce-sterling-on-design-fictions.html. Accessed 15 June 2020 23. Tonkinwise C Review of Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, vol 20 24. Wark McKenzie (2015) Molecular red: theory for the anthropocene. Verso, London 25. Warner M (ed) (1993) Fear of a queer planet: queer politics and social theory. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

Pedagogy, Society and Design Practice

The 4th Industrial Revolution—The Future of Design Research and Doctoral Programs Maria João Félix

and Fernando Moreira da Silva

Abstract The main goal of this work is to demonstrate, that it is important to reflect on what the future of design research and doctoral programs in design will be, to know if universities are prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) reality. This research work begins by identifying the changes in society, technology and education, which resulted in the increase of many curricular innovations and the creation of new educational institutions. The impacts of the emerging 4IR will require a rethinking of the curriculum in higher education, to prepare students for a technological, economical, personal and social response from a holistic point of view. The main findings are, among others, the recognition of the expansion of the artificial world, and that design plays a relevant role in the management of complex systems. Thus, it was important to survey the doctoral programs in design, recognizing that they have to be restructured and redesigned, focusing mainly on practical solution and on the transferring of knowledge to society, companies and industry. Keywords 4th industrial revolution · Future of design research · Doctoral programs · Higher education · Transferring of knowledge

1 Introduction The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) will place a premium in intellectual capital and in the capacity for collective thought [1]. The automation economy, resulting from technologies, is changing the way we live and work, the information transfer is no longer the sole purview of institutions of higher education [2]. These impacts will require a restructuring of the curricula [3] in higher education to enable students to understand the technologies in detail and to analyze and anticipate the evolution M. J. Félix (B) · F. M. da Silva Lisbon School of Architecture, CIAUD, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] M. J. Félix Design School - Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_16

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of networked technology systems. A more proactive response from the educational sector will be needed compared to what has been done in earlier industrial revolutions. Our universities should be prepared to develop more interactive forms of pedagogy and adopt a curriculum that emphasizes multiple cultural and disciplinary perspectives in different areas. According to Nancy W. Gleason, today’s students are faced with major challenges in demographics, population, global health, literacy, inequality, climate change, nuclear proliferation, and the 4IR has significantly different demands on them, than anything that has previously existed [2]. Updates to the curriculum structures will be needed to enable students to develop skills in emerging areas, such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, or nanomaterials. Any curriculum proposal for 4IR should be built on the results of the Third Industrial Revolution. How will the future of design and doctoral design programs be? Are we ready for all of these changes? What tools will we have at the moment? Are there resources to adapt universities to this reality? We know that throughout the years there have been huge debates in the sector of art and design about the nature of research and how this one connects with PhDs. These first debates were performed mainly through two major international conferences, one in Ohio, EUA [4] and the other in La Clusaz, France [5]. Other conferences followed: Design+Research, Milan (2000), Tsukuba, Japan (2003), Tempe, Arizona (2005) and many others. And were also performed through lists of discussion by email like DRS, Design Research Society, which preceded the La Clusaz Conference in July 2000 and the “PhD-Design” list [6], among more recent ones. The interest of PhDs in Design, has increased substantially and a great number of new programs have been established [4]. Today there are many doctoral programs in Design around the world, done locally without any references among them. More programs are on the way, despite the fundamental issues, about what constitute and what a design PhD is for, being still to be solved to evaluate the design doctoral programs state, we also need to consider the state of the research in design, a field that is still equally confusing and with a set of shared problematics. This work seeks to point out and reflect on some of the main points resulting from these discussions, which are still being debated in the sector.

2 International Review of Doctoral Programs in Design There are varied views about the practice and research in design, and a lot of variations in the requirements of the different universities. In the UK there is a long tradition of design education, resulting from the respected Art Schools, which were mostly absorbed by modern universities. Generally, the attribution of the first graduations, through traditional design, goes back to just three decades ago and the attribution of PhD degrees less than 10 years. There is still the lack of experienced supervisors and examiners to sustain PhDs and with a profound knowledge on the process.

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Design is considered by many to be a contingent practice [7]. Consequently, the objective of a doctorate in design has never been properly formulated [8] and often the purpose has become more symbolic than pragmatic. So there has been the need to do research, more often due to the need to sustain a title than to the desire to find solutions for a problem [9]. The Master degrees in Design, that mainly qualify designers to teach other designers, are a post-second world war phenomenon. Bruce Archer states that the Department of research in design of the Royal College of Art was converted in 1976 in a Department of Post-Graduation [10] where Masters and Doctors’ degrees have been awarded. Although it is clear that the main objective of the master’s degree was to prepare the professors of design by offering more advanced design courses and the opportunity of involvement in research projects, the objective of a PhD in Design has never been well articulated. In several countries, the PhD course has become an attribute for the research and a demand of qualification to the design teachers has been done. This way, the degree is more symbolic than pragmatic [7] and the need for research is not driven by a problem or a set of a shared research problems, but for the need of keeping the degree status.

3 Doctoral Programs in Design Problems and Prospects Through literature review we can underline several reasons through which the objective of the PhD in Design stays uncertain or questionable. The dissociation of the research in design from the profession, but despite all this disconnection, design within several definitions that we have found, can embrace areas like Engineering, Architecture, Ergonomics of Computing Sciences, as well as product design, interior design and communication design. For example Buchanan (2001) [11] stated that design is the human power to conceive, plan and make products that serve Human Beings in the achievement of their individual and collective purposes. In 1981, Archer had already defined it as the combined consubstantiation of configuration, structure, purpose, value and the meaning of things and man-made systems. Therefore, design and consequently PhDs in Design are divided in areas like Engineering, Architecture or Computing Sciences, which have their own PhDs and group of professionals. The uncommon nature of design research that has raised and still raises an extraordinary challenge, [12] is uncommon, because design is both an intellectual and applied subject. It is an integrating subject, many times necessary to operate transversally in other subjects, involving multiple research methods due to the variety of interconnected fields in design, being bigger than in most subjects.

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However, during last years, the research in design is also made by research through design, it means, involving practical methodologies and pertinent thematics for society, companies and industry. In many PhD degrees, fundamental research is the support for an applied research, working multi, trans and interdisciplinary. We can say that we are living a paradigm shift at Design research level. There is a need to bring together academia and professionals in the design area, because in most of the cases designers are not involved in the discussions about the PhDs in Design programs. Design international associations, such as ICOGRADA (International Council of Graphic Design Associations), the ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) and the IFI (International Federation of Interior Designers/Architects), have few or any connection with research or academia, once that IASDR (International Association of Societies of Design Research) represents the area [7]. Consequently, in most of the countries, the field of general practice is not requesting a higher degree to meet specific purposes. The consequence is that there is no formal relationship between the groups of research in design and the designers. A great quantity of interesting works, which could be named as research in design, is being performed by researchers that have not been trained in that field. Margolin in his article Doctoral Education in Design: Problems and Prospects (2010) mentioned that large companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, HewlettPackard, Intel and many others hired at that time for their research teams, Doctors in areas that go from the Electric and Software Engineering to the Anthropology and Psychology. That was also the case of the Deutsche Telekom, for example, in its Research Centre, the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories that was researching future products and services. Intel also hired students to perform field works on how consumers use mobile phones and other products. So, we can suppose that an extensive research on new products continue being done in all big companies that produce consumer goods, like Samsung, in Korea, or Nokia, in Finland. In general, there is no clear connection between the companies’ needs, for the specialists in objects design and complex systems, and the universities that should be training those specialists. One explanation for that lack of connection is the Media Lab, in MIT, where PhDs were granted to students that work in several projects that involve design, although such projects weren’t necessarily called by that name. The Aalto University, in Helsinki, that resulted from the fusion between the University of Art and Design, Helsinki School of Economics and Helsinki University of Technology, has also planned to offer advanced courses, in areas related to design, to respond to the government’s appeal for innovation. Unfortunately, and in most cases, the research done by the industry is its property and is not part of the accomplishments with which the research of the international community is publicly identified. Consequently, in a recent research survey presented in conference, it is verified that the same do not reflect the consensual problems, for which the researchers search to find solutions. There is a lack of experienced supervisors and researchers who can sustain the PhDs and who have a profound knowledge of the process.

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There has been, however, a long tradition of individual supervisors with professional experience, with tendencies both as personal as commercial, in a way to keep their professional skills updated. The practice is, however, an important mean through which design educators keep up with the latest news and techniques and that can benefit students when passing on information directly to teaching. Another reason could be the lack of funding sources for the research activities. This situation in the UK, with the arrival of the RAE—Research Assessment Exercise and the formation of the Arts and Humanities Research Board—AHRB, has been improving: there is a considerable increase, in volume as well as in quality of the research activity of all types, in this area. In this competitive environment, the departments seek to position themselves in a beneficial way and that lead directly or indirectly to the establishment of specific PhD programs in Art and Design. In relation to the efforts demonstrated by the departments of design, it is clear that the research was taken seriously, but, being very recent at that time, the nature of the research and the graduations solidity are still being discussed. Another reason for this state is related to the guarantee of quality, regarding the haste in the implementation of new PhD modalities without the sufficient planning and without the due respect for the long history and nature of the PhD in other subjects. Many researchers have expressed themselves about the problems with PhDs, in the Universities of the UK [13]; [14] and at the time, a substantial file was created with discussions, by email, the DRS- Design Research Society [6]. In the UK Universities there are big varieties in the demands for PhDs, in Design, as well as in Art. All of this, contrasts, in a strong way, with the concern that exists internationally about the creation and approval of PhD programs. For example, in the USA there are evident approval mechanisms for PhD programs in specific themes and for regional accreditation [15]. So, for example, a Design school would propose to develop a structured PhD studies program for several years. That would include the guarantee of an adequate infrastructure to support the research students, properly qualified supervisors, and a wide training in research methods [8]. There is a strong motivation to guarantee the highest standards so that a PhD program, in one specific area, does not interfere in a harmful way, in the university.

4 Results The outcome of this analysis is that PhDs in Design need to implement a clear objective, a clear mission, as, for example, a PhD in Engineering. There is not only one PhD in Engineering, nor only one group of research in Engineering.

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Generally, one University has one Engineering College with separate departments for the Electric Engineering, Mechanic Engineering, Civil Engineering, Bioengineering, Aeronautic Engineering and other specialties and all of these were created to receive specific groups of practical problems. Margolin predicted in 2010 that in the future we might see something similar in design, once that PhDs are offered in Interaction Design, Transport Design, Organization Design, Social Network Design, Services Design, Sustainable Design and many other potential areas [7]. He also pointed out that these PhDs should come up as soon as the problematic areas are identified, giving students assurance that the courses that they will be attending have labor market that needs their expertise. In the UK we can see that this evolution happened naturally, but in other European countries, especially in Portugal, we are very far from this reality. To complement the PhDs needs by areas, there is a need for advanced degrees in History of Design and Design Studies. History of Design is already a distinctive field with several opportunities for the study of PhD. It will also be necessary as in any field of research to be supported by several academic magazines, regular conferences and a high-quality research current that comes, not only from specialized historians in design, but also from historians in different fields that think design is interesting as an object of research. The only problem, in this field, is that it is defined in a very limited way. We can point out a PhD in Project: a good example is the famous Harvard GSD, which is Harvard Graduate School of Design. In this American school, two PhD programs are distinguished in two types: the PhD in “Philosophy”, which is the normal one, and entitles to the use of the PhD title (Doctor of Philosophy), and the Doctor of Design who uses the acronym DDes. This second type of PhD is addressed to applied research; this way, it also has a PhD Thesis (with all the necessary parts for this type of degree, state of art, objectives, methodology, etc.), but whose nature of research is a practical work. The main concern of these restructurings will be to take the quality of life into consideration [16] in all its forms, defined as the result of the combination of social, scientific, technological and environmental control conditions. The concern for the future is imposed by the haunted reality of the planet [17], which can see in design a contribution to “salvation” with the creation of new products that appeal to equity in the distribution of resources [18].

5 Conclusion What is intended with the research in design, particularly, the one performed in PhDs is that this can create knowledge and skills, in one reference, in the first instance, to the interactions between interesting and interested people, involving their conversations and the sharing of references about academic research and other works, asking questions to reach a consensus and a better understanding of each area.

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These analogies imply that a culture of research can be centralized in one place, exist within a social context, reflect itself in a set of values and work out in several operating modes. A PhD is, in the first place, a research exercise, although that aspect is many times ignored. Through the study of the methodology and practices, in the choice and implementation of the adequate research methods, the candidate understands the methodological context and is able to demonstrate the application of the appropriate methods. In a certain elusiveness, about the nature of the research, and some actual problems with the applied rules to the PhD in Design, it would be expectable for a monitoring of the design curriculum to exist, as well as the graduation results, given that design is a relatively recent scientific area, for the research, it seems prudent to establish some PhD solid programs based on tested precedents, before engaging in paths that may threat the reliability of the knowledge based on what this field needs. The research in design is international, although the communication of the results among researchers of different countries is hampered by the lack of a common language. Despite English being the language that prevails among researchers, there are many scholars in Brazil, Japan, Korea, China and many other countries, whose work is not known outside their own language. This is particularly clear in the design history and theory, where many researchers were published in non-Anglophone idioms and are unknown by the historians of design that speak English. While the artificial world keeps on expanding its relationship with nature, design is way too important to be ignored. As Human Beings, we are the administrators of this artificial world, as we are the responsible ones for the natural world. We must be prepared to run a more and more complex natural and social environment in which design has an increasing important role, so that we will be able to fulfill our duty as good administrators. Well-conceived and highly focused PhD programs in design are fundamental for this task. Nearly everyone will work with artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augnmented reality (AR), user experience (UX), biotechnologies and nanomaterials, always supported by sustainable positions. The need to rethink doctoral programs in design is to respond urgently to the power of 4IR technologies for positive social impacts. It is important to realize, that there are still many asymmetries in this area, and that the English reality is very different considering the history of the area. For example, in Portugal the PhD degrees in Design appeared much later, and we are still debating the consolidation in the area, not only in academics, but also in the professional activity. Universities, doctoral programs and even industry are not yet prepared for the profound changes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It is urgent to rethink the curricula of doctoral programs in design, recognizing the expansion of the artificial world and all the social, technical and technological changes.

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References 1. Penprase BE (2018) The fourth industrial revolution and higher education. In: Higher education in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0194-0_9 2. Gleason NW (2018) Higher Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0194-0 3. Dias AC, Almendra R, Moreira da Silva F (2017) Design education facing Europe 2020—A reflection on demands: FAULisbon as the case study. In: Challenges for technology innovation: an agenda for the future - proceedings of the international conference on sustainable smart manufacturing, S2M 2016. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315198101-57 4. Buchanan R, Doordan D, Justice L, Margolini V (1998) Doctoral education in design. In: Proceedings Ohio Conference, October 8–11 1998. Sch Des Carnegie Mellon Univ 5. Durling D, Friedman K (2000) Doctoral education in design: foundations for the future. In: Proceedings of the Conference La Clusaz, France. Staffordshire University Press 6. Durling D (2000) Design in the UK: some reflections on the emerging PhD 7. Margolin V (2010) Doctoral education in design: problems and prospects. Des Issues 26:70–78. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00031 8. Durling D (2002) Discourses on research and the PhD in Design. Qual Assur Educ 10:79–85. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880210423564 9. Contreras G, Siu KWM (2016) Design education for fostering creativity and innovation in China. IGI Global, Hershey 10. Archer LB (1981) A view of the nature of the design research. In: Jacques R, Powell JA (eds.) Design: science: method, pp 30–47. IPC Bussiness Press Ltd., Guilford 11. Buchanan R (2001) Design research and the new learning. Des. Issues 17:3–23. https://doi. org/10.1162/07479360152681056 12. Friedman K (2000) Creating design knowledge: form research into practice. In: IDATER (International conference on design and technology educational research and curriculum development), pp 5–32. Loughborough University, United Kingdom 13. Archer B (2000) A background to doctoral awards. In: Friedman K, Durling D (eds.) Doctoral education in design: foundations for the future, 8–12 July 2000, La Clusaz, France. Staffordshire University, UK 14. Langrish J (2000) Not everything made of steel is a battleship. In: Durling D, Friedman K (eds.) Doctoral education in design: foundations for the future, 8–12 July 2000, La Clusaz, France. Staffordshire University UK 15. Kroelinger M, Giard J (2000) Initiating an interdisciplinary doctoral program: perspectives from a new program. In: Durling D, Friedman K. (eds) Doctoral education in design: foundations for the future, La Clusaz, France. Staffordshire University Press, UK 16. Félix MJ, Duarte V (2018) Design and development of a sustainable lunch box, which aims to contribute to a better quality of life. Int J Qual Res 12:869–884. https://doi.org/10.18421/IJQ R12.04-06 17. Félix MJ, Santos G, Barroso A, Silva P (2018) The transformation of wasted space in urban vertical gardens with the contribution of design to improving the quality of life. Int J Qual Res 12:803–822. https://doi.org/10.18421/IJQR12.04-02 18. Chiaradia LD, Pazmino AV (2015) Save the Bio: O design como ferramenta contra a perda da biodiversidade. Mix Sustentável. 1

Foundations, Research, and Transdisciplinarity: Re-shaping Education for the 21st Century at a School of Design and Technology in Portugal Rodrigo Hernández-Ramírez , Rodrigo Morais , and Carlos Rosa Abstract This chapter proposes a preliminary structure for an undergraduate course in Design based on a pragmatic understanding of the learning process. Starting from a systematic literature review and based on first-hand experience as teachers, we argue that pragmatism, like phenomenology, strongly influences design education. Following this insight, we contend that Design may be regarded as a normative discipline and thus propose a macrostructure that contemplates (1) tradition and foundations; (2) practice and research; and (3) business and transdisciplinarity. Our proposal focuses on a flexible academic trajectory that understands creativity as a novel idea development process that connects existing knowledge and solves problems through making. Everyone involved with teaching and learning design will find in this chapter references of interest since the changing nature of the requirements for design education forces us to think and re-make our field from a plural standpoint. Keywords Design education · Design learning · Pragmatism · Course design

1 Introduction Design has changed profoundly over the last decades, and with it, the needs and requirements of design education. Whole new design fields have emerged as designers broadened their concerns from objects and symbols to new “orders” [1] such as interactions, services, systems, and environments. Designers have seen their R. Hernández-Ramírez (B) · R. Morais · C. Rosa IADE, Universidade Europeia, Av. D. Carlos I, 4, 1200-649 Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] UNIDCOM/IADE - Unidade de Investigação em Design e Comunicação, Av. D. Carlos I, 4, 1200-649 Lisboa, Portugal R. Morais e-mail: [email protected] C. Rosa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_17

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responsibilities diversify, their concerns expanding beyond the mere form, function, and styling of tangible things to all aspects of sociotechnical systems. Designers’ capacity to appreciate and address complexity has made their role strategic for businesses, and both public and private organisations across the world now recognise Design as a critical asset for tackling the wicked issues of our fast-changing world. Nonetheless, Design’s evolution as a quintessentially interdisciplinary area of knowledge has, understandably, put considerable pressure on design education. How people can learn the skills that will allow them to become proficient designers capable of meeting the expectations put on them is thus a fundamental problem for our field. How design education should be conducted and what it should include from undergraduate to graduate levels remains a highly contested matter. Nonetheless, there is a growing consensus in the English-speaking world and Northern Europe that design education has to shift away from traditional “craft-based” approaches towards those offering students a holistic, exploratory, evidence-driven mindset and research skills [2–4]. That is to say, approaches that privilege a robust and critical understanding of design methodology instead of high technical proficiency with specific tools or methods [5]. The criticism is thus directed not only at the contents of design programmes but also at how knowledge is conveyed, notably, because complexity is often eschewed by privileging (constrained) problem solving over problem seeking and framing. Moreover, critics also note that with a few exceptions, design education continues to happen within schools of art, perpetuating the misguided perception that art and Design are more or less the same endeavours. Finally, critics also note than when design programmes are updated, the changes tend to be cosmetic since layers of technology and business subjects are merely added to the latter stages of education, but the traditional craft-based foundations are left intact. While we agree with the better part of the criticism summarised above, we believe there is no single, general approach to design education. Based on a systematic literature review and our own experience teaching and designing undergraduate and graduate courses in Design, we propose a sketch to structure a course grounded on a pragmatic understanding of the learning process. However, it is essential to note that this sketch is by no means finalised and that considerable work is still required. Thus, our proposal should be regarded as a starting point for discussing future developments of design education, particularly in the European landscape.

2 Design Education Contextualised Designing has always been about mediating the relationship between humans and technologies through carefully balancing the aesthetics of form and function. For the better part of Design’s existence as an autonomous field of practice and inquiry, technologies were “dead” objects. This changed with the rise of personal computing in the late 70s when objects—initially just computers but eventually various other automated devices—started to gain agency and offer sophisticated feedback. Computing

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also revolutionised human capacity to build models and simulations, which, in turn, significantly improved our capacity to forecast increasingly complex phenomena. In other words, the ongoing computing revolution allowed Design to expand from its traditional “orders” of communication and fabrication to interaction, systems and relationships. Designing went from thinking about objects not just “from the outside” but from “the inside”; that is, thinking not only about form and function but mainly about the experiences humans have when interacting with those objects [1]. Design’s philosophical roots as a distinct form of inquiry stretch back to the Renaissance [6]. Design as a segmented profession emerged sometime in the late eighteenth century when it displaced traditional craftsmanship [7, 8]. During the eighteenth century, several schools were established to meet the educational demands of the rising profession of Design. Notable examples are the National Academy of Craft and Art Industry (Norway, 1818); the Government School of Design (London, 1837) and the Glasgow Government School of Design (1845); the Konstfack–University of Arts, Crafts, and Design (Stockholm, 1844); and RISD–the Rhode Island School of Design (USA, 1877) [3, 9]. Nonetheless, at the time, designing was mainly regarded as styling; that is, as an activity at the service of industry merely concerned with embellishing manufactured products [10]. Movements such as Arts and Crafts would later contribute to altering this notion, but it was Staatliche Bauhaus and its influential “Preliminary Course” which would revolutionise modern design education. The Preliminary Course, which all students had to complete during the first semester, epitomised the Bauhaus’ goal of reconciling the practice and teaching of fine arts, applied and industrial arts (i.e., Design), and psychology grounded on humanistic principles. This holistic approach sought to transform Design into a genuinely “architectonic art”—in the sense of all-encompassing—and in so doing it not only gave rise to the “grammar” and principles that still dominate the discipline but also set the bedrock of contemporary design education [6]. The Bauhaus contributed to legitimising Design as a genuine academic area [3] by focusing not just on the practice of designing but mainly on the role that a systematic method played in it. That is to say, the Bauhaus’ main contribution to the evolution of Design as a discipline was showing that designing had less to do with honing technical skills and knowing about materials and more with acquiring a consistent methodological strategy grounded on systematic principles and critical reflection. The Design Methods Movement would further develop this notion in the second half of the twentieth century. The Design Methods Movement emerged in the early 1960s within institutions such as the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm, the Royal College of Art, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The driving force behind it was a perceived necessity amongst Design academics to systematise design practices and theories and a will to turn Design into an area of knowledge that was consistently organised much in the way scientific fields are. Although little consensus was achieved amongst the competing factions represented by figures such as Christopher Alexander, Christopher Jones, Bruce Archer, Donald Schön, Horst Rittel, Tomás Maldonado, and Herbert Simon, the movement significantly increased research about every aspect of Design. On the one hand, the primary disagreement between them was whether Design should emulate science and embrace empirical and analytic tools, or instead,

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privilege methods based on tacit knowledge and traditional practices [11, 12]. On the other hand, most positions roughly agreed that Design is neither science nor art, but rather a distinct “third area” [13] between the sciences and the humanities and that designers thus develop a “designerly way of knowing” [14, 15] or “design thinking” [16]. The latter two notions continue to be tenets of contemporary design research. In Portugal’s case, designers’ professionalisation and design education developed informally and organically, mainly due to individual efforts by designers with appropriate means at their disposal, and who would end up gaining national recognition. In the mid-1970s, the Portuguese Designers Association (APD) was created as a first attempt to institutionalise and regulate the profession, but without much success. Similarly, academic design education also took a while to emerge in Portugal, compared to other European countries. The first institutions that treated Design as a specific area of professional training emerged around this time; nevertheless, they remained incapable of regarding Design as an autonomous discipline worthy of systematisation. Moreover, traditional art schools were unable to incorporate Design within their teaching. In 1969, within this context where Design, as a profession and discipline, was still being defined, and there was still a loose relationship between Design and applied arts, IADE became the pioneering school of design education. Despite this fact, it was only in 1990 that IADE managed to get its courses recognised at the (technical) bacharelato level, and as a Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1993; thus becoming amongst the first schools in the country (and the first private one) to do so. During the first iteration, IADE could not use the term “design”; therefore, the first courses were “desenho” de equipamentos (furniture and industrial “drawing”) and interior “decoration”, thus ostensibly assuming a clear relationship between space and objects. By 1973 the Design and Graphic Arts course was established, launching a reform process within the school. By 1974 the term “decoration” was removed altogether, and the two main courses were renamed “Interior and General Equipment Design” and “Graphic Design.” Since the beginning, teaching at IADE has been based on the general principle of learning by doing, which privileges a close relationship between students and educators. The teacher is regarded as a creative agent that works alongside pupils, discussing and creating. It is said that when António Quadros, founder of IADE, was showing Manuel Lapa where the teacher’s podiums would be located inside the classroom, the latter replied: “António, don’t do that! Go and mingle with the students!”. This anecdote exemplifies the spirit of teaching that continues to define IADE’s educational approach.

3 The Problem with Contemporary Design Education Structuring a course in Design necessarily implies assuming a philosophical compromise on what designing is. Whether a given approach to education effectively allows students to become successful professionals is arguably a central concern

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for every established area of knowledge. Educational models and programmes carry within them assumptions about the history and nature of the area, the limitations and possibilities for action within that area, and what professionals should achieve. Such assumptions dictate priorities, expectations, and measures of success for both teachers and students. In most established professions, say law or medicine, there may be disagreements about specific aspects of professionalisation, but there is rarely a strong disagreement about what people trained in those areas should do and how, and more importantly, what their core competencies should be. That is precisely the case with Design. As previously noted, Design, as an activity, profession, and discipline, has changed considerably in the last decades. Nowadays, designers are expected to assume increasingly difficult tasks not because design problems themselves have become more complex, but rather because complexity seems to be a prime driver of change in Design [17]. At the same time, however, designers’ “traditional” concerns, such as fabricating aesthetically pleasing and functional objects and communicating through symbols and images, continue to be alive and well. Albeit a growing number of Design academics and professionals, mainly from the English-speaking World and Northern Europe, argue the way designers are trained has not changed enough to prepare them for dealing with contemporary challenges. As designers’ concerns expanded from just making objects to also shaping experiences and managing relationships between objects, between people, and between objects and people, Design revealed itself as the quintessential interdisciplinary area. Designing became mostly about practically reflecting on the possibilities and the implications of making [17]. Shaping experience requires understanding contexts and the varied relationships people have with them. This understanding implies, in turn, questioning the (modernist assumption about the) existence of a monolithic reality and recognising people’s active role in managing their own experiences [4]. Put in simpler terms, designers no longer have the last word about the things they make; they no longer can dictate—as modernist Design did—every aspect of their creations. The relationship with users became dialogical, a negotiation where the definitions of style, taste, and quality are continually shifting. Against this backdrop, a growing number of Design academics and professionals, mainly from the English-speaking World and Northern Europe, argue that design education has not changed enough to prepare students for contemporary design challenges. The problem, they argue, is both structural and methodological. One the one hand, undergraduate courses continue to be organised around specific media or artefacts, concepts are conveyed isolated, standards of student performance are hardly updated, and a redefinition of which subjects are more relevant needs to be carried out. Moreover, when a course structure is updated, this involves adding cosmetic layers of new competencies related to business and technology, but the programmes’ bases remain anchored in the traditional areas (e.g., graphic design, industrial design). On the other hand, current teaching approaches fail to provide skills and knowledge that would allow students to navigate better the complexities of the broader sociocultural context in which Design is embedded, i.e., the type of knowledge offered by the social sciences.

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Design education is offered in schools of arts or dedicated departments within larger research universities [3]. As a result—and even though most design educators agree that Design is an independent domain of knowledge with its epistemic foundations, constraints, and goals, methods and processes—the area continues to be confused with the arts [6, 13, 18]. Art and Design share some common grounds but conflating the two areas is misleading [8, 19]. The confusion is further exacerbated because design schools continue to train rather than educate students [20]. That is to say, that Design continues to be taught as a craft by craftspeople who privilege tacit over analytical knowledge. Consequently, students are expected to develop high proficiency in academic drawing and practical knowledge of materials through prototyping, but are offered little or no knowledge of business, behavioural sciences, scientific methods, and current technologies [2, 4, 21, 22]. According to this line of criticism, craft-oriented teaching hinders students’ ability to deal with the complexities of contemporary design issues and constitutes an inefficient mechanism of knowledge transfer. In summary, design schools continue to offer too much craft and not enough tools to collect empirical knowledge about the cultural, ecological, economic, social, political aspects of the contexts where design “takes place” [3]. Therefore, design education should become less craft-oriented and more academic, which is not to say that it ought to be subsumed to science or technology but provide “just enough” analytical knowledge for problem-solving through Design. One way to do so is by identifying core skills that educate students with a designerly mindset [3]. This “central core” ought to be organised vertically as a collaboration of various areas and transdisciplinarily to offer a broad overview of sociotechnical systems. This core could then be followed by specialisation in one or more of the areas of Design. However, specialisation should not be fixed and definitive but rather provide an evolutionary-like, experimental, diverse, and iterative acquisition of knowledge for students. The main obstacle for this model is determining which skills should comprise that core skillset, and this, once again, implies assuming a stance about what constitutes the basis of designing and what, epistemically speaking, distinguish Design from other areas of knowledge.

4 A Pragmatist Standpoint In “How to Make Our Ideas Clear,” Charles Sanders Peirce [23] outlines an antiCartesian position related to his broader project of classifying the sciences, particularly those which he saw as related to logic: speculative grammar, criticism and methodeutic (or universal rhetoric, which considers questions of inquiry in the context of a community). Peirce regarded knowledge acquisition and transfer in terms of a relationship between abductive, deductive, and inductive thought. According to Perceian methodeutic, a process of learning should consider (a) the relationship between facts; (b) experimentation, observation and analysis; and (c) an attempt to generalise results.

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William James and John Dewey later expanded Peirce’s pragmatist theory of meaning. James generalised pragmatism as a theory of truth—basically claiming that truth could be understood as “agreed reality” [24]. In contrast, Dewey turned pragmatism into a general framework for analysing the social, epistemic, and pedagogical impact and role of science and technology. As the name implies, pragmatism privileges practice over theory and action over contemplation—a theory is just an instrument for practice. Pragmatists regard the world as always in flux, emergent, and never wholly finalised [25]; and therefore, susceptible to be designed. For pragmatists, there is only practice; consequently, they see theory itself as a practical activity composed of conceptual instruments and the theoreticians that wield them as technicians. Pragmatists contend the nature of truth, knowledge, language, and everything else should be looked for not in some fixed metaphysical domain but in everyday conventions. The value of a doctrine or a theory must be ultimately determined by how it helps us comprehend and act in the world. Unlike rationalism, which separates episteme and techne, pragmatism evaluates knowledge in terms of its concrete consequences and applications within particular contexts, not in terms of immutable axioms and syllogisms [26]. Genuine knowledge implies knowing how to use and make (or reproduce) that which is known (knowing how above knowing that). For example, truly knowing music implies having a “good ear” to appreciate a musical performance and being able to read, write, and play an instrument. Consequently, the most appropriate way to generate and evaluate knowledge is direct, concrete experience and practical implementation, not detached, abstract rationalisation (theorisation). For pragmatism, any proposition must be measured against its practical outcomes. Unlike empiricism, which sees experience as a systematisation of the individual or collective repertoire of facts. As a philosophical style that privileges human action, the materiality and flux of the world, the interaction of the senses with an environment and the formative power of technologies [27], pragmatism sees experience as an opening to the future. Hence, from a pragmatic standpoint, learning must always be grounded on practical experience and, as a process, it can be structured following three main assumptions: 1. 2. 3.

Any experience can become an opportunity to know since mental activity transforms that experience into an object of knowledge. In the course of an experience, the mind draws inferences from the associated activities; this can form the basis of a habit of systematic knowledge acquisition. Knowledge acquired in such a way becomes a reference, a cognitive and ethical beacon for future practice (Fig. 1).

Pragmatism, like phenomenology, has a longstanding influence on design theory and education [25]; hence, it is no stranger to our field.

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Fig. 1 Learning grounded on practical experience

5 Discussion Looking at the arguments outlined in section three, it is no difficult to agree with them. Craft-based design education is certainly no longer fit to prepare service designers, digital product designers or system designers. Craft is about specialisation, tradition, and gradual refinement, not about experimentation, innovation, and speculative thinking. Nonetheless, “traditional” graphic and product design remain alive and well. Should design educators embrace the new paradigm without reserve and move further away from Design’s historical teaching methods? Should they attempt to revitalise these historical areas by making them more technological? How radical should the transformation be? In many ways, these questions echo the Design Methods Movement discussions that occurred half a century ago and, as in those days, humanity is experiencing profound technological and social transformations. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that attempts to steer Design as closely as possible to the sciences were eventually unsuccessful. Moreover, unlike fifty years ago, design education is now heavily regulated by the ministries of education, at least in Europe. Regulation and standardisation bring new layers of complexity for any attempt to reformulate design education. The Bologna process that started two decades ago and the accompanying introduction of the two cycles structure, creating a system of credits, and the privileging of mobility brought constraints to innovation in education, and Design is no exception. Advocates of abandoning the craft-based model of design education come mainly from the United States, where educational institutions enjoy far more flexibility in the Design of educational programmes. In European countries, proposed courses are scrutinised and approved by government organisations; the idiosyncrasies of the committees involved in these scrutinies often

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steer programmes away from transdisciplinarity. The reduction of the undergraduate programmes to three years following the Bologna process meant eliminating the possibility of specialisation within them; this was left for the second and third cycle graduate programmes. Consequently, undergraduate students appear to see first cycle programmes as opportunities for experimenting and deciding where to focus their efforts. Ultimately, the question is not just what an ideal undergraduate design course should be but how it should be within these constraints. As noted earlier, designing an undergraduate course in Design implies assuming a philosophical stance on the discipline’s ontological status and the area. We understand Design mainly as a problem-solving enterprise and designing as the creation of plans under specific constraints for creating a new thing in the world [8, 19]. We also believe that Design, being a quintessentially multidisciplinary field primarily concerned with actively transforming its objects of enquiry, may be regarded as a natural mediator between other areas of knowledge, particularly between the technologies and the arts. Design, like science, relies on method and experience and, like the arts, requires openness to intuition. Designing, therefore, cannot be subsumed by empirical methods. Design is ultimately concerned with investigating making itself; it is a discipline in permanent beta, and, as such, it has no fixed subject matter [17, 29]. It follows that there is no single universal approach to design education. Hence, we propose that perhaps we should assume that Design, like the sciences, should be varied and that it is possible to accommodate the two seemingly contradictory visions of craft-based and scientifically minded and empirically oriented Design. We thus propose a middle ground compromise. According to everything that was discussed until now, it is clear that ideal design education should (a) provide a flexible core skillset that offers students a baseline understanding of the key epistemic and methodological aspects of the area; but it should also (b) offer them specialisation and transdisciplinary knowledge. Design education should allow students to comprehend Design simultaneously as a theoretical and applied discipline situated within a broader frame of normative sciences. Design education should start with solid conceptual foundations, active guidance for practical action, and time to develop the capacity to reflect critically about knowledge constructed through practice. We can start from the basic assumption that Design can be thought of as a normative science that looks at phenomena as things that can be interpreted and transformed. Ontologically, Design can be regarded as a discipline that attributes relationships of meaning concerning (a) research of potential; (b) rational deliberation of viable conceptions; and (c) necessary conditions for action. Rather than structuring the programme around traditional areas such as graphic, industrial, and environments, we envision a flexible trajectory. Hence, our sketch for a macro-structure for an undergraduate design course based on a pragmatist understanding of knowledge and learning is composed of three pillars: 1. 2. 3.

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The first pillar tends to every design education’s need for having solid foundations. Therefore, it comprises tools essential to Design, such as research, planning, sketching, prototyping, and reflective iteration that provide students with the capacity to synthesise and develop new interpretation and action schemes. The second pillar responds to the pragmatic necessity of balancing academic and practical knowledge and developing skills through active experience. The third pillar focuses on the ethical and social implications of designing in the context of business. Design is fundamentally about making; it has no fixed subject. Therefore, it can act in every area of human activity. However, these three pillars are not immutable; they are based on a conception of education that privileges conscious reflection on methods, results, and the previously unseen challenges that emerge in the process. The pillars we propose rely on three assumptions. First, teaching should focus on core competencies specific to the area that will be applied throughout the rest of the programme and understand how they relate to each other. In the first pillar, students are educated to regard Design as a systematic language for examining phenomena and creating solutions for problems within certain constraints. Second, after gaining that abductive understanding of Design as a discipline, students will need space to process future experiences; they will require induction. Hence, this middle stage should emphasise self-development through criticism and purposeful habit formation. Induction will help students consolidate the notion of Design as “science” based on a particular form of research. Third Design is a rhetorical art, in the sense that it concerned with making arguments about how we should live our lives [1], that is to say, that practice in Design is informed by the will to create things for other people. The third pillar reinforces the critical process of balancing stakeholders’ needs and requirements by emphasising business and transdisciplinarity. This pillar completes an undergraduate designer’s basic education and opens her possibilities for specialisation in the next education cycles (i.e., graduate-level) (Fig. 2). The macrostructure we propose here is barely a sketch that still requires considerable development. Nonetheless, it is based on our experience re-designing the current undergraduate courses in Design at our institution, and it will serve partially as a basis for doing so. These courses have important differences in structure and teaching methodologies, but in terms of the three-pillar structure we described above, we could say their main difference is how they relate to the third pillar. As we mentioned before, our central assumption is that there is no single kind of design education; hence we believe there is space for two courses coexisting. These two courses are based on different understandings of Design and what designers-in-training require. Our first and older course belongs undoubtedly to the craft-based approach as this type of teaching approach is not only strong at our institution but arguably a differentiating feature. This course prepares students to work as designers for the professional market. The profile we build is that of a skilled individual with a broad understanding of the different traditional areas of Design. She has solid foundations, but because she is exposed to a broad array of sub-disciplines, she is prepared to navigate professional Design’s changing panorama by choosing further specialisation at a graduate level (which we also offer). Her academic and technical foundations are broad but orthodox, compared to the new paradigm we described above. The choice

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Fig. 2 Learning grounded on Design as a normative Science

we have made here is not betting only on what the market seems to desire but on our traditional understanding of Design. The pillar that most influences this course is, understandably, the first one. Our more recent course seeks to prepare students for Design as a global business. This course is grounded on the conception of Design as a necessarily interdisciplinary field; it is a hands-on programme structured not just to train students to become proficient designers but mainly to educate them as professionals capable of seeking, properly framing, and tackling complex societal issues through Design. This course design emphasises not the traditional foundations but the practice (2nd pillar) and the interdisciplinarity (3d pillar) of Design. Its pedagogical approach is built not on proficiency in various design areas but on integrating knowledge to solve a particular design challenge. The course offers a robust sociocultural understanding of the context where Design takes place; knowledge is applied, not self-contained. We understand the term global in the broad sense, and teaching happens exclusively in English, the contemporary lingua franca. Both courses aim to educate students in what we believe are the fundamental qualities of this field: creativity, the sense of generating new ideas and also making a connection with existing knowledge, and problem-solving through making. Since a Bologna undergraduate degree is no longer a place for specialisation, both courses are as broad as possible to offer as much experimentation as possible. To enhance transdisciplinarity, in recent years, we have implemented a series of “synergies” (parallel semester-long projects) between subjects within the same course and between different courses. The results of those synergies will eventually provide us with empirical evidence concerning the impact that such experiences may have

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on student’s education. It is precisely this transdisciplinarity, sought through synergies between different knowledge areas, that shapes our pragmatist view on design education.

6 Concluding Remarks and Future Work Based on a pluralist understanding of knowledge, our macrostructure aims to achieve an experiential learning process that articulates as many dimensions of Design with the world outside academia as possible. This exercise places Design itself as a broader field of knowledge that allows complexity to be grasped through the experience of fruition. This assumption does not seek to place as a discipline that subsumes other disciplines but as one that cooperates with other kinds of practice to achieve a broader understanding of the world and ourselves. Our pragmatic proposal ultimately seeks to link the academic and social worlds by moving away from rationalism, changing how designers themselves understand their professional and social role. Throughout this chapter, we have argued that while we agree that designers should be prepared to meet more complex challenges, we reject the implication that there should be only one type of Design education. Design, like other sciences before, is consolidating and thus branching out into different forms of specialisation. Just as we cannot talk of a single monolithic “science,” it would be an error to continue talking about Design in singular terms. Designing resists homogenisation; in fact, it goes against its nature as a practice. This, however, does not imply that we should forever abandon the modernist ideal of systematising Design practices, we can still regard them as a reference, and we can learn from them. Perhaps, what we should do is attempt to overcome (in the Heideggerian sense) these ideals. Design education cannot be regarded merely as an application of procedural methods. Design education informed by a pragmatist understanding involves a methodology that determines mediation and potential application, modes of meaning, and the type of interpretations that the former may bring. Future design professionals must be able to problematise their field beyond the crafts. Nevertheless, our field also requires traditional skills. Just as there are multiple designers, there are multiple approaches to designing. Being able to meet this plurality openly is the genuine challenge of our generation, one forever changed by the recent pandemic, which has arguably forever changed the way we understand teaching, learning, and even living. The future of design education involves thinking about the very practice of design teaching in concrete settings and virtual arenas. Much work is left to do, much research, much analysis, much trying, failing and attempting again from a new perspective. In short, there is much designing left to do. Acknowledgements This study was supported by UNIDCOM under a Grant by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) No. UIDB/DES/00711/2020 attributed to UNIDCOM/IADE – Unidade de Investigação em Design e Comunicação, Lisbon, Portugal.

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The Politics of a Passport to Design Practice Pushpi Bagchi

Abstract This chapter shares perspectives on the notion of a portfolio functioning as a passport that provides access to professional design practice from transnational design students and graduates. By comparing a design portfolio as a passport to professional practice with the political and geographic system of passports as objects that regulate mobility, the research presents a case of how a system requiring passports can perpetuate inequalities in educational and professional opportunities. The ethnographic insights shared are part of a doctoral project on the commodification of education and the global trade of higher education services, specifically, transnational design education. Transnational education is a system of education where students live in a country different from where the awarding institution is based; higher education services, not students, cross national borders. The qualitative research explores the value of a British design education in Sri Lanka, a country with a different social, economic, and cultural context by examining a franchise partnership between a university in England and a private, franchised design institute in Sri Lanka. The lived experiences of students and graduates in Sri Lanka provide diverse perspectives on accessing professional communities of local and global design practice in a place where design, as a discipline or service, is not particularly valued. Keywords Transnational design education · Portfolios · Professional mobility

1 Contextual Landscape: Trading Design Education Designers design. In the discipline of design, there is a greater emphasis on doing rather than “being a repository of specialist knowledge” [1, p. 37]. Tovey, a British academic in product and industrial design with a research focus on design pedagogy suggests that for most design students “the end goal is that of achieving a level of capability to function as designers in the professional world” making the objective of design education to enable students to gain entry to their communities of professional P. Bagchi (B) Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, 78 Westport, Edinburgh EH1 2LE, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_18

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practice [1]. When I asked graphic design students and alumni from the Academy of Design (AOD), a transnational design institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka if they agreed with Tovey, the answer was a unanimous yes. Transnational education (TNE) is a system of education where students live in a country different from where their awarding institution is based [2]; higher education services, rather than students, cross national borders. Globalization suggests connectivity of communities across the globe [3]. The growth in TNE is a result of globalization and the limitless use of new information technologies to provide educational services in all parts of the globe [2]. At present, the UK reaches more international students through transnational partnerships than courses taught in the country. In the academic year 2018–19, there were 666,815 students enrolled in British higher education courses through programmes delivered overseas [4]. In comparison, in the same year, 485,645 international students were enrolled in British higher education programmes on campus [5]. These numbers also have an economic significance with revenue from education-related exports and TNE activity amounting to almost GBP 20 billion in 2016 [6]. Rooted in the commodification of higher education and the global trade of educational services, this chapter examines one part of a more extensive qualitative study on transnational design education. By focusing on the academic franchise partnership between Northumbria University’s School of Design in England, and AOD in Sri Lanka, the research explores the value of a British design education in a country with a different social, economic, and cultural context. While there are multiple ways in which educational institutions trade higher education services across borders, the most preferred mode of delivery is through franchised partnerships [7]. A franchised TNE programme involves a higher education institute sending its curriculum abroad, authorizing a host institute to deliver its programme, with no curricular input by the host institution and all study taking place in the host country [8]. In TNE, education occurs at the local level since students and staff are based in the host country. The delivery of curriculum and support services such as libraries, studios, and workshop facilities are also locally based. However, localized services and infrastructure are connected to a global network. Information technology allows instantaneous circulation of information, ideas, and images, making it possible to transfer standardized educational curricula across borders. AOD, for example, advertises to students based in Colombo the opportunity to earn a “100% internal UK degree” [9]. As a private design institution, AOD offers various BA (Hons) design programs from Northumbria University: fashion and textile design; fashion design and marketing; interior design; graphic design; and motion graphics and animation. These programs are advertised as an opportunity to gain “a highly respected design passport to work anywhere in the world” [9]. Similarly, Northumbria University’s web page for the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course identifies itself as a “globally recognized course” [10] which will enable students to graduate with a design portfolio to showcase individual creativity and skills. Considering the high demand for TNE services, this research explores whether a TNE experience, that is, studying a franchised British design curriculum in Sri Lanka, fulfils the promise of access to professional

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opportunities and global mobility. The insights shared by AOD students and graduates are relevant for any design institution teaching international students at their home campus or through transnational partnerships with the promise of professional mobility and global acceptance.

2 A Note on Methodology To offer insights on engaging with a franchised design education from stakeholders’ perspective at an institute that hosts a British design program, ethnographic methods such as observation and focus group discussions alongside participatory design exercises were used for empirical data collection. As a qualitative method, ethnography is suggested to be the “most significant leverage point” between design and the social science of anthropology to develop a humanist approach to design which accounts for the lived experience and cultural worlds inhabited by designed things and their users [11]. The advantage of ethnography is that it allows for direct contact and experiences with the relevant people and places in their natural setting [12]. By providing detailed qualitative data, ethnography highlights intricacies and subtle realities, providing holistic explanations that focus on processes and relationships that lie beyond surface events [12]. As mentioned, most design students, including those at AOD, want to gain the skills to achieve a capability to function as professional designers and enter their respective communities of design practice [1]. A community of practice consists of practitioners who share a concern for their work and develop a repertoire of resources, experiences, and tools to evolve their shared practice [13]. The communities of practice being considered here are those of professional design practitioners. The discipline of design and its practitioners’ abilities are wide-ranging, which divides the overall community into several groups. In the context of a globalized world where the connections and flow of people, capital, commodities, images, and ideologies are complex and disjunctive [3, p. 11] communities of design practice are further split globally and locally. Tovey states that a design education provides students with a “passport to practice” in the form of a portfolio of creative work to enter their respective communities of practice [1, p. 37]. As a transnational institute, AOD echoes Tovey’s statement of offering students a globally recognized design passport [9]. For students receiving a British design education in a different context and then practicing outside Britain, I wanted to know how their passport to practice is valued by their local industry or community of practice. As students receiving a British design education in a different country and practicing outside Britain, how the local industry values their skills and expertise is integral to understanding how their education shapes their professional experience. To gather insights from AOD students and graduates, a series of open-ended questions and prompts on the analogy of a portfolio being a passport to practice design were posed to research participants. The line of inquiry included questions on dream

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jobs, whether being a graphic designer provides access to a global community of practice, and ways of gaining access to a wider community of design practice or practitioners. The discussions revolved around access to creative industries locally and whether a British design degree provided admission to a global market or community of designers. The focus group discussions included group exercises to consider alternatives to a traditional design portfolio as a passport to design practice (see Fig. 1). Activities such as creating mind maps or listing responses on sticky notes were not meant to be design outcomes but provide visual references of the reflective reasoning behind individual and group decisions. The participants’ accounts shared are “spoken narratives” [14, p. 389], in this case of perceptions in and of a transnational design education. To ensure the confidentiality of views expressed, all proper nouns are pseudonyms to ensure anonymity. The lived experience of thirty-four students and ten alumni from AOD’s graphic design department gathered during four weeks of field research in Sri Lanka in February and March of 2019 provide perspectives on how a transnational design education facilitates entry to communities of design practice. For comparison, the experiences of five alumni from Northumbria University who studied the same course in Newcastle shared during a conference in November the same year are also considered. The narratives collected during research activities in Colombo were in the form of audio recordings, which were later transcribed and are shared as direct quotes in

Fig. 1 Mind map exploring a passport to design practice by graphic design students in Colombo, February 2019

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the following sections. Narratives are a critical data set as verbal discussion facilitates the articulation of multiple perspectives on issues surrounding design education and professional practice.

3 Evaluating a Passport to Practice Walking around the busy streets of central Colombo, one is likely to stumble upon hole in the wall copy shops called PRO Digital Printing (for example) advertising high-quality printing services such as graphic designing. Discussions with AOD students and alumni suggest that these ubiquitous shops offering everyday services such as photocopying and four-color digital printing have limited the average Sri Lankan’s understanding of the scope of graphic design to something akin to using software like Adobe Photoshop to prepare files for print (see Fig. 2). To quote one of the students, “in shops where they have photocopying and printing, they have Graphic Design in a bold font right there, so people assume that is what graphic designers do; work at a small shop behind a computer”. Alumni spoke of larger digital printing enterprises in Colombo exacerbating this public perception of the field by calling their desktop-publishing operators’ graphic designers and offering three-month certificate courses in graphic design. The local perceptions of what graphic design involved had social ramifications. Several students expressed their frustration at being asked by friends and family why they needed to pay for an undergraduate course to learn design software. Alumni spoke of their parents needing to be convinced that there would be a return on their investment of paying for a design education at a private institute in the form of employability. The narrow perception of the discipline and skills of graphic designers was reiterated in a recent study assessing the state of creative and cultural industries in Sri Lanka by the British Council’s regional office in Colombo in collaboration with the Institute of Policy Studies in Sri Lanka [15]. The study included a survey of close to five hundred creative practitioners across seven provinces in Sri Lanka, eight focus group discussions with seventy-five participants, and forty interviews

Fig. 2 Notes on local perceptions of students studying graphic design by AOD students in Colombo, February 2019

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with “key informants” [15, p. 2]. One of the insights stated in the report attest that creative practitioners in Sri Lanka feel a lack of support for their work at the state level as well as “a low level of appreciation for or awareness about their products/industry” [15, p. 23]. The report recommends strengthening creative education in schools to “elevate the social standing of creative arts” and get the nation to value creativity and support those who wish to pursue an education and career in the creative arts and design [15, p. 3]. The discipline of design has a challenge of not having a clear, codified knowledge system as creative practice is more concerned with making and tacit knowledge where expertise is a result of cumulative experience [16]. There is little value placed on “accumulation and codification of collective experience” [16, p. 105]. Over time, design knowledge and ability become in-built, which is hard to rationalise. The tacit, in-built nature of design knowledge and practice makes the economic relevance and institutional awareness of the discipline difficult to conceive for those who are unfamiliar with the discipline. A lack of awareness of design can impact professional practice as social and institutional structures can restrict the growth of design practice. Design historian and economist, John Heskett, gives the following examples of institutional influences that need consideration to facilitate the growth of design practices: the general cultural climate of a society; the way design is manifested in public and private institutions; whether design is taught at all levels of the educational system; how design is taught; and the immediate context of the firms in which or for which designers work [16]. These institutional and social restrictions reveal themselves in the context of facilitating a transnational design education in Sri Lanka in the empirical narratives shared by students and alumni, as well as the report on the state of creative and cultural industries in Sri Lanka [15]. In a social landscape where there is a lack of awareness or appreciation for design, discussions with AOD students and alumni revolved around the role of a design portfolio in evaluating design skills and accessing professional opportunities. According to Tovey [1], the design portfolio is considered the physical manifestation of a passport to practice by compiling design practitioners’ abilities and skills. As part of the Northumbria curriculum, all students at AOD complete a six to eight-week internship after their second year of studies. A workshop with third-year students in Colombo who had recently finished their internships led to varying perceptions on the notion of a portfolio being the physical manifestation of a passport to practice. A portfolio, particularly as a visual format that can be shared over email, helped break physical barriers and allowed students to share their creative abilities with a wider audience; they were beneficial as “an introduction to your work and your skills”. This statement affirms that through the assemblage of work, students demonstrate that they can tackle design problems to a standard which is recognizable to their professional community [1, p. 37]. In some students’ experience, a portfolio “allows the employers to look at people through their work, so it is not about people, but the work they are looking for. For example, an employer can say that I need a person who can do a lot of things, suddenly it doesn’t become about the depth of the project, it’s like, can you handle all these things?” Conversely, many employers chose to not look at portfolios while

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interviewing students for internships. One student spoke of her work experience in brand strategy, product development, and marketing—“so, it was more about communication and how even as designers we don’t always get to work with brands from their conception, we are put into it halfway through and how we are able to extract the information from that existing brand and portray it out into the world is also something they look for. They didn’t care about what I had in my portfolio but how I could develop their brand”. Another student mentioned that their technical skills documented in portfolios were only a part of the overall skill set required to ensure entry into professional practice. “Besides your portfolio, your personality matters. How you communicate with others and get along with everyone, teamwork, that is what people are looking for in a company or the industry”. Interpersonal skills are essential for collaborative work environments [17, 18]; however, demonstrating competence in such skills is hard to represent in a visual portfolio. For most students in the final year of the graphic design program, the internship was their induction into professional design practice. In a short period of time they seemed to have collectively concluded that their portfolios would only get them so far in the industry; their soft skills in communication, collaboration, and self-direction mattered equally and required one on one interaction to convey to potential employers. For AOD alum Roshan, the value of a portfolio in getting work opportunities depends on the viewer, “an industry person may look at it differently from a person who does not have an idea about design,” which led to a discussion on how a person might judge a portfolio superficially based on personal taste. Other alumni spoke of people in the Sri Lankan corporate sector not knowing the range of services graphic design practitioners offer and therefore requesting limited work which did not use their diverse skillset. In a 2019 census of the design industry in the United States of America, most designers were employed in the communication and graphic design industries which include advertising, marketing, social media, and digital products and services [19, p. 16]. In addition to these expected industries and business, designers were working in the aerospace industry, biotech, and finance [19]. A critical difference between the design industry versus practice is that while design practice involves specific types of design work, designing publications, identity systems, and advertising, for example, design practice and services can add value to businesses outside the creative industry. Theconversationwithalumnionaportfoliobeingapassporttopracticedesignrevealed that the local industry in Sri Lanka were unaware that their creatives skills could add value to businesses outside the creative industry. The analogy of a passport to practice focuses on the impact of industry engagement on a student’s portfolio in providing professional polish to the body of work [1]. Therefore, meeting the portfolio’s function as a passport to practice helps students build relations for a point of entry. However, Roshan’s statement suggests that for a potential employer to discern professional polish in a student or graduates’ portfolio, they must be well versed in the visual language of design methods and processes. In the case of potential employers or clients in Sri Lanka, this is not always the case since there is a gap in understanding what graphic design involves. AOD students

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and alumni agreed that while a portfolio is an essential object to showcase design skills, it does not guarantee opportunities to professional practice.

4 Implicit and Explicit Communities of Design Practice As a discipline, design has “a global consciousness”; as a subject, it has an inherent understanding that we live in an interconnected and interdependent planet [20, p. 193]. The impact of improved communication technology and travel is significant in enabling designers and consumers to envisage themselves as part of a global consciousness [20]. As futures design practitioners, AOD students certainly had a global outlook with aspirations to travel and work abroad and have their work impact a wider community (see Fig. 3). However, speaking with alumni revealed that most students who graduate from AOD work and practice design locally in Sri Lanka. Tovey [1, p. 48] states that there are either implicit or explicit communities of professional practice for specialist groups of designers. As practitioners with shared skills and knowledge, all practicing designers implicitly belong to the global community of designers along with communities of their respective disciplinary specializations. Many designers, including those who participated in this project, use their portfolios to identify their membership to their implicit community and engage with other practitioners by sharing skills online. Students and alumni gave the example of platforms such as Behance and Instagram. On the other hand, explicit communities of practice grant membership to applicants who can pass standards and criteria held by formal or national bodies. Tovey [1] gives the example of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Similarly, the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA), an allied society of the RIBA since the 1960s, is an explicit community of practice for all architects in Sri Lanka. The organization describes itself as one of the “foremost professional organizations in Sri Lanka, working towards raising the standards of architectural education and professional practice” [21]. Such formalized communities of practice recognized by the State can improve the public perception of design. For example, the Design Council, which actively

Fig. 3 Notes on global aspirations by graphic design students in Colombo, February 2019

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promotes the British creative industry’s positive economic impact, the potential adverse effects of fewer students pursuing an art and design education, and a creative skills gap in the sector to support industries [22, 23]. For AOD, a regional example of an explicit community of design practice is the India Design Council. Founded in 2009, the organization “endeavors to increase knowledge, develop design capability, encourage businesses to use design, and drive value creation through design” [24]. As a strategic national body for design in India, their objectives include raising awareness about design and its effectiveness to the local public and private sectors, establishing design innovation and research in the country, and promoting design education with bespoke initiatives such as a National Design Policy and the India Design Mark as a seal of excellence [24]. At present, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Industry and Commerce does not include the creative industries in the national industrial surveys which undermines and excludes the economic contribution of the sector and its workforce [15]. Based on discussions with alumni, all of whom were employed as creative practitioners, there is a sharp contrast in AOD graduates’ expectations of being recognized as skilled and qualified designers versus a reality of not having formal gatekeepers to professional practice setting standards or sharing a mutually defined identity for those starting professional practice. Senuri spoke of her shock at the low pay scales offered to her and other classmates during job interviews at advertising firms. “When I joined (the industry), the salary was so low. They didn’t care if we had a degree or if we were a self-taught graphic designer; we were getting the same pay”. She gave the example of the salaries offered to her cohort of graduates in 2015 at the Colombo branch of Lowe LDB—“they were offering 15,000 LKR (approximately 100 USD) per month. We had just graduated, and we said the minimum is about 25,000 LKR, and we couldn’t work for 15,000 LKR. They said that previous design graduates who are working there are still on that salary.” Senuri and her classmates decided to explore other options for employment after graduation rather than work at a rate of pay they considered to be below the industry standard. The advertising agency in her anecdote, Lowe LDB, officially known as Mullen Lowe Sri Lanka, is one of the many arms of the global marketing and communications network Mullen Lowe headquartered in Boston, USA [25]. Globalization facilitates the increased provision of financial and other services geared towards all levels of society through global webs, making it possible for firms to relocate a range of operations to places where cost-competitive labor, assets, and infrastructure are available [26]. This financial deepening has increased the flow of global capital with information technology, enabling the mobility of money across national boundaries [26]. The demand for and access to job opportunities in advertising in Colombo is enmeshed in this global flow of services and capital. Transnational corporations facilitate an unequal exchange with different wage levels operating in foreign nations based on a core-periphery hierarchy [26, p. 60], which graduates in Sri Lanka experience. Other alumni spoke of disparity in pricing design services globally. They faced challenges in pricing their services, whether as freelancers or being engaged in fulltime employment, because of an expectation that design services in Sri Lanka should

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be cheap compared to their Western counterparts. As a self-employed practitioner, Ayesha spoke of a potential client’s comment that a quote for her design services was the same as an American graphic designer. According to them, as someone practicing in Sri Lanka, she could not justify her charges; rather than lower her design fee, Ayesha gave up the project. Discussions amongst alumni on methods to gain access to communities of practice identified the disappointment in the sharp contrast of their expectations of being seen as a skilled and qualified designer versus a reality of low wages and creative agencies valuing work experience over educational qualifications. They also acknowledged the lack of explicit design communities in Sri Lanka. Rather than aspiring for international recognition, they felt the only way to overcome discriminatory attitudes and expectations of cheap design services in Sri Lanka was by coming together as a professional community to increase awareness of the discipline and set industry standards of fair pay. Chaturi, who graduated in 2010, suggested setting up a local design council in affiliation with the Ministry of Education to help validate their design qualification locally. “When you are recognized by the government, it means you are making a significant contribution to the economy and social development. This does not need any international recognition. Let us uphold standards for ourselves first with our government and our people, and then we can have collaborations or invite international designers”. AOD alumni stated the importance of organizing themselves to imagine and define a local community of design practitioners and making their education and skills be valued by the local industry. The anecdotes in the previous section show the negative effects of not having an established creative industry or explicit community of design practice in Sri Lanka. As mentioned in the introduction, the transnational design education offered by AOD promises freedom of mobility. In this context of a global design education, the notion of a passport lends itself to comparing the mobility of design students and practitioners based in distinct parts of the world equipped with theoretically equivalent passports to practice design—a design portfolio which is a result of a Northumbria University BA (Hons) course in graphic design.

5 Passports and Mobility The recent title, The Design Politics of the Passport [27], examines and discusses the politics produced by the material existence of passports. A passport is “called upon in places where the necessity of a border is felt or desired” [27, p. 7]. In the context of a globally recognized design passport, the notion of a border or barrier can be a state and the national identity it provides, a community of design practitioners, or even the lack of one. While Keshavarz’s work relates to the global political system of passports, visas, and immigration control, Tovey’s passport to practice suggests a portfolio as an object for mediating design graduates’ entry into a community of professional practice.

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The metaphoric and material realities of passports and portfolios overlap—for example, the notion of individuality and uniqueness. The inclusion of biometrics in passports makes the object authentic to an individual body. The paradox lays in the fact that although passports are highly individualized documents codified to our bodies, they classify us into a wider group of nationality and right to protection by our State [27, p. 37]. Similarly, the purpose of a portfolio is to document the unique abilities of a designer and make it authentic to an individual. While highlighting an individual’s creative ability and style, it also includes them into an implicit community of design practice and, based on their skills, groups them into specialist fields. Passports as objects or analogies determine mobility as they regulate individuals by making certain worlds accessible for some and restricting them to others. As objects determining national identity, passports ease or prevent the mobility of bodies across national borders. The analogy of design portfolios as passports which mediate entry to professional practice can involve the physical movement of a practitioner to enter their desired community. It is also suggestive of mobility in terms of the ability to move up the proverbial professional ladder. Reflecting on the notion of passports, Kalpani, who graduated from AOD in 2016, felt “the idea of a passport is interesting because if it is a passport, then everybody has the same passport. It matches a certain set of standards, so that makes it more transparent”. In her opinion, the notion of design portfolios being passports to practice suggests a system of merit-based universality since students working towards a design degree from Northumbria University must meet the same academic standards to graduate. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Keshavarz sheds light on how passports, as a global and standardized system, is not fixed or universal. Passports mediate and shape their bearers’ experience of moving, residing, and acting in the world [27]. Websites such as the Henley Passport Index, for example, rank every nation’s passport on a mobility scale which determines how many countries a passport holder can travel to without the need for a visa. The index ranks a British passport as the seventh most powerful globally, with a mobility score of 185 [28]. For a British student, a design portfolio showcasing excellent skills can lead to work opportunities in countries across Europe and even further afield. Their British passports allow for freedom of movement across national borders. A Sri Lankan passport, in contrast, is ranked at 100 on the Henley Passport Index with a mobility score of 42. In November 2019, I attended a conference on professional practice in Northumbria University’s School of Design for students in their graphic design department. The speakers consisted of alumni who had travelled from Manchester and London to share their experience working in global design studios such as Pentagram, JKR, Turner Duckworth, and Design Bridge as designers and art directors. The first speaker of the day shared anecdotes of living out of a suitcase during short internships in design studios in London and Rotterdam soon after graduation. “You can be a good designer anywhere,” she stated, implying that students in Newcastle should explore opportunities beyond London for their careers as professional practitioners. The

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following speakers shared similar stories of mobility and travel to their agencies’ studios in New York City, Melbourne, and Singapore. A few months earlier in Colombo, an alum of AOD’s graphic design department was invited to present a project which had won a D&AD competition to final year students working on design competition briefs. Like the Northumbria alumni based in England, he worked at Leo Burnett, a transnational advertising company with a network of agencies in several countries. However, in contrast to the professional mobility experienced by alumni in England, he spoke of the challenges of having to work remotely and at night to collaborate with his senior art director in Toronto on the award-winning project. Keshavarz points out that for the privileged population of the world, specifically the “white middle-class citizens of the Global North,” a passport is never at stake [27, p. 2]. Some passports only need a glance by an immigration officer, while others require further checks. The requirement of visas, for example, can stem the flow of mobility. For those who are stateless, refugees, undocumented migrants, or workingclass citizens of the Global South, the passport becomes an object of thought and scrutiny, making their bearers immobile. The political ecology of passports facilitates inequalities in situations of mobility and residence, making them “material evidence of exercising discrimination” [27]. In the analogy of a passport to practice, designers’ work is solution-focused creativity where visual thinking is externalized as design drawings and representations [1]. When packaged together in a portfolio, this process of design practice becomes the entry ticket, or passport, to the community of design practice [1, p. 48]. This analogy determines mobility and access based on a practitioner’s creative skill and merit. It does not consider the effects of a practitioner’s nationality or contextual background for entering a community of practice. In reality, passports facilitate performative practices that produce borders that are not visible [27]. AOD alumni were acutely aware of the implications of their nationality in terms of global mobility. They gave the example of having tourist visa applications rejected for study tours organized in Europe and North America. Their passports could also stop them from experiencing professional opportunities handed to them. Roshan, who graduated in 2016, gave the example of a fashion design student who had won a scholarship to display her final collection at Graduate Fashion Week in London. She was unable to attend the event because her visa application to the UK was rejected. The student who won the same opportunity the previous year did not face such barriers. Even though he was brought up in Colombo and identifies as Sri Lankan, he has a British passport. The discipline of design and its practitioners’ abilities are wide-ranging, dividing the broader design community into implicit and explicit groups locally and globally. For a student cohort in Northumbria University’s School of Design, divided across Newcastle and Colombo, studying the same design curriculum, and developing portfolios with projects that respond to the same brief and evaluation standards, their mobility and access to a community of design practitioners vary.

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6 Global Mobility to Local Adaption A passport to design practice does not guarantee a universal experience in accessing professional opportunities. The lived experiences of AOD students and alumni demonstrate that a design portfolio functioning as a passport to gain access to communities of practice is enmeshed in global power relations that facilitate unequal experiences. Their narratives reveal the inadequacy in suggesting a homogenous experience for students equipped with the same educational qualification in finding opportunities to practice design professionally. For students in Sri Lanka, the value of a transnational design education lies not in procuring opportunities for professional mobility but in using their skills to devise courses of action to change and shape a local industry that does not acknowledge the economic or cultural value of design as a discipline. The correlation between education and contemporary economic globalization is contradictory [29, p. 161]. For the minority of global elites, access to private education provides social capital and skills development required for integration and participation in the global economy. AOD graduates, who can be considered members of this elite group, have the necessary skills and agency to participate in global communities of design practice. However, their local industry, nationality and passport pose barriers that lead to unequal experiences of access within that international community. Designed systems, such as passports, produce unequal relations which are not identified or experienced by the hegemonic order since they enjoy the smooth flow of mobility promised by globalization discourses of progress and possibility. In a similar vein, Tikly states “it is problematic to assume that there is one superior vantage point from which global forces can be understood” [29, p. 152]. He suggests global elites use their participation and agency in international forums to contest and challenge Western economic and political hegemony [29, p. 161]. AOD-Northumbria trained graphic designers, as part of the aforementioned global elites, acknowledged the systemic illusions of individual agency promised by their education, particularly in terms of professional mobility and a passport to practice design globally. They spoke of the need to come together as a community of practitioners and use their collective agency to advocate for the discipline of graphic design and develop a shared discourse reflecting their perspective of the world separate from dominant discourses on design. There was also an acknowledgement of the need for a national council or a local professional body to champion design and promote the social, cultural, and economic value of their skills. The report on the creative and cultural industries in Sri Lanka made the same recommendation, that is, to develop a professional association for the creative sector in Sri Lanka [15, p. 2]. In the Sri Lankan context, the education of a design student must actively prepare them to be skilled practitioners and have the agency to promote the social, cultural, and economic value of their skills and develop a shared discourse reflecting their perspective of the world separate from the dominant discourses on design. This creates a unique space to research how designers, with a transnational education adapt their British education and globally conscious design knowledge to fit their local

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social and cultural systems. While concluding one of the focus group discussions with alumni, Chaturi asked the rhetorical question—what is a Sri Lankan designer? It is an identity that is still being imagined into being.

References 1. Tovey M (2015) Design pedagogy: developments in art and design education. Routledge, Oxon 2. The Council of Europe/UNESCO: Code of good practice in the provision of transnational education (2001) 3. Wasson C, Butler M, Copeland-Carson J (2012) Applying anthropology in the global village. Left Coast Press Inc., Walnut Creek 4. Higher Education Statistics Agency: Where do he students come from? Transnational Education, Hesa.ac.uk (2020) 5. Higher Education Student Statistics: Higher education student statistics: UK, 2018/19 - Where Students Come from and Go to Study (2020) 6. UK Government Department of Education: UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity in 2016 (2019) 7. British Council: National policies framework for international engagement (2016) 8. British Council and McNamara Economic Research: The evolution of transnational education: data, definitions, opportunities and impacts analysis (2013) 9. AOD Homepage. https://www.aod.lk/pages/aod-northumbria-a-powerful-partnership-fordesign. Accessed 21 Feb 2021 10. Northumbria University Homepage. https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/cou rses/graphic-design-ba-hons-uusgrp1. Accessed 21 Feb 2021 11. Murphy K, Marcus G (2013) Ethnography and design, ethnography in design ethnography by design. In: Gunn W, Smith R (eds) Design anthropology: theory and practice. Bloomsbury Academic, London, pp 251–268 12. Fetterman D (1982) Ethnography in educational research: the dynamics of diffusion. Educ Res 11(3):17–29 13. Wenger E (1998) Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press, New York 14. Atkinson P (2004) Transcriptions. In: Reader A, Seale C (ed) Social research methods. Routledge, London 15. British Council and Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka: Creative and cultural industries in Sri Lanka (2020) 16. Heskett J, Dilnot C (2015) Design from the standpoint of economics/economics from the standpoint of design. Des Issues 31(3):88–104 17. Agarwal A (2018) Data reveals why the ‘soft’ in ‘soft skills’ is a major misnomer. Forbes 18. Samuel A (2016) The soft skills of great digital organizations. Harvard Business Review 19. AIGA, Google, Accurat, Eye on design: design census: understanding the state of design and the people who make it (2019) 20. Huppatz D (2015) Globalizing design history and global design history. J Des Hist 28(2):182– 202 21. Sri Lanka Institute of Architects Homepage. https://www.slia.lk/about-slia. Accessed 21 Feb 2021 22. Design Council: Design perspectives: design skills (2020) 23. Design Council: Designing a future economy (2017) 24. India Design Council Homepage. https://indiadesigncouncil.org/index.php/about-us. Accessed 21 Feb 2021 25. Mullen Lowe Sri Lanka Homepage. https://srilanka.mullenlowe.com. Accessed 21 Feb 2021

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26. Hoogvelt A (1997) Globalization and the postcolonial world: the new political economy of development. Macmillian, Basingtoke 27. Keshavarz M (2019) The design politics of the passport: materiality, immobility, and dissent. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London 28. Henley Passport Index. https://www.henleypassportindex.com/passport. Accessed 21 Feb 2021 29. Tikly L (2001) Globalization and education in the postcolonial world: towards a conceptual framework. Comp Educ 37(2):151–171

SLOType: Empowering Users’ Autonomous Learning Within a Hybrid Methodology for Formal Type Design Education Pedro Amado , Ana Catarina Silva , and Eduardo Napoleão

Abstract The purpose of this research is to assess the effects of employing an agile pedagogical methodology can have on the creative and educational processes of typeface design. The time available for students in public higher education institutions to learn is increasingly scarce due to all the academic solicitations and current courses’ structure. It is especially challenging to apply their recently acquired knowledge into practice. We have developed the SLOType workshop methodology supported by Gerrit Noordzij’s “The Stroke” theory to be used in a learning environment. And a companion digital online application to support the activities by providing increasingly complex type design prompts synchronized with the theoretical approach. This methodology aims to kickstart the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, practical skills and, at the same time, to promote autonomous learning by challenging the students by gamifying the user experience. The preliminary analysis of three editions of an experimental study of the workshop in two different master courses in public higher education institutions with 127 participants seems to indicate that practice helps to promote creativity; the SLOType methodology and digital application have a slightly positive effect on the visual quality and originality of results generated, and the tool seems to trigger the necessary curiosity and drive users to further research type design history and references. The workshop method has been adapted to an online mode during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also promoted the use of tools and the definition of features that have improved and will improve future editions. P. Amado (B) Faculdade de Belas Artes, i2ADS, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] A. C. Silva Escola Superior de Design, ID+/CAOS, Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave, Barcelos, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] E. Napoleão UFSC, UNIVALI and UPORTO, Porto, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_19

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Keywords Typeface design · Creativity · Agile Design · The Stroke theory

1 Introduction Typography is an inherent part of our daily life experiences. Letters, numbers, symbols, and diacritics are all part of what constitutes the alphabetic systems that fuel all aspects of human communication. Throughout history, there have been many different manifestations of writing through typography in culture. As far as it is concerned with the Latin type system, it can be traced to Gutenberg in the western culture. Since then, it can be seen as part of the book production, poster production and sign painting culture [1], epigraphic [2], and ephemeral letterings [3] such as the fileteado porteño [4] and graffiti [5]. And especially on the Web and on interactive applications and digital games [6]. This wide range of applications and designs calls for special attention to the proper definition of the type design brief when considering the design of a new typeface project. Grounding and defining the design with the appropriate structure and properties may demand a high specialization from the designer. As such, being a cultural artifact, typography is also a subject that requires specific training and education. Not only through the lens of history and “traditional” literacy, but especially through the lens of design. Learning the history and technology of typeface design. It is not only useful for designers but may also help to further push the field into new design and research territories. Type design as a profession or activity can be defined as a non-linear process of creating typefaces. Although there have been punch cutters and founders ever since Gutenberg, as a professional activity, it has its origins in the late XIX century [7]. Producing new typefaces results from the interaction of a set of parameters in a predefined process whose protocols are shaped by technological conditions [8]. A process [9–11] that can be synthesized into four continuous stages: (1) research and definition of the design parameters; (2) drawing and technological materialization; (3) optimization (eg. spacing or specific format tables); (4) distribution [12]. Current type designers and students have “as almost unlimited freedom to define the forms, proportions, and widths of characters” [13]. No longer bound by past technological constraints, and with unprecedented access to history and openness to speculative design approaches [14], new projects must consider different approaches. Some can be based on the past, trying to redraw or revive old, or archetypal typefaces, or a present-future one, looking for a rupture of the design standards [15]. Either approach is valid. And one may opt by either, or even by a hybrid approach. By reviving or by challenging tradition with new designs, typeface design is always a product of its place in time and culture [16]. But regardless of the motivation or starting point, it begins with the form of a briefing [17]. Whether commissioned or originated in the personal urge of the designer, a creative and comprehensive briefing determines the success of a design project. As an important part of this stage, we consider that creativity has a decisive role.

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Type design is also part of the educational field. Considering the Brazilian and Portuguese higher educational contexts where this is usually a Graphic or Communication Design course or subject, teachers usually have a wider range of topics to cover—from theory and history, to design and font production—and a short time to create and supervise practical projects with students. Thus, considering the constraints and the importance of typography in the educational field, in this study we present a pedagogical methodology supported by the use of a digital tool—SLOType, created to assist the type design creative process during its educational stage—and the Gerrit Noordzij’s “The Stroke” theory. Although in an early testing phase, we have iterated its experimental design methodology with 127 students from two different master programs in Graphic Design from two different public Higher Education Institutions (HEI), in three different editions of the workshop since 2018. The analysis of at least one additional edition with 32 students will be concluded by the time this chapter is published. The workshops have been conducted in a traditional in-person approach. During the Covid-19 pandemic period, we adapted the activities to strictly online or hybrid modes. This adaptation was first tested in an experimental workshop, in a strictly online model with a sample of 15 international participants with mixed experience in type design, during the ATypI 2020 online conference. The main objective of this study is to assess the impact that the use of such a pedagogical methodology can have on the creative and educational processes of students. Mainly through the use of a creative digital driver tool supported by Noordzij’s “The Stroke” theory. As such the first section describes the main creative stimuli and evaluation techniques in the design process. The second section presents the experimental study design and its main sprints. The third section presents a detailed overview of the SLOType digital application features. The results section presents a comparative analysis using Amabile’s Consensual Assessment (CAT) technique [18–20] of the 2020 editions and a preliminary visual analysis of the 2021 editions’ results. The workshop process will be detailed during this study and the results are compared and described at the end.

2 Creative Drivers and Tools to Promote It Creativity is inherent to design studies and, as a consequence, to type design processes. Although it is an area that has just a few studies in the typography field, it is understood that it is supported by semiotic theories, the idea of creativity as copy, and also popular culture [21, 22]. It also can be related to the visual characteristics of the typefaces and type selection [23]. A literature review on individual creativity support systems identifies some areas covered by the creative process, being: idea, information, solution and problem finding, or even combinations between these elements. It also indicates a framework

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for designing individual creativity support systems, and it should consider motivation, creative process, divergent thinking, and convergent thinking. Also, there are four stages for the creative process: (1) problem definition; (2) information gathering, (3) idea finding, and (4) solution review [24]. Studies about creativity are still running during pandemic times. Some of them consider its applications in social media [25], associations with the effects of Blended Learning during online classes [26], or creativity stimulation by limitation [27]. Thus, boosting individual or group creativity during classes and workshops in pandemic times is challenging. Classes were forced to change from a non-digital dominant method to digital classrooms and, sometimes, hybrid ones. The workshop process had to be adapted because of this social event. Considering the SLOType workshop methodology, we understand creativity as both individual work and group collaboration. It also can be associated with the use of digital and non-digital tools to boost creation. The use of computers could help administration, collaboration, communication, the use of different techniques, cooperation, and production, for instance [28]. Several adaptations to the workshop activities were necessary. The first adaptation integrates the use of video conference software with screen sharing to substitute for the physical presence and interaction. Due to the ease of use and adoption rate in both contexts, we have opted for the Zoom video conferencing platform. Together with the help of additional webcams connected to the stream, it allowed maintaining telepresence among each other, while still being able to sustain physical activities such as the drawing techniques demonstrations. During the review and evaluation phases of the workshop, we opted for the Padlet online collaborative whiteboard platform. This platform has the integration of a mobile phone companion app that facilitates sharing drawings. Recently, to provide a richer online interaction and telepresence, we have switched to the Miro online collaborative whiteboard platform.

3 Experimental Study Design The SLOType workshop activities and support materials were grounded on a strategy that intends to provide technical and theoretical foundational knowledge to participants. While stimulating students to further research subjects such as type classification or anatomy and to promote critical thinking and self-assessment. The process intertwines theoretical and practical approaches in progressively difficult challenges. These are supported by an external driver—the online digital tool— that, by using specific terms and prompting actions in gradual complexity, aims to gently empower students with an autonomous type design education. Having conducted similar activities and workshops since 2009, we have observed that many participants report a creativity block when pressured by time or limited resources. Or, even worse when they are unable to diverge and proceed to designing iterations, repeating the same solutions over and over. This is not good in an educational context. And it is especially damaging in a limited-time, in-person workshop.

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Fig. 1 SLOType Workshop activities workflow

This has led us to adapt and devise some of the strategies from the Lean [29–31] and Agile Design [32] methodologies and design the current SLOType methodology. It aims to assess if it is possible to kickstart the creativity of participants by providing them with unexpected and increasingly complex briefs to solve. The methodology was oriented by an Experimental Design approach following the Comparative Design variant [33]. This methodology is constantly being refined throughout the editions of the workshops to address its deficiencies and streamline the process with each editions’ findings and observations [34] (Fig. 1). The participants—all voluntary and informed of the study1 —are randomly divided into two groups: the Experimental Group (EG) and Control Group (CG). The objective is to compare and evaluate the differences in the results of the introduction of the SLOType digital application as an independent variable in each group. The workshop activities are organized according to a predefined script in three stages. First, the Introduction stage where the participants are briefly introduced to Noordzij’s theory of “The Stroke” [35]: letter construction (running and interrupted); and stroke contrast (translation, rotation, and expansion). Then the Induction stage with a brief overview and description of the tools that are used: (a) the balsa nib and Indian ink; (b) the paper format and size to provide appropriate glyphs slot size; (c) the SLOType online web app; (d) and in the case of the hybrid or online workshop, the presentation of the shared online collaborative whiteboard. Both Introduction and Induction stages take 20 min each. Finally, before conducting the activities, the workshop schedule is presented and each sprint is briefly described. The activities consist of a set of five sprints with preset durations. The first sprint (0) concentrates on a rehearsal of activities to warm up the hand, demonstrate, and

1 It’s

important to note that participants in the HEI context are informed that the workshop will not be used for grading purposes.

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get a feeling for the drawing with balsa nib and sharing of results.2 Participants are encouraged to start with the “n” and “o” control characters, but the emphasis is given to the exploration of the balsa nib drawing tool on the approximately 20 by 15 cm paper drawing slot obtained by folding an A3 sheet of paper twice.3 This takes 15 min to complete. A set of three main sprints are then conducted in sequence (1–3). Both groups are instructed to design the same glyphs and to use the same construction and contrast properties in each sprint. They start with “n” and “o” with translation in the first. Moving to “hopv” with rotation in the second. And to the “adhesion” keyword with translation and rotation in the third.4 The EG uses the SLOType web application as a creative design prompt independent variable in an increasingly challenging mode, from “Easy” in Sprint 1 up to “Advanced” in Sprint 3 and 4. And the CG is free to design at will. The final sprint (4) is then conducted where the EG switches to a free design prompt while the CG adopts the SLOType web app as a design prompt while both still drawing or iterating through the “adhesion” keyword. This final sprint aims to determine the influence of parasite variables in the study, namely the effect of the sustained practice. As practice gets faster, but there are more characters to draw and iterate through, the first two sprints take 20 min each to complete, and the third and the final sprints take 30 min to complete. Participants of each group are assigned to work in smaller teams of 3 (or sometimes 4) members to create variations of the same design brief in each sprint activity. Each sprint starts with the design prompt (half the duration) and includes a group review and individual or team critique stage (the other half of the duration of the sprint). During the review, the drawings are posted to a shared wall or an online whiteboard. The workshop instructor(s) provide additional feedback and assistance throughout the sprints. In the review phase, everyone is invited to comment and share insights. We have run these workshops with three instructors, assigning different roles to each that allows us to: provide the necessary conceptual and design assistance; keep the schedule and scripted activities; observe and record the participants’ activity and interactions in field notes and audiovisual records. These participants’ drawings are labeled with the CG or EG and the sprint and brief codes provided by the app. Progress and final results are photographed during the session and later scanned and cropped.5 This allows to track the individual and group evolution and compare the two groups’ results. Despite having devised and used the basic structure of this workshop since 2018 it was only in 2020 that we have implemented this as an experimental study. The first 2 In

the last editions of the workshop, this included the install and testing of the necessary mobile apps and uploading actions to the online whiteboard. 3 This common “glyph slot” space in the page will later be used to transpose/explain the Glyphs or Fontlab software Em Square glyph design space. 4 Due to the rough and rigid nature of the balsa nib tool, we are not able to explore the expansion from Noordzij’s theory. 5 In the last editions, we have used the print screens and the whiteboard export functionality. Although we haven’t found the need for it, it is also possible to export and download the original images uploaded by the participants.

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two editions in both HEI have run in an in-person mode. The third edition in 2021 has run on a hybrid model in one of the HEI. The ATypI and the fourth edition in the other HEI ran in an exclusive online mode. But due to the experimental nature of the first and the lack of results yet to be analyzed from the last, these were excluded from this study. Nevertheless, in our experience, the tool and method are perfectly adapted to an online learning environment.

4 The SLOType Digital Application The SLOType digital application is a free-to-use online tool directly influenced by other typographic digital applications: GlifoTipo, created by Fábio Duarte Martins and Rúben Dias; Type Cooker, created by LettError; and Oblique Strategies created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. The SLOType application works as a type briefing generator, providing the users with random instructions and design parameters that increase in complexity depending on the mode chosen. These modes—easy, medium, and advanced—are always accessible in the application menu and correspond to the workshop sprints 1 to 3 (and 4), and are intended to be experienced in sequence. The three modes are directly related to Noordzij’s “The Stroke” theory [35], giving to the user instructions related to the letter construction and stroke contrast. All the modes also indicate the context of the application. It can be a “weather mobile application”, a “printed fashion magazine” or an “online newspaper for desktops”, among others. Depending on the selected mode additional type classification, weight, and width parameters are assigned. And a special creative prompt is assigned only in the advanced mode. Directly inspired by Oblique Strategies it aims to trigger divergent and lateral thinking, pushing the users to rethink all the briefing directions. This is the only sentence in the SLOType application that isn’t directly connected to the typography culture. There are quotes like “Be quiet”, “Season your letters”, “Hello my name is Frankenstein”, “Speed up”, “Do the opposite of what you’re told”, “Be extravagant”, among others. Sometimes they will support previous drawings or even type directions, and sometimes they will do the opposite. Figure 2 presents screenshots of the SLOType interface in easy, medium, and advanced modes. To generate a new brief, the participant only has to refresh the app, click on a mode option in the menu, or push the “Spin a new brief” action button. Originally the application was designed with a basic interface with only the modes menu, prompts, and action button. But, to use it in the experimental study, we had to include some features. To identify the brief during the experimental study analysis we have added a visible code that participants had to record on their drawings. Due to participants’ demand, we have also included the ability to revert to the previous prompts and to lock or randomly refresh specific parameters. Due to this last feature creeping, we had to “pre-lock” the stroke contrast parameter in the first two modes to avoid deviation from the experiment’s script and maintain the EG and CG synchronization. There are still some features that will need to be further developed and implemented.

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Fig. 2 SLOType interface

Currently, the application is being redesigned to include a pedagogical support section and contents.

5 The SLOType Workshop Method The SLOType Workshop is usually the kickstart to a variable font project in type design courses. It is expected that it can be a starting point for designing and developing original typefaces. The SLOType workshop editions were organized and conducted considering all the stages: the theoretical introduction and technical induction serve to create a baseline starting point for everyone, and the three main and final sprints are geared towards the design of a keyword that can be later implemented as a Variable Font. The workshops are organized considering both individual design and group collaboration. The 2021 editions also considered a strictly digital environment, since the students attended the workshops in hybrid in-person and online modes. It took approximately 3 h 30 min to complete each edition of the workshop. At the end of each sprint, students have to select the drawings they think respond better to the brief and post them on shared wall space. During the hybrid and online editions of the workshops, we have used the online shared whiteboard platforms Padlet and Miro. Figure 3A and Fig. 3B present both non-digital and digital structures. During the hybrid and online editions of the workshops, we noticed that the students took more time to upload and organize the images on the shared whiteboard than to just place them on a physical wall in the room. Hence, these editions of the workshop take slightly more time to be completed than the in-person ones to accommodate for these idiosyncrasies.

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Fig. 3 Non-digital and digital shared walls

Usually, during the second or third sprint, when confronted with the radical and sometimes conflicting parameters in the prompts, some students find out that they are free to make some modifications to the nib tool—an undeclared rule of the workshop—to solve the briefing. Especially concerning the weight parameter. This is a feature of the workshop design inherited from “The Design Game” created by Petr van Blokland. The most common response to solving the width and weight challenging parameters is often to alter the characters’ proportions within the glyph slot. This was one of the methods demonstrated by Julien Priez in the workshop inception. Participants usually figure this out on their own. But we have realized that this alters drastically the perception of the shapes in the overall evaluation at the end of each sprint. The EG teams also experience some issues understanding or finding consensus on how to interpret the parameter prompts on the application. It can happen due to time limitations, or even lack of typography knowledge. Situations like these are expected since this is the beginning of the course and the workshop. We promote discussion, teamwork, and free interpretation. These issues are a benefit for the course, as they can be addressed by presenting or researching additional historical references and existing examples in style specimens and online foundries. During the online workshop editions, it was perceived that the third sprint— when they have to design the “adhesion” test keyword—needed more time than initially expected. So, for the first time, the workshop took more than one session to be completed. During the interval, we asked the participants to avoid practicing the keywords to prevent the additional practice contamination of the results. After which they would be free to experiment and iterate freely with or without the SLOType approach and tool. It is possible to say that it has the potential to be formally gamified with the additional benefits that learning through play may add. According to Zubek [36], the workshop has all the necessary elements: (a) the mechanics and system including the explicit and implicit rules to be followed; (b) the gameplay including the challenges, possibilities, and constraints; and (c) the different players’ experience. Still, since most of the rules and goals don’t have a straightforward solution, the workshop would

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have to be similar to an open-ended narrative/free exploration game as the students can interpret the sentences and decide which paths they should take [37]. The students’ ability to generate type solutions during the different workshop editions’ sprints was limited to: (a) the given materials; (b) their capacity of interpretation of the guidelines; and (c) their technical skills. Although a small number of students can generate original solutions or historical references (e.g., using the interrupted constriction by swiveling the pen or using rotation to build geometric filled shapes), we also notice that a few students ignore some of the guidelines, for the benefit of a freer interpretation of the briefing. We have noticed also that previous experience in calligraphy or type design doesn’t necessarily help the participants. Some need some assistance from the instructors/professors to diverge from their taste or letter drawing habits. Facing unknown terms or a creative “blank” some participants resort to the Internet—although it was not forbidden as it helped to clarify historical models—, it was highly prejudicial because it hindered the individual creative process. In our assessment, this raised a red flag in what concerns the resources planned for the app, leading us to continue to rethink the future design and development of its features and contents.

6 Results Despite being used in specific academic contexts, we have observed that a significant number of participants are not aware of specific type design parameters. E.g. we have found that the context of the application parameter is important and taken into account in the design of more experienced participants. Inexperienced participants chose to ignore, or simply don’t understand how to address this prompt. Or the implications of specific type classifications for their designs. Although more difficult to assess, in these last editions, some more experienced participants have figured how to interpret undeclared rules such as the width and weight conflicting parameters. Some have hinted they would do it if they were confident they were allowed to. Usually, in in-person workshops, we supply the balsa nibs and have a surplus available. In these last editions, students may have been more constrained by having to have their writing instrument, so they may have been more cautious and tried to preserve their integrity due to the scarcity. This highlights the need to use a cheap, disposable, and non-pollutant writing instrument such as the balsa nib to avoid creating artificial constraints to the activity. The application will include theoretical and historical content and visual reference for additional assistance with the contexts, classifications, anatomy, and terminology. These will be accessible through an organized syllabus in the application menu, or directly through a contextual option in each parameter. According to the modes, this information will be organized in complexity tiers enabling an individual progression. Allowing the participants, as type design students, to learn at their own pace. Concerning the experimental study, we have also found that some of the participants of the CG show signs of “missing out” on the experience. Although they will be using the same application (which is free and available online), they manifest

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some anxiety in knowing others are using it during the activities. Enhanced by the individual isolation, we suspect that it affected their motivation and performance. Hence to minimize the influence of parasite variables and to better isolate the effects of the independent variable, the application will feature two profiles: the “SLOType” profile for the EG participants as the application currently is, and an added “Noordzij” profile for the CG participants which will provide the instructions as we transmit them verbally during the activities. This will allow for all the participants to feel included and have an equivalent set of guidelines for the design. Additionally, when used outside of the workshop context, this profile will also provide a “bluer sky” creative prompt for users aiming to design with even fewer parameters or constraints. This is important in this stage, as many participants report they don’t feel as comfortable having too many constraints. Results are not clear but it seems to indicate that we have to cater for both profiles of participants. Additional upgrades include user identification. The application will automatically assign a randomly assigned username and the possibility for them to customize it. A photography feature will also be added. This feature will automatically record the username, the prompt code, and the prompt parameters in the image and save it for an easier sharing action. This will help with the workshop activities workflow as it will reduce the time needed to record data and identify drawings and concentrate on the design and feedback activity itself. A minor upgrade will feature the possibility of bookmarking specific prompts for the specific user account for later reuse. We’ve conducted a formal CAT analysis on 16 comparable participant’s keyword drawings from the two HEI. We’ve employed an evaluation using a five-point scale, ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), in three different criteria: visual quality (VQ) of the design (graphic quality, or historical correctness); technical quality (TQ) (systematic coherence and adherence to Noordzij’s design principles); creative quality (CQ) (originality of the solutions, considering the current and past workshop results). Although the HEI presented different global average results (HEI1: 2.68; HEI2: 2.91), they differ ever so slightly on the Standard Deviation (HEI1: 0.01; HEI2: 0.05) and the averages of the TQ vary only 0.17. So, we have determined both HEI context results equivalent and conducted the following analysis as a whole. Regarding the influence of the SLOType tool, results were varied and inconclusive. 8 participants from the EG that used the SLOType in the Advanced mode averaged a score of 3.13 (above the global result), comparing to the CG that averaged 2.83 (above HEI1, and below HEI2), 0.29 lower than the EG. When we toggled the use of SLOType between the groups, the EG averaged 3.22 and the CG 3.89, differing 0.67. This seems to indicate that, as in-person observations confirmed, practice is a relevant and influential dependent variable that influences positively the creative quality (CQ) of the results, as both groups’ averages rise with each iteration. And, although we don’t have enough results for a proper statistical analysis, the use of SLOType as an independent variable seems to also influence positively the creative quality outcome of the EG. We have also conducted a preliminary visual analysis on the results from the two recent editions of the workshop that also seem to confirm the previous edition’s CAT analysis. The adaptation to the hybrid or exclusively digital online environment also

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seems to reinforce these findings. Also, the need to adapt the activities to an online collaborative interaction model has made us use an online shared whiteboard that is proving to be a benefit. Despite the extra time needed to post the results online—a factor that may be reduced with experience—, participants were more engaged with the act of sharing and organizing the results. They were also able to post more work on the wall than on the physical space before. Thus, we were able to better grasp the whole group production and promote a better inter-group sharing of knowledge and ideas, not only throughout the workshop but also as an archive, something we have previously identified as insufficient during in-person activities [38]. The shared online whiteboard has also been a benefit for the research design methodology as it provides a more immediate visual exploration space/method for the authors. Not only it allows to grasp the whole group’s results, but as it is organized in columns per team and rows per sprint, it allows for a better grasp of the individual or team evolution and inter-group influences throughout the workshop duration. Despite the positive consequences, this adaptation to a hybrid and online mode also had some negative consequences. The lack of resources, extra steps participants must take to communicate or share their results and the “narrowband” of the videoconferencing system hinders the rich individual attention and support the instructors may provide in comparison to in-person modes. In addition to this, the team communication and synchronization activities are also affected. Some have found a way to self-organize, and the adoption of the Miro online shared whiteboard platform is demonstrating better support to last edition participants as it allows for better telepresence and a sense of a shared space. Nevertheless, compared to in-person activities, it takes, at best, more time to achieve the same results.

7 Conclusion The main objective of this study is to research the possible benefits that introducing an agile methodology supported by a digital tool can provide in a learning context. The sprints methodology allowed for an effective exploration of the theoretical concepts. The use of a digital online application seemed to slightly improve the variety and quality of the drawings that the participants were able to generate, in the educational context limited time and resources. We also observed a sense of natural curiosity and research impetus from the participants when confronted with cryptic or unfamiliar briefs that lead us to believe that this method promotes autonomous learning. The adaptation of the workshop to hybrid and strictly online modes seemed to affect the participants’ interaction in a slightly negative way, especially reducing the cross-contamination of ideas. And increase the time it takes to comply with the same programmed activities. Nevertheless, by adapting the workshop to the online mode, we were able to improve the experimental study design and design better features for the digital application: supporting the activities in a shared online whiteboard allows for a better assessment of individual and group results; the digital app will feature

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two modes to better support both groups an, at the same time, cater to different users’ creative profiles and needs. Originally as a constraint, the effort to adapt to an online environment has forced us to search and incorporate changes in the digital tool/online app and to the shared wall design review phase of the sprints that will surely be kept in future editions as they help to enhance the in-person experience. Sprints format, creative limitations, and the use of digital and non-digital tools at a fast pace are the core of the workshop’s process. The hybrid and online modes, due to the additional tasks required and a narrow band of communication, and limited resources of the participants hinder the very nature and pace of the methodology. Both modes need further editions to evolve into a mature and tested approach. Yet, the last two editions have provided meaningful insights that helped shape future in-person and online editions. In the end, this methodology aims to cater to different designers’ profiles by promoting autonomous use and research by combining a set of elements and activities: (a) SLOType application; (b) methodological organization; (c) theoretical contents; (d) student’s performance. Additionally, the success of the application in the educational context is boosted by supervision. Going online has challenged the way the workshop is conducted and has pushed SLOType into a promising new stage.

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18. Hennessey BA, Amabile TM, Mueller JS (1999) Consensual assessment. Encycl Creat 1:346– 359 19. Baer J, Kaufman JC (2019) Assessing creativity with the consensual assessment technique. In: Lebuda I, Gluaveanu VP (eds) The palgrave handbook of social creativity research. Springer, Cham, pp 27–37 20. McKenna HP, Arnone MP, Kaarst-Brown ML, et al (2013) Application of the consensual assessment technique in 21st-century technology-pervasive learning environments. In: Proceedings of the 6th international conference of education, research and innovation (iCERi2013), pp 6410–6419 21. Dawkins R (2017) O gene egoísta. Companhia das Letras, São Paulo 22. Napoleão E, Vanzin T, Fadel L, Braviano G (2018) Analysis of relations between typography and creativity: a systematic review. In: 9th Encontro de Tipografia on proceedings. Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Tomar, pp 39–52 23. Aguillar RSSR (2015) Os direitos autorais na arte da tipografia. Revista da ABPI, pp 49–54 24. Wang K, Nickerson JV (2017) A literature review on individual creativity support systems. Comput Hum Behav 74:139–151 25. Mukhtar S, Putri KYS, Sary MP, Sutjipto VW, Istiyanto SB, Azzahra AA (2020) The use of digital social media in the creative economy under quarantine conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. Int J Innov Creat Chang 13:91–105 26. Yustina Y, Syafii W, Vebrianto R (2020) The effects of blended learning and project-based learning on pre-service biology teachers’ creative thinking through online learning in the Covid19 pandemic. Jurnal Pendidikan IPA Indonesia 9:408–420 27. Harvard Business Review Brasil Homepage. https://hbrbr.com.br/por-que-estabelecer-limitesestimula-a-inovacao/. Accessed 29 Jan 2021 28. Lubart T (2005) How can computers be partners in the creative process: classification and commentary on the special issue. Int J Hum Comput Stud 63:365–369 29. Hibbs C, Jewett S, Sullivan M (2009) The art of lean software development. O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol 30. Gothelf J (2013) Lean UX: applying lean principles to improve user experience. In: Seiden J (ed) O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol 31. Ratcliffe L, McNeill M (2011) Agile experience design: a digital designer’s guide to agile, lean, and continuous. Voices That Matter, San Francisco 32. ATypI (2015) Workshop programme—AtypI. www.atypi.org. https://www.atypi.org/confer ences/sao-paulo-2015/workshops. Accessed 28 Feb 2021 33. Bryman A (2012) Social research methods, 4th edn. Oxford University Press, London 34. Gil AC (2010) Como elaborar projetos de pesquisa. 5th edn. Atlas, São Paulo 35. Noordzij G (2009) The stroke: theory of writing. Hyphen Press, London 36. Zubek R (2020) Elements of game design. MIT Press, Massachusetts 37. Salen K, Zimmerman E (2004) Rules of play: game design fundamentals. MIT Press, London 38. Amado P, Silva AC, Napoleão E (2021) Kickstarting type design education with SLOType. Springer, Cham, pp 191–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61671-7_18

Reviving Type: From Manuscript to 3D-Printed Type Ângelo Gonçalves and Vítor Quelhas

Abstract In typography and particularly in type design looking backwards is a rewarding exercise. Nowadays besides being a practice totally inserted in the digital context, type design has its own manual and centenary roots. That past can be even more relevant if appropriate to promote something new through innovation. A type revival seeks to develop new faces, to today’s needs, usually from a historical reference. Considering the past this study aims to explore the developing process of a type revival from a manuscript source to a digital font, and considering innovation, it also addresses the process of modelling a digital font to a 3D-printed letterpress type. This study begun with a visual research, document analysis and literature review about typography and type design specificities. Simultaneously, a critical analysis was made, and the developing process of the type revival and of the 3D-printed type is presented. Finally, this study aims to contribute to inspire future research on type revivals, in practical and historical strands, as well as on new ways to ensure and expand letterpress in the post-digital era. Keywords Revival · Typography · Type design · 3D-print

1 Introduction This study is the result of a speculative project inspired by a guided tour to Casa da Prelada [Prelada’s House] and its historical archives. Located in Porto, Portugal, Casa da Prelada is managed by Santa Casa da Misericórdia, a national charity institution. The House and the surrounding garden are part of the largest landscape set outlined Â. Gonçalves · V. Quelhas (B) School of Media Arts and Design, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] Â. Gonçalves e-mail: [email protected] V. Quelhas ID+ Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture/uniMAD, Aveiro/Porto, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_20

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by the Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni. This historical house was given in will by D. Francisco de Noronha Menezes, after his death in 1903. Initially, Santa Casa de Misericórdia converted the former residence in a Convalescent Hospital, then in a Recovery Centre for the Physically Disabled and, finally, into a Nursing Home. Nowadays it’s a cultural space that houses the historical archives of Misericórdia do Porto and a specialized library with free access [1]. During the visit to the archives, it was possible to contact with numerous historical documents, from manuscripts, ancient books, photographs and other noteworthy items, due to their uniqueness and originality. Inspired by the quality and variety of the letterforms used in the book—Livro de Honra—stored in Casa da Prelada, an exploratory typographic study begun having in mind the development of a digital type revival. An in-depth analysis to this historical manuscript revealed that it perpetuates the memory of all the supporters of Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Porto who for that purpose have their names inscribed in the book as a recognition and gratitude in the name of all the unfortunate and helpless that it rescues. Besides the shapes of letters, the way they are reproduced on the page, the uniqueness of the materiality, the text color, decoration and texture were highly seductive (Fig. 1). Something unable to replicate in a clean digital print using a digital font. Thereby the study evolved to create a 3D-printed letterpress type from the digital revival. This way, through letterpress, it is possible to resemble the material qualities and textures desired. Therefore, this journey goes from paper to digital and then back again to paper. The main purpose of this study is to achieve a digital revival and a 3D-printed type. Thus, it reveals the research methods and practical processes underpinned in the development of a digital revival—inspired by Livro de Honra—and a 3D-printed type adapted to today’s demands. Fig. 1 Livro de Honra’s prologue (belonging to the Casa da Prelada archive—record registration number 2876)

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2 Methodology The main objective to accomplish—the development of a digital type revival and of a 3D-printed type—raised a set of questions that needed a capable methodology to answer the challenge. This study started with a series of exploratory visits to Casa da Prelada’s archives in order to choose the best typographic path to go through. From the analysis to Livro de Honra, it was noticed that letters had two main characteristics in particular— reverse contrast and fixed-width—that helped to visually bounder the revival. Due to the contents of the book and also because it is a manuscript, the letterforms were diverse, however, reverse contrast and monospaced letters, remained a constant. So, it was proposed to analyse the typographic material in Livro de Honra; to analyse references and the origins of monospaced letters and reverse contrast, to design a digital type revival according to nowadays demands. The speculative process began with some manual sketching followed by digital iterations. In all stages it was intended to expose the letter contrast do extreme levels in order to test the legibility of each character, word, or text. Livro de Honra was photographically registered in more than one visit to Casa da Prelada. This face-to-face observation contributed to a greater perception of how letters would been drawn. At the same time, in a complementary way, and with the intention to learn more about type design—specifically type revivals—a bibliographic and visual research was undertaken to gain more knowledge on this issue. Finally, regarding 3D-printed letterpress type, a case study research approach was used to generate an in-depth understanding of the processes and techniques employed to different contexts.

3 Type Revival To understand the concept of type revival it is necessary to study the evolution of type design from Gutenberg until the present time because, as Smeijers [2] said, type design is truly attached to the past. In this way, letterforms evolve as societies, cultures and different technologies have also developed. However, with the beginning of a digital age, typography former used (moveable type, mechanic composition, photocomposition, and so on) was rescued through time to be functional in current technology. Therefore, type revival is a bridge between different technologies [3]. In a revival the designer choses a historical artefact and tries to capture its essence in a functional font [4]. For this reason, type revival contributes to historical type preservation and allows future generations to see and use it. Letterforms can be understood in different ways by distinct people on different occasions and contexts, and sometimes, they can be an enhancer for creating new fonts [4, 5].

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We can assume that digital fonts such as “Bodoni”, “Garamond” and “Didot” are ubiquitous and an example of type revivals due to the various amendments made throughout the years. “Bodoni” was originally created in 1798 by the Italian Giambattista Bodoni and suffered its first revival in 1909 by Morris Fuller Benton. In consequence it became commercially available through the American Type Founders. Nowadays “Bodoni” has several digital versions making it one of the best-selling fonts in recent years [6].

4 Approach To the development of this study, it was decided to adopt the same method used by the designers Céline Hurka e Nóra Békés in their book about type revival—Reviving Type. The process used by them consisted in five main stages: historical and technical, image selection from one archive, process of letter design, comparing revived type with the original one and a conclusion. However, after the analysis of this process, it was decided to change the order of the study because it wasn’t known at that time if the design would be a revival or an interpretation of all the letters found in the book. Bounded by formal variety of the existing letters, a visual research on typefaces that could be developed in the same context started. Designed and published by Peter Biˇlak in 2008, “History” raised interest because of the mixture of twenty-one different layers in one roman type. From humanist to digital, “History” can offer hundreds of different combinations through overlapping every layer. This concept of having several layers with several bases, serifs, fills and ornaments is very similar with the visual references available in Livro de Honra. In Portuguese context, typefaces such as “Braga” or “Diversa” designed by Pedro Leal and Dino dos Santos and published by DSType Foundry, respectively in 2011 and 2013, show some visual aesthetics made possible by current technology in type design. So, it was questioned how far a typeface could be representative of a place, an object or even a concept as the existing one in Livro de Honra. In this perspective, the book Metro Letters: A Typeface for the Twin Cities, intends to understand if a typeface can or cannot represent the identity of something, in this case, a city. Deborah Littlejohn claims that the typographical representation in a city can be affected by people which has contact; by their location, geography, mobility, commerce and by the personal experience of each one [7]. By crossing this concept of Littlejohn with the concept of Livro de Honra, it was understood that because of being initially drawn by Hugo de Noronha and later by his son, the book does not have the same typographical style from the beginning to the end. Considering all that was stated, this type revival was split in the following stages: data collection and visual analysis to the references present in Livro de Honra; bibliographic research about type design at the same time as sketching and analysis to the book took place; designing process; type specimen and final considerations. As the analysis of the collected images present in the Casa da Prelada’s book developed, several questions automatically came up: Who designed it? How were

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the letters designed? When were they drawn? Why were they drawn like that? What was the state of the art at that time? These are difficult questions that can only be answered in long-term. With this limitation in mind, this study doesn’t pretend to answer all questions and it will probably leave some questions unanswered for future study. However, according to Robert Bringhurst typography has two different senses: “the visual sense and the historical sense” [8, p. 9]. Thus, the bibliographic research started through the visual exploration of the letters found in Livro de Honra—reverse contrast. In typography, contrast defines the variation of the letter thickness. This thickness variation can be exaggerated, high, medium or moderate, low and null. The reverse contrast is characterized by its high contrast between the horizontal strokes, which are thicker, and the vertical ones [9]. When analysing Livro de Honra aesthetics, a XIX century object, it was found that these typographic styles were also common in wood types. Moreover, similarities have been found between the “Italienne” style and the lettering in Livro de Honra. Examining these styles, it is possible to see the resemblance among serifs (thicker) and stems (thinner)—an example of reverse contrast. Horizontal lines are present in the letters B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, O, R, S, T, Z, meanwhile the diagonal or vertical lines are found in uncommon or opposite places in the letters A, K, M, N, U, V, W, X, Y. This style was first shown in a type specimen book originally published by Caslon and Catherwood in 1821, and it is speculated that its origin is Italian due to its name [10]. Typically named “Italienne”, the face was also occasionally referred to as Grotesque Italian or Reversed Egyptian. It was widely used in XIX century gravestone epigraphy, nonetheless Caslon made types between 96-points (33,86 mm) until 10points (3,52 mm). However, this style was reduced to capital use in 1830, until it completely disappeared in 1860 [11, 12]

5 Process When analysing Livro de Honra, some sketches were made for the first time to better understand the letter shapes (Fig. 2). In a more advanced stage, the pages that served the interest of this study were photographed. After collecting these pages, the letterforms were analysed to understand their aesthetics, the structural aspects and the constructive system, characteristics which make them unique. Horizontality is a very present feature in the letters drawn in the Livro de Honra. This feature creates patterns in the letters, creating a mechanical system with few discrepancies between characters. Therefore, this lack of differences between letters generates a typographic uniformity and subsequently letters such as (D) and (O) can appear very similar and this can affect legibility and also its readability, although they are always in context.

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Every letter drawn in Livro de Honra is used at display sizes, resulting in the inclusion of a greater level of detail. In other examples, as is the case with the characters (P, E, R), three thick horizontal lines are found alongside the thinner vertical lines—an example of high contrast (Fig. 3). These features make the letter drawing similar to “Italienne” faces, which are characterized by their reverse contrast. This style changed the general typographic conventions by converting thinner lines in thicker ones and vice-versa [12]. In some cases, these features appear in the head and feet of the letters, contributing to the standardization and geometrization of the characters. To start the revival process, first it was necessary to choose between the visual languages adopted in the book. After analysing the images collected at Casa da Prelada, drawing and vectorization began. In this process, the photographic images were edited, and the contrasts increased in order to facilitate later vectorization (Fig. 4). As the letters in this book were drawn, the uniqueness of each character was considered. Therefore, it was decided to overlay every character aligned centrally. The same process was made to every letter that appeared more than once (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X). Next it was necessary to find a grid that fitted all letter’s common characteristics. A quadrangular grid was found Fig. 2 Sketches from the first visit to Casa da Prelada

Fig. 3 Example of an analysis process

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appropriate. The first drawings were made at the same time as digital iterations to better understand its behaviour (Fig. 5). The letters were designed following Messeguer’s order [13], O—(Q, C, G, D), I—(J, H, L, N, M, E, F, P, R, B, U, T), V—(A, W, X, Y, Z, K). The first proposal was achieved, however, the contrasts between horizontals and verticals were excessive and the rhythm was low. To solve this issue, it was decided to change the serifs in an attempt to create more rhythm (Fig. 6). However, these alternative serifs originated many exceptions in the design, contradicting Livro de Honra’s characteristics. In other attempt to improve the design, a curvature was added, a union, however all these details remained little noticed (Fig. 7). At this stage, a different path was chosen, adding and emphasizing elements that could help to achieve better results. Using the same grid, an attempt was made to

Fig. 4 Left: High contrast obtained from the digitally manipulated image. Right: vectorization of characters (page 21 of the Livro de Honra)

Fig. 5 Defined grid obtained from the overlapping of several characters found

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Fig. 6 First digital designs

Fig. 7 Third and fourth digital designs

highlight the geometric shapes simplifying the design recurring only to circular and square shapes. In this context, letters in use generate different and sinuous rhythms that, in a certain way, refer back to the existing letterforms in the book Livro de Honra. Letters such as (C, E, G), have an unusual approach because of their closed counterforms. On the one hand this feature can generate discomfort in legibility and in reading. On the other, this particularity is nonetheless appealing to the eye and it is this fine balance that this proposal tries to achieve. The circle is again seen in letters like (C, D, G, O, Q). However, regardless of being a satisfying result, the letter curves in (B, P, R, S) were not as desired (Fig. 8).

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Fig. 8 Left: first contour test. Right: last contour adjustment

Fig. 9 Lower case design sequence

Lately it was decided to develop lower case characters besides being advisable in type design to start by designing the lower case first, in this case, the process was the opposite. The designing process started once again by the following sequence: a, d—(b, p, q), e, h—(f, k—(x, w, y, v, z)), i—(l, j, t), n—(m, u, r), o—(c, g), s. As a result, the respect for this sequence, allowed to speed up the design process (Fig. 9).

6 Honra: A 3D-Printed Letterpress Type Today a raising interest in letterpress has led both printers and designers to try to adapt the old print technique to new technologies. In recent years, the development of affordable laser cutters and 3d printers has pushed the boundaries of typographic experimentation. In a way to expand their typeface collections for letterpress printing, p98a an experimental letterpress workshop in Berlin, had tried several territories: plexiglass, maple and, pear wood, resin, magnesium, polymer, formica. CNC milling, 3D-printing, pantograph cutting, etched metal to vacuum-forming [14]. In this context, New North Press and A2 Studio in London developed a 3D-printed letterpress type—A23D. Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel designed a wireframe digital typeface to understand the advantages and disadvantages that 3D-print could bring to letterpress. So, first they designed it digitally, then they model it to 3D type, then they 3D-printed it and finally they have used it in letterpress [15] (Fig. 10).

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Alternatives to traditional wood and metal type in letterpress were also studied by Rafael Neder and Renan Torres Vieira through current technologies. Briefly their study revealed different benefits such as easy to use, easy preparation and low-cost production [16]. So, in order to develop an available 3D-printed letterpress type and to have one more reason for designers to use letterpress, this study followed these two given examples. Using A23D process and Rafael Neder and Renan Torres Vieira’s concept, “Honra”, the digital type revival, was adapted to letterpress. After finishing the digital typeface, it was necessary to model “Honra” to a working 3D-model. Firstly, the 2D design was imported from Adobe Illustrator to Cinema 4D and then an extrude effect was added for volume from a two-dimensional block (Fig. 11). Secondly, a cube was added, and in it a nick was added (detail that indicates the type upper part) and a channel. The final body size was set to 280-points with type high surrounding 23,566 mm. For this experiment 36 characters of 280-point size were 3D-printed (twenty-six letters and ten numbers) (Fig. 12). Honra 3D-printed letterpress type was used for the first time at Museu Nacional da Imprensa [National Print Museum] in Porto, Portugal for testing purposes in an Albion flatbed press. This print run was intended to assess the typeface at work and to compare letterpress prints with digital prints. Letters were printed on a white paper, and also over digital prints (Fig. 13).

Fig. 10 A23D design process

Fig. 11 Letter G face after adding volume

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Fig. 12 Letter G after adding a body

Fig. 13 Left: letterpress prints over Honra’s digital prints; Middle: letterpress prints on white paper; Right: letterpress prints over printed images

The print results were visual matching to the 3D texture present in each character which led this experience to a self-reflection—does letterpress has to be neutral visually or does it have to express the materiality in which the typefaces are made? In order to answer to this question more prints were made but this time at a homemade press, based upon Provisional Press’s model [17]. At this new set of prints only empty backgrounds were used. After a few print runs and an analysis, it was settled that this 3D texture in all prints was a distinctive feature, allowing a disinhibited typographical approach, between this digitally fabricated typeface and others (Fig. 14).

314 Fig. 14 Homemade letterpress print

Fig. 15 Type specimen

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7 Conclusion Recalling the main objectives that were set up to accomplish—the development of a digital type revival and of a 3D-printed typeface—the final results were accomplished. As the project grew from paper to digital and back to paper the first conclusion was that technology is a necessary tool to discard technology. Machinery can offer precision but, handcraft can offer distinction. Therefore, the future of letterpress and type design has to blend these two strands in order to improve, spread and ensure its development. Firstly, and guided by the words of Frank E. Blokland, “After all, a type revival is by definition an interpretation” [18, p. 8], a type revival was designed open to multiple interpretation based on research of the state of the art and in the book Livro de Honra. This process was called an interpretative revival. All developments and setbacks in type design were important to gather practical and theorical knowledge. Without discarding history and all that was done through time, it was established that this typographic process is mostly interpretive and as the designer moves away from the source the results tend to be more original. The capital letters (C, E, G) stand out due to its closed letterforms and therefore they are distinguished from other reverse contrast typefaces, such as “Karloff” from Typotheque type foundry or “Maelstrom” from Klim Type Foundry. Moreover, this typeface is characterized by its monospaced proportion that makes the letter uncomfortable to read because of its blank spaces. Regarding to the exploratory study of the typographic drawing, it is possible to say that the type revival process represented a huge apprenticeship of manual and vector drawing, due to its empirical approach. From the point of view of this study, the type revival was able to follow up all this concept and culminates in a digital typeface inspired by the lettering in Livro de Honra and above all adapted to contemporary demands (Fig. 15). Secondly, 3D-print has proven itself as an efficient and relevant tool to letterpress. However, it would been good to have tested different 3D-prints like resins. There is still a need for further studies on the resistance of these print materials in the long term and in more demanding conditions of use or cleaning. However, despite this gap, the validity of the use of these techniques was verified, since the main characteristics of letterpress printing were preserved, and the materials used did not compromise the final result of the printed material. Nevertheless, these questions would be a good starting point for future research. This experiment can also make possible a future investigation that looks for an efficient way to replicate a digital font into a 3D-print object. This way, letterpress could be easier to practice due to the availability of 3D-printed typefaces and could attract new practitioners to the old technique. Finally, a type revival aims to add something new and unique to the corpus nowadays available. In summary, “Honra” besides being finished, is a contribution to digital type design, to letterpress and to the design fields.

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References 1. Casa da Prelada – D. Francisco de Noronha e Menezes. https://www.scmp.pt/pt-pt/cultura/ casa-da-prelada. Accessed 28 Feb 2021 2. Smeijers F (2003) Type now. Hyphen Press, London 3. Lebedenco É, Neder R (2016) Fundamentos do resgate tipográfico. DAT J 1(1):52–70. https:// doi.org/10.29147/2526-1789.DAT.2016v1i1p52-70 4. Shaw P (2017) Revival type: digital typefaces inspired by the past. Yale University Press, New Haven 5. Carvalho CE, Neder R (2019) O resgate tipográfico como método de design de fontes variáveis. In: Blucher design proceedings, pp 1914–1926. https://doi.org/10.5151/9cidi-congic-4.0331 6. Eller N (2019) Convergências Tipográficas: Uma análise crítica de impressos luso-brasileiros dos séculos XVIII e XIX como um fundamento para práticas contemporâneas em design de tipos. Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon 7. Littlejohn D (2004) Metro letters, a typeface for the twin cities. University of Minnesota Design Institute 8. Bringhurst R (2015) The elements of typographic style. Hartley & Marks Publishers, Washington 9. Quelhas V (2017) Design português de tipos digitais (1990–2010): da procura de sinais identitários à construção de uma plataforma de divulgação. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aveiro. https://ria.ua.pt/handle/10773/19167 10. Shields D (2018) Wood type research – a short history of the Italian. https://www.woodtyper esearch.com/short-history-of-the-italian/ 11. Sherman N (2009) 19th-century gravestones borrowing from concurrent print typography. https://woodtyper.com/category/observations/page/3 12. Caslon Italian Collection. https://commercialclassics.com/catalogue/caslon_italian. Accessed 28 Feb 2021 13. Henestrosa C, Meseguer L, Scaglione J (2012) Cómo crear tipografías: Del Boceto a la Pantalla. Typo e Editorial, Madrid 14. p98a. Making our own type. https://www.p98a.com/collection/making-our-own-type. Accessed 28 Feb 2021 15. A23D. A 3D-printed letterpress font, New North Press. https://new-north-press.co.uk/project/ a23d/. Accessed 28 Feb 2021 16. Neder R, Vieira RT (2016) A impressão 3D como possibilidade para o restauro e fabricação de tipos móveis. ResearchGate. https://dx.doi.org/10.5151/despro-ped2016-0387 17. About Us. Provisional Press. https://www.provisionalpress.com/about-us. Accessed 28 Feb 2021 18. Hurka C, Békés N (2019) Reviving type. Acute Publishing

Digital Design Branding

Brands Should Be Distinct! The Contribution of Ad’s Narrative and Joy to Distinctiveness Sara Santos, Pedro Espírito Santo, and Sónia Ferreira

Abstract With the COVID-19 pandemic consumer needs are changing and marketing communications must be effective in order to be recognized in the consumer’s mind. Trends in the production of content with images and videos that allow consumers to immerse themselves in the content are contents that are more successful in the future. The production of video ads that use storytelling play an important role in the interpretation of the message where counter arguments can decrease through narrative transportation. Thus, consumers understand that brands will be unique and distinct from others. In this sense, we conducted a cross-sectional research that aimed to test a model using equations that was analyzed through AMOS software. The analyzed model with a sample of 326 participants shows that a structure of the narrative, joy and a narrative transportation expresses a positive influence in the distinction of the brand. As a result of this study, we present the theoretical and possible contributions for managers in the area of strategic marketing. Keywords Storytelling · Advertising · Brand distinctiveness

S. Santos (B) University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] P. E. Santo School of Technology and Management of Oliveira do Hospital, Polytechnic of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] S. Ferreira Center for Studies in Education and Innovation, School of Education, Polytechnic of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_21

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1 Introduction The current context of communication in COVID-19 era reflects an absolute requirement for brands to differentiate and emphasize from others. The consumer/audience is inundated by data all the time and it is essential to employ techniques that become public content more appealing. The goal is to clarify positions and respond to consumers in the globalized market. The consumer has become more requiring when deciding for buying the brand, product, or service. For consumer buy products or services, advertising communication should determine a connection between brand and product, and between brand and content. Now, stories find a place in this relationship and storytelling is now a powerful tactic to marketing communication [44], but the similarity between brand identity and brand image is essential to establish positive brand associations [22]. In advertising the principle of ‘unique selling proposition’ (USP) [42] is associated with brand distinctiveness, but some authors (e.g. [19]) evidence that advertising can work successfully without a USP. In advertising environment, positive brand attitudes have influenced the brand distinctiveness [57].

2 Literature Review To achieve the research objectives, we identified the attitude towards advertising, the narrative structure, narrative joy and narrative transportation as main contributors to brand distinctiveness.

2.1 Attitude Towards Advertising For an ad to be effective it is essential that it be creative [32], in order to provoke favorable behavior in the public [40]. Creativity is defined as that it is original and useful [35]. For a campaign to be successful it is crucial that it is creative and for that it must include three dimensions: ad novelty [4, 50] message usefulness [4, 34], and ad-consumer association [4, 63]. But what is creativity? Some authors defined it as novel (according to Belch and Belch [7] unusual and surprising) and relevant [4, 50]. Ang and Low [3] defined novelty as “a sense of uniqueness or originality” and “a divergence from the norm” (p. 837). In advertising, people attitudes don’t vary from general to specific ads. Lutz [36] demonstrates that individuals with favourable attitudes to general advertisements also consider informative and enjoyable specific ads. So, attitudes toward advertising in general influence attitudes toward individual advertisements.

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First theorized by Lutz [36] attitude toward advertising is “a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner to advertising in general” (p. 53). However, it rests on the medium and it is different among consumers. Sung and Cho [56] evidence that attitude depends on medium, but in general is positive [38]. Some researchers analysed attitude toward advertising in a diversity of mediums, such as television [37], direct marketing [31], outdoor signage [8] and online [12]. Studies of Chan [13] demonstrated that internet is perceived as more favourable for advertising than other mass media (tv, radio or print). On the other side, informativeness, entertainment, and irritation was pointed by Ducoffe [18] as the factors that most contribute to consumer’s attitudes towards ads. Later, Brackett and Carr [10] complement this model adding credibility and consumer demographics (age, gender, college major). As consequences of attitudes toward advertising, some authors suggest that positive attitude toward all advertising is related with involvement with specific ads [29] as well as purchase intention [46]. However, creative ads generate higher purchase intentions than less creative ads, because consumer cognitive and affective responses are antecedents of behavioural manifestations [53]. On the other side, authors such as Smith et al. [52] demonstrated that it has also an effect on brand attitudes and distinctiveness in ads that helps to differentiate among ads, create recall and grab audience’s attention [4, 27, 34].

2.2 Storytelling: Structure, Transportation and Joy Storytelling is not a recent reality in humanity, on the contrary. Creating stories as a form of communication is one of the oldest tools that we have. Today it is interesting to watch and study how narratives are used in other formats and, specifically in this study, as an approach that seeks to provoke individuals’ attitudes and behaviours. The use of stories in advertising is notorious [11, 20] and disciplines such as marketing and advertising easily recognize the power of narrative. In this context, storytelling is understood as a way of communicating the brand [61] and corresponds to the description of ideas, beliefs and personal experiences through narratives that involve emotions and intuitions [17, 49]. The intention is not always to present the product, but to focus on the transmission of brand values through emotional stories [17], which unconsciously direct the consumer. With regard to structural construction, the narratives are based on plots with questions, incidents and surprises, characters to whom conflicts and events take place and at a culminating moment in the resolution of history [59]. Conflict is, in a way, the purpose of history. It can be presented in different ways: conflict with the protagonist himself, with an opponent, with the family, with society, superior forces, among others. A good narrative presents some kind of tension between the protagonist and the other characters and leads the audience to follow developments until the conflict is resolved (Snowden 1999). According to Bruner [11], the more traditional definitions also propose that narratives follow a chronology of temporal organization

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of principle, middle and end, which has been going on since the time of Aristotle’s poetics. Structuring the elements of the story in an organized way would thus make it possible to achieve causal inference [11] and not present an openly persuasive advertisement. We agree that the receptivity to advertising messages differs from individual to individual [11, 30]. The demographic, social, educational contexts and characteristics, among others, are the ingredients that define the disposition for this receptivity and that are determinant for the transport experienced by the consumer. The study conducted by Ferreira, Santos and Santo [21], with sample analysis, allowed us to understand that the structure of the narrative through the physical, social and temporal components depends on individual for individual, this distinction being more evident when comparing individuals whose main occupation is to be a student. These students have higher levels of understanding of the structure of the scenes in the film than individuals who have other professional occupations. Transport refers to an individual’s state of immersion in a story in which their mental capacity is absorbed by what happens in that narrative. The plot of the story activates the recipient’s imagination [59] and leads to a state of detachment from reality. It is conceptualized as a mental process that involves a consonance of attention, imagination and feelings [25] and that can be understood as a process of correspondence [20]. According to Ferreira, Santos and Santo [21] the transportation for the narrative of the video presented is greater in individuals of the male gender who allow themselves to be taken more easily to the scenes of the film presented. This transport to the narrative is also higher in individuals with lower academic education, since individuals with more advanced higher education do not claim that the video allows them to have an immersive experience in the scenes. When transported, consumers interpret the world around them to give them meaning and become more open to persuasion and less critical, giving more affective and cognitive responses [59] in relation to the product or service. Once effective, narratives not only promote information processing, but also promote changes in consumers, not only in memories, but also in their beliefs [14]. Moyer-Gusé and Nabi [39] and Dessart [17] add that the transportation experience can have positive effects on attitude if the positive emotion of joy is induced in the narrative present in the advertisement. The joy present in the narratives also causes a positive connection with advertising [21]. The research of Gottschall [24] supports that advertising structures, and stories attract consumers and invite them to enter in another dimension. Therefore, we consider that narrative transportation depends on the narrative structure. For that reason, we will test the following: H1: Narrative structure has positive effects on narrative transportation. Consumers loves stories with information and entertainment. These stories present a more environment of advertising and more favorable [36]. Thus, a good environment advertising will promote the narrative transportation. Because of that, we will propose to study the following hypotheses:

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H2: Stories with higher levels of joy will encourage narrative transportation. Associated to the story’s environment and context, the novelty performs and important role on reactions toward that [56]. The personal and societal dimensions of an advertising persuade people to immerse on stories. Therefore, we will test the following hypothesis: H3: Advertising novelty has positive effects on narrative transportation.

2.3 Brand Distinctiveness To attract and keep consumers it is essential to create differences between brands. It is viewed as one of the fundamental principles in marketing. As Aaker [2] advocated branding is about create differences and brand distinctiveness is fundamental in marketing strategies [16]. Consumers should identify brands easy, without misunderstanding [43] when compared to other brands. The concept of brand distinctiveness is defined as ‘the perceived uniqueness of a brand’s identity’ from other, generally competing brands [55]. Consumers seek for uniqueness, it means they search for differentiation from others that can achieve acquiring and using certain brands that develop their social identity [58]. People have need to affirm and build positive self-views, and brands has a role in this creation [9]. In consumer-brand identification, brand distinctiveness and brand prestige are important factors that influence it [55] and promote members’ identification with the community [33]. While brand distinctiveness states the perceived uniqueness of a brand for consumers, brand prestige corresponds to the status associated to the brand [55]. These two factors create a desirable brand identity, which organizations build through brand management practices [54]. Distinctiveness can be an antecedent to consumer’s want to identify with the brand [55]. So, the more consumers perceive brand identity, more they value, identity and attract them. The “need for uniqueness” from consumers is subjacent in distinctiveness, and this need is defined as “an individual’s pursuit of differentness relative to others that is achieved through the acquisition, utilization, and disposition of consumer goods for the purpose of developing and enhancing one’s personal and social identity” [58]. For consumers, distinctive qualities helps information processing, reducing cognitive efforts, however, different types of distinctive qualities have different roles in identification in advertising in diverse media [43]. Schmitt [48] evidences that consumers “want something [brands] that engages their senses and touches their hearts”; “excites or intrigues them”; and “strikes them as authentic and genuine”.

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There is a gap in literature because little studies analyse the process where consumers perceive a brand to be distinct from others [51]. Therefore, it is important further research to understand signs that consumers use in identification and distinction of brands [43]. Bhattacharya and Sen [9] evidence that “distinctiveness is an important organizational characteristic from an identity attractiveness perspective”. Besides, perceived brand distinctiveness “involves the cues stored in memory that make the brand stand out, causing consumer recognition of a brand in consumers’ minds” [23]. If distinctive qualities are strong in memory, it is easier to consumer to identify the brand [43]. Thus, this identification is influenced by distinctiveness and prestige of brand from consumer’s perception [5]. The more distinctive are consumers’ perceptions of brand’s identity, more attractive are to them, improving consumer-brand identification [9]. Besides identification, brand distinctiveness also expands brand awareness and brand associations in consumers’ minds [64]. Therefore, in order to increase brand distinctiveness, brands should promote impactful brand experiences, generating favourable brand attitudes, namely thought advertising [57]. At the same time, brands should communicate strong distinctive elements consistently across all media and over time, because consumer that see a previous campaign should recognise brand elements in that present campaign [43]. In a study about Portuguese advertising Santos, Espirito Santo and Ferreira [47] also showed that narrative structure and joy influence narrative transportation as well as brand distinctiveness. As result from distinct brand image, it allows consumers to show also distinctive identity choosing a specific brand among others [62]. However, this distinct image could be built from several sources such as advertising, information search, word-ofmouth as well as product characteristics and value [28, 45]. Therefore, when there is intense competition, consumers tend to prefer distinctive brands that promote stronger messages about quality of product [1]. Romaniuk et al. [43] emphasizes brand distinctiveness, rather than differentiation, that need a deepener brand research and to test the extent to which distinctive elements can replace the brand name in advertising. Therefore, we hypothesized: H4: Narrative transportation as positive effects on brand distinctiveness H5: Narrative structure as a positive impact on brand distinctiveness H6: Attitude toward novelty in advertising as a positive impact on brand distinctiveness.

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3 Methods 3.1 Survey Instrument To get the purpose of the research, we used a cross sectional, self-administered survey consisting of 19 items. The structure were three parts: (1) In the first part we included an advertising video of the brand “Licor Beirão”, originating in Portugal, available on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZAAARvVsxI). In the second part, we included items with 5-point likert scales (1-strongly disagree; 5-strongly agree). Therefore, in order to measure the constructs, we used items established by Dessart [17] to joy, narrative structure (NaSt) and narrative transportation (NaTx), Additionally, brand distinctiveness (BDT) scale was adapted from Wang and Tang [60] and attitude Toward Novelty in Advertising (NOV) was measured following Sheinin et al. [50].

3.2 Data Collection After collection data, we presented the video to participants and after we shared with participants the questionnaire link. The participants fulfill the questionnaire with a portable device such as smartphones, laptops or tablets.

3.3 Sample The sample of this study has 326 participants. The participants recognized the “Licor Beirão” brand and most of them are female (N = 204; 62.6%). The individuals have ages which ranges between 18 and 62 years old. Mos of them (68.1%) has ages between 18 and 29 years old. The education of the participants was high school, in most cases, (77.2%) (Table 1).

4 Results In order to test the research hypotheses, our sample size permits that we use the Structural equation modelling (SEM) through maximum likelihood estimation, considering the rule of 5:1 (responses: items) [26]. For this, we used AMOS v.25 software and the research through SEM was examined in three stages. First, we performed an initial data analysis, second, we evaluated the measurement model (reliability and validity) and third, we also analyzed the path coefficients and the model fit.

326 Table 1 Sample

S. Santos et al. Variable

Dimension

N

%

Gender

Male

120

37,0%

Female

204

63,0%

18–29

222

69,8%

30–39

59

18,6%

40–49

29

9,1%

Age

≥50 Education

Basic school Undergraduate degree High school Post-graduate

8

2,5%

68

21,0%

4

1,2%

183

56,5%

69

21,3%

4.1 Measurement Model The analysis of the measurement model included the analysis to the Common Method Bias, confirmatory factor analysis and discriminant validity. Common Method Bias To preliminary data analysis, we examined ex-ante and ex-post procedures and common method procedures was employed. To Ex-ante procedures we followed Podsakoff et al. [41] recommendations. We pre-test the survey to avoid vague concepts and complex syntax and double-barreled questions. At the first page of the survey, all the respondents were informed that answers are anonymous and there are no right or wrong answers to each question. Ex post, Harman’s one factor test was performed, and the result showed five factors and first factor explained 31.24% of the variance. Also, we ran a series of regression models to calculate the Variance Inflactor Factor (VIF). We found that VIF value is below the threshold (VIF < 5). Therefore, we assume that multicollinearity is not considered problematic. To verify the normality, we verified the Skewness (Sk) and Kurtosis (Ku) (Sk < 3; Ku < 7) and these values shows that items do not diverge from normality [26]. Additionally, we calculated the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) as well as Bartlett’s test of sphericity to measure sampling adequacy. The KMO is 0.917 and is above the minimum threshold (KMO > 0.7) and Bartlett’s test is significant at p < 0.05. Therefore, the data are suitable for factor analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis We tested a measurement model through a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess reliability and validity. The results of model fit indices were acceptable (χ2 = 283.12; df = 94; GFI = 0.900; CFI = 0.942; NFI = 0.926; IFI = 0.949; TLI = 0.935; RMSEA = 0.080) [6, 26] (Table 2).

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Table 2 Measurement model Construct

Itens

λ

t-values

R2

Narrative transportation (NaTx) (CR = 0,797; AVE = 0,669)

NaTx1

0,663**

(a)

0,44

NaTx2

0,948**

10,68

0,90

Narrative structure (NaSt) (CR = 0,834; AVE = 0,558)

NaST1

0,769**

(a)

0,59

NaSt2

0,748**

11,061

0,56

NaSt3

0,762**

11,295

0,58

NaSt4

0,707**

10,569

0,50

Joy1

0,895**

(a)

0,80

Joy2

0,937**

27,118

0,88

Joy3

0,935**

27,14

0,88

Brand distinctiveness (CR = 0,885; AVE = 0,793)

BDT1

0,886**

(a)

0,79

BDT2

0,895**

16,239

0,80

Novelty (NOV) (CR = 0,902; AVE = 0,650)

NOV1

0,803**

(a)

0,64

NOV 2

0,831**

16,956

0,69

NOV 3

0,787**

15,266

0,62

NOV 4

0,843**

16,685

0,71

NOV 5

0,763**

14,943

0,58

Joy (CR = 0,945; AVE = 0,851)

Notes: λ = Standardized Coefficients; R2

= squared multiple correlation; (a) the path is fixed at 1.0 to set the metric of the construct; AVE – Average Extracted Variance; CR – Composite reliability; ** p < 0.01

For all constructs we obtained the average variance extracted (AVE), ranging from 0.558 to 0.851 and Composite Reliability (CR) ranging from 0.797 to 0.945. These values are above the threshold values (AVE > 0.5; CR > 0.7). Additionally, we examine that standardized loadings (λ) are above the recommended value for each construct and their significance is considered (p < 0.05) [15]. Discriminant Validity We also analysed the discriminant validity through Fornell and Larcker criterion (Fornell and Larcker 1981) and we examined that squared correlations between constructs are below than their average variance extracted (Table 3).

4.2 Hypothesis Testing To test the hypothesis, we analyzed the structural model and the Table 4 shows the path coefficients which represent the relations between the constructs. The results confirmed that 4 hypotheses were confirmed. The model tested has an acceptable adjustment (χ2 = 284,44; df = 95; GFI = 0.900; CFI = 0.949; NFI = 0.926; IFI = 0.949; TLI = 0.935; RMSEA = 0.079)

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Table 3 Discriminant validity Construct

NaTx

NaTx

0,669

NaSt

JOY

BDT

NaST

0,475

0,558

JOY

0,493

0,518

0,851

BDT

0,103

0,247

0,197

0,793

NOV

0,319

0,438

0,484

0,469

NOV

0,650

Notes: NaTx = Narrative Transportation; NaSt = Narrative Structure; JOY = Joy; BDT = Brand Distinctiveness; NOV = Novelty; Diagonal entries are AVE values; all correlations are significant at level 1%;

Table 4 Structural coefficients and hypothesis test Hyp

Path

β

Std error

t-value

p-value

H1

NaST → NaTx

0,332

0,097

3,100

p < 0,01

Supported

H2

Joy → NaTx

0,393

0,078

4,108

p < 0,01

Supported

H3

NOV → NaTx

0,075

0,084

1,046

p > 0,05

Not supported

H4

NaTx → BDT

−0,177

0,093

−2,197

p < 0,05

Supported

H5

NaST → BDT

0,166

0,097

1,791

p > 0,05

Not supported

H6

NOV → BDT

0,673

0,11

8,322

p < 0,01

Supported

β = Standardized path coefficients; NaTx = Narrative Transportation; NaSt = Narrative Structure; JOY = Joy; BDT = Brand Distinctiveness; NOV = Novelty;

and the proposed model explains brand distinctiveness (R2 = 0.485). Moreover, we obtained R2 = 0.548 for narrative transportation.

5 Discussion The research model presents, in the first phase, the antecedents of narrative transportation, and second, we identified the predictors of brand distinctiveness. To analyze the predictors of narrative transportation, we found that narrative structure has positive effects on narrative transportation (βNaST → NaTx = 0.332; p < 0.01). When consumers interpret the world of history, they become more affective to history and are more immersed in history [20]. Therefore, accordingly our study supports the hypothesis H1. The joy of the stories has positive effects on narrative transportation (βJOY → NaTx = 0.393; p < 0.01) as Lutz [36] argues. In line of that researches, our work corroborates the hypothesis H2.

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Even though the literature validates the relationship between advertising novelty and narrative transportation, our study did not validate that (βNOV → NaTx = 0.075; p > 0.05). Our study presents some characteristics, like the sample characteristics which participants ages are, most of them, are younger participants and many of them have seen the presented advertisement [50]. Because of that, our study doesn’t support the hypothesis H3. To find the predictors of brand distinctiveness, we identified that narrative transportation has effects on brand distinctiveness. However, our research did not support this positive relationship (βNatX → BDT = −0,177; p < 0.05). The negative effects may be related to the high levels of narrative transportation that cause minor counter arguments in relation to brands and their content. The imaginary world created through narrative transportation may have caused that individuals are unable to identify brands as distinct [17]. Therefore, our study doesn’t support the hypothesis H4. Our study identified that well-structured narratives influence brand distinctiveness (βNaSt → BDT = 0,166; p > 0.05). Therefore, we corroborate hypothesis H5 as the literature suggests. Following the work of Ryu and Lee [45], we emphasize that the structure of the narrative, with an interesting story, in which individuals understand the beginning, middle and end, whose understanding of the message and the characters is clear, develops a brand distinctiveness. Brands that have memorable, unique and interesting contents promote brand distinctiveness. In this sense, novelty is an influencer of the perception of interesting content and needs meaning, therefore our study supports that novelty produces positive effects on brand distinctiveness. The research supports the hypothesis H6 (βNOV → BDT = 0,673; p < 0.01). This research recommends that brands can get competitive advantage through brand distinctiveness. In this sense, narrative advertising structures plays a central role in how consumers are transported to the context of the video. Thus, we can interpret in this research that distinct brands are influenced by transportation. In addition, each consumer’s enjoyment of video is also an important factor to consider, so our study suggests that marketers should use creative videos with an interesting story and clear main message. The cheerful and fun videos, as is the case of the studied video, influence the greater engagement of the individual.

6 Limitations and Future Research Directions This research has important contributions for marketing and advertising professionals. However, our study has limitations of different kinds and the conclusions must be understood in the context of this study. The study looked at the effects of brand distinctiveness in a single video. This may have been a limitation, so it is suggested that further research be carried out with other advertising videos from other brands.

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Our study analyzed the responses of 326 participants who are mostly young. This is a limitation. It is suggested that further studies be analyzed with data collected from other samples. Finally, this research did not analyze some variables that may have influenced the analysis of our model. Thus, it is suggested that models be studied where the variables creativity, counterargument and self-congruence with advertising are included.

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Would Plato Really Find Coca Cola Inside the Cave? Design-Led Branding Explained by Everyday Social Practices Bernardo Meza Guzman

and Catarina Lelis

Abstract This research analyses the epistemological assumptions of the canonical marketing-led branding positioning models to explore the necessity of new epistemological stances and how design-led branding models could be of use when reaching these stances. Qualitative research has been done to explore how three well-known brands make use of design-led strategies (promoting the customisation of their labels with personal forenames or messages directly related to everyday experiences and activities) to seize the scope of everyday social practices as a source of inspiration and contact with their audiences. The epistemological scope of everyday life, normally avoided by scientific-oriented marketing-led models, presents itself as a perfect place where brands and audiences could interact and, through design-led strategies, build up meaning together. Plato’s theory of knowledge, especially considering his metaphorical style (highlighting its heideggerian interpretation), has given the research a theoretical framework to understand how design-led branding could expand the epistemological scope of marketing-led branding and work in a complementary way, developing a new and more holistic practitioner branding journey. This way, this research aims to contribute to the discussion regarding the relevance of design in branding and hopes to open a new area of research that could bring more benefits to the branding industry. Keywords Design-led branding · Everyday social practices · Neo-pragmatic realism · Theory of knowledge · Metaphor

1 Introduction Since the inrush of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) [5] in the industry, branding started to have a direct relationship with consumers’ everyday life and identity. Among messages loaded with emotions, feelings and a range of identities’ goals, companies started to become part of the construction of audiences’ identities [5, 23]. B. M. Guzman (B) · C. Lelis University of West London, St. Mary’s Road, Ealing, London W5 5RF, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_22

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With the development of cultural branding [34, 35], this trend was amplified, and audiences began to build up their cultural and communal identities hand-in-hand with iconic brands [34]. Brands started to do what Ogilvy had realised but had not known how to do in the past: “it sometimes happens that advertising campaigns enter the culture. […] This kind of thing is manna from heaven, but nobody knows how to do it on purpose. At least, I don’t” [54]. However, not all branding approaches allow audiences to co-create meaning with companies and, hence, it is possible to verify that there is a methodological dichotomy in branding (related to meaning management). This dichotomy is represented by two main branding positioning models; namely, the mindshare and the cultural models; the first being the model that does not co-create meaning between companies and audiences. Moreover, the inrush of pro-active audiences into the industry (through co-creation) opened another methodological problem for the industry. This related to how to approach the heterogeneity of researching everyday life and its intersubjective nature, in an industry more used to marketing-led procedures which work with an assumption of homogeneity and it is more scientific-objective oriented. Therefore, design, which aims to make everyday life easier for everyone, claimed a place in the branding industry, marking another dichotomy in this field of knowledge; namely, that of two different modus operandi among practitioners. On the one hand, marketing-led branding, related to the branding models currently working in the industry and with a scientific empiricist methodology, relying on knowledge of market rules and laws. On the other hand, design-led branding, with a more interpretivist approach, relies for its knowledge on creativity and human experience. As can be seen, the incorporation of design-led branding brought another epistemological issue to the industry: that of which epistemological paradigm should be used to develop and implement branding approaches or models.

2 Literature Review Marketing-led branding has been dominant throughout the history of branding. However, since the last decade of the 20th century, when the active participation of customers became a key factor of brand building models, design started to be relevant in brand developments and management [3, 9, 15, 48]. Furthermore, the introduction of design into the branding industry opened a new modus operandi to think and work for practitioners and scholars. Design is the ability to structure and organise things to make their user’s life easier. Its starting point is everyday life-colloquial situations. Briefly, it is: ... a fundamental human activity and capability, and humankind has in fact been designing since it began inventing and using tools thousands of years ago. Planning your day in an efficient way or rearranging your furniture to allow for better flow are examples of modern everyday activities that involve design skills. Design is also about change, and that can be good or bad. But the importance here is that design should be about improving situations as design should be ultimately about making things better” [45].

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However, the coexistence of design-led and marketing-led branding has been everything but cooperative. The confrontation between marketers and designers has been a permanent feature among industry professionals. There is a tendency which relates marketing-led branding exclusively to the economy (in the shape of market laws and their financially profitable dimension) and design-led branding exclusively to creativity. It seems that being seen as design-led or being attached to design-based values (related to inventiveness and imagination), downplays the market knowledge and scientific approach of design practitioners [10, 46, 69]. Research regarding the relationship between design and marketing-led branding has become a demand among specialists in the industry, as shown by recent studies regarding resourceful sense-making methods concerning new product development (NPD), innovation, design as a process and as philosophy, and the use of design thinking, agile strategy and/or speculative design. They have been developed to fill the gap between design and marketing-led branding—a gap that keeps marketers and designers working on what are seen as two different and parallel methods of research and practice [12, 13, 18, 51, 52, 71]. In their definitions of branding, designers emphasise elements of everyday life such as emotions, expectations, feelings (potentially the whole human condition) [52, 55, 66]. They also stress creativity which, in contrast to marketers, is suggested to the detriment of market rules or knowledge. However, most of the marketingled branding literature considers branding as an economic value-creating process embedded in a consumerist world [28, 38, 40] and as an extensive knowledge of brand audiences to meaningfully connect with them and generate value beyond commercial and financial profit [16, 30, 39, 72]. In summary, whilst marketers prioritise standard rules of the market and economic value to reach audiences and convey meaningful messages, designers look for inspiration among audiences’ everyday practices, expectations and goals to gain a better understanding of their habits and build meaningful messages together [11, 14, 52, 53] as a means of making people’s lives easier. This leads designers towards a pragmatic knowledge that allows design become part of everyday life itself (even without being perceived as an important part of it) which is an open door to its understanding: Most of the things information designers design are part of ordinary life […] We design them so that they can be easily used. Our work is often at its best when it is “invisible” – people use the information we create to perform ordinary tasks easily, without even realising that the information they are using has been “designed”. Our job is not to stamp our identity on our designs; on the contrary, it is to lend a quiet dignity to the tasks of ordinary life without in any way coming between people and these tasks [61].

To better understand the necessity of establishing a bridge between Design-led and Marketing-led branding, it is necessary a deeper epistemological understanding of the current positioning models in branding; namely, the canonical in branding, mindshare being the traditional model in use; and the cultural model a newcomer [14, 31]. The first, mindshare, is framed by the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model [41] and by the ideas of Ries and Trout [58] regarding how to influence and position the values of a brand in the audiences’ minds. They state that for positioning

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to happen, audiences should absorb two or three ideas related to the brand. These ideas must fulfil customers’ needs, competitors’ gaps, and companies’ capabilities. For this positioning model, the role of audiences is passive and co-creation between brands and audiences is not happening. On the other hand, cultural positioning is defined by Holt’s [34, 35] Cultural Meaning Management (CMM) model and identifies audiences’ cultural schisms or crises that iconic brands then address through the delivery of cultural myths cocreated with their audiences. When the market context is stable (or under conditions of incremental change) the mindshare model is the one to be used [31]; in contrast, in time of big changes, crisis or social disruption, the cultural model seems to be more efficient [14, 31, 34]. One criticism of much of the literature on these positioning models is that they take opposite positions, and therefore are not able to work efficiently together. The criticism focused on the mindshare model points out the difficulty of finding homogeneous market segments (namely, when there is a lot of resemblance in each market segment). This issue gives evidence of an important methodological feature: the mindshare model follows a scientific methodological approach and, therefore, it requires a stable and homogeneous subject (object) of knowledge. The fact that during segmentation branding professionals can struggle to find such market segments reveals that the mindshare model is reductionist and could be unable to deal with different sorts of market segment [14, 34, 35]. Holt’s cultural positioning model offers a holistic methodological approach. Due to it being framed by several more theoretical disciplines than the mindshare model (which is mainly framed by economy and psychology), cultural positioning is able to research amid heterogeneous market segments. Therefore, the cultural model can be of use when the conditions do not accommodate a mindshare approach, taking into account audiences’ participation in the creation of meaning. Despite the latter approach being methodologically less reductionist than the former, both approaches are marketing oriented. It is clear in the cultural model; when the traditional marketing mix rules do not work, the cultural model expands the theoretical framework of branding to give marketers a broader scope where to apply their market knowledge [14, 31, 35]. Key figures of traditional marketing-led branding, such as Kumar or Keller, have shown a real concern regarding the limits of marketing in the industry, and have started to promote research toward a better understanding of customer experience [7, 44]. Marketing-led practitioners are working out the ethical dimension of branding by relating consumption to customer culture, audiences’ expectations and identity goals [12, 13]. Moreover, there are calls among practitioners for a strict development of a design theory or design philosophy and to deepen research on visual representations as a marketing-led branding strategy [70]. Scholars and practitioners have also focused their research on branding co-creation theory and developments [14, 36, 37, 42, 50]. Co-creation of meaning has won a prominent place as a branding practice despite rising questions regarding customers’ and companies’ roles in this process [29]. Technology has also taken a prominent place in co-creation of meaning. With the development of the Internet, everyday users started to express themselves through the net, and user-generated content (UGC) was

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integrated into brand management [1]. Audiences are more prone to follow marketing and UGC than sponsored content [49]. Thus far, it has been possible to find that branding is embedded into methodological dualisms: Marketing-led approaches, with a more rational-scientific positioning, focus on the knowledge of the market reality and on the establishment of brand categories to measure the impact of the brands on their audiences; the epistemological assumptions tend to be utilitarian and consider audiences solely as an object of research, reducing their complexity (the complexity of everyday life) to the simplicity of an object with permanent and similar features; Design-led approaches, on the other hand, focus on the emotional engagement between branding and audiences through a deeper understanding of the elements of everyday life that could bring more sense (in tune with different audiences) to brand building. Briefly, the literature shows the necessity of new methodological developments, or for a simple change of paradigm. The industry is trying to find a way to make design and marketing working together [12, 18, 51, 52]. In an attempt to reveal possible solutions to this issue, this research has focused on the epistemological assumptions of what has been called the two modus operandi in branding (design-led, marketing-led). To explore those assumptions, this research will establish three kinds of realism: • scientific realism, which states that the real world is a physical entity outside and separated from human beings’ minds. The real-world knowledge will depend, in this case, on the understanding of the scientific structure of the world. Therefore, anyone who knows the world would easily influence human minds; • commonsense realism, which is the human beings’ everyday belief that all the sense data received is real; so, there is no reason to doubt that there are chairs, tables, doors, cars, trees, etc.; • neo-pragmatic realism, which states that the knowledge of the world depends on one’s perspective: “for Earthians it may be a discarded cigarette that causes a forest fire, while for Martians it is the presence of oxygen” [62]. The perspective will always be fuelled by social practices. The present ongoing research aims at contributing to the branding research discussion by investigating in what ways a branding positioning system could be fuelled by all sorts of realisms. Therefore, the research question is: How can branding benefit from a neo-pragmatic realist approach?

The research supposition is that by embracing a neo-pragmatic realist branding approach, it will be possible to manage the shortcomings of a purely marketingoriented approach when dealing with elements of reality which are in permanent change, such as very basic everyday social practices. Hence, design-led branding can contribute to expanding the scope of understanding branding based on the most basic field of human imagination, the most authentic personal experiences. If this research supposition is right, the mindshare brand positioning system is attached to a scientific realist approach, and the cultural positioning system is bound

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Fig. 1 Branding models adapted to Plato’s analogy of the segmented line

by a commonsense realist approach. Therefore, the analysis of another way to get knowledge (a neo-pragmatic realism) can bring to the discussion a complementary system to the ones mentioned above. To clarify its approach to realism, this research is also making use of Plato’s thinking regarding knowledge and reality: if Plato’s analogy of the segmented line [56, Republic 509e–511e] is used, a scientific realist approach will belong to the top segment of the line (right side of Fig. 1). In this case, scientific realists will believe that their knowledge of reality will give them advantage over the commonsensical human being’s mind, who blindly believes in any sensorial data that their minds receive. Commonsense realists will focus on the field of opinion (left side of Fig. 1) and, inside this field, on the scope of sense data. Despite dealing with everyday beliefs, which do not include the category of knowledge or science, a commonsense realist, in opposition to a scientific realist, will state that the different systems of beliefs inside this field of understanding allow human beings to know the reality. Finally, neo-pragmatic realists will build up their knowledge taking into account mainly imagination. The scope of image/fantasy will be a source of comprehension of the world. Differently from the other two realists, the latter will take into account the whole range of human perceptions (sensorial and intellectual). If this is right, one might ask what kind of branding model can be grounded on a neo-pragmatic realist approach.

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Neumeier’s branding definition, in vigour both in academia and industry, may well help to answer this question. This author defines branding as the process that strictly connects good creativity with a good strategy in order to build a brand [52]. For Neumeier, one of the better-known designers in the industry and more influential design-led brand consultants, the origin of branding is in the scope of creativity, where anything is possible. Based on this, one research supposition is that, in the context of branding, the neo-pragmatic realism tends to be design-led rather than marketing-led (bottom of Fig. 1).

3 Methodological Approach This research follows a qualitative inductive reasoning and has been built upon the interpretivist-constructivist paradigm [4, 19, 21, 47, 59]. Hence, the analysis is grounded on an hermeneutical and phenomenological approach.

3.1 Hermeneutical Research An interpretivist-constructivist paradigm allows the researcher to understand how knowledge arises through the interaction of individuals and their contexts, as well as how meanings are created and negotiated by human agents [8, 21, 59]. Researchers who follow this paradigm “share the goal of understanding the complex world of lived experiences from the point of view of those who lived it” [59]. The peculiarity (and complexity) of this paradigm is that it is framed by interpretivism and constructivism, two epistemological perspectives that share the idea that an understanding of the world of meanings—which constitutes everyday life—is achieved through interpretation. The interpretivist stance of this research has followed the perspective that denies the objectivity-subjectivity opposition and accepts the hermeneutical character of existence [20, 24, 32, 67, 68]. Epistemologically, according to this paradigm, human beings find themselves engaging in meaningful practices through the use of things (inner-worldly beings) that are available (handy) for them in the world. Knowledge of the world is possible through the comprehension of these meaningful social practices: “once we understand Dasein [the existence of a human being] as ‘being the world existingly’, and the world as an organised pattern of practices and equipment that forms the background on the basis of which all activity and thought makes sense, we see that the world must be disclosed [and, therefore, be known] along with Dasein” [22]. Ontologically, the background of all relations among human everyday social practices is a relational totality of meaning; meaning that the human being builds and shares in a pre-reflective way: “These relations are interlocked among themselves as a

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primordial totality. They are what they are as this signifying in which Dasein [the existence of a human being] gives itself to understand its being-in-the-world beforehand [previous to any theory]. We shall call this relational totality of signification significance” [32]. Therefore, if the world shows its being through goal-directed human activities, and all the web of relations built by these activities is a web of meanings, then the reality becomes hermeneutical, and, therefore, interpretation will be the main tool to access it. This approach is relevant to research since the interpretivist perspective distances itself from the more common empiricism of social sciences—which still omits the intersubjective meaning construction sustained by the interpretivist perspective. It is also relevant because the epistemological assumptions of marketing-led branding still follow, in a significant proportion, this common empiricism of social sciences [31, 63]. The constructivist stance of this research follows Goodman’s [27] perspective, which he defines as “irrealism” or pluralistic and pragmatic practice. Goodman’s constructivism is complemented by social constructivism which focuses on “the collective generation of meaning as shaped by conventions of language and other social processes” [59]. As Berger and Luckmann define it: The reality of everyday life is not only filled with objectivations; it is only possible because of them [...] a special but crucially important case of objectivation is signification, that is, the human production of signs. A sign may be distinguished from other objectivations by its explicit intention to serve as an index of subjective meanings [6].

3.2 Phenomenology of Everydayness The phenomenology of everydayness [17, 26, 32, 60] is useful to narrow the scope of research and to examine everyday situations in ordinary contexts of agency. For this phenomenological approach, the understanding of the pre-reflective (previous to any theoretical stance) mastery of inner-worldly things (phenomena) that are handy to human beings in everyday life, is key to any research aiming to analyse the modes of being of human beings, and, therefore, aiming to understand the way they manage and interpret their everyday social practices. This mastery of things is gained merely through people’s existence: through the frequent use that human beings make of inner-worldly things in everyday situations. The ontological comprehension of this usability opens worlds of meaning to human beings [25, 32]. The phenomenology of everydayness shows the being of inner-worldly things (handy to human beings) and opens worlds of meaning that the use of those things disclose. It allows this research to apply all the methods necessary to understand the worlds of meanings that selected communication campaigns are opening. The epistemological approach is rooted in Plato’s truth theories, through the interpretation of Szlezak [64] and Heidegger [33]: the research has made use of Plato’s analogy of the segmented line (Republic 509e–511e); and Plato’s cave allegory (Republic 514a–517c), while resorting to Putnam’s [57] approach to realism.

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3.3 Research Design This research consists of a literature review and an empirical study. The literature review is a mixture of a narrative review and a conceptual review [65]. On the one hand, it is a narrative review because it describes what related academic and industry research have already accomplished on the topic; giving evidence to support the case of research. On the other hand, it is a conceptual review because all these studies have been clustered around the main concepts of research (marketing-led; design-led branding). In the empirical study, three brands of the Food and Beverage industry in the UK were selected for analysis. The Food and Beverage industry deals with everyday basic needs of their customers and the engagement between customers and brands is less attached to the limitations of more complex customer-brands relationships such as status, self-esteem, etc., and so forth. Therefore, Food and Beverage brands have a broader scope of customers. The selected brands for analysis have developed design-led campaigns allowing the audiences to customise labels with names and personal messages. Through archive research, data regarding the following design-led communication campaigns were collected: “Customize A Bottle” for Coca Cola (international global brand); “Design your own Johnnie Walker label” for Johnnie Walker (British global brand); and “The personalised Marmite jar” for Marmite (British local brand). Employing semiotics [2, 43] and critical analysis, the research identifies how these brands’ design-led branding approach has reinforced them to be positioned among the best brands in the UK Food and Drink sector. The semiotic analysis will emphasise the load of the signification of the selected branding approaches which, according to Barthes, constitutes the sign at the level of the myth. Mythology is a metalanguage that implies two communication systems: the first at the language level, where it is possible to find a signifier (meaning), a signified (concept) and a sign (sign); the second constitutes the myth, and its elements are the signifier (the form: the whole former system), the signified (concept) and the sign (signification) [2].

4 Empirical Study To reveal how design-led branding allows big brands to seize in the everyday social life of their audiences, this research analyses the campaigns where, through visual design (via customisation of product’s label) brands engage with very specific features of their audiences, avoiding generalisations and respecting the heterogeneity of contemporary market shares.

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4.1 Coca Cola Coca Cola has developed several campaigns where it allows the audiences to customise their own label. It started with “Share a Coke” (2013–2014) when the brand replaced its iconic logo with the most popular names of the nation’s where the brand commercialises its products. As part of this campaign, the brand allows some customers to personalise their own bottle “Customize a bottle”. Later on, the brand developed the same strategy with its Coca Cola Zero cans (Fig. 2), which could be personalised with forenames during Christmas 2020, and in the first quarter of 2021 the cans will be personalised with encouraging resolutions as part of the campaign “Open to better” (2020–21). This campaign contains 25 positive rousing messages including “I promise to listen more just for you” or “I will never make plans without you again”, but does not exclude the possibility for audiences to customise their can with their own inspirational message. Through design-led branding, Coca Cola has reached different levels of its audiences’ everyday life; first of all, the cultural space of popular names among Coca Cola drinkers, as well as the more specific space of personal forenames. Moreover, through being design-led, the brand is dealing with everyday social practices describing the most encouraging of these (due to the pandemic) on their cans. Semiologically, there are two levels of analysis: the first level is defined by the written text: “A (my) name on the Coca Cola label”; the meaning (sign) at this level is: “Coca Cola is sharing its main element of identity with their customers, allowing them to swap names on the branded labels”; the concept here is “through visual features, by allowing customers to modify its label, Coca Cola is sharing key identity elements”. At the second level, the meaning continues being the same: “Coca Cola is sharing its main element of identity with their customers, allowing them to swap

Fig. 2 Photography of a screen with personalised Coke Zero cans

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names on the branded labels”. The concept is the same: “through visual features, allowing customers to modify its label, Coca Cola is sharing key identity elements”, and the myth (sign) works in a double direction: on the one hand, by replacing the name of the brand, the customers identify themselves with the brand itself; on the other hand, the brand becomes part of the identity of the customers and, therefore, a key part of their everyday life. When the message on the label is not just a name, but an encouraging phrase, the brand is also dealing with and being part of its customers’ everyday social practices.

4.2 Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is also allowing its customers to design their own Johnnie Walker label, by adopting a bespoke layout already prepared for it or by incorporating a personal photo onto the label (Fig. 3). The customers are also allowed to write a meaningful message on it. With this interaction with its audience, Johnnie Walker is also seizing customers’ everyday social practices. Semiologically, the analysis is more complex but similar to those made for Coca Cola and Marmite. At the first level, there is a photo of a personal experience which goes along with a personal text: “This is my photography and my message related to it, as a label of Johnnie Walker”; there is a concept, “through visual features, by allowing customers to modify its label, Johnnie Walker is sharing key elements of identity and behaviour”. So, the meaning (sign) at the first level is: “Johnnie Walker is sharing main elements of identity and behaviour with their customers, allowing them to share their stories and narratives through the label of the brand”.

Fig. 3 Photography of the screen with a Johnnie Walker personalised bottle

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At the second level of analysis, the meaning is the same: “Johnnie Walker is sharing main elements of identity and behaviour with their customers, by allowing them to share their stories and narratives through the label of the brand”. The concept is “through visual features, by allowing customers to modify its label, Johnnie Walker is sharing key elements of identity and behaviour”, and the myth (sign) works also in a double direction; namely, on the one hand, placing on the label photos and messages related to one’s everyday life, the customers identify themselves with the brand; on the other hand, the brand becomes a meaningful element of socialisation of its customers’ social practices (through the recognition of everyday situations selected by their customers to use on the labels).

4.3 Marmite Marmite has always played with its design and the feelings and emotion of the audience to engage with them. Its strategy “love it or hate it” allows the brand to appropriate conflictive cultural elements of their audiences and label them onto their bottles: the Margaret Thatcher or BREXIT Marmite labels are good examples of this. Currently, the brand allows their customers to personalise the marmite jar by printing their names on the label of the brand; or even more, they can choose designs that modify more elements of Marmite’s label to introduce cultural or identity elements as well as everyday attitudes. Therefore, it is possible for the audiences to choose from the Personalised Classic Jar, Marmite Personalised Pride Jar, Marmite Personalised Halloween Jar (Trick), Marmite Personalised Halloween Jar (Treat), Marmite Personalised Christmas Jar (Nice), and Marmite Personalised Christmas Jar (Naughty) (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Photography of the screen with the whole range of marmite personalised jars on it

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The written text defines the first level of semiological analysis: “A (my) name on the Marmite label”; the sustaining concept is “through visual features, by allowing customers to modify its label, Marmite is sharing key identity elements”. So, the meaning (sign) at the first level is “Marmite is sharing main elements of identity with their customers, allowing them to swap names on the branded labels or adapt the labels to some features of their identities”. At the second level of the analysis, the meaning still is the same: “Marmite is sharing main elements of identity with their customers, allowing them to swap names on the branded labels or adapt the labels to some features of their identities”. The concept is “through visual features, by allowing customers to modify its label, Marmite is sharing key identity elements”, and the myth (sign) works as well in a double direction; namely, on the one hand, replacing the name of the brand and modifying its layout, the customers identify themselves with the brand; on the other hand, the brand shares meaningful elements of identity and socialisation, becoming a meaningful part of its customers’ everyday social practices (through the recognition of social events like the gay pride or traditional celebrations such as Halloween or Christmas).

5 Findings In trying to unveil how a neo-pragmatic realist approach can benefit the research about branding, this research has revealed, so far, that after analysing the current state of the literature, and the epistemological assumptions of the existing branding models, it is possible to link (1) the mindshare model to a scientific realist model, (2) the cultural model to a commonsensical realist model, and (3) the design-led model to a neo-pragmatic realist model. Following Plato’s allegory of the segmented line, design-led branding (related with neo-pragmatic realism) deals with images and imagination in the scope of the opinion; cultural branding (related to commonsense realism) manages sensitive data and beliefs in the scope of opinion, and mindshare branding (related to scientific realism) interacts with universal truth and with scientific knowledge. From this perspective, the mindshare model can struggle to manage the reality of the opinion scope where there is no universal scientific truth, and everything is in permanent change. The cultural model has found a way to manage communal beliefs (which constitute cultural realities and build up commonsensical plausible knowledge situations) but has not reached the most basic scope of everyday life where creativity and invention are the way to understand reality. Plato developed another analogy to describe the levels of knowledge in life: through the allegory of the cave (Republic 509e–511e), the Greek philosopher describes the different levels of knowledge through images: prisoners chained at the bottom of the cave among shadows (imagination); release from the chains (beliefs, sense data); ascension out of the cave and the way back to help other prisoners (thought and understanding, scientific knowledge). Plato dealt (like many other philosophers) with the same problems that many marketers have: how to find market

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rules (universal and true) in a world of change and heterogeneity as everyday life is. According to Heidegger [33], any time that Plato faced this problem, he made use of an allegory (in this sense, Plato was a designer) (Fig. 5). Szlezak [64] explained that Plato hated the lack of flexibility of the written text and preferred oral teaching and allegories because it was the best way for him to get closer to the truth. Heidegger also analysed how Plato struggled between taking a scientific or a metaphorical approach to the understanding of reality. According to Heidegger, in the allegory of the cave, Plato is telling his reader that even in a very poor stage, at the bottom of the cave, there is a small level of truth that starts to grow up in the way out of the cave. That makes a huge difference between Plato and a scientific realist, whilst for the latter, there is no truth inside the cave—for Plato, the truth is everywhere in different levels and, where the scientific thinking cannot reach any kind of knowledge (and, therefore, the truth), the metaphorical thinking can. Therefore, Plato’s allegory of the cave outlines how a neo-pragmatic realist approach (which is situated at the very bottom of the cave) could underpin other kinds of realist ones (Fig. 6). In other words, how understanding basic social practices could be a source of knowledge. Through design-led strategies, Coca Cola, Marmite and Johnnie Walker reach the scope of beliefs and imagination. By letting their audiences customise the design of their labels by sharing basic elements of identity and behaviour, they seize the scope of their everyday social practices. It is important to highlight here that this is possible due to the fact that these brands have a strong and stable corporate identity which can be recognised through the labelling and packaging of the brands. Through the customisation of its label, Coca Cola has reached the scope of beliefs when using the most popular names of its markets on it, the scope where its audiences agree what the most popular names are. When allowing its customers to write their own names or encouraging messages, the brand went a step further to the bottom of the cave, to the scope of imagination where all is possible. Johnnie Walker, being

Fig. 5 Design approach projection: how do humans learn to understand the world?

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Fig. 6 The neo-pragmatic realist approach at the bottom of the cave, allowing a branding journey that starts at the scope of everyday social practices

less popular than the other two brands, has reached the bottom of the cave with its label customisation: this brand allows its audience to share photographs of their social practices and also write personal messages on the label. Marmite has done the same by allowing its customers to redesign the labels. There is an appropriation of the scope of beliefs with the new layout referring to cultural celebrations (the Pride, Halloween, Christmas), and of the scope of the imagination allowing them to fill their names or their personal preferences onto the labels (nice–naughty; trick–treat). The last important finding is that whilst there is still discussion among marketingled scholars regarding the best ways to find a link to design-led branding and a lack of reflection regarding their epistemological assumptions, brands are finding their ways to make out the most of design.

6 Conclusions So far, the discussion among specialists has revolved around how to make marketingoriented branding models more effective or how to make them work in a complementary way. There are still very few developments regarding the epistemological assumptions of the branding positioning systems. Therefore, this research has focused on the analysis of these assumptions, its contribution being double: on the one hand, by trying to expand the scope of branding research and methodological approaches; on the other hand, by highlighting design as a relevant domain in branding practices which demands be developed further.

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In a world where globalisation is struggling with local claims, neo-pragmatic realism, which drives design-led branding, can be a source of innovation and a powerful tool to manage the specific contextual issues that companies and audiences face. A new-pragmatic realist approach includes everyday human practices, acknowledges human contexts’ complexity, and avoids generalisations that can mislead communication campaigns. In practical terms, a new-pragmatic realist approach, through design-led branding, could be the main access to branding for hundreds of new businesses and start-ups which do not have the financial power to develop massive campaigns or to become iconic brands. These new businesses will start by finding and targeting audiences in close and familiar communities. Design-led branding (linked mainly to a neo-pragmatic realist approach) could be a reliable source of authentic knowledge. Therefore, it may be possible to say that design is at the base of human-centred branding. If we asked Plato if he would really find Coca Cola inside the cave, his answer would be yes.

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Benchmarking and Rebranding a Handcraft Brand Sérgio Dominique-Ferreira, Andreia Roque, and Catherine Prentice

Abstract Brand management is a complex and dynamic process, playing an important role in the competitiveness of companies. The main purpose of this work was to carry out a benchmarking and develop the rebranding of a Portuguese handicraft brand to improve its attractiveness. In order to achieve this goal, authors applied a mixed-model research design, combining a synchronized approach of marketing and design principles. The results obtained show that the proposed methodology is appropriate for a rebranding process. Accordingly, the marketing mix and the visual identity of the brand received several updates. Keywords Branding · Rebranding · Benchmarking · Handicraft · Brand identity · Design

1 Introduction The quality of products or services alone cannot entirely ensure companies success (Todor 2014). Corporate branding and rebranding play an increasingly important role in the competitiveness of companies (Merrilees and Miller 2008; Stuart 2018). Subsequently, branding and rebranding are key processes for keeping keep companies competitive. Branding and rebranding refer to a product line, a sub-brand, or the entire company (Han, Reinartz and Skiera 2021). With this project, the authors intend to carry out a rebranding of Portuguese brand, Mellow. Mellow was launched on the market in 2018, selling handmade stationary S. Dominique-Ferreira (B) Department of Marketing, School of Tourism and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, UNIAG Research Unit, Barcelos, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] A. Roque School of Design, Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal C. Prentice Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_23

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products. The perceived quality of handmade products tends to be high. However, the initial perception from consumers didn’t meet these (high) standards, neither the promotion nor communication efforts of this brand. Consequently, it was important to carry out a rebrand, considering elements such as brand identify, product design and promotion in order to increase the perceived quality, increasing brand value and take advantage of the “handcraft” effect (in line with (Marques, Silva, Davcik and Faria 2020), Bamfo, Dogbe and Osei-Wusu (Bamfo, Dogbe and Osei-Wusu 2018; Jacoby, Olson and Haddock 1977). Thus, one of the solutions was to update the brand identify and create a new experience for consumers (in line with Dixon and Perry 2017). The decision was to convert Mellow into a premium brand of handmade products. For this purpose, three criteria were considered: a high quality materials, b internal organization and increased productivity; c consumers’ needs and preferences. To fulfil the project aim, the following section discusses the relevant literature review, followed by outlining the methods to address the research aims. The results are presented subsequently. Discussion and implications of the findings concludes this paper.

2 Literature Review 2.1 Branding According to Godin (2009) a brand is a set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that play an important role in the consumer decision making. Brands are key to the success of companies (Balmer, Lin, Chen and He 2020). However and very often, companies have different problems regarding their brand identity, e.g.: i) promotion issues,ii) lack of distinction, credibility, and/or memorability (e.g.: brand awareness) (e.g.: Aaker 1996). To create a competitive brand identity, companies have to understand consumers (their needs and preferences), competitors and the business environment. Brands that know the needs and preferences of their customers are able to increase customer engagement, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Dixon and Perry 2017). The brand identity needs to reflect the entire business strategy (Ghodeswar 2008).

2.2 Re-branding As Dixon and Perry (2017) mentioned, rebranding is a process of updating and creating better experiences. It is not just about changing the look, but a set of decisions related to broader aspects of brand perception (Mróz-Gorgón 2016). It may consist of changing some or all of the tangible (e.g.: physical expression of the brand) and intangible (e.g.: value, image and feelings) elements of a brand (Goi and Goi 2011).

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A rebranding can be carried out by companies that need updates, but don’t need a complete rebrand. This may be due to the creation of new products or services or only slights adaptations to existing products (Goi and Goi 2011). As Farquihar (1989) mentioned, reviving an old brand with high consumer awareness can be easier than creating a new brand with some product categories. Thus, revitalizing and repositioning a brand through gradual and incremental modifications of the brand and marketing aesthetics solutions can be considered natural and necessary or a necessary response to changing market conditions (Muzellec and Lambkin 2006), Kapferer 1998; Aaker 1991.

2.3 Brand Equity Brand equity refers to the global perception of a brand, including product and service quality, financial performance, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and general emotional attachment to a brand (Sarkar and Singh 2005). Brand equity is the “added value” with which a brand endows a product and is perceived by companies and consumers (Farquihar 1989). Improvements on brand awareness tend to increase brand equity (Aaker 1996). A brand has a positive brand equity if customers react more favorably to a product and to the respective promotions when the brand is identified than when it is not identified (Kotler and Keller 2012). In strong brands, brand equity is linked both to the quality of products and services and to other intangible attributes (Ghodeswar 2008). In this process of building strong brands, consumers have to go through positive experiences with brands, products and services, enhancing customers engagement and loyalty behaviors (Hua, Prentice and Ha 2021, Prentice, Weaven and Wong 2020, Wong, Prentice and Liu 2020, Ou, Wong, Prentice and Li Strategyzer 2020). Furthermore, literature shows that customer engagement and brand equity are linked and are critical for companies (Ou, Wong, Prentice and Liu 2020). Indeed, brand equity enhances a seamless transition between the past and the future of companies (Kotler and Keller 2012).

2.4 Marketing-mix Marketing mix is considered an essential part in the development of marketing strategies (Londh (2014) and it certainly plays an important role in the branding and rebranding process (Han Reinartz and Skiera 2021). As a conceptual framework with managerial implications, the marketing-mix allows managers and marketeers to organize the strategy of brands, namely by improving market segmentation (Goi 2009). The marketing-mix has been applied for decades by managers and academics, becoming a key element of marketing theory and practice (Dominici 2009). This concept (marketing mix) has been used for many decades to describe a mix of factors over which an organization has an active role. The first attempt to list

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Fig. 1 The marketing-mix proposed by McCarthy combined with twelve dimensions of Borden

these factors was carried out by Borden (1964) who developed twelve actions or tactics. Later, Jerome McCarthy summarized those twelve actions in four (product, price, placement and promotion) (Adcock Halborg and Ross 2001; McCarthy 1964). Figure shows Borden’s twelve dimensions and how they were adapted to the four proposed dimensions of McCarthy (Fig. 1). But since Borden introduced the concept of marketing mix in 1953 and since Jerome McCarthy defined the 4 P’s, the business environment has undergone many changes (Dominici 2009, Riaz and Tanveer, w.d.). There are several limitations regarding the 4 P’s, as the changes in the social and economic environment had a strong impact (Dominici 2009). But the marketing mix still remains based on the 4 P’s, despite all limitations and the overall simplicity (Goi 2009). One of the strategies used in planning a marketing mix is the research and analysis of benchmarking (see Martins et al. 2021 a, 2021b). Accordingly, benchmarking involves the study of companies with the best practices, competing companies, in order to improve our own performance (Kotler and Keller 2012, Martins, Dominique-Ferreira and Lopes 2021, Martins, Dominique-Ferreira and Pinheiro 2021).

3 Methodology 3.1 Sample and Procedure The study undertook a mixed-method to address the research aims including a synchronized approach of marketing and design principles. Stage 1 Stage 1 was to develop a benchmarking (based on Martins, Dominique-Ferreira and Lope 2021; Martins, Dominique-Ferreira and Pinheiro 2021) of the brands Fine &

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Fig. 2 Logos from the selected competing brands for analysis

Candy, CGD London and MiGoals, allowed to identify the most relevant elements in branding and rebranding. In the first stage, the selected brands were: a) Fine & Candy; b) CGD London; c) MiGoals. Stage 2 For the development of the logo and visual identity, authors combined two methos: Airey 2010 and Wheeler 2013 proposals. The combination of these two methodologies allowed to create an iconic brand identity. The marketing-mix has also been updated. Product, price, placement and promotion were redefined. The segmentation-targeting-positioning approach (STP) was also redefined. In order to optimize the revised business model, authors also developed the Canvas Business Model map. A non-probabilistic sampling of professionals in the field. The e-questionnaire was developed using Reddit platform. Stage 3 To study the reactions of the targets to the new logo, an ad-hoc questionnaire was developed. In addition, a concept testing and a product concept were also carried out to explore the effect of the updates. A non-probabilistic sampling was carried out. Two questionnaires were employed. One to analyze the rebranding and the other was composed of: i) a concept testing; ii) product testing.

4 Results 4.1 Benchmarking Creating a distinct brand requires a market analysis, namely the competitors, in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses Entrepreneur 2006. Figure 2 presents the logos of the main competitors.

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Fine and Candy

Product and Price The products of (the brand) Fine & Candy are executed with extreme quality, a handcrafted execution process. Each product is produced individually, making each piece unique, and always using premium materials. This brand has several products on the portfolio: notebooks, pencils, envelopes, and other office accessories. The notebooks are simples, the inside is plain paper (Fig. 3), and the outside of the products can be made of leather, synthetic fabrics (with patterns or plain), vinyl, velvet, fur or paper. There are several sizes available in the products, in A5, A6 and pocket size (a vertical size smaller than A6). Regarding the cover, some don’t have the logo (Fig. 4), others have a gold-stamped logo, or a dry-stamped logo or even a metal plate with the brand logo. For more details, please see Fig. 4. The price range varies between 19.50 and 58.00e. Sometimes price discounts are applied. Promotion and Placement The brand is present in several social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Vimeo, and has also a website with the “online shop” option. The communication of the brand is clean, using simple images, with or without a model

Fig. 3 Interior and details of Fine & Candy products and different covers

Fig. 4 Compilations of images from the communication of Fine & Candy

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to expose the product in the best way, using colorful, but sophisticated and elegant backgrounds (Fig. 4). The brand has a coherent communication and image along all the platforms. The brand has a physical store in Oporto, Portugal, and there is also a sale of products by resellers in online and physical stores, all over the world. And they also have their own online shop where customers can buy the products and personalize.

4.1.2

CGD London

Product and Price The brand has products focused on different audiences, there are products for projects, physical exercise/health, achievement, financial organization, for ideas, etc. The brand’s main product ‘Getting Stuff Done’ has a pink cover (see in Fig. 5), which doesn’t differ between sexes, but gives the brand and the product a more feminine look. This product focuses on helping users to organize their daily lives with space for all different kind of tasks. The purpose of this product is to help the consumer to find a balance between personal and professional life. The products are made with vegan leather, in A5 size, in the covers some logos are embossed in red, others in gold, the color may vary according with the color of the cover itself (see Fig. 5). The price varies between 29.00e and 58.00e. There are some frequent promotions and sometimes discount coupons that are shared on social media. Promotion and Placement This is a brand more dedicated to the female audience as it is possible to observe in the products and in the communication of the brand (see Fig. 6). There are used some feminine accessories and elements to emphasize to their target audience. The communication and images are coherent all over the social platforms, with the use of pink tones very often and the use of female testimonies. The brand has a website with online shop, also having access to the blog. Fig. 5 Bestseller from the brand CGD London and different covers

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Fig. 6 Compilations of images from the communication of CGD London

4.1.3

MiGoals

Product and Price The brand’s main product ‘Goal Digger’ is available in various colors, offering a pleasant and elegant color palette to choose from. This product focuses on the achievement of goals, suitable for goal diggers as the brand promotes, there are pages dedicated to specific tasks and goals. The covers of the products are made of artificial leather, in different colors (Fig. 7), having different printing effects on the covers of the products, with engraving in gold, black or recorded artwork. The prices of the products vary between 7.00e and 42.00e. Price discounts are applied in the online store. Promotion and Placement The communication of the brand and the image style is more neutral, using pastel tones and more serious colors, such as dark blue and green, both in products and in the backgrounds and color of the images (see in Fig. 8). The brand has a website, with

Fig. 7 Examples of testimonies from the brand CGD London

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Fig. 8 Compilations of images from the communication of MiGoals

an online shop and blog. The brand has also resale of MiGoals products in online and physical stores.

4.2 Branding Mellow is a brand created on January 2018, where initially started by having handmade products for notes and drawing, with visible handmade stitching, giving a unique aspect to the products (see in Fig. 9). Over time it was possible to identify some problems on the products, same as the brand identity, realizing that for the brand to continue creating handmade and unique products that was needed a rebrand. Some updates were carried out (products and brand identity) because the existing brand didn’t suit the new standards of quality and premium feeling. The current logo (Fig. 10) shows that there is no common characteristics between the logo of Mellow and its competitors. The logos of these brands are elegant and minimalist, while the current logo of Mellow is handwritten, representing something more playful and younger, with a signature that does not convey the brand’s mission. The font used in the logo of Mellow is handwritten, with cursive letters, which can express creativity, emotions and turn the brand more feminine. And the goal was that the brand is be suitable for every gender. With these observations it was possible to understand that it was necessary to carry out a rebranding, since the current logo of the brand was not suitable for the new target.

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Fig. 9 Images of the first products from Mellow

Fig. 10 Current Mellow logo with competitor’s logos

Fig. 11 Before and after logo of mellow

4.2.1

Rebranding

Taking into account the new values and mission, authors started to work on sketches for what would be the new logo of the brand. After several interactions, it was possible to achieve the new logo (see Fig. 11), which presents a cleaner and minimalist image, which as Airey (2010) mentions helps to make a logo more versatile and easier to be recognized by the user, authors maintain a little of the effect handmade in the identity through the symbol created from the concept of a sewing thread.

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Fig. 12 New logo alongside the with logos of competitor’s

According to Wheeler (2013), quantitative research is important to analyze the market. In this sense, a e-questionnaire was developed as follows: a briefly description of Mellow rebranding, where the logo was initially shown without any explanation. Subjects were asked about what kind of brand was associated. 61.5% of the participants identified the logo as belonging to a handcraft brand. 73.1% of the participants considered the logo to be suitable for the brand. 76.9% found the logo visually appealing and 80.8% thought that the logo would be more appealing than the competitors. The rebranding was also presented to some professionals in the area. These professionals compared the previous version of the logo with the new proposal (see Fig. 15). Positive feedback was received, as well as suggestions for possible changes to the logo. Nevertheless, the general perception was that the new logo was in line with the new mission and objectives of the brand. The new Mellow logo is simpler and minimalistic, using geometric shapes (Fig. 12).

4.3 Marketing-Mix 4.3.1

Product

Types of Product Mellow products will be produced by hand, giving flexibility and a unique aesthetic to the products. The brand wants to use recyclable materials, and all the products will be produced in Portugal and with materials from national producers, in which the brand will present differentiating elements such as ‘Handmade’ and ‘Made in Portugal’. One of the new products will be A5 size, to use quarterly, with handmade stitching, high quality covers, artificial leather. In Fig. 13, it is possible to observe some photos of the prototype created to study the effectiveness and use of this new product.

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Fig. 13 New product images using the prototype created

In addition to the main product, there will be other products that will be focused on more specific targets and also customized products. Product Testing and Price A concept and product testing were carried out. Results show that: a) 78.6% consider the product to be useful and aesthetically appealing; b) 50% considered the product innovative; c) 42.9% mentioned that they would use the product. Optimal price for the product described above would be 55.00e (with a 40% profit margin). Promotion and Placement/Distribution The communication of the brand will be mostly digital, with a special focus on the brand’s website. The new platform will be composed by an online store and a blog page. Post tips and trend topics about productivity and lifestyle will be highlighted. The brand will be in several social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, in a way that consumers can easily find it and interact directly with the brand. Mellow wants to convey an image of quality and minimalism, like Fine & Candy, which uses minimalist images and with a focus on product details. Productivity and lifestyle tips promoted by competitors (MiGoals and CGD London brands) will also be used. Initially, the distribution will be digital, on the website or through partners. The priority will be online partners with a particular focus on handmade and Portuguese products. For logistics, Seur and Chronopost will be the main options.

4.4 Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) 4.4.1

Segmentation

The segmentation criteria considered were: i) demographic; ii) geographic; iii) psychographic; iv) behavioral information. Results from the three clusters obtained are presented in Fig. 14 (based on the proposal of Stevens et al. 2001).

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Fig. 14 Segments’ description

4.4.2

Target

A brief description of the target can be found in Fig. 15. Fig. 15 Targeting process

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Fig. 16 Perceptual maps

4.4.3

Positioning

There were created two perceptual maps (see in Fig. 16) considering the main competitors. Fine & Candy is perceived as more luxurious but performs worse in the functionality of the products.

4.5 CANVAS Model The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management tool that allows to describe, design, challenge, invent and streamline any business model (Strategizer, s.d.) (see Fig. 17).

5 Discussion and Implications The results obtained confirm that the updated version of the logo arouses a positive feedback, as well as the redefined mission and goals of Mellow. The rebranding meets consumer expectations and competitors’ standards (in line with Mróz-Gorgón 2016). Aesthetics and design are key elements that affect consumer’s purchase intention (Bryun, Jones and Wooldrige 2017). In this context, 76.9% of the participants considered the new logo to be visually appealing. Regarding the concept and product testing, 85.7% of the participants considered the product visually appealing. According to Norman (2004) and Bloch (1995), this is a positive output for selling and promoting a brand, especially when launching new products. The efforts resulting from this project should allow the brand “Mellow” to be perceived as a premium through high perceived quality and minimalism, fitting into

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Fig. 17 Business Model Canvas

the stationary market. This project can contribute to professionals in the design and marketing fields regarding rebranding process in handicraft markets. Furthermore, through this project it is possible to realize that an appropriate rebranding requires more than changing the logo or graphic elements of a brand. Creating developing a new brand culture and updated communicational approach based on a customercentric perspective are key elements (in line with Morgan and 2019).

6 Limitations and Further Research one of the limitations of this work is the impossibility of implementing all the strategies associated with the rebranding proposal. Therefore, it would be important to proceed accordingly in the near future, measuring the reactions on the company’s targets. It was not yet possible to update the website and social networks of Mellow with the new image and mission of the brand. As for the product, after carrying out the first prototypes, tests and collecting feedback from consumers, further developments and new prototype iterations are needed to reach the quality expected from consumers. There is also a need for packaging development, which will be necessary to send products to consumers. And when customers receive their orders, the external packaging needs to generate a premium felling. It is also necessary to update brand’s social media and website to the new brand image. This action will be strategically scheduled and carried out as soon as the production of the new product is available.

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Further improvements in the communication plan are needed depending on the evolution of the market (e.g.: pandemic). Mellow intends to create and sell products in the stationary market, standing out as a unique handmade brand, meeting consumers’ preferences. Funding The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG (UIDB/04752/2020).

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From Design History to Its Transdisciplinarity

The School of Carlos Ramos: A Lasting Legacy of a Revolution Eliana Penedos-Santiago , Susana Barreto , Cláudia Lima , Nuno Martins , and Pedro Santiago

Abstract This paper aims to contextualise the educational legacy of Architect Carlos Ramos among the rise of an avant-garde school of thought, over the 20 yrs that preceded the Carnation Revolution, in the midst of a cultural, social and political turmoil. It is argued that these were the circumstances that enabled the subsequent groundwork for the curricular formulation of the Design degree in 1975. The conducted research acknowledges a need to consolidate the understanding of the circumstances surrounding a particular school model in the 1960s, confirming Architect Carlos Ramos as a central figure for an innovative template to have emerged, as a single occurrence among national Schools of Fine Arts, at a time of political unrest in which censorship represented a powerful State policy tool. A set of ethnographic interviews were conducted with artists and teachers from this time span, articulating testimonies, direct and indirect observation, and existing documentation. From a total of 44 interviews, 8 interviewees stand out, given their close contact with Carlos Ramos, either as a student, assistant or even as a close friend. Through the contribution to knowledge by this generation of Artists and Designers from ESBAP we aim to recover and disseminate methodologies and pedagogical practices developed under this period and thus mapping the framework that favoured the rise of the model currently known as the “School of Porto”, as an important milestone in the history of Portuguese Art and Design. Keywords Wisdom Transfer · Carlos Ramos · ESBAP · School of Porto E. Penedos-Santiago (B) · S. Barreto ID+/Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] C. Lima ID+/Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto and Lusófona University, Porto, Portugal N. Martins Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave/ID+, Barcelos, Portugal P. Santiago University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_24

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1 Introduction This paper aims to recover and contextualise the contribution of Carlos Ramos to the fine arts education model, a legacy stemming from a time of social and political repression and censorship. This article stems from a previous project entitled “Wisdom Transfer (WT): towards the scientific inscription of individual legacies in contexts of retirement from art and design higher education and research”, funded by FCT (Portuguese Funding agency for Science, Research and Technology). WT claims that research in art and design has only recently been validated as a scientific discipline, it can be argued that its provenance may reside in an older generation of researchers who were the first to lead the transition of mindsets regarding creative production in practice and academics. This legacy has remained largely outside the sphere of validation in current art and design higher education and research. A group of artists, architects and designers were selected according to their age, period of attendance as students, their influence as lectures and their relevance in history. The ethnographic interviews were a key tool to collect their testimonies, empirical knowledge and most of all their life stories. During these interviews Carlos Ramos began to emerge persistently, gradually diluting a preconceived suspicion that this was a timespan shaded by dictatorship in which only a great personal effort (which sometimes led to punishment and a life conditioned by the castrating eye of the Secret Police - PIDE) could make a difference. This evidence of the existence of a rising avant-garde core in the mid-Twentieth Century in Porto, provided by our interviewees, led to a growing belief that Carlos Ramos could reveal himself as the central figure of this achievement. Therefore, it was considered vital and complementary to our research within the WT project, to pursue this evidence and thus consolidate the understanding of the circumstances surrounding the architect’s accomplishments. These may reveal themselves to be the foundations of the School of Porto and, more important, the groundwork for an identity that prevails until today. Carlos João Chambers Ramos was born in Porto in 1897, attended the School of Fine Arts of Lisbon (ESBAL) between 1915 and 1921, and was acknowledged architect in 1926. Son, nephew and grandson of educators, Carlos Ramos took the educative role as the main family legacy where “to educate is above all to transmit a professional ethics and a class consciousness that Ramos conveys through his example, as believes that only with a strong associative life and a cohesive intervention of architects in civil society will avoid another generation of condescending individuals.” [5] This paper will give an overview of the political, social and cultural circumstances that characterised this period, a constraint of the utmost relevance for understanding the significance of the work carried out by Carlos Ramos. The architect believed that by changing the education system he could lay the groundwork to achieve cultural, political and social evolution.

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Due to a hard repressive system imposed, speaking through his work was sometimes difficult. These constraints led Carlos Ramos to choose teaching as a decisive means for a change. Considered by many as a first-generation modernist architect in Portugal, one can easily identify a clear incompatibility with the traditionalist and regionalist dimension intended by the Estado Novo (the Second Portuguese Republic) [10]. Despite this limitation, the architect always sought harmony between the modern and the imposed traditionalism, in a symbiotic relationship between the educator and the architect. Ramos considered the education system obsolete, and although in 1933 he had already created the right conditions to transform part of his studio in Lisbon into a practical school for the next generations, it was not until he reached the School of Fine Arts of Porto (ESBAP) that he managed to put his convictions into practice. This study aims to offer an overview on how Carlos Ramos conducted his beliefs in pursuit for a better world. It is considered relevant to understand his role as an educator, the way he led and possibly transformed Fine Arts education in Portugal within a highly conservative period in Portuguese history, well known for its resistance to change.

2 Methods Considering the lack of inscription in the above presented context, direct and indirect methods of engagement and observation, such as interviews with open-ended questions [4], have played a critical role towards collecting data. The interviews were conducted with a group of retired/retiring artists and art professors who graduated from ESBAP during the 1960’s and 1970’s, incorporating insights from Professor Lúcia Matos, the current director of the Faculty of Fine Arts in the University of Porto and the illustrator Manuela Bacelar. A critical aspect of engagement with the target community, in a majority of cases, has been the possibility of conducting interview sessions within the artists’ personal/studio spaces. This provided means to obtain a set of exclusive observations within the interviewees’ testimonies, and the opportunity to witness first-hand, some of the practices that characterized their creative process and were also integral to the methodologies [22], they presented to their students. In the process, certain audio-visual recordings were made which allowed further scrutiny of the collected observations in subsequence [1]. At the beginning of each interview, participants were requested to authorise the recording of images and sound, through a consent form signed by them, and duly explained the purpose of these materials. The period under analysis, was fraught with turmoil in Portugal, however, it proved to be decisive and exceptionally prosperous in terms of Arts and Design, and the testimonies helped reconstruct a chronology of pedagogical experiences in this regard [22]. This article evaluates interviews with forty-four individuals conducted between December 2018 and October 2020 and includes sixteen female and twenty-eight male

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interviewees dominantly divided across the disciplines of sculpting and painting, alongside the current director of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Lúcia Matos and Manuela Bacelar a renowned artist, in the field of infant illustration since 1974. Lucia Matos and Manuela Bacelar did not attend ESBAP as students, however, they were both considered relevant to this research due to their vocational, professional and research interests’ background: Matos contribute as an interviewee was considered mandatory according to the nature of her research in conjunction with her actual position as the Faculty of Fine Arts director; Bacelar (scholarship holder from 1963 to 1970), graduated in Illustration at the prestigious School of Applied Arts in Prague (current Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design – Prague), is a renowned artist, in the field of infant illustration since 1974 and therefore an important complementary piece for the re-creation of this particular period. Although this study highlights only eight of the forty-four interviewees (see Table 1), considering the fact that this was a group of students that had personal contact with the architect, it is highly relevant to share the entire list [20], given the importance of contextualising this timespan in a wider sense. These interviews were cross-referenced with an interview to the architect Álvaro Siza (conducted by the architect João Rapagão for the video documentary: “As Casas do Futuro”) [18], formal documents from the University of Porto Thematic Repository [11] and the available research projects on Carlos Ramos. Table 1 List of interviewees Nome

Degree

Start

End

Faculty

Director

Date interview

Adriano Nazareth

Painting

1982

1999

1990–2017

Alexandre Falcão

Painting

1964

1973

08.02.2020

Ana Campos

CD/GA

1976

1981

27.06.2019

Antero Pinto

CD/GA

1979

1987

10.01.2019

António Madureira

Architecture

1964

1969

António Mendanha

Painting

1979

1986

António Quadros Ferreira

Painting

1966

1971

1978–2013

Armando Alves Painting

1957

1962

1962–1967& 1969–1973

05.12.2018

Carlos Barreira

Sculpture

1968

1973

1977–2009

08.01.2019

Carlos Carreiro

Painting

1967

1972

1977–2003

16.01.2019

06.10.2020

1980–1984

09.09.2020 10.01.2019 & 24.11.2020 2004–2005

12.04.2019

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Nome

Degree

Start

End

Faculty

Director

Date interview

Carlos Marques

Painting

1967

1975

1977–2006

11.12.2018

Domingos Pinho

Painting

1960

1966

1973–2002

21.01.2020

Elvira Leite

Painting

1957

1962

Filomena Vasconcelos

Architecture

1967

Francisco Laranjo

Fine Arts

1973

1978

Graça Morais

Painting

15.01.2019 22.01.2020

— 1987 - *

2008–2018

25.09.2020

1966

1971

31.01.2019

H aydée Sculpture De = Francesco

1956

1961

21.01.2019

Heitor Alvelos

CD/GA

1984

1989

Helena Abreu e Lima

Painting

1963

1968

23.01.2019

Helena A. Santos

Painting

1961

1966

07.01.2019

Henrique Pichel Painting

1961

1969

28.01.2020

Isabel Cabral

Painting

1967

1973

20.12.2018

Jaime Silva

Painting

1965

1972

João Barata Feyo

Sculpture

1957

1966

1972–2008

07.02.2020

João Machado

Sculpture

1963

1968

1977–1983

01.03.2019

João Nunes

CD/GA

1976

1981

Joaquim Machado

Sculpture

1962

1967

1968–1999

16.10.2020

Jorge Pinheiro

Painting

1955

1963

1963–1976

16.04.2019

José Paiva

1995 - *

1989 - *

16.10.2020

09.10.2020

26.02.2019

Painting

1968

1986

Leonilda Santos Painting

1981

1986

14.12.2018

Lima de Carvalho

Painting

1967

1972

31.01.2019

—

—

—

—

—

—

Manuela Bronze Painting

1975

1981

04.01.2019

Maria José Aguiar

Painting

1967

1972

14.01.2019

Maria José Valente

Painting

1968

1977

22.01.2019

Lúcia Matos Manuela Bacelar

1987 - * 1990–2017

2014–2018

since 2018

19.12.2018

24.01.2019 24.01.2020

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Nome

Degree

Start

End

Faculty

Director

Mário Américo

Painting

1962

1972

25.01.2019

Mário Moura

Architecture

1961

1967

05.11.2019

Paula Soares

Painting

1973

1978

8.04.2019

Pedro Rocha

Painting

1967

1972

Purificação Fontes

Sculpture

1964

1972

1977–2009

Rodrigo Cabral

Painting

1968

1973

1977–2003

Sobral Centeno

Painting

1969

1978

1977–2006

Zulmiro de Carvalho

Sculpture

1963

1968

1973–2002

1992–1996

Date interview

30.01.2019 22.01.2019

2000–2004

28.12.2018 20.12.2018

2004–2005

07.01.2019

3 Carlos Ramos’s Glass Dome in the Midst of an Oppressive Regime 3.1 The Political Landscape The architect was consistently pointed out by our interviewees as a personality of great cultural, social and political openness in an era marked by conservatism, within an oppressive regime led between 1933 and 1968 by António de Oliveira Salazar, President of the Council of Ministers. According to Fragoso [10], the manipulation of visual communication in this period was highlighted by design handling at the service of the regime. The strains of visual propaganda enforced the rural and Christian model of Salazar: “God, Nation and Family”, combined with ideals of peace, happiness and family safety. Unlike the models imposed by other authoritarian regimes in Europe at the time, opting for “affirmations of power”, António Ferro (Director of the Secretariat of National Propaganda) favoured a model that could reflect the traditionalist and regionalist dimension. Before the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the prevailing dictatorial regime maintained rigorous censorship over all forms of self-expression, including in the sphere of art, and were aided by the so called “Little Salazars”, the local agents and common citizens loyal to the regime [14], who exercised additional, and at times more oppressive measures of control over people. The Estado Novo regime pursued and repressed all forms of thought diverging from those supported and enforced by the State. The freedom of thought was repressed, resulting in restrictions and prohibitions that affected all branches of culture, namely the prevention of any publications, that did not follow the criteria of the Estado Novo, from entering Portugal.

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3.2 Carlos Ramos and the School of Fine Arts of Porto In 1933, together with Paulino Montez, Cassiano Branco and Cristino da Silva, Carlos Ramos applied for the position of professor of the 4th discipline of architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. According to António Madureira [17], Fernando Távora (renowned Portuguese architect and one of Ramos students) once mentioned that when Carlos Ramos lost to Cristino da Silva, he decided to appeal against the decision alleging that its direct competitor had committed an illegal act by ordering the submitted project from a colleague in Paris. Meanwhile, Ramos quickly transformed his studio in Lisbon (see Fig. 1) into a practical school for the new next generation of architects who, during the 1930s and 1940s, found in Largo de Santos a counterpoint to the institutionalised teaching of the School. Expressing exclusively through his work was sometimes impossible. Ramos found in teaching the decisive means for a change. Apparently, a few years later, Ramos appealed against the evaluation committee decision, which led Salazar to send him to ESBAP, in 1940, to fulfil the place left by the retired Marques da Silva, as an invited professor [17]. Carlos Ramos will definitely put his thoughts into practice at ESBAP in the Architecture degree, in 1940, setting a series of new approaches to the discipline of architecture, such as introducing students to contemporary programmes while fostering direct contact with professional practice. This was the beginning of an effective collaboration between students and teachers in ESBAP, initially in projects under his responsibility. For Carlos Ramos, training was a continuous and uninterrupted act. He promoted the students’ freedom of expression, helping them to

Fig. 1 Carlos Ramos at his studio in 1948. Source Centro Virtual Camões do Instituto Camões

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develop their argumentative capacity through the defence of their technical and formal options:“maximum freedom with maximum responsibility”. [8] In the 1940s, Carlos Ramos was working on the construction of the Paços do Concelho do Porto (actual Porto City Hall) as architect Marques da Silva collaborator. After the death of Marques da Silva in 1947, Ramos took over the direction of the project. Given his influence in the city council, he invited the sculptor Sebastião Barata Feyo to develop the monument “Monumento Almeida Garrett”, thus ensuring the sculptor’s presence in Porto. Barata Feyo was a close friend to Carlos Ramos and an essential contributor to the project he had for ESBAP [15]. In 1948 the sculptor moved to Porto and his family joined him in 1949. Carlos Ramos travelled abroad frequently due to his international demands as a result of his duties as an architect, as a member of advisory boards and research committees, or as the International Union of Architects secretary to participate in the Union assemblies and meetings [6]. By travelling all over the world till the end of his life, he was able to maintain direct contact with international architecture and to acquire a vast and up-to-date bibliography on architecture, urbanism and fine arts, most of which was inaccessible in Portugal at the time. This clearly manifests the impact that this overseas experience might have had on his work, his beliefs and convictions, and most of all, his understanding of the world. Gradually Carlos Ramos brought together other renowned artists such as Dordio Gomes and Heitor Cramez. These collaborations ensured, in the 1950s, a major turning point in ESBAP and the rise of the School of Porto as Ramos envisioned. The architect Álvaro Siza joined the Architecture degree at ESBAP in 1949. In his interview conducted by João Rapagão for the video documentary “Casas do Futuro” Siza [18], mentions the gradual rise of a broader mindset, within the School, at the beginning of the 1950s. This was the period in which Carlos Ramos managed to put together a new faculty team duly coordinated and fine-tuned with the architect´s guidelines and methodologies. The vast majority of faculty members was under retirement age: “many of them were great professors and great architects. Just think of Rogério de Azevedo, who was still my teacher, or Manuel Marques, the architect of Vitália, and others.” [18] Carlos Ramos gathered a team of young educators that believed in his vision and therefore were able to conduct a set of methodological experiments that quickly became a reference. It was painful to dispose of senior teachers, prestigious members of Portuguese society. Ramos silently dismissed them through the assignment of obsolete courses [17]. Meanwhile, some of his former students joined him, namely Fernando Távora, in the late 1950s, Álvaro Siza, Júlio Resende and the “Quatro Vintes” (see Fig. 2) in the sixties. According to Jorge Pinheiro [16], he managed to support and surround himself with a new generation of educators and assistants, thus open-minded to proposals for curricular experimentation such as the one made by Armando Alves, when suggesting to Ramos the introduction to Graphic Arts within the Decorative Painting subject. [22] This allowed him to bridge the gap between different generations and thus build a school of people.

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Fig. 2 “Os Quatro Vintes” include Armando Alves, José Rodrigues, Jorge Pinheiro and Ângelo de Sousa. The name of the group derives from the fact that they all have completed their graduation with the highest grade (20 points). Carlos Ramos was the catalyst behind their formation

Fig. 3 Carlos Ramos in 1960. Source Centro Virtual Camões do Instituto Camões

Between 1952 and 1967, Carlos Ramos (see Fig. 3) took over the direction of the School. For 15 yrs he managed to provide and maintain a space of freedom that inspired and encouraged the action of others, far from the narrow ideological corset of the Estado Novo. This allowed for a social and political consciousness to be established, inseparable from the new architectural trends of the 1950s and 1960s. This was an aspiration achieved at the cost of concessions, commitments and occasional ambiguities through delicate diplomacy [6]. It is known that the reform in the education of Fine Arts, in 1957, did not translate into learning benefits, at the School of Fine Arts of Lisbon (ESBAL). According to Fernando Conduto [10], the educators remained loyal to themselves and indifferent to the expected change, and most of the recruited graduates attached new teaching pathologies to the existing ones. The School did not follow the training and the

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experiences that took place outside of it, were developed in a detached, disorganised way and according to models deviated from the established guidelines. Considering the collected testimonies of those who attended ESBAP under the direction of Carlos Ramos, the difference between Fine Arts teaching methodologies in Lisbon (the country’s capital and the strategic centre of the regime) and those in place in Porto was clearly evident. Carlos Carreiro [12], born and raised in Azores, spent one year (1966–1967) in Law School in Lisbon. As the Portuguese capital, Lisbon was the epicentre of the regime and according to Carreiro the most conservative city in the country and consequently characterised by a narrow and inflexible ideological sight. In 1967, when the artist decided to switch from Law School to Painting, he headed to Porto looking for the “avant-garde” School of Fine Arts directed by Carlos Ramos.

3.3 The Cultural Arena: ESBAP Extracurricular Activities Carlos Ramos was “an admirable teacher and tenacious defender of the modern principles” [9]. According to Coutinho [6], Ramos often portrayed himself as a member of a “compromised generation” willing to sacrifice some of their ideals in order to ensure their professional survival. The architect was conscious of the costs implied however, through education, the main goal of his life, he stood for change in the education system in order to achieve cultural, political and social evolution, only possible “when the aesthetic education of half a dozen successive generations is done with care, common sense and a great sense of balance” [7]. During this period Ramos stood as a catalyst by promoting a set of extracurricular activities that sought to establish ESBAP as a cultural space. Important occasions for conviviality included the Magna Exhibitions (see Fig. 4), first one held in 1952 [23], that were of considerable importance to the academic community and took place around the All Saints’ Day celebrations in October. Lima de Carvalho [14] recalled how traffic would be stopped on the street in front of the school to accommodate the crowd which would gather to see the exhibition. In the meanwhile, devout women returning from paying respects to their ancestors at the Prado cemetery nearby would walk in inadvertently and get shocked by the exhibition’s contents. Acts of embracing the community at large would also take place during the evening open classes in the attic of ESBAP, according to João Machado [19], when students from other disciplines such as medicine, law and humanities, with a passion for drawing, would be welcomed with buckets, ink, drawing sheets and nude models. Elvira Leite also conveyed how in her time as a student at the academy (1957– 1962), director Carlos Ramos would dedicate one day in a year to encourage further interaction and bonding between teachers and students. Often held in the village of Entre-os-Rios further upstream in the Douro valley, the day would be marked with celebrations, including motivational speeches, Magustos or Portuguese-style

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Fig. 4 Magna exhibition catalogue - december 1964; ©Courtesy Alexandre Falcão

Fig. 5 Courtesy ©Elvira Leite - Magusto ESBAP 1961: Bonfire Jump ©Cláudia Lima

bonfires with singing and dancing (see Fig. 5), and would typically conclude with a lamprey dinner. Extracurricular exhibitions, summer courses and field visits, concerts, debates, seminars or cinema sessions [6], were some of the relevant actions Ramos managed to implement in a time of severe conservatism (see Fig. 6).

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Fig. 6 The Ball. @Courtesy of Alexandre Falcão

Carlos Ramos was known for his amazing ability to communicate. He is remembered for his empathic personality and a refined sense of humour. Ramos was a highly educated man with a sharp mind which allowed him to establish close ties with government authorities and with the most influential sectors of national politics. Considering the way society envisioned ESBAP, always under a suspicious look, Ramos always ensured the presence, at the Magna Exhibitions, of public authorities such as the Civil Governor, the Mayor or the Bishop of Porto (Ferreira Gomes at the time). Even the President, Américo Thomaz, attended two editions of the Magna Exhibitions. According to Madureira, Ramos was not a regime protégé, he was well related due to his social skills. There was a great political persecution at the time by the Secret Police (PIDE), and ESBAP was not an exception, with students and staff members being arrested. Without ever taking public positions he always managed to find a way to get people out of trouble and ease tensions. Carlos Ramos played, as ESBAP´s Director, an important mediating and diplomatic role before the national authorities, establishing exchanges with local and national entities strongly sustained by his international ties.

4 Final Considerations The pre-revolution period was culturally, politically and socially oppressed, controlled by a regime of narrow ideology. Carlos Ramos played a crucial role in creating a protective bubble that allowed freedom of speech and countered the existing fascist paradigm, away from the vigilant and punitive eyes of the regime.

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This forward-looking atmosphere allowed this generation of artists to emerge from a golden and stimulating period, in opposition to other artistic clusters in the country, assuming a political and social shield that allowed for a vanguard, known today as the School of Porto, to emerge. It was perceived that, contrary to what would be expected, given the overall context of this time period, this was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable periods of the School. Compared to other instances around the country, ESBAP reflects a wealthy social ecosystem through an honoured school of thought that encourages debate, exchange by fostering an admirable proximity between educators and students. A time of great generosity, mutual respect between classes, gender and learning hierarchies, an atmosphere that privileged people over form. The nostalgic testimonies that point out the 1960s as a decade of fervent, creative and forward-thinking reflection, sharply contrasting with the stories of those who attended the School between the student’s crisis of ’69 and the day of the revolution on April 25th , 1974. In 1967 Ramos left his position as Director of ESBAP, one year after Salazar ceases functions and Marcelo Caetano was appointed as his successor. Caetano tried to forthright the edges of the regime he believed in, but the scarce reforms he was able to pull out from the most conservative wing of the government, were not enough considering the population increasing demand for freedom. This five-year period before the Carnation Revolution, was filled with great uncertainty under a quick run through of events. The retirement of Carlos Ramos, succeeded by architect António Brito, that didn’t possess the diplomatic skills of the former director, the growing fragility of the central administration and the increased strength of anti-fascism organisations (just to name a few reasons) provided the long awaited and desired confidence to fight back the prevailing regime. This was the moment of trust and companionship that envisioned a long-awaited freedom. The School of Carlos Ramos stood behind walls for 30 yrs under a comfortable and highly protective environment. One can argue that once that bubble fell along with the leading personality of the regime, it was time for the ESBAP community to be revealed to the world through much more than a single personality. It was time to question the model itself, to refine it by means of a potential democratic lens. This research has arisen the demand for a more accurate analysis of the parallels between the School of Lisbon and the School of Porto, beyond the fact that the central administration was headquartered in the country’s capital and thus understand the actual nature and identity of continuously different methodological approaches in both institutions.

References 1. Banks M (2001) Visual Methods in Social Research. Sage, London 2. Tinkler P (2013) Using Photographs in Social and Historical Research. Sage, London 3. Prossner J (1998) Image-Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Falmer Press, London

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4. Quivy R, Campenhoudt LV (2008) Manual de Investigação em Ciências Sociais. Gradiva: Lisbon 5. Coutinho B (2012) Carlos Ramos, Centro Virtual Camões do Instituto Camões 6. Instituto Camões https://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/seculo-xx/carlos-ramos. Accessed 15 Mar 2021 7. Coutinho B (2001) Carlos Ramos (1897–1969): obra, pensamento e ação. A procura do compromisso entre o Modernismo e a Tradição. Master thesis. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon 8. Ramos C (1935) Algumas palavras e o seu verdadeiro significado. In: Sudoeste: cadernos de Almada Negreiros, nº 3, p 33. SW, Lisbon 9. Távora F (1987) Evocando Carlos Ramos, rA. In Revista da Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, nº 0, p 75. Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, Porto 10. Duarte C (1999) Arquitetura em Portugal no Século XX: do modernismo ao tempo presente. In Panorama Arte Portuguesa no Século XX, p 361. Campo de Letras - Fundação de Serralves, Porto 11. Fragoso M (2012) Design gráfico em portugal. Formas e Expressões da Cultura Visual do século XX, pp 32–37. Livros Horizonte, Lisbon 12. University of Porto Thematic Repository. https://repositorio-tematico.up.pt/. Accessed 15 Mar 2021

Referenced Interviews 13. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2019) Conversation with carlos carreiro. 16 January 14. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2019) Conversation with elvira leite. 15 January 15. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2019) Conversation with joaquim lima de carvalho. 31 January 16. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2020) Conversation with João Barata Feyo. 7 February 17. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2019) Conversation with Jorge Pinheiro. 16 April 18. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2020) Conversation with António Madureira. 9 September 19. Rapagão J (2019) Conversation with Álvaro Siza. In “As Casas do Futuro” vídeo documentary, 21 December. Audio recordings by Sara Nunes 20. Barreto S, Lima C, Penedos-Santiago E (2019) Conversation with João Machado. 1 March 21. Martins N, Penedos-Santiago E, Lima C, Barreto S, Calado I (2020) Bridging Art and Design teaching generations: building an online infographic platform with individual legacies of retired academics. In 4th International Conference on Digital Technology in Education (ICDTE 2020). ACM, New York. https://doi.org/10.1145/3429630.3429644 22. Martins N, Alvelos H, Chatterjee A, Calado I, Quintela M (2020) Multimedia as mediator of knowledge between older generations and present-day students of art and design. In 4th International Conference on Education and Multimedia Technology (ICEMT 2020). ACM, New York. https://doi.org/10.1145/3416797.3416827 23. Penedos-Santiago E, Martins N, Barreto S, Alvelos H, Lima C (2020) The rise of communication design in portugal: an overview of the higher education teaching methodologies. In Nazir S, Ahram T, Karwowski W (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Training, Education, and Learning Sciences. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1211. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50896-8_13 24. Lima C, Alvelos H, Barreto S, Penedos-Santiago E, Martins N (2021) From painting to graphic arts: the unique legacy of armando alves. In Martins N, Brandão D, Raposo D (eds) Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication. Springer Series in Design and Innovation, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49647-0_1

Open Shop: Technological Change in London’s Printing Industry, 1980–1992 Alex Heslop

Abstract This chapter adds to the discussion of how technological transformation occurred in London’s printing businesses between 1980–1992. By plotting the shift in power between the print Unions and the print consumer, it argues that the impact of digital technologies on practices in the workplace was a slow and complex process. As we shall see, the 1980s and 1990s were a time of political upheaval that drove complications with technological use. Analysing what Thomas Misa has called ‘sociotechnical change’ enables us to examine the social and technological entanglements that drive industrial transformation. This chapter explores what technological change looked like from the perspective of multiple actors. Questioning training through teaching apprenticeships and on-the-spot training within the workplace allows for this. We shall see how training print workers in digital technologies took time, money and required different skills that were not easily embedded. We shall also observe that by changing who and what was being taught, industrial transformation was perpetuated. Oral history work provides a focus for understanding as does archival document research, including an examination of trade literature and Union minutes. Together, such sources give a view from a variety of responses to industrial transformation. Keywords Print unions · Industrial transformation · Technical knowledge · Information economy · Sociotechnical change

1 Introduction In October 1981, the London and South East region of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) published a document aimed at Government officials in the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI). The paper was entitled, ‘Difficulties Facing the Printing Industry and Future Prospects’ and highlighted ‘an absence of investment in computerised machinery’ [1]. It also forecasted that current industry practices would yield A. Heslop (B) University of Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AH, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_25

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high unemployment and low productivity in the face of better equipped competition over the next ten years. The study’s authors asked for the Government to lower interest rates on training and machinery grants and to revise retraining policies in order to, ultimately, ‘increase relations with computerised technology’. Supported by economic studies, the report reminded the reader that in 1979, the UK printing industry employed nearly 340,000 people (of which London held a significant proportion) and, together with the publishing and paper sectors, comprised 8% of the UK’s total manufacturing output. Approximately eleven years later, in December 1991, the London region of the compositors Union, the National Graphical Association (NGA), held a meeting to discuss Government plans. Members raised ‘the lack of investment in new technologies,’ and complained of low-quality training [2]. The minutes note that in 1991 alone, productivity amongst London printers decreased by 9% and that investments in new technologies had reduced by 22%. Members also recorded a total of 65,000 redundancies in the twelve years between 1979–1991 and cited 12,000 registered unemployed print workers in 1990.1 The meeting ended with members calling for better ‘investments in training, particularly in computerised technologies.’ Digital technologies were intimately linked with the structural changes in London’s printing industry between 1980–1992, when the industry translated into a broader ‘information’ economy, which was a part of a shift from a manufacturingbased economy to a ‘service’ economy [3]. During this time, the industry moved away from Union controlled ‘hot-metal’ processes and towards computer-based interaction. Union documentation suggests that Union members supported this shift, seemingly recognising that productivity and the digital went hand in hand. Certainly, by mobilising statistics Union members were responding to the deregulation of the Unions through Government policy and wanted to assert the power of the industry at a point when its future was in jeopardy. Ideology and rhetoric aside, however, it appeared that although digital technologies were desired amongst print Unions, their use within the workplace was problematic. This chapter examines print training through apprenticeships and on-the-spot training within the workplace. This allows for us to see how training print workers in digital technologies was complicated and took time. Therefore, the narrative of slow transformation this chapter presents conflicts with the established histories of the printing industry which focus upon sudden technological transformation. Compositor and historian Lawrence Wallis, for example, argued that ‘the computer and its peripherals, revolutionised the…makeup of text in the decade leading up to 1986’ [4]. Wallis based his claims on the dates of technology manufacture and, like many histories of printing, located the ‘takeover’ of ‘desktop publishing’ to be in the mid 1980s [5]. However, there is a fallacy implicit in Wallis’ claim. As historians of technology have argued, the dates of manufacture are not necessarily the point when a technology made an impact [6]. Rather, we need to examine technology-in-use in order to understand technological change. The study of sociotechnical systems is 1 This

figure correlated with those within Union journals. For example, see ‘October Worst Ever Month For Redundancies’. SOGAT. December (1980), p. 2.

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an approach that considers the close intertwining of social and technical factors. It has become central to sociological thinking concerning technological change [7]. As such, training allows us to unravel the complexities of structural and technological transformation in the workplace insofar as it suggests new, complex machines were in operation at certain sites. This chapter examines changes in London’s commercial printing trades.2 Commercial or ‘general’ work constituted the largest market segment of the UK’s printing trades in the 1980s, generating 88% of sales for the UK printing industry in 1989 and the most sales in the late 1990s [8].3 Between 1980–1992, London held over 13% of the UK’s ‘general’ printing trades.4 Their work included the production of annual reports, security printing and property brochures [9]. In 1980, the printing industry in London encompassed many separate ‘pre-press’, ‘press’ and ‘finishing’ businesses. Given the expanse of the industry, this chapter looks at the ‘pre-press’ segment of the industry, where most changes have been identified. ‘Pre-press’, as the name implies, involved processes before the printing press was triggered, including typesetting (word assembly) and graphic reproduction (plate making and colour management), known by workers as ‘repro’. The main questions of this chapter are: what and who was being taught in the industry between 1980–1992? How and where did teaching occur? And with whom did decisions over training reside and, how were changes received and responded to? To answer these questions, this chapter harnesses many perspectives.

1.1 Methodology and Sources This chapter examines the mechanisms of training on the shop floor including the voices of manufacturers, the intervention of Union power, and the power of print consumers (who were largely design and advertising firms). The agency of technology, Government actors, employees and employers are also discussed. Oral histories conducted by the author give a response from both customers and from inside the printing firm and can detail negotiations at the point of technological implementation. In addition to oral histories, surviving trade journals give an insight into the perspectives of manufacturers, management and print consumers. Studies commissioned by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) and other industry surveys are also used to examine the involvement of Government as well as industry responses. To assess the impact of changing technologies upon print education, prospectuses from educational institutions have been consulted and to comprehend technological processes, 2 ‘Commercial’

being a term implying that firms were neither private presses, nor newspaper producers. 3 And yet, narratives of the newspaper industry currently dominate existing histories of print in the late twentieth century. 4 Throughout this Chapter, I refer to the printing industry in London as being ‘London’s print trades’. This is because general printing was characterised by subcontracting. This terminology is thus more descriptive of the interdependence of the specialist trades involved.

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surviving typesetting processes and industry literature have been studied, including the Printing Trades Directory (PTD). The PTD allows technological change to be measured across the industry as it shows how many firms took up digital technologies and the specific machines they adopted.5 Furthermore, to contextualise a wide variety of voices within wider changes in education and in industrial relations, histories of both are consulted. Collectively, these sources show how work was redistributed amongst those involved, and how, in the process, communication both dismantled and was rebuilt into a different industry.

1.2 Chapter Structure This chapter has three sections. The first examines print training in 1980, showing where and how education operated under the apprenticeship scheme. The first section also articulates what knowledge was needed for exchanges between firms and customers to occur. Here the section turns to typesetting to show the specific skills being taught and the technologies being used. The second section explores changing training agreements. It shows how recalibrating the apprenticeship system in 1983 shifted technological decisions from the Unions and standardising bodies, to firm management. It explores how this shift led firms to make alternative technological choices and caused internal disputes between employees. The last section examines what happened when Union restrictions were removed. Here, a direct link is plotted between education, printing firms, Union power and new markets.

2 ‘Closed Shop’: 1980 In 1980, apprentices within the British printing industry served four years at a printing firm and also attended college for vocational training. However, the apprenticeship policy had changed in 1975 from a seven-year service to a four-year agreement, meaning that many print workers within the industry had served a longer apprenticeship period [10]. Apprenticeships were open to individuals who had a minimum of four ‘GCE “O” Levels’. On completion, successful students obtained either an Ordinary National Certificate or Diploma, or a City and Guilds Intermediate Certificate of Further Education. Print workers achieved college attendance through ‘block release’ or ‘day release’ courses, whereby apprentices were ‘released’ by the firm commonly for one day a week over approximately two years. For many print workers this occurred at the London College of Printing (LCP) [11]. Apprenticeships stressed the integrated nature of printing processes and Unions expected accomplished journeymen to join a Union. Unions required successful apprentices to have a working knowledge of all 5 This publication was viewed by the Printing Industries Research Association (PIRA) as ‘the leading

reference book for the industry’.

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phases of production, and to also specialise one area of the trade [12]. The apprenticeship scheme was protected by the Closed Shop policy. This was a Union security agreement under which the majority of employers agreed to only employ Union members.6 Unions commanded restrictive practices and oversaw apprenticeships. Their aim was to protect the power of their members and sectors by demanding and regulating exclusive access. For example, if typeset matter arrived at a printing firm without a Union sticker, the work was deemed ‘unrecognisable’ and was often refused by shop floor staff [13]. Type would travel from the typesetter to the printer via the print customer (often in the form of a production manager), who often corresponded with the sales team at both the print firm and at the typesetting house. Individual Unions organised apprenticeships and sent London members to a firm within the London region.7 Unions prescribed work ideology through rhetoric. They often used the term ‘speciality’ in meetings and printers reiterated this in their own advertising language [14]. This use of the term relayed the power of the industry to the consumer, implied ownership and also empowered the worker. Some print Unions, including the NGA, were refined within each firm as a ‘Chapel’. The ‘Father of the Chapel’ (FoC) commonly divided work shifts, whereby NGA members were either within a night Chapel or day Chapel. Furthermore, the Chapel legislated both on how production was organised, and how its members behaved in the workplace. Chapel income came from entry fees and fines from enforcing its rules.8 Within the workplace, Unionisation was more than an organising tool or a wellguarded gateway to the industry. Unions also directed internal communications. This can be articulated through the comments of David May, a sales manager, who worked in a print firm in the 1980s. In an interview with the author, he described his relationship with print workers, ‘As a salesperson, I wasn’t allowed to go and talk to the machine workers. I wasn’t allowed to give them instructions’ [15]. Indeed, members often required the presence of the FoC when speaking with firm management staff. This fuelled division amongst the workforce and led to later complications in communication when it came to explaining why technological change was deemed necessary by firms. However, beyond Union involvement in the workplace (and thus within training environments), there were other organisations that dictated training standards. In 1980, the Printing and Publishing Industries Training Board (PPITB) assured and funded training standards. This was a semi-public administrative body, and was 6 In 1980, there were four main print Unions, one for each part of the industry: The National Graphical

Association: London Branch (NGA), was the compositors’ Union; The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT), was the clerical workers’ Union; The Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process Workers (SLADE) was the Union for repro workers; and the National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NATSOPA), was the machine minders’ Union. 7 Firms of twenty-five to thirty employees had approximately five or less apprentices at any one time. 8 The misdemeanours incurring fines were fighting, swearing, bad language and being drunk.

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part funded by the Exchequer and part funded by employers’ fees. The board developed in-house training programs working with their research association the Printing Industries Research Association (PIRA) across the industry to meet changes in technology, agreed between Union officials and the employers’ trade association the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF). Board members visited firms to advise on how to implement the schemes [16]. Training schemes were devised around the manufacturing process each firm specialised in and therefore underpinned a highly parochial attitude to technology [17]. This was limited to metal and photographic processes in the typesetting and platemaking trades.

2.1 Typesetting In 1980, the processes overseen by the NGA (the compositor’s Union) in London were both metal assembly (for letterpress), and ‘photocomposition’ (for lithographic printing) [18]. Unions ensured that teaching largely revolved around these processes, which was partly due to historical affiliations between Unions and the two dominant type foundries Monotype and Linotype. Unions wanted to control and standardise technologies to protect the skill of the compositor. They thus had close associations with these dominant type founders who had been the main suppliers of metal type to the trade since the late nineteenth century and until the mid 1980s. All print apprentices learnt their craft through on the spot training, which involved a haptic engagement with materials, observation of and conversations with full-time craft workers, practice and imitation. One of the first tasks of an indentured compositor was to practice by producing type specimen sheets for the typesetting company, which were given to customers to communicate their range of typefaces. Compositors also learnt by repeating phrases such as ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ because it had every letter in the alphabet (see Fig. 1). Metal letter assembly was widely taught in London from the late-seventeenth century until the mid 1980s [19]. Apprentices learnt both hand composition and mechanised processes [20]. One process of ‘hot metal’ composition used in mass text printing in the 1980s employed a Linotype device. With this technology, the operator entered text through a ninety-character keyboard (see Fig. 2). Letterforms were assembled in a line which is cast as a single piece of type metal. An experienced operator’s left hand controlled the space key, as well as the black keys, and the right hand contacted the remaining keys. Another worker subsequently assembled the lines of type into ‘formes’ (arrangements of pages) ready for the press. The photographic production of type was widely practiced from the mid 1960s until the early 1990s (predominantly because it was required for lithographic printing).9 Phototypesetting education was, along with other typesetting knowledge, 9 The

term ‘photocomposition’ was commercial. Manufacturers advertised ‘photo-setters’ that used digital rather than photographic process. Technical experts have collated phototypesetters into ‘generations’- first, second, third fourth and fifth, yet this is misleading since there were no standardised parameters for each generation.

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Fig. 1 ‘Lithosphere’s Specimen Sheet’, 1978. This sheet was included in Lithosphere’s ‘Catalogue of Typesetting’. It is likely that this page was produced by an apprentice compositor. Islington Local History Centre, L6.29.

protected by the industry. This meant that print customers did not understand the processes, but they nevertheless trusted the industry to deliver. Paul Harding was a Production Manager at Merchant in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Merchant was a design agency in West London, which predominantly serviced a sister firm, a financial Public Relations company. Harding’s responsibility as Production Manager was to mediate between the typesetter, the printer and the graphic designer. In an interview with the author, he recalled his experience of working for the firm.

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Fig. 2 A Linotype keyboard popularly used in mass text printing. iStock.com/StellaMc.

Fig. 3 Typesetting room, Pinnacle Phototype Ltd., Clerkenwell, 1978 in Printing World, Islington Local History Centre: Business & Shops, L6.14.

“We would send the copy all marked-up to typesetting houses. Typesetting systems were really complicated…it was all codes…It was like hot metal type generation but in a photographic format…it was complicated…those guys knew what they were doing” [21].

Harding perceived the typesetting industry to be a secret, skilled practice. The internalising of knowledge by the Unions maintained print trade exclusivity. We can see the skill to which Harding refers and can also recognise (to an extent) that which was protected in Fig. 3. A typesetter learnt to translate copy supplied by the customer into code, which was input with a keyboard and display screen into a storage device. The code told the other end of the process (Fig. 4) where and how to position text. A keyboard, like that seen in Fig. 3, contained approximately 123 characters. Until the late 1980s, manufacturers produced ‘dedicated keyboards’ designed to operate with their own systems [22]. However, although keyboards differed in overall layout,

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Fig. 4 The Monotype Lasercomp 70i photo-setting unit. Disks containing the stored copy were input though the black slot seen on the bottom half of the setter and films were output at the top and subsequently developed. Image courtesy of Barry Felstead.

they were all usually based on the QWERTY distribution of characters (with satellite keys enabling the placement and size of characters) to achieve a level of standardised practice. Keyboards were usually paired with a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) and output by screen so the operator could see what was being typed.10 With the keyboard, the typesetter input complex codes that dictated the size, typeface, weighting and spacing of the type. The last part of the photographic process involved translating the copy into photographic film. This occurred using a photo-setting unit, like that seen in Fig. 4. It positioned type in the desired position by individually exposing internally stored negatives 10 CRTs

were widely used throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

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to photosensitive film. Compositors learnt the range of typefaces on each machine, spacing and point scales. The device pictured, for example, held 140 typefaces (likely decided by the manufacturer). Given the secrecy of the industry and the complexity of typesetting, clear communication between the typesetter and customer was paramount. The typesetter was the first point of contact for the customer. Different typesetting houses had different typesetting machines and their specific outputs and corresponding manufacturer’s model were often known to the customer. The various machines thus affected their design choices. However, it was unlikely that designers understood how they operated. Print customers supplied the typesetter with ‘marked-up’ copy containing instructions for the setter. Figure 5 is an example of ‘mark-up’ language that was added by the customer to give prompts as to the use of uncommon characters and the positioning and weight of the text. Three strokes, for example, relayed the desire to capitalise the text. It was therefore paramount that a compositor’s apprentice learnt to become versed in the language of ‘mark-up’ [23]. So far, this chapter has articulated what the printing industry looked like in 1980. It has found an industry based on interactions between many actors and a direct link between social interaction (between firms and with customers) and skill, training, technology and Union intervention has also been noticed. It seems work and training was based on a well embedded system, whereby trade Unions regulated who and what was taught (in agreement with employers). They implemented workplace restrictions and ordered direct and indirect communications through speech and technological languages including ‘marked-up’ copy- all to, predominantly, protect the skill of the worker. How, therefore, did this well embedded training system change between 1980–1992? To answer this question, we need to examine the collapse of the print Unions. This can be seen through shifting training agreements, the expansion of digital technologies and alterations to the Unions’ ‘Closed Shop’ policy.

3 Changing Training Agreements Before the industry widely changed how it operated, its social networks broke down. One way this occurred was through changing training agreements between Unions and employers. This led to technological expansion, internal disputes, internal and external questions about training and product quality, and to shifting customer relations. In 1981, the same year as the TUC paper mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the NGA called for the apprenticeship scheme to be revised to allow for ‘regular reskilling’ of print workers within firms. Between 1982–1983, the PPITB was dissolved and was replaced with what the DTI called ‘voluntary training’ [24]. Between 1968– 1982, the Board assisted in keeping technological choice fairly limited [25]. However, the Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Norman Tebbit), decided for UK printers that training plans and decisions over technology were, from 1982, to be negotiated in-house. This meant that each firm would hold discussions between management

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Fig. 5 An example of a ‘marked-up’ manuscript. Example and image by author.

and Union representation as and when technological changes needed to occur [26]. Giving control to individual firms took power further away from Union involvement on an industry-wide scale and also withdrew Government funding. As a response to Government plans, the NGA and the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) signed an agreement to reconfigure the time-served apprenticeship. A ‘modular system’ of training was consequently founded, whereby an apprentice was renamed a ‘trainee’ [27]. The idea agreed by both parties was that both

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full-time craft workers and new entrants into the trade took modules in alternative production processes when needed.11 To make sense of the move away from the traditional apprenticeship and to thus understand how technological change materialised, the changes in print training policies need to be contextualised within the histories of vocational education in Britain since the 1970s. The recalibration of the apprenticeship scheme aligned with Howard Gospel’s understanding of, ‘the decline of apprenticeship training in Britain’ in the 1970s and 1980s [28]. In 1992, Gospel, a Professor of Management at Kings College London, highlighted the attention given to the introduction of alternative standards to replace the time-serving scheme. According to Gospel, from the mid 1960s there was a growing questioning of apprenticeship training by employers and policy makers; ‘that it was not suited to the changing needs of industry and it also perpetuated outdated craft restrictions’ [28]. Similarly, according to education historian Michael Sanderson, in the 1970s and 1980s, ‘there was more need for education to replace what was provided on the job’ [29]. The situation arose, he argued, because of the collapse of Union power and the need to find an alternative education system. Modules, it seems, aimed to provide the solution. Print employers and the NGA laid down a programme of training and standards to be achieved at various stages. At each stage, both managerial and Chapel representatives signified that standards had been achieved by signing a log-book, which was used as evidence of skill and experience when workers applied for other posts. There was not a set time for completion and according to the journal of the NGA, ‘the trainee progressed according to their own skills…and the effort with which management put into training’ [30]. This shows that, known to the Unions, decisions over technology and when and how training would occur had shifted from being under the jurisdiction of Unions and standardising bodies, to being determined by individual firm employers. The firms that applied ‘retraining programmes’ did so over the course of approximately a year [31]. Modules were administered either in-house, through hired consultants, or out-house, with employees visiting manufacturers’ offices (depending on the wishes of each firm) [32]. For example, in 1987, one interviewee was sent to Miles, a manufacturer’s office in Slough, on a two-week course to retrain on a ‘computerised system.’ Others, including unemployed workers, took specialised modules at educational institutions [10]. ‘Voluntary training agreements’, whereby decisions over technology and training were given to each firm, directly correlated with the variety of technologies that were active in the mid to late 1980s. In the mid to late 1980s, firms changed from established production processes to alternative digital processes. This meant that different firms were free to choose different technologies as and when required. Seemingly aware of this transition, technology manufacturers advertised a wider variety of technologies

11 Comprised

of an induction module, a basic skills module, and a skills development module. The scheme was supervised and reviewed by the the BPIF and NGA and continued to provide national certification.

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to the industry in the mid to late 1980s. This resulted in many different technologies being activated within the trade.

3.1 Technological Expansion Throughout the 1980s, many different manufacturers produced numerous iterations of typesetting machines. Digital typesetting manufacturers advertised ‘savings in time and materials’, the ability to make corrections immediately and not having to rely on the output to see the result. For example, many sold the concept of ‘desktop publishing’, whereby users were given ‘a visual representation of the final output’ (as advertised in Fig. 6), rather than the encoded version used in photocomposition. Digital machines, it seems, integrated an otherwise longer process, were accessible,

Fig. 6 Compugraphic advertisement in British Printer, 98 (1985), p.2. Image by author.

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affordable and could reduce production times. Other more expensive machines integrated repro and typesetting duties, blurring established boundaries between trades. This concept appealed to firms’ management teams, who purchased such machines in the late 1980s and early 1990s [33]. Despite the range of ‘computerised technologies’ being marketed throughout the 1980s, and the perceived advantages of their implementation, changes in most firms were not immediate. Trade directories and the visual analysis of printed materials reveal that the alternative technologies were not extensively used until the early to mid 1990s [8]. This slow transition was because alterations occurred on a firm-byfirm basis and, within each company, there were concerns over the use of alternative systems.

3.2 Internal Disputes Voluntary training agreements caused lengthy internal discussions and disputes. For example, in 1987, St. Stephen’s Press (based in South East London), made a transition from ‘hot-metal’ to ‘cold-type’ (digital assembly). However, in an interview with the author, Barry Felstead, an employee and compositor at St. Stephen’s, recalled months of negotiations between employees, Unions, management and external Union representatives. He stated that they negotiated ‘the layout, the policy, the rates of pay, who was going to be doing what…who was going to get redundancy and training’ [10]. As the interviewee suggested, disrupted job responsibility amongst the workforce was a common outcome of upgrading printing technologies. This caused extended disagreements amongst Unions over ‘who was doing what’. According to historian of industrial relations John Gennard, alternative making processes ‘challenged traditional lines of demarcation and threatened the jobs of Union members’ [34]. Indeed, new technologies complicated existing job remits. Such technologies caused disputes with employers and between Unions. Additionally, throughout the 1980s, and alongside integrated technology, other repro roles were absorbed into typesetting, and typesetting was intruding into the remit of clerical workers. Felstead recalled such an amalgamation. Having trained as a compositor in the 1960s, he was selected to retrain at St. Stephen’s in alternative processes. ‘Before the move, we wouldn’t have been multitasking…we were now doing keyboarding, reading, computer work, film work…it wasn’t called typesetting now, it was called “origination”’. As Felstead recognised, the fusion of roles into one worker’s remit blurred established borders between what was taught as either typesetting, or repro and caused internal disagreements amongst Unions throughout the industry.12 As 12 In the late 1980s and early 1990s, SLADE members often accused the NGA of encroaching upon

‘the right of SOGAT and SLADE members’ to use technologies. The NGA succeeded. SLADE was amalgamated with the NGA in 1982 (and lost its name), and SLADE members constituted the majority of the unemployment statistics given in the TUC document in 1981.

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Felstead implied, the joining of different Union roles can be tracked within the language of production changing from ‘typesetting’ to ‘origination.’ Whilst a new language of practice arose, and when trade disputes were taking place, another complication became apparent: a lack of standardised practice. This caused further problems within the industry.

3.3 Training Standards Trade literature revealed complaints amongst management about ‘low quality’ education [35]. For example, the journal Print Impress, included an article about a discussion held between ‘eight management participants to discuss the managerial implications of technologies’ in 1987. The participants mentioned that operators needed to be better educated and trained and that the Government grant to the printing industry for training needed to be increased [36]. From the perspective of employees, however, problems of technological implementation were less about poor quality training. Rather, their concerns revolved around the extent of communication between employers, trainers and employees, the need for different sorts of specialised knowledge, and the lack of financial support from firm management. Each different technology demanded a different skill-set. This meant that workers throughout the industry (many of whom operated on a jobby-job basis) were unable to learn all of the skills required for each technology. Indeed, the variety of devices being purchased by firms throughout the mid to late 1980s made looking for work difficult. As education was increasingly tailored to specific printing machines, unemployed skilled print workers often did not have the required skill set for a firm. In an interview with the author, Felstead highlighted problems of workers’ skill in light of the empowerment of the employer. “…at one place I worked at, I don’t even know the name of the system because the guy running the firm had devised it himself. He cobbled together bits from here, bits from there. It was a crazy system…he knew how to work it, but no one else did!…I was there about two or three weeks, and I couldn’t get the hang of it.”.

It seems that the technological choices of firms did not always align with the abilities of employees, despite there being internal agreements for training programmes. As a result, it seems that the rate of technological change was subject to the communication (or lack thereof) between manufacturers, employees and employers. Not only did print employees find using the different systems problematic, but they also now could not fix certain technologies. Oral history sources suggest that London print workers relied on external actors to correct processes if technical problems arose. Workers were not trained in computer science and had a limited knowledge of machine maintenance. This differed greatly, for example, to metal type manipulation, where operators invested time into understanding their material processes. Problems could be corrected by the operator- learnt through experience. However, when technical errors occurred with digital technologies, specialist knowledge was

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needed. This is not, however, to suggest a complete absence of technical knowledge regarding alternative processes, but to question who was involved in maintenance and ‘aftercare’. In the early 1990s, the British Medical Association (BMA) experienced problems in the production of their journal with a computerised system. Felstead who worked in-house at the Association, recalled the experience. “You couldn’t get the text to stream around the graphics…and we were trying to fix it and couldn’t, so they got in a computer expert, we called him, ‘The Child’, he was probably about twenty-two, but he was a computer expert, allegedly. He was going to fix all this, well he couldn’t, didn’t have a clue about printing.”

It seems Felstead did not react kindly to the perceived inexperience of ‘The Child’ imposing upon his expertise. Miscommunication between the languages of print employees (Felstead had a seven-year apprenticeship) and computer experts created perceptions of ‘intrusion’. As such, it seems that the subsequent success of the changes at the BMA were due to the capacity for outside actors to understand both printing and computer ‘languages’ and to mediate between the two areas of expertise. Trade literature, minutes from Union meetings and studies by the BPIF revealed that training grants had high interest rates, that training costs were largely unaffordable, and that the Government had significantly reduced funding [37]. However, voluntary training agreements did remove employers’ financial obligations. It is therefore likely that employers did not invest as much as was needed in training. Indeed, trade literature revealed cases of legal action taken by employees against employers regarding health hazards that stemmed, they believed, from a lack of training [38]. Problems over education drove scepticism amongst customers, who expressed concern about there being a lack of overall knowledge within the print trades and, in turn, the quality of printed products [39]. However, such complaints of a lack of skill were not only driven by perceptions of education but were also fuelled by the fact that customer-printer relations were being challenged.

3.4 Customer Relations Between 1980–1992, customer-printer associations were transformed. Customer relations broke down as an increasing number of people outside of the industry became more knowledgeable about production processes. In an interview with the author, print salesman, David May described the difficulty in communicating the designers’ wishes with shop floor staff. One machine was set to A4. Designers would say, “let’s have it 270 high by 220 wide” and all the printers would say “what the fuck is wrong with A4?!” Because the machines were all set that way. So the minute some pesky designer decided he wanted to make it a tad wider, they’d get the spanner out, and they’d be huffing and puffing…” [15].

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While it is unlikely that ‘all’ printers had a negative attitude towards the customer, May locates the interference of the customer in decisions of production- to the annoyance, it seems, of some print workers. What, however, drove the disturbance in customer-printer relationships, other than technological change? Why were designers interested in production processes? And what did their involvement mean for print knowledge and the organisation of the industry? To answer these questions, we need to address another way in which customer-printer relations changed- through wider political Acts, including opening the Union’s ‘Closed Shop’ to workers outside of the trade.

4 Opening the ‘Closed Shop’ In 1991, the Employment Act was the last of a series of Acts throughout the 1980s which assisted in opening the Unions’ Closed Shop [40]. Trade Union material from the 1980s articulated the process. According to the NGA Journal in 1981, Unions will soon be ‘obliged to take into membership those working in advertising agencies’ and, in 1987, The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) changed their policy to include those working in ‘Desk Top Publishing’ in their membership [41]. Through the Act of 1991, restrictive practices were abolished with a view to opening up the industry to generate employment for those outside of the trade. The new accessibility of the industry to other industries was a policy backed by Thatcherism’s emphasis on individual and corporate will. Print Unions did not respond kindly to opening up the notoriously secretive industry. There were many trade Union journals published throughout the 1980s with enraged titles such as ‘The Slow Death of an Industry!’ and, ‘Must this Industry be the Sacrificial Lamb on the Alter of Monetarism?’ [42]. However, this was by no means the death of print production. Rather, the opening up the industry transformed how it operated. As we saw earlier in this chapter, in 1980, the industry worked as independent specialist units tightly controlled by Unions. The printer subcontracted out the work to different ‘pre-press’ areas of the trade, including typesetting and platemaking. In 1992, however, the traditional boundaries had been blown apart. The customer became more involved and could learn areas of the industry that were previously protected. Typesetting was being practised by the customer and ‘repro’ no longer existed as a separate trade. Within the ‘Open Shop’, worker numbers were reduced. Processes that previously required four workers per printing press (under Union command) could be reduced to two. Seemingly aware of a new market for print technology, technology manufacturers responded by producing devices with built-in distinct assumptions about the consumer.

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4.1 Consumer Empowerment Through alterations to the Closed Shop policy, professional designers and advertising agencies had access to typesetting responsibilities which were previously under the jurisdiction of a typesetting house. Consequently, manufacturers of typesetting equipment sold to a wider market including to design and advertising agencies during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This market was assisted by technologies depreciating in cost making them more accessible to their new consumers. In doing so, the print customer brought printing into an office environment. The redistribution of responsibility to the customer who used ‘simple typesetting’ devices meant that customers could make decisions and did not have to involve the typesetter [16]. Operators could jettison expensive decisions commanded by typesetters (typesetting could cost one hundred pounds a page in the early 1980s), in favour of an immediate interaction with layout [43]. Aware of their expanding market, typesetting manufacturers designed their new consumer into their technologies. As seen in Fig. 6, there were assumptions about the customer in hardware. Another selling point by manufacturers was ‘modularity’. Front-end computer systems could be linked to and drive ‘economy’ photosetting systems or laser printers at a lower cost than dedicated keyboards. With similar devices, including the proliferation of desktop publishing software, users were able to manipulate and construct text (and in some cases graphics and colour) without the need to translate typesetting code. Furthermore, the specialities of the repro trade could be abandoned, and copy could be input and manipulated without the need for mark-up languages. This allowed the customer to intervene more actively in the design of typesetting technology and, by extension, the production of printed material. Ultimately, such inbuilt awareness of the consumer perpetuated the empowerment of the consumer. Despite these perceived advantages of typesetting technologies, as well as the range of technologies available to the customer, the transition of responsibility from the print trade to the customer was slow. This was partly because of perceptions risk in working to the demands of the financial City, and partly because of further disrupted communications between printers and design agencies. In an interview with the author, Harding, who worked on behalf of a print customer, spoke about changes in technology in the early 1990s. He mentioned how there was a mistrust of alternative technologies by both printworkers and print consumers which led to confusion amongst both parties. He also suggested that because of issues of mistrust around the alternative technologies, their use by design agencies were not extensive until the 1990s. Perceptions of risk by the print consumer seemed to have obstructed changes from occurring. As such, both technology and the demand of the print consumer (needing to meet deadlines) were here inherent within the transference of work responsibility. In the same interview, Harding also spoke of complications in communicating with print firms, which exacerbated their own technological problems.

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“…we didn’t know whose responsibility it was to put ‘trapping’ on things [the compensation for mis-register of successive colours], whether it was the printer, or whether we should…everyone was trying to find their feet. There were many ways to set up a file… different printing companies did it differently…it was confusing.”

Harding highlighted two problems that were driven by the ‘Open Shop’ policy: responsibility and diverse technologies being used in the industry. As we saw with Felstead, different printing companies had different technologies. This, it seems, also challenged printer-customer relations as printers and designers communicated through many different technologies, from floppy disks to marked-up copy and art-boards. The range of technologies ultimately added to communication issues. Furthermore, the customer now owned technologies previously held by the print trades, which questioned the division of labour between the customer and printer. For example, in 1980, ‘trapping’ was the responsibility of the print trade and required technical specialist knowledge. However, with pre-press software now being owned by the customer, it was unclear whose responsibility ‘trapping’ was.

4.2 The Implementation of Printing ‘Services’ The empowerment of the consumer was evident across the industry. In the late 1980s, Royle Print, a firm based in North London, scaled back their typesetting department [44]. This was, according to their Sales Director, due to growing local competition from advertising agencies. In addition, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number of advertised sales positions within the industry grew and there were more workers entering into trainee sales positions, some of whom also now made choices in colour and layout [45]. As a result of a growth of sales roles, printers expanded their sales departments. Empress Litho, for example, built a large sales and ‘customer liaison’ office when they were founded in 1987 [15]. Furthermore, between 1987–1992, the number of students enrolling in printing technology courses at LCP dropped, and between 1990–1991 the College added the School of Consumer Services and the School of Media and Management to their list of departments [46]. In addition, in 1991, repro training was also absorbed into ‘graphic design’ and typesetting departments [47]. The LCP was renamed the London College of Communication in 2004 as after the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992, Polytechnics became part of university sector. The changes identified at the LCP means that industry changes can be understood through both apprenticeships and formal training. The empowered consumer was reflected within the technological choices of each firm. Printers were choosing more digital technologies, which could read the digital formats being supplied by the customer. For example, in 1982, 52% of the printers listed in the London postcode area EC1 advertised lithographic processes (which could be used with digital technologies), compared to 38% who advertised letterpress [48]. This had changed by 1989 when, 19% advertised letterpress, and 56% lithography. The change was helped by the fact that the two major type foundries who

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had manufactured metal type since the late nineteenth century went into receivership: Linotype (est. 1886) in 1987 and Monotype (est. 1896) in 1992. It is understandable why the trade became more consumer focused. Print knowledge moved from being dictated by the printing trades, to being understood and accessed by print consumers as a result of new technologies. Because of this, workers re-skilled and firms selected their technologies, absorbing other processes to provide an in-house ‘service’ in order to remain competitive at a time when the industry was becoming increasingly transparent [49]. The shift in agency we have seen from the producer to the consumer is aptly summarised with a statement by the journal LithoWeek. In 1993, two writers declared, ‘Printers must continue to free themselves from traditional shackles and bridge the gap between material and non-material services’ [50]. The shift into an information economy from a manufacturing-based economy or ‘the gap between the material and non-material’ marks the redistribution of print knowledge that occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s. Certainly the ‘liberation’ occurred at the expense of skilled repro workers. However, the industry needed to transform. The stabilising Union practices were dismantling, and print manufacture needed an alternative way of working.

5 Conclusions Sociotechnical change needs to be more clearly and prominently positioned amongst narratives of the printing industry between 1980–1992. Analysing training has showed how the impact of digital technologies and industry structural change on practices in the workplace was a protracted process. Contrary to historical accounts, industry structural changes occurred, not by technology alone, but through the actions of the many individuals and technologies involved- from computer experts, keyboards, salesmen and technology manufacturers, to shop floor workers, print employers, designers and Government officials. As we have seen, the rate of this shift was subject to the extent of successful communication between the actors involved in the recalibration of technical knowledge between 1980–1992. This chapter began in 1980. It showed that the industry revolved around the apprenticeship scheme and highlighted that apprentices operated within a ‘Closed’, heavily institutionalised environment. Unions determined work ideologies and tuition revolved around well established and skilled processes. However, as we have seen, between 1980–1992, Union power collapsed, well-known forms of communication broke down, and the industry was compromised. Training was seen to be a solution to a fragmenting industry by Unions, Government officials and firm management. It was perceived to rescue the industry from a complete collapse threatened by shifting social networks and technological change. However, the recalibration of the apprenticeship scheme, despite the best of intentions, was complex and not appreciated by all workers. Training required communication, yet often resulted in miscommunication and lengthy negotiations regarding job responsibility and redundancy. In addition, handing more control to firms not only caused funding challenges,

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but that without a standardising body, there was often a lack of relevant training and a discrepancy in the abilities of the print workers, and the technological decisions of employers. Despite the tangled process, the industry did transform. The influx and constellation of new machines, people and services flooding into the industry filled the void created by the erosion of Union controlled technological languages. In the process, the industry was made more transparent, print consumers were empowered (at the expense of a skilled workforce) and economic performance grew. Ultimately, according to a 2001 survey by PIRA, the number of sales grew by 10% per year throughout the 1990s [51]. Moreover, in order for the industry to survive, it had to reconfigure. Print manufacture needed to step away from being versed in well-embedded and regulated practices- a process which, ultimately, took time.

References 1. Trades Union Congress (1981) Difficulties Facing the Printing Industry and Future Prospects 2. ‘Notice of Motion, London Region Council Minutes, 3rd December, 1990’ [Meeting Minutes] (1991) Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, Records of the NGA. Coventry, MSS.28/NGA/1/11/27 3. Heslop A (2021) Technological change in London’s commercial printing trades, 1980–1992. In: Martins N, Brandão D (eds) Advances in Design and Digital Communication, Digicom 2020. Springer Series in Design and Innovation, vol 12. Springer, Cham, pp 443–455; White J: London in the 20th Century. Vintage, London 4. Wallis L (1988) A Concise Chronology of Typesetting Developments 1886–1986. Lund Humphries, London 5. Gennard J (2010) Mechanical to Digital Printing in Scotland: The Print Employers Organisation. Scottish Printing Archival Trust, Dundee, p 443; Pfifner P (2003) Inside the Publishing Revolution: The Adobe Story. Peachpit Press, California; Dodkins G, Lang J (2011) Bad News: The Wapping Dispute. Spokesman, Nottingham 6. Edgerton D (2010) Innovation, technology, or history: what is the historiography of technology about? Technol Cult 51(680–697):681 7. Misa T (1994) Retrieving Sociotechnical Change. In: Smith M, Marx L (eds) Does Technology Drive History? MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp 115–141 8. Heslop A (2021) Technological change in London’s commercial printing trades, 1980–1992. In: Martins N, Brandão D (eds) Advances in Design and Digital Communication, Digicom 2020. Springer Series in Design and Innovation, vol 12. Springer, Cham, pp 443–455 9. Heslop A (2016) Open Shop: a Reassessment of London’s Printing Trades, 1980–1992 [Unpublished Master’s thesis], RCA/V&A 10. Heslop A (2015) Barry Felstead. Personal interview with the author 11. ‘LCP Prospectus, 1980’. LCP Archive, LCC, London, Prospectuses 1976–1998, LCC/3/1/1; Heslop A (2015) Barry Felstead. Personal interview with the author 12. Kalleberg A, Wallace M (1982) Industrial transformation and the decline of craft: the decomposition of skill in the printing industry, 1931–1978. Am Sociol Rev 47(307–324):309 13. See ‘Work bypassing the composition room’. PRINT, p 3 (1981). Also see Bain P, Gennard J (1995) A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge, Oxon, p 453; Heslop A (2015) David May. Personal interview with the author 14. Printing Trades Directory. Benn Publications Limited: Kent (1980): ‘Printers’ Specialities’ 15. Heslop A (2015) David May. Personal interview with the author

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16. Heslop A (2015) Interview with a member of the Printing and Publishing Industries Training Board. Personal interview with the author 17. See Bain P, Gennard J (1995) A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge, Oxon, p 466 18. Printing Trades Directory (1980) Benn Publications Limited: Kent 19. Raven J (2014) Publishing Business in Eighteenth-Century England. Boydell Press, Woodbridge 20. Introduction to Printing Technology. 3rd edn. BPIF, London (1986) 21. Heslop A (2015) Paul Harding. Personal interview with the author 22. Introduction to Printing Technology. 3rd edn. BPIF, London (1986); Spiers H (1992) Introduction to Printing Technology. 4th edn. BPIF, London 23. Lithosphere: Specimen Sheet and How to Present Copy, 1978, Islington Local History Centre; ‘Business & Shops’, L 6.29 24. PIRA International (2001) The Impact of Market and Technology Changes on Publishers and Printers [White paper], Surrey, p 86 25. Bain P, Gennard J (1995) A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge, Oxon, p 466 26. Bain P, Gennard J (1995) A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge, Oxon, pp 467−499 27. Is This the End of Apprenticeships? PRINT, March (1981), p 10 28. Gospel H (1995) The decline of apprenticeship training in Britain. Ind Relat 26(1):32–44 29. Sanderson M (1999) Education and Economic Decline in Britain, 1870 to the 1990s. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 17 30. ‘Is This the End of Apprenticeships?’ PRINT March (1981), p 10 31. Natal P (1985) The art of survival as a jobbing printer. Br Print 98:44–45; Palmer S (1979) Monophoto at balding + mansell. Monotype Rec 1:19–22 32. See (1989) On the right rails. Print World 226(4):20–21 33. Printing Trades Directory. Benn Publications Limited: Kent (1988, 1990) 34. Bain P, Gennard J (1995) A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge, Oxon, p 110 35. For example, (1989) Computing Weekly 1146:5–10; Trends in Technology. Print Impress 29:38–45 (1987); See also (1990) Training Faces Cuts. LithoWeek 12:4; Craig J (1987) Skilled staff in short supply. Print World 218(10):27; Aldcroft D (1992) Education, Training and Economic Performance 1944 to 1990. Manchester University Press, Manchester p 67 36. (1987) Trends in Technology. Print Impress 29(8):38–45 37. (1988) Irish Printer, 14–1, p 14; (1990) Training Faces Cuts. LithoWeek 12:4; PIRA International. (2001) The Impact of Market and Technology Changes on Publishers and Printers. [White paper], Surrey, p 90; Craig J (1987) Print World 218(10):27 38. (1989) Computing Weekly 1146:5–10 39. Campbell A (1983) The Designer’s Handbook. Macdonald & Co, London, p 79 40. Pelling H (1992) A History of British Trade Unionism. Penguin, London 41. Information relating to SOGAT Foundation and Constitution, including Amalgamations: SOGAT and NGA to form GPMU and press cuttings relating to this merger. (1982). Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, Records of the NGA. Coventry, MSS.28/NGA/1/11/27 42. Keys B (1980) SOGAT. 1–2 43. Spiers H (1992) Introduction to Printing Technology, 4th edn. BPIF, London, p 47 44. Heslop A (2015) Interview with a print worker. Personal interview with the author 45. Gennard J (2010) Mechanical to Digital Printing in Scotland: The Print Employers Organisation. Scottish Printing Archival Trust, Dundee, p 336 46. See ‘LCP Prospectus, 1992’. LCP Archive, LCC, London, Prospectuses 1976–1998, LCC/3/1/1 47. See The Clerkenwell Guardian (1994), p 1. LCP Archive, LCC, London, Student Publications, LCC/4/2/1 48. Printing Trades Directory. Benn Publications Limited: Kent (1982, 1989)

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49. See Printing Trades Directory. Benn Publications Limited: Kent (1990): ‘Printers’ Specialities’: ‘Machines’, ‘Products and Services’ are listed under each entry 50. (1992) Effects and opportunities offered by multimedia application in printing firms. LithoWeek 28:82–83 51. British Printing Industries Federation (2001) Print 21: Coming of Age? A Study into the Competitiveness of the UK Printing Industry. Department for Trade and Industry, London, p 56: Table 4; p 24: ‘Output’

The Designer Trail: José Brandão, A Life in Design Education Cláudia Lima , Heitor Alvelos , Susana Barreto , Eliana Penedos-Santiago , and Nuno Martins

Abstract This study analyses the professional life and work of José Brandão, the first educator in a BA in Design in Portugal, with a first degree in the field. Brandão graduated in Communication Design from the Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, London, and distinguished himself in the field of communication design, not only for the vast legacy of graphic works carried over 50 years, but also for his academic contribution to the creation of BA, Master and PhD courses in Design in the country. This study is focused on Brandão’s pedagogical experiences in Design, as a student and as an educator, as well as his contribution to the establishment of the first Communication Design course in public higher education at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. The study also addresses Brandão’s pedagogical methodologies, in a context and at a time when this area was underdeveloped: Design courses in Higher Education were in their infancy, and the resources available for learning were scarce. The research methodology includes document analysis and ethnography, namely interviews conducted with José and Salette Brandão at their studio in Lisbon. This study was carried out within the framework of Wisdom Transfer: towards the scientific inscription of individual legacies in contexts of retirement from art and design higher education and research (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-029038); the research stems from the evidence that there is insufficient inscription of individual knowledge and experience of retired academics and researchers in art and design. Keywords José Brandão · Lisbon School of Fine Arts (ESBAL) · Communication design · Design history · Portuguese design C. Lima (B) ID+ - Unexpected Media Lab - Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade do Porto, Av. de Rodrigues de Freitas 265, 4049–021 Porto, Portugal Universidade Lusófona do Porto, Rua Augusto Rosa nº 24, 4000-098 Porto, Portugal H. Alvelos · S. Barreto · E. Penedos-Santiago ID+ - Unexpected Media Lab - Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal N. Martins ID+ - Unexpected Media Lab - School of Design, Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_26

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1 Introduction José Brandão (Fig. 1) is a well-known Portuguese graphic designer who has played a key role in Design Education in Portugal. With a unique life trajectory that allowed him to receive specialized training in the area of design, then non-existent in Portugal, and with a career of more than 50 years in the field, Brandão became the first Portuguese lecturer of a Design course who had graduated in this area, significantly contributing to the development of BA, Master and PhD courses in Design in Portuguese Higher Education. In addition to teaching, and since his student days, Brandão has developed a vast portfolio of graphic projects in diverse areas of design, such as graphic identity, editorial design, philately, and posters. Brandão has worked with some of the most renowned Portuguese companies and institutions, such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; CTT—Portuguese Post Office; Portugal Telecom; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Culture; Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education; Bank of Portugal; National Theatre D. Maria II. Additionally, he has been the recipient of several awards and distinctions, including the 1995 Award for Best Exhibition as commissioner of the “Sebastião Rodrigues, Designer” exhibition at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; the 2000 National Design Award (Career) by the Portuguese Design Centre; a Higher Commendation1 in 2006 by the Portuguese Presidency of

Fig. 1 José Brandão during the interview held in his studio, October 9, 2020. Photography: @Cláudia Lima 1 Grande-Oficial

da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique.

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the Republic; and the 2009 Grand Prix de l’Art Philatélique Européen, awarded by the President of France in 2009. This paper outlines the history and circumstances that led Brandão to the learning and practice of Design, as well as his contribution to the formation and curricula of the first BA in Communication Design at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts (ESBAL). Along with Product Design of the same School and the Design (Graphic Art) course at the Porto School of Fine Arts (ESBAP), this was the first course in the field among Portuguese public Higher Education.

2 Methodology The data was collected through direct and indirect observation [15]. An interview was carried out with the designer José Brandão and his spouse and professional partner Salette Brandão, in October 2020, in their studio. The location facilitated the observation of a range of graphic works and didactic materials, as well as firsthand witnessing of practices that characterize his creative process and methodologies (Fig. 2). The interview was filmed, recorded, and photographed; additional contextual material was generated. The aim was creating a wealth of resources for further scrutiny [16]. To this end, at the beginning of the interview, José and Salette Brandão

Fig. 2 José Brandão explaining his graphic design projects, October 9, 2020. Photography: @Cláudia Lima

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were asked for permission to collect images and sound, via a signed informed consent form detailing the purpose of these materials [4]. Further interviews carried out with Brandão by other authors [1], [2], [10] were consulted as well as documentation on his legacy, both as a designer and as a Professor.

3 Findings 3.1 Early Stages: Discovering the Practice of Design José Brandão was born in New York on April 6, 1944, to a family whose context was marked by the presence of the arts: his maternal grandfather was a pianist, and his maternal grandmother was a theatre actress. Family members originated from different countries was also an aspect that contributed to a culturally enriched and outward-looking education. When he was two years old, part of Brandão’s family moved to Lisbon, where he settled with his mother and sister while his father remained in New York. Since early childhood, he liked to draw and had the ambition to be a painter. In the 1950s, through his family, Brandão came into contact with several figures from the Portuguese cultural scene, among them Francisco and Maria Keil, Vieira da Silva and Bernardo Marques. In the summer of 1960, Brandão travelled to Paris, where he stayed for about two months, working to support himself. There he came into contact with Parisian culture, namely museums, art galleries and the French Cinematheque, familiarising himself with particular artworks, many of them inaccessible in Portugal, not just because of the country’s closure to the outside world, but because of prevailing censorship [7]. Back in Portugal, aged 16, in October 1960 Brandão began to attend the Painting course at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts (ESBAL). His conflict with the School was intense, a School he characterized as culturally poor, guided by extreme conservatism “and, therefore, with an obligation to work within a certain academism” (personal communication, October 9, 2020). As he stated, forms of contemporary art were banned, photography at ESBAL was not permitted, student associations were forbidden, and a repressive environment prevailed, with suspicions that the School staff included members of the Secret Service Police. Additionally, Brandão was interested in politics, and strongly opposed the dictatorship. He began to embrace Marxist and Socialist ideology, so as “to have a means of intervention beyond simple artistic activity”. At the time, a movement emerged based on the idea that “painting was for the wealthy” producing “unique objects that could only be in the homes of people who had purchasing power”. Simultaneously,

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there was an emerging interest in artists who made art “for the people” by developing large scale murals in the street, such as Diego Rivera or José Clemente Orozco (Brandão, personal communication, October 9, 2020). In 1961, Brandão designed his first poster, a work for the Faculty of Economics of University of Porto. A then-precarious economic family situation led Brandão to look for temporary jobs and participate in competitions. He worked as a trainee for the advertising agencies Êxito and ARTOP, and collaborated with architects: among them, Manuel Barreira, in 1961, and Frederico George Rodrigues, in 1963. While following the ethos of Architect Frederico Jorge, uncle of Frederico George, Brandão was then confronted with the possibility of using his artistic vocation to create “objects that could be enjoyed by all”. The practice of design was therefore adopted by Brandão, according to himself, “as a more or less political-artistic statement” (personal communication, October 9, 2020). In October 1963, by invitation of Frederico George Rodrigues, Brandão joined Daciano da Costa’s studio. Da Costa was a multifaceted architect with extensive experience in industrial design, interior design and graphic design. In this environment, Brandão began attending the Basic Design course that was taught on location. In his words: Frederico George Rodrigues tells me about this “design” thing that I had never heard of. This term was not part of the Art History, not even as an academic subject, not even among colleagues. (cited in [2], p. 220)

In fact, despite living among a culturally rich family environment, Brandão had never heard of Design until he was 19 years old. The term was not used in Portugal— terms such as Graphic Art, Graphic Advertising or, in the case of Industrial Design, Industrial Aesthetics (a term translated from French), were employed—nor was this an area of interest among the circle of people with whom he socialized. At the time, design was mostly carried out by painters or sculptors, and was often considered a more effective way to ensure a living [10]. His first experiments in Design and the understanding of this area separate from the Arts—in terms of methodology and purpose—indeed occurred when he met Daciano da Costa and began to attend his studio. Daciano had created in his studio a Basic Design course, in the early 1960s ([17], p. 17) with the support of Lagoa Henriques (sculptor), Frederico George (architect and painter) and Roberto Araújo (painter and designer) [10]. According to Brandão, this course followed the Bauhaus principles and an aesthetic of purification of forms: students were encouraged to “observe nature and learn to understand the various geometric interpretations around them”. Brandão recalls that his projects at Da Costa’s studio were not necessarily graphic “because, at the time, design was not exclusively graphic. Design was an integrated activity that held various expressions in three-dimensional or two-dimensional objects” (personal communication, October 9, 2020). Therefore, in the Basic Design course, all areas of the project were addressed, from interior to industrial design, furniture, and graphic design. Essentially, it was about putting into practice the ’new idea’ of intervening in society in cultural and functional ways. ([6], p. 31)

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At the heart of discussions on design were the applied methodologies, greatly encouraged by the contents of the British magazine Design which, between 1963 and 1964, launched a series of articles on this issue by Bruce Archer, a magazine that Brandão began to subscribe to from January 1964 onwards. In a country (and political context) where access to information was restricted and bibliography on design was scarce, “each issue [of Design magazine] was eagerly awaited, read with the difficulty of those who have a poor understanding of the English language (…), trying to translate these articles for internal consumption (a huge effort with extra hours of work…)” ([6], p. 32). Although in the early 1960s the dominant cultural reference in Portugal was France (and correspondingly the French language), the team at Da Costa’s studio were particularly attentive to English culture, considering England as one of the most developed European countries in terms of design (along with Nordic countries and Germany, which were largely inaccessible to the Portuguese, due to linguistic constraints). A number of themes were discussed, such as “the systematic method” and the international practice of design, namely British and Nordic—those addressed in Design magazine—while aiming at “possible journeys and possibilities of confronting ideas and projects” ([6], p.32). In 1964, one year after joining the Basic Design course, Daciano invited Brandão to work in his studio on multidisciplinary projects, covering the areas of Architecture, Interior Design and Graphic Design. For Brandão [6], this experience was full of “new discoveries, but the confrontation with the idea of design and its practice was the most remarkable aspect” ([6], p. 31). The first project he developed in Da Costa’s studio was a study for the ceiling of Teatro Villaret, based on a modular system.2 Together with his master, Brandão designed the ceiling using “cards that represented the ‘module’”, envisaging the creation of “a modulation in the ceiling that lived from the geometry of the element, its distribution in space and the effects of light”. A visual identity for the theatre was thus structured “through a systematization made for functional spaces, carefully designed in every detail” ([6], p. 32). According to Brandão, the first brand books for companies in Portugal, one for O + F and another for Metalúrgica Duarte Ferreira, were also designed in Da Costa’s studio. These works reinforce the value attributed to the rigor and functionality of the graphic identity created, far beyond aesthetic issues. Regarding the brand book for Metalúrgica Duarte Ferreira, Brandão recalls it included “all the elements essential to defining the company’s image: symbol, logo, geometric construction, symbol/logo combinations, colors, etc.” ([6], p. 33). This understanding of brand mechanics, this systemic and integrated way of thinking about the elements of graphic identity as essential components of a global project—this was innovative in Portugal at the time.3 2 The

design of this ceiling still remains in the theatre.

3 In Portugal, only later, in the early 1990s, this practice would become common among Portuguese

designers, when several national companies and institutions invested in the (re)design of their corporate identity.

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His tenure at Da Costa’s studio lasted two and a half years, and it proved essential for Brandão’s training as a designer, namely “in methodological terms, in terms of understanding the profession, of cultural insertion” (Brandão, cited in [10], p. 228), and evidenced that the Painting course did not correspond to his expectations. As he later reported: Design responded to the dissatisfaction caused by the experience with painting and its social role. It facilitated a more direct contact between the author and the wider universe of consumers, in the sense that it provided mass access to quality products, with the same cultural and recreational components, but at relatively affordable prices. One of the main design objects was the book, whose role as a cultural disseminator had great democratizing impact, especially if we compare it with painting. (Brandão, cited in [8], p. 104b).

3.2 Leaving Portugal. Finding Design in Higher Education As a militant against the ruling dictatorship, affiliated with the Communist Party since 1961,4 and on the verge of military draft and being sent to the Colonial War, in 1966 Brandão traveled to France to visit a Picasso exhibition; his underlying intent was not returning to Portugal. He had seven years of schooling, had attended the fourth year of Painting,5 and by this time it was clear Design was the path to follow. In 1967, still in Paris, Brandão worked as a graphic designer at Atelier Joubert; in September of that year, with the support of a Calouste Gulbenkian Scholarship, he began attendance of the Graphic Design course at the Ravensbourne College of Art and Design in London. According to Brandão, at Ravensbourne, both teachers and the Director practiced Design, and there were financial and material resources, including workshops and typographic machines, a reality far ahead of that in Portuguese schools [2]. In his Design class (22 students), there were five Portuguese students: Cristina Reis, João George, José Pinto Nogueira, Alda Rosa, and himself (Fig. 3). At Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, Brandão reconnected with João Segurado, with whom he had already worked at Da Costa’s studio, and Jorge Pacheco, who attended the Industrial Design course at the time. At the age of 23, Brandão clearly had substantial life experience. In addition to work in the area of design in Da Costa’s studio, he had held a range of jobs to support himself in France, and had faced various adversities and difficulties, partly because of the social political context lived in Portugal. Therefore, when he joined the Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, he revealed a more advanced level of maturity and understanding of experiences, which led him to “view the course as a reflection” on his profession, that is, he “was no longer just learning but also re-analyzing” his “own previous experiences” (Brandão, cited in [10], p. 229).

4 This

affiliation lasted until 1967. to his permanent conflict with teachers, lack of interest in the principles underlying the activity of Painting and artistic tendencies that were allowed in the School, Brandão only succeeded in moving on to the 2nd year after 3 years of Painting.

5 Due

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Fig. 3 José Brandão shows a picture of his class from the Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, highlighting the presence of the five Portuguese students; source: interview held in his studio on October 9, 2020. Photography: @Cláudia Lima

This new context proved to be radically different from those experienced before in Portugal or France, and this led to a break with the past, as well as a clarification of the path to follow. Brandão recalls that, upon arrival in England, he was faced with “a more pragmatic society, with great flexibility, great openness, great pragmatism and, at the same time, high levels of quality” (cited in [10], p. 229). While in France there were still differences between the minor arts and the major arts, in England not only were there no such distinctions, but there was also room for the different “forms of expression of human thought”. If, in France, Design derived from (and was called) Industrial Aesthetics,6 in England it emerged as a specific area and “a project concept” (personal communication, October 9, 2020). Brandão thus finally met with a political and social reality where the design profession was already recognized and valued. In the context of the course, the importance of a methodology in the design process, rigor and thoroughness were valued and implemented—an ethos that was already part of his understanding of the design project through his collaboration with Daciano da Costa’s studio. According to Brandão [10], in England, there was already a long tradition in the area of design, history of design was a field of study, special attention was given to typographic work, composition of elements, types of paper used. This was, ultimately, a paradigm shift: rigor, thoroughness, typographical work, study of composition, concern with the selection of papers and all the knowledge and 6 Estetique

Industriel.

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practices absorbed as a student in England, they became part of Brandão’s methodology. Henceforth, in all his works, all the details, all the elements, are integral components of a broad project, of a design project. Of these student days, one of Brandão’s most notorious teachers, Geoff White,7 said he remembers him “as a creative, methodical and tenacious designer; one of my best students in the early 70’s” (cited in [5], p. 24). Brandão graduated from the Design course in 1970 with the highest grades—First Class Honours. In the following year, he attended Post-Graduate studies in Design Education, again with the support of a Calouste Gulbenkian Scholarship. In addition, he collaborated with Keith Cunningham’s design studio, establishing contact with several renowned designers, including Henrion, Peter Dunbar and Ken Garland. In the 1970–71 school year he was invited to teach part-time at Hammersmith College of Art and Building in London. In 1971 he worked as a designer for the Imperial Tobacco Group, becoming Head of the Design Office, a position he held until 1973. In 1972 he married Salette Tavares Aranda, a fellow Ravensbourne College of Art and Design graduate and designer in Product Design, and with whom, in 1982, would create the B2 Studio in Lisbon. During his years in London, in addition to collaborating with the above-mentioned institutions, he worked as a freelancer for various English and Portuguese clients [7].

3.3 Returning to Portugal. Contributions to the Rise of the First Communication Design Course in Portuguese Higher Education Brandão returned to Portugal after the Revolution, settling in July 1975. He began work as a freelancer, at a time when the country was undergoing deep political, social and cultural changes. At the same time, the area of Design was emerging, for the first time, in Portuguese public Higher Education. Before the 1974 Revolution, a number of experiments in the teaching of design preceded the formation of higher education courses, in the area, in the context of Painting courses (in which practices connected to the graphic arts and design methodologies were taught) and associated with industrial aesthetics and communication— where design integrated broader frameworks. This was the case in the aforementioned course and projects of Daciano da Costa’s studio [12]. In 1974, a group of ESBAL teachers (Rocha de Sousa, Luís Filipe de Abreu, José Cândido and Rogério Ribeiro) submitted a proposal for the restructuring of Artistic Higher Education: this proposal included the need for Design to integrate “the domain of official studies, duly defined” and focused “in two core specializations: communication and product design” ([1], p. 249). These teachers thus began “to 7 Geoff White was one of the signatories of the First Things First manifesto on ethical design published in 1964.

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introduce design methodology in their artistic disciplines” (p. 316), an approach that precluded the curriculum of the Design courses formalized at ESBAL in the following year. With the Revolution, the teaching of the arts at the Schools in Lisbon and Porto was restructured by splitting the Fine Arts courses in Painting and Sculpture, and the creation of Design courses: Communication Design and Product Design at ESBAL, and Design (Graphic Art) at the Porto School of Fine Arts (ESBAP). In the absence of graduates in the area, the courses were structured by teachers trained in Fine Arts, maintaining a close relationship, even interdependence, in these areas [8, 13]. Design courses emerged in a socio-political context marked by a regime change and a social craving for freedom: a sense of euphoria seemed to bring into question all prior teaching activity and methodologies. The courses, evaluation methods, content and hierarchies—all were put into question: this led to remarkable disruption of school activity [8, 14, 13]. At ESBAL, newly implemented course structures were largely inspired by the study of international schools (namely the Royal College of Art in London), and resulting personal contacts. José Cândido, based the first years of the Communication Design course on a Cuban school program he had witnessed with Rogério Ribeiro during a field trip to Barcelona: an approach based on codes (perceptive, constructive, representative, iconic and graphic) that “were not targeted towards anything in particular” (José Cândido, cited in [2], p. 253) and consequently could ideally be applied onto everything. According to Ceia [8], the course “sought to integrate a poetic idea of the role of design as a stimulant emerging Portuguese reality with the April 25” Revolution. When the course was created, Brandão emerged, according to Rocha de Sousa, “as one of the most consensual names for teaching in the field of Design” (cited in [8], p. 98). As there were few professionals in the area of Design with higher education in this field, Brandão was hired as Invited Assistant Professor in the school year 1976– 77, becoming the first teacher in Portugal of a higher education course in Design with specialized training in the area.8 Brandão then outlined the program for the course’s core subject—Communication Design level 2—following English school design programs and moving away from those based in the Cuban school. In his program objectives we can read: I. Introduction to the basics of visual communication, through inter-related projects related and presented in ways as to allow the monitoring of student evolution. II. Awareness of the nature of the design process, that is, design as an activity aimed at creatively solving specific problems. III. Development of representational and communication skills of proposed solutions. IV. Areas of intervention of the designer, function and utility. ([7], p. 106)

Similarly to current Communication Design programs, his program demonstrates a clear conceptualization of the framework and project methodology of the design process—unusual at the time due to a lack of background in design training. In fact, 8 At ESBAP, the first lecturer of the Design (Graphic Art) course with a degree in the area was Jorge

Afonso, who graduated from that school in 1978 and who, in that same year, joined the teaching staff of the course (Lima et al., in press).

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Brandão seemed to be ahead of his time regarding the approach to the course. Almeida [1] observes that despite presenting new disciplines associated with the specificity of Design, in the first years of the Design course at ESBAL “little had changed regarding program structures, still very dependent on the plastic arts, as well as on a Bauhausian conception of teaching” (p. 283). The paradigm begins to shift when teachers trained in Design in England become part of the teaching staff, introducing “design-specific programmatic content and (…) a real project culture” (p. 284). At ESBAP, as stated by Lima et al. (in press), it is further noted that “even though the curriculum [of the Design course] suggested the willingness of a multidisciplinary approach with subjects such as Sociology and Psychology, in reality the disciplines remained very much associated with the Painting or Sculpture courses”, with the course tending, according to Pinho (personal communication, January 21, 2020), to assume an orientation more related to final art, to graphic practice, with an absence of theoretical content. In his classes, Brandão placed emphasis on typographic practice, with exercises focused on the study of letterforms, the study of the word (typographic work as a way of expressing, even emphasizing, the meaning of the word), the study of text (composition and manipulation of text and the definition of visual hierarchies), and graphic composition through grid systems, combining text and image. The course approach was underlying a set of design principles such as functionality, readability, legibility, balance between positive and negative space—principles that were inherent to Brandão’s own design methodology, both as a design student and professional in the field. In addition to Communication Design, Brandão taught Design Technology, where printing processes were addressed, among them Letterpress, Offset Lithography, Rotogravure and Serigraphy. He also covered the composition of text, mechanical and photographic composition, Engraving, the processes of color reproduction, and the development of the final arts of a project and its prototype. This subject was enriched by field studies and graphic workshops ([8], p. 107). From this period, Rocha de Sousa (cited in [8]) recalls Brandão’s interest in research to “overcome old patterns of making and style”; de Sousa further highlights the way in which Brandão “validated criticism at the level of artistic creativity, clarifying the method, the project”, thus achieving the discipline of design “through poetic content without denying a pragmatic side in the plural relationship of forms” (p. 98). Luís Filipe de Abreu (cited in [8]) also recognizes the importance of Brandão in the formation and consolidation of the Design course at ESBAL, stating that, together with other designers graduated in Design abroad, Brandão was considered to have “the purposeful and necessary knowledge that would allow the re-founding of design teaching” (p. 101). Ceia enrolled at ESBAL as a student in the school year 1976–77, the same year that Brandão became a teacher. From that time, he recalls: the course was taking its first steps and we were all, teachers and students, sailing in unlikely waves of often unknown seas. We made the course together as we went along, with the same anxieties, the same joys, in a then very productive relationship between design, the other great arts and the exuberant theorizations that the April freedom was demanding. ([8], p. 96)

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On Brandão, Ceia recalls that he deeply marked “the years of settling of the course”, in particular because of his background, his pragmatism, and his own approach—resulting from experiences in other socio-political contexts. Brandão’s teaching sought to establish “coherent lines between reality (program), order (need), design (project) and product (market)” (p.105)—and a consequent project methodology was defined aimed to establish “a balance between aesthetic intent and practical sense” (Brandão, cited in [8], p. 105), that is, “between function and form, demand and cultural discourse” ([8], p. 105). Ceia also adds that the core discipline of Communication Design, taught by Brandão, was strongly marked by his personality, helping intensify what he considers as one of the emblematic images of that School: a pedagogical characterization based on the articulation of languages and the integration of areas of plastic expression into the design project body—with plastic arts and design keeping their roles carriers of their own truth. (p. 103)

Gonçalo Falcão [8], another of his students, recalls that a certain lack of knowledge in the field of Communication Design was common among course teachers, at a time when the activity of design still seemed ambivalent. Brandão appeared then as a teacher who stood out for his knowledge of the area, and for the way he theorized about the practice and conceptualization of Design. In the early years of the course, Brandão already possessed an extensive bibliography in the field, a bibliography largely nonexistent in the country, which he provided to ESBAL: this allowed students a more comprehensive view of international design, and a rather advanced one when compared to the Portuguese context. In a country where, and at a time when Design courses were being implemented and where the subjects were mostly taught by visual artists who, despite some experience in the graphic arts, did not effectively themselves have specialized training, it can be argued that students of Brandão ended up benefiting from specialized and privileged training. This privilege was confirmed by Luís Moreira (cited in [8]), a former student, as he stated that, as a teacher, Brandão was his core reference: “the way [Brandão] brought the professional life of his studio to class, and the relaxed—but responsible—way he accompanied” their projects, were remarkable (p. 108). However, if the specialized training in Design and experience acquired in the practice of projects for Portuguese and foreign clients were regarded with admiration by Brandão’s students, this was not always properly considered in the school context. Together with Jorge Pacheco and Salette Brandão, who meanwhile became part of the teaching faculty at ESBAL’s Design courses, Brandão was nicknamed the foreigner: therefore, and paradoxically, often his value and skills were not properly recognized. For about eight years, and much like his fellow Design graduates in England, Brandão did not obtain a formal equivalence of his degree in Portugal, compromising the progression of his teaching career. On the other hand, over time disagreements between teachers became more prominent, and differences became more acute: Brandão’s pragmatism and his understanding of design methodology

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came up against an idealization of the course that was more favorable to experimentation, blurring the boundaries between design and the fine arts. A disappointment with the course increased as a consequence. Brandão’s experience as an educator and graphic designer did not seem to be properly recognized: his contribution to the course was poorly harnessed beyond the classroom, and, according to Brandão, coordination guidelines were scarce ([7], p. 107). In fact, after 18 years of teaching service, Brandão never managed to progress in his career, remaining as an Invited Assistant Professor. Brandão left ESBAL at the end of 1994, at a time when the Communication Design course was proving successful, presenting a much higher number of students enrolled than the Painting or Sculpture courses. Recognition of his key role in the School, as well as his investment in the course, seemed to be delayed. When Brandão left ESBAL, there were over 70 students still “in the same classrooms, without a computer, without any kind of workshop support” (personal communication, October 9, 2020). He thus wrote a letter of resignation, presented to the Board Council of the School on November 16, 1994. The letter included the following: [...] After these years (the 18 years that I have taught there) I am led to conclude that it is probably not the real will of the School to see with pride the existence of Design courses within the Faculty, or at least to recognize their existence as courses in which the Faculty as a whole should strive to improve its conditions. (Brandão, cited in [7], p. 124b)

Meanwhile, in 1992, a Design course opened at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon (FAUTL), directed by Daciano da Costa. On the latter’s recommendation, Tomás Taveira, a great promoter of the Design courses at FAUTL, invited Brandão to join the new course as Assistant Professor in late 1994. In this new context, where the approach to Design appeared associated with the practice of Architecture, branching out in different areas (graphic design, interior design, urbanism and fashion), Brandão assumes a fundamental role in the definition and consolidation of the Graphic Design area. When he joined FAUTL, Brandão was assigned the discipline of Drawing. He recalls that what was expected from him was to be a Drawing teacher, but the first thing he did “was to transform the discipline into Graphic Design” (personal communication, October 9, 2020). Over time, he re-shaped the course, shifting Communication Design into the 2nd and 3rd years. He then managed to turn the 5th year into a specialization in Design: students would reach the 5th year and choose Communication Design or Product Design. Later, he joined the Master’s Coordinating Committee, the proponent body of the Master in Graphic Design degree; subsequently, he joined the PhD Scientific Council, and was the first PhD examiner at the Faculty. In short, after a significant contribution to the definition of the first BA in Communication Design at ESBAL, Brandão joined the faculty of FAUTL, actively contributing to the creation and structuring of three education cycles in the area of Design: BA, MA and PhD. Six years after joining FAUTL, Brandão became Associate Professor, maintaining his teaching activity until 2011, the year he retired. His contribution to the area of Design, in the academic field and as a designer, was recognized in this same year, with an Honorary Doctorate.

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Currently 77 years old, and retired from teaching, Brandão maintains his activity as a designer at B2 Studio, together with his wife and designer Salette Brandão and a team of collaborators, having recently radically changed his methodology and work dynamics as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the successive lockdowns the country has undergone.

3.4 Final Considerations The present article presented and analyzed José Brandão’s academic path in the field of Design: first as a student, and later as a teacher. At a time when the practice of design was scarcely legitimized in Portugal, and thus developed essentially by artists and architects, Brandão had his first contact with this area through the studio of architect Daciano da Costa, by attending a Basic Design course. This first contact proved decisive for an understanding and conceptualization of design based on the principle of functionality, and for the understanding of a methodological process underlying projectual practice. Hence Brandão’s affinity with the area of Design and consequent distancing from the Visual Arts became evident. The possibility of attending a design course in England, a country where, unlike Portugal, the designer’s profession was already recognized and valued, validated the learning acquired in Da Costa’s studio, and brought him more specialized training in the area of Communication Design. Returning to Portugal, Brandão became the first teacher with a BA in Design to teach Design in higher education when he joined the ESBAL teaching staff. Here, he saw an opportunity to apply the learning and design methodologies acquired abroad, as well as share specialized knowledge and resources, both largely non-existent in Portugal. Whereas his expertise was evident in his teaching practice, valued and incorporated by his students, his activity in the school was not always correspondingly valued: his course ideals seemed to be at odds with the course coordinator’s. Indeed, at ESBAL (and similarly at ESBAP), interdependence between the areas of Design and Fine Arts prevailed, delaying a recognition of the specificities of the Design course. Furthermore, the fact that Brandão had specialized in the area in a school with an extensive tradition in Design, and distinct from the practice in Portugal, may also have contributed to a growing conflict between himself and the course coordination, leading to Brandão’s withdrawal from ESBAL. Brandão subsequently joined FAUTL, where his experience in the domain of Design Education seemed to be valued and harnessed, allowing him to actively contribute not only to the consolidation of the Design BA, but also to boost specialized training in the area of Communication Design through the creation of Masters and PhDs. By tracing the professional path of Brandão, as well as providing relevant personal insights, this article intends to contribute to a largely untold of the inner dynamics and intricacies of the early years of the implementation of Design in higher education in Portugal—while providing insights that may revert to a further understanding of

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the ways in which the specifics of the history of Portuguese design education play a range of discreet, albeit decisive, roles in contemporary contexts.

Reference 1. Almeida V (2011a) O Design em Portugal, um tempo e um modo: A institucionalização do Design Português entre 1959 e 1974 (Dissertação de Doutoramento). Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa. https://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/2485/2/ulsd059655_td_T ese_Victor_Almeida.pdf 2. Almeida V (2011b) O Design em Portugal, um tempo e um modo: A institucionalização do Design Português entre 1959 e 1974 – Anexos (Dissertação de Doutoramento). Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa. https://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/2485/1/uls d059654_td_Anexos_Victor_Almeida.pdf 3. Alvelos H, Barreto S, Chatterjee A, Penedos-Santiago E (2019) On the brink of dissipation: The reactivation of narrative heritage and material craftsmanship through design research. In Research & education in design: people & processes & products & philosophy: proceedings of the 1st international conference on research and education in design (REDES 2019), November 14–15, 2019, Lisbon, Portugal 4. Banks M, Zeitlyn D (2015) Visual Methods in Social Research. SAGE Publications 5. Bártolo J (2014) José Brandão, designer gráfico: Poética e Programa na Comunicação Visual de José Brandão. In: Ceia AJ (Cord) José Brandão, designer – Cultura e prática do design gráfico. Edição Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, pp 21–81 6. Brandão J (2001) Design é um só. In: Martins JP (org), Daciano da Costa Designer. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, pp 30–33 7. Ceia AJ (Cord) (2014a) José Brandão, designer – Cultura e prática do design gráfico. Edição Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa 8. Ceia AJ (2014b) “José Brandão, professor”. In: Ceia AJ (Cord) José Brandão, designer – Cultura e prática do design gráfico. Edição Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, pp 83–129 9. Decree-Law no 38/83 of June 1, 1983. https://dre.tretas.org/dre/2484459/decreto-do-governo38-83-de-1-de-junho#anexos 10. Fragoso M (2012) Design Gráfico em Portugal: formas e expressões da cultura visual do século XX. Livros Horizonte, Lisboa 11. Lima C, Barreto S, Alvelos H, Penedos-Santiago E, Martins N (2020) Learning ecologies: from past generations to current Higher Education. In: 5th IAFOR international conference on education. Hawaii; The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii 2020 Official Conference Proceedings. https://papers.iafor.org/wp-content/uploads/conference-pro ceedings/IICE/IICEHawaii2020_proceedings.pdf 12. Lima C, Barreto S, Alvelos H, Penedos-Santiago E, Martins N (2021b) The rise of the first design course at the school of fine arts of Porto. In: Raposo D, Neves J, Silva J, Correia Castilho L, Dias R (eds) Advances in Design, Music and Arts. EIMAD 2020. Springer Series in Design and Innovation, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55700-3_11 13. Lima C, Barreto S, Alvelos H, Penedos-Santiago E, Martins N (in press) The birth of graphic design in a school of fine arts: how the specificity of a learning environment determined a course’s vocation. In: Raposo D, Neves J, Silva J (eds) Perspectives on Design: Research, Education and Practice. Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14. Mendonça R (2007) O Cartaz e a Escola_Um Estudo Centrado nos Autores e no Curso de Design das Belas Artes do Porto (Doctoral Thesis). Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto 15. Quivy R, Campenhoudt LV (2008) Manual de Investigação em Ciências Sociais. Gradiva, Lisboa 16. Tinkler, Penny (2013). Using Photographs in Social and Historical Research. Sage Publications 17. Sena da Silva A (2001) Modos de aprender. In: Martins JP (org.) Daciano da Costa Designer. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, pp 12–17

Functional Graphic Design for a Musical Writing: Criteria of Constructive Graphics and Sound Interpretation in Ernest Robson’s Work on Phonetic Electronics Jorge dos Reis Abstract The study and analysis of the use of graphic design mechanisms in the field of musical notation have been strongly neglected. This article aims to observe the graphic qualities of Ernest Robson’s visual and sound work. His work reveals a very insightful graphic manipulation creating new communication graphics associated with electronics. We intend to observe the interpretative strategies based on the graphics itself and thus reveal an unknown work, through the analytical and original lens of graphic design. In 1981 Robson edited the work Phonetic Music With Electronic Music where he developed his graphic system which he also used in the field of experimental poetry and electronic music. His concrete work presents visual and scientific strategies for performative reading, presenting a very consistent graphic design, inspired in the notation of Isidore Isou and the lettrism movement. Keywords Graphic design · Music · Phonetics · Typography · Notation

1 Introduction to Ernest Robson’s Electronic Approach Ernest Robson studied linguistics and phonetics. As a researcher he has developed extensive research in the field of acoustics, publishing the book Phonetic Music With Electronic Music [4] where he explores to a large extent all his considerations around phonetic and poetic production. He has also dedicated is time to the creation of sound poetry, an activity that is scientifically based on his research. Robson’s work is essentially a task of phonetic writing. While the use of consonants is particularly evident, Robson’s work of drawing and phonetic writing is situated in the vowels. His work builds a system of effective, concrete notation that is based on scientific and pragmatic concepts based on the construction of a performative reading and writing system that presents a very consistent graphic design. It is certainly a relatively unknown work, even at the level of performative practices, J. dos Reis (B) Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Investigação e Estudos em Belas-Artes, Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_27

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but the formal criteria of the design of the writing and the instrumental character of the object of notation makes it an exemplary case in this field of graphic design.

2 Between Phonetics and Music Robson places his work in a perspective that links phonetics to music. This connection is fundamental for all sound poets, but Robson goes further by determining areas such as phonetic music, as well as a whole set of authors who can gain from this phonetic writing system ranging from agents linked to theater, advertising, performance, graphic design. Robson points out that the writing of a “phonetic music can be easily conceived in the particular realm of sound poetry. It is sound poetry all the acoustic form of language that is independent of grammar or meaning” ([5]: 85) constituting this a general designation, individualized in the fact that it can be accompanied or not acoustically, a significant text, instrumental music or environmental effects. From a physiological point of view, the region involved in it is the phonetic apparatus, even if the sounds of the tongue can be filtered or altered electronically [5]. Robson’s conjectures go against the fact that “the acoustic dimensions of sound poetry are determined by the levels of frequency, extension, time and silence, which are involved in the problem of perception and identity-being” [5]: 85). The basis for this aspect is that phonetics and their musicality are based on tonal factor. It is in the mouth and throat area that is the place of production of this musical phonetic expression. The production of resonances that gain musical qualities is concentrated in the use of vowels and consonants. It is the frequency of vowels, which constitute the formants, which confer the parameters of phonetic music: duration, timbre and pitch (the rhythm being connected to consonants); the language conditions, the passage of air, shaping its inner volume and “although we cannot pronounce a single formant separately, we can, through the formants, perceive the tonal complexity of vowels, being possible, therefore, to compose in different modes music based on formants through the selection and organization of vowels” ([5]: 86). In Robson’s notation, the extension and representation of the vowel is the essence of its system; functional graphics where a strong visual control is perceived, proper to the practice of graphic design (Fig. 1). As a result of this aspect we can refer to this phonetic music—as a system of graphic notation—as the set of clinical models of sound poetry generated in the mouth and/or by the vocal cords. This is what is meant when you place phonetic music in the lyric sphere, characterizing it as the tonal component of sound poetry. Its dominant dimension is frequency in general; even if the frequencies at stake are dynamically modulated by time, intensity and silence. In this sense, what is most concerned about the composer of phonetic music is that his product should be heard [5]. This same listening is based on a sound propagation coming from the interpreter, coming from a specific performative writing platform, which takes into account its lyrical character and the tonal component already

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Fig. 1 Ernest Robson, Notation key [5]

mentioned, founding criteria of this system, which evidences a work with meaningless syllables or difficult to link to meaning. Robson admits that “it takes twice the sound intensity for meaningless words to be perceived and identified, placed next to meaningful words, situated in the same sentence”([5]: 87). Robson’s typographic

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Fig. 2 Ernest Robson, Towards Lyra and Swan [5]

structure allows us to accurately define assumptions of phonetic interpretation as those we have been describing so far (Fig. 2).

3 The Composition Techniques Sound poets who wish to write phonetic music with this system must, first, eliminate the language of their functional context in everyday life, thus being able to rely on abstract or almost abstract acoustic traits for a free work with the voice. We find in this way, and in this approach of dissolution of the language of everyday life, six techniques to make the best possible use of the tonal structures that the composer and poet sound wish to accomplish. Let us move on to the designation of these six techniques that start from the use of the phonetic music code that we had the opportunity to observe. First, the use of repetition to exhaustion, or even to a limit equated by the performer, deliberately removes semantics and syntax by moving in the direction, from what Robson calls exhaustion. Once such exhaustion is verified, the residual messages will consist only of acoustic traces of the language, and the remaining information to be conveyed will consist only of sounds, sounds and more sounds. The reader/listener becomes a kind of fruition prisoner of the vocal values of the text [5]. This is Gertrud Stein’s hypnotic technique; a style she probably acquired when, as a psychology student of William James at Radcliffe University, she experienced automatic writing.

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Fig. 3 Frequency of the first three formants in American vowels [3]

Purposely, Stein introduces selected sound images and seduces the listener by making him focus on the vocal rhythms and poetic associations specific to that linguistic musicality [5]. The second technique corresponds to a more effective work with vowels, manipulating their sound. This possibility occurs taking into account that they may be of high pitch, medium or low pitch tone. In the graph made by Ladefoged, in his Phonetics Course [3], we can verify that the frequency allows to visualize the vowels of more high pitch and more low pitch (Fig. 3). To understand this physical phenomenon we have to understand the concept of formant, when the mouth makes the vocal apparatus resonate the resulting sound consists of several components. The position and movement vibrations of the mouth produce sounds of a wide variety of frequencies [6]. Thus a vowel consists of a set of different sounds corresponding to the frequencies that form it. The main frequency is closed mouth, as the fundamental frequency F0. However, the two frequencies above are very important for the description of vowels. These frequencies are called, first formant F1 and second formant F2. The first formant corresponds in a rudimentary way to the resonating created in the upper frontal area of the mouth, and the second formant corresponds to the resonating created in the lower and posterior area [6]. The frequency of vowels is measured in Hertz (Hz). By whispering the English words: fit—let—bat—cod—put, we can easily check the descending tone imposed by the vowels of these words, based on the scale of vowels, the composer can select the words accordingly, at the same time, with their tonal lengths and meanings. This criterion may lead to the constitution of a lexical vocabulary based on tones,

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providing the composer with a repertoire for the realization of a tonal poem. This technique consists on the concentration of words with vowels of equal tone height [5] Still related to the analysis of Robson’s second technique, it is important to state that this notation system has one main characteristic, constituting a prosody notation device. Prosody is a term that includes intonation, rhythm, time, volume and pauses, taking into account that they interact with syntax, lexical meaning and segmental phonology in spoken texts. In the field of discourse analysis there has been a growing awareness of the central role of this aspect of language [7]. The conversion of an oral discourse to a prosody notation system results in a loss of detail of the richness of orality. Wennerstrom points out that when a spoken discourse is linked to a transcription, that transcription tends to have a life of its own rather than an interaction [7]. In this sense, Robson’s phonetic music notation system shows the duration of phonemes by the graphic length of the letters; the thickness variation of these corresponds to the sound intensity. The represented letters can drop or go up to represent the pitch. The size of the white space in the system corresponds to the size of the silences (or pauses). When there is an overlap of characters we are faced with a tonal change or tone modulation that moves in a reference frame consisting of three pitch levels. The third technique allows an “exaltation of linguistic tones” ([5]: 91) referring to the writing, with this system, of non-contextual expressions such as “very brief names, titles, slogans, advertisements and poems” ([5]: 91). To explain this idea, Robson reveals a procedure that aims to reduce the redundancy of the natural language. Once the interactive components of the conventional language are minimized, the writer can create an imaginative context of his own. Titles can be reference structures in which invented words or meaningless syllables can be available within certain themes, which guide the reader or listeners in the enjoyment of the acoustic development of the composition [5]. The fourth technique concerns the transformation of language into a more interesting entity. In this case the invention of new words, taking into account their sound quality, can reinforce the taste and the auditory pleasure. Consonants and vowels are instruments of work and sound manipulation through the use of onomatopoeias, performing a careful process of semantic associations. In the same sense, and in the same line of objectives, we have a fifth technique consisting on the organization of isolated vowel sequences taking into account their tonal and sound qualities. To exemplify this aspect we will again turn to Robson who, in turn, uses the language of monkeys, to explain a procedure used by many sound poets. The flow of vowels is appropriated by the composer or poet in order to recant the qualities of the formants of each vowel. We consider all the settings of oral tones as ‘music of the formants’. A study based on the recording of sounds of monkeys, chim-panzés and gorillas showed us that their phonation devices are unable to reproduce human language. These animals do not alter the shape of their supralaryngeal vocal traits with the movements of the tongue as it is with humans, who have a less attached tongue and consequently a freer articulation [5]. From an

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analysis of the sound aspect, such animals reveal the presence of formants in their cries and show some characteristic aspects of human language in other expressions, however the resonances produced by them are less flexible, less mobile and more limited when compared to the wide radius of formants produced by humans. The music of the formants is, therefore, an exclusive prerogative of man: it is the gift given to him by the word. [5]. The sixth prescribed technique concerns the conception of a new writing design that allows, through easy perception, the enjoyment of this new notation. The composer or poet can construct ascending and descending phonetic curves using exclusively letters, without requiring any other iconic means. This writing drawing for performance allows you to manipulate the length of the vowel by prolonging its drawing, emphasizing and maintaining the touchy qualities of vowels. Other aspects, such as the intensity and size of the pauses, will accentuate the detail of the communication.

This system also presents the possibility of corresponding to a record of the expressive language of everyday life, in addition to the performative use. In the phrase She Grieving, sat among cold rooms we can see the descending tone and in the phrase fresh spring rain we can see the diphthong ascending, in fact in its natural tone. In this approach we are faced with the notation which can also be a mediation tool that will allow for a more effective approach to the public. It can be a transition notation for an opera singer, in this case an instrument in the hands of the director who can work emotions through the words on the libretto. Thus, an alphabetical notation of typographic dimension is formed where the visual character of the text is added a musical approach, with a concentration on the visual character of the writing, almost taken as an artistic object. In the poem Crows (Fig. 4) it is possible to verify the counterpoint characteristic of the typographic score, which represents in a particularly effective way the descending tone of the first line, evidencing a sad and distressing tone contrasting with a certain dramaturgy of the performance that ends in the last line in a funny tone – ascendant – in the last word of the poem. It is precisely these alternative representations of segmental phonology that represent the continuous variation of pitch of the speaker [1]. In this context, linguists use a type of transcription called internationally for interlinear tonetic. Alan Cruttenden states that in this type of transcription the lines above and below represent the limit of pitch, the highest and lowest of the speaker. Each point corresponds to a syllable, the wider points indicate the stress and/or syllables more pronounced [1]. In the interlinear tonetic, we can verify the height variation of the syllables as if it were a musical note (Fig. 5).

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Fig. 4 Ernest Robson, Crows [5]

Fig. 5 Alan Cruttenden interlinear tonetic, system of notation [1]

4 Ernst Robson and Isidore Isou Robson neglected notation system is based on the concept of phonetic music. The graphic production of sound poets is merely intuitive and without a proper writing and notation system. Moreover, with Robson it is possible to compose with the sound artifacts of speech, in a totally compositional attitude, where emotions are prescribed and calculated. In order to perceive the tones of oral language, the text must protect itself from the redundancies of contextual English. Achieving this objective requires an appropriate notation. The ascendin g and descending tones from the two regions of the phonic device may assume rhythms similar to the tonal change. Whether they are similar or distinct in shape, the curves of the tone produced by the vocal cords always dominate the listening. Anyway, the quantitative and descriptive values of the complex tones of the formants can be only human; and, moreover, it serves to

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distinguish one vowel from the other, making possible the pairs and vowel sequences in order to generate the music of the language. There is a long history of the composition and realization of phonetic music on the part of poets and other writers. Currently, however, there is a brief history of its conscious use as an instrument, based on the acoustic analysis of language [5]. When Robson refers to the history of the composition of phonetic music, he actually wants to highlight what constitutes the basis of his own work: the lettrism of Isidore Isou, from where it draws the instrumental basis for its graphic notation. An author absent from all the stories of art, poetry reviews, cinema, away from several historicist planes of the performing arts, Isou and the lettrism constitute one of the most important moments of a new approach to typographic poetry. Born in Romania in 1925, he will live in Paris at the end of World War II with the intention of renewing the practice of the arts from the letter. He founds lettrism and calls himself a lettrist. In 1945, as a young man, Isou intended to reformulate poetry and art after the horrors of the War. At the basis of his work was the fact that poetry and painting could be renewed, together, through a common cell: the letter. Paintings made of letters and poems materialized through the sounds of the lyrics themselves would emerge contrasting sharply with post-war art. The destruction of the word and the emancipation of the letter is the main concept of Isou that will strongly inspire Robson. Like a virgin tongue. By focusing on the sound and visual dimension of the words, the lettrists expanded their movement through hypergraphs, in which artists used not only Latin letters, but all known alphabets and signs, as well as invented symbols. More than a movement, lettrism is a cultural school with its own followers as Robson. Lettrism is an engine of interstitial transformation of the word and the letter, using a full radicalism in the field of acoustic experimentation through the use of nonverbal sounds of human production such as coughing or sneezing. Lettrism replaces the word with the letter as the minimum unit of the poem. Isou and also Robson fixed the need for internal destruction of verbalism, of poetry as verbal art and typography as a matter of notation for poetry. Lettrism notations, particularly the score of Isou’s symphonies, constitute one of the paradigms of drawing for performative writing, as typographic notation of orality (Fig. 6). His music for phonetic symphonies corresponds to a use of structured typography where a strong graphic concern is allied to the construction of a practical object and facilitated interpretation for performers. Robson is inspired by Isou in view of the use of an individual execution scheme and a score, corresponding to a new code for the author as a performer of his notations, or for an interpreter to whom the functional side of the reading object is conveniently explained. It is precisely notation, as a technological apparatus, that differentiates poetic practices, particularly the sound poetry of lettrism poetry, as well as from previous forms of oral experimentation. The scores of Isou and the lettrism movement are a testimony to the connection between music and typographic poetry present in Robson’s work. Isou’s work is a mark deeply present in Robson’s scores, given that they constitute an object of

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Fig. 6 Isidore Isou, Trois pièces joyeuses [2]

writing and a letter-notation where a critical view of musical language is revealed. The group of lettrists where, in addition to Isou, Maurice Lemaître, François Dufrêne, Gil Wolman and Gabriel Pomerand were very firm about the musical element— sound, and visuals are a common constituent, were the letters of the alphabet replace musical notes; again, something fundamental in Robson’s body of work. The term music-lettrism (lettrist music) has been used by lettrist since the beginning of the movement; the poem then turned into music and anything that was done around the poem would have immediate effects on that same music. The bridge that connected poetry and music made fundamental participating entities of both. However, it is necessary to verify their relationship and their mutual existence. The music to be alive and strong would have to avoid the instruments. This new song is based on the spontaneous and natural human voice, opposite to the expressive singing of popular or emphatic music of lyric singing. Moreover, its original subject matter, which is the letter, is embedded in poetry. Robson work gets several elements from the oeuvre of Isou, on its instrumental nature. First we can see a clear horizontal orientation. Instead of a rhythmic cadence we have units of time and rhythm concentrated in words that create time margins. We can see that a new horizontal orientation makes the words units of time, corresponding to the metric of the inner rhythm. The niches or rectangles where the words are found are thus the constant time units. Other aspects that still connect these tow authors is the phonetic manipulation of the word within visual units; these have to obey the time/rhythm criterion. Also pauses or silences continue to exist but always within the typographic dimensions of words; however, in the case of lettrism, vertical compass lines now correspond to boundary lines that replace white space between words in the conventional reading process present in Robson system. In lettrism the timbres and suits are indicated on the left as in conventional musical notation but the order is established by the author, taking into account the phonetic order criteria. From a formal point of view, both Isou and Robson notations put the words themselves instead of notation signs (whatever they may be). One of the most striking aspects in the relationship of Robson’s work with Isou’s scores is the fact that, in the field of poetry, Isou puts us before a new sound-auditory sensitivity based on writing, carving a new poetry that seeks to mean more in depth.

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The reader, until now, was faced with a silent poetic experience. The poem was not heard; lost its oral element. Isou disputes the meaning attributed to the word and moves around the naked and original letter. When the word was worked the visual grapheme has been forgotten, it ceased to pronounce the word taking into account its graphic units and we began to pronounce in view of its meaning. In the practice of Isou is poetry, as in Robson notation, the attention is on the lyrics—now fragmented or whole—and should take as much advantage as possible from itself typographically. The invention of new signs was one of the ideas present in Isou and Robson postulates, a poetry reduced to the signs themselves that drove away the poetic practice of the printed book, breaking the idea of literary unpublished original, thanks also to the new (phonetic) means of formulating poetry. This multi-sensory exploration of poetry is evident in Robson’s notation (taken from lettrism). Giving primacy to the sound of poetry, the phonemes produced by these authors will never raise the question of decipherment because what matters in their approach is sound. The letters are emptied of meaning and are mere individual hearing cells, having a specific order. Valuing the sound effects that escape the mere understanding of the word creates a new sensitivity. Instead of brain contemplation we have an active personal auditory interpretation.

5 Conclusion Robson’s notation reveals a typographical boldness and a manipulation of the form of the letters extremely innovative. By submitting the alphabet to its method it recreates the shape of the letters and builds compositions linked to the functionalist approach of graphic design. In Robson’s work are the very letters that prolong his drawing horizontally to represent the length of time. In this respect the inspiration and instrumental elements from the work of Isou do mark much of the typographic design originality of Robson’s system. The visual construction of Isou and Robson’s work is supported by a strong theoretical model. This intellectual reinforcement allows to verify the integrity of a practical attitude of restructuring reading and the alphabet as a traditional system of communication untouched. In this sense, both scores reveal a typographic design where the graphic component arises connected to the compositional and sound aspect. These notations do not look for design, despite this the final result reveals that we are faced with a visual piece, a typographic poem, also to be seen. This beauty is based on the very method of fixing orality, through the manipulation of words.

References 1. Cruttenden A (1997) Intonation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2. Isou I (1947) Introduction a une Nouvelle Poésie et a une Nouvelle Musique. Gallimard, Paris

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3. Ladefoged P (1975) A course in phonetics. Nova Iorque: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch. 4. Robson E (1981) Phonetic Music with Electronic Music. Primary Press, Parker Ford 5. Robson E (1992) O Conceito de Música Fonética. In: Menezes P (ed) Poesia Sonora, Poéticas Experimentais da Voz no Século XX. Editora da Pontifícia Universidade Católica, São Paulo, pp 85–102 6. Spencer A (2002) Phonology, Theory and Description. Blackwell, Oxford 7. Wennerstrom A (2001) The Music of Everyday Speech Prosody and Discourse Analysis. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Data Artification: Knowledge Design Against and Beyond Data Factories and Regimes Gabriele Salciute Civiliene

Abstract Although artification is an emerging concept, it encompasses processes that have been around us for a long while. Its current theory combines the sociological and behavioral perspectives on various forms of conversion from non-art to art (Shapiro in Cultural Sociology 13:265–275, 2019) and our intimate responses to the surrounding world (Dissanayake in AVANT VII I:15–32, 2017). Data, on the other hand, have hardly been discussed in the context of artifying processes. Data art or the intent to make something artful for the sake of aesthetics are not, however, synonymous with data artification. It is primarily concerned with the will to know and create when datafied things and activities entangled with our lives in ubiquitous, automated, and overused ways lose their meaning. The binaries of non-art and art limit our consideration of knowledge crisis as a premise of artifying modes of knowing. In this paper, I will argue that this notion is instrumental in developing the phenomenological strand of artification theory. By drawing on the artwork of Nathalie Miebach and Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, I will consider in which ways their artistic practices apply a critical lens to the inner workings of data factories and regimes, and eventually produce knowledge in ways that defy disciplinary centers. Keywords Data artification · Data regimes · Data factories · Data pedagogies · Intersemiotic knowledge production · Interstitial meaning-making · Epistemic crisis

1 Introduction The concept of artification is not confined to a specific school, movement, or coherent philosophical thought. It is an open-ended term which can explain the conversion of non-art to art [22] as well as the premises, underlying processes, and consequences of such a conversion [24]. It encompasses, however, activities that are not necessarily concerned with the production of art. Artification is primarily a change that takes G. Salciute Civiliene (B) King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_28

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many shapes and keeps adapting to new forms of media and social realities, thus reinventing itself over time. It transcends disciplinary boundaries and genres. As such, artification is a transhistorical, intersemiotic, and interstitial phenonmenon. In this paper, I will argue that, amongst other things, artification seeks to resolve epistemic crises in idiosyncratic ways whenever the existing forms or systems of knowing and meaning-making become impenetrable, inaccessible, or distrusted. In response to knowledge crisis, artification resists, innovates, or experiments with the codified forms of knowing. What it invents sits comfortably neither with art nor science because the outcome belongs in the meta domains of knowing unrestricted by disciplinary theories and institutional authority. The history of art provides many examples of artwork that are aesthetic inventions.1 Overlooked or pigeonholed by the history of science and technology as too unorthodox, unscientific or messy to provide epistemic and pedagogical foundations for knowledge production and dissemination, aesthetic prototypes2 anticipate, foresee, envisage, and advance ideas and knowing before their codification and scientification.3 I will extend the concept of artification to explore the practices that arise at the intersection between intellectual dissatisfaction with data obscurities and a discovery of freedom to know in radical ways. To illustrate in which ways the term is suited to include art making and artistic practices with data as items of knowledge, I will draw on the artworks of Nathalie Miebach and Fabio Lattanzi Antinori.

2 Artification as Biosocial Mechanism Artification started as a neologism whose primary meaning was pejorative in both English and French [22, 23]. In the early days, it denoted the making of the artificial as opposed to something authentic [22]. Although not widespread yet, the term has recently come to encompass a set of critical theories dealing with diverse cases and

1 Stéphane Mallarmé’s life-time project called Le Livre (The Book) is one of many such examples. Mallarmé constructed something that he envisaged to be more encompassing and transcending than newspapers and theatre which were the dominating media of his time. He did not have technical knowledge or relevant language to articulate what he wanted to deliver. Torn between the concepts of theatre and book to name his invention, he eventually chose the book. The architecture of Le Livre was meant to allow the reader to traverse the text in any way at any point. Underneath its poetic language and resemblance to a book, Mallarmé’s construct, though not finished, evokes the literary and scientific ideas of hypertext due to which it could be positioned as its aesthetic prototype. 2 Ferguson [6] contemplates the line between “low-level inventing” that occurs in the nonscientific mode of thought and “elegant inventions” that emerge as the most obvious solutions to problems. Although he praises the role of art as a source of knowledge in technological design, it is not clear how he would frame aesthetic inventions with his terminology. 3 Edwin Leyton, for example, defended the idea that technology draws on non-scientific modes of knowing, which elevated technology design to scientific thought [6], pp. 450–451. The scientification of knowledge itself may thus be an instance of artification before its codification is complete.

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contexts in which non-art—and to avoid the binaries, I should also add “not-enoughart” - is being transformed into art [5, 22]. The concept of artification has proven to be productive in explaining the processes of transforming or improving the artistic, aesthetic, social, professional, or intellectual values of people, their diverse activities, and the resulting artefacts. By asking “when is artification?”, Shapiro and Heinich [25] place an emphasis on the socio-historical contexts and reasons of artifying changes. From the sociological perspective, artification emerges whenever professional ambition is prompted to evolve and develop a specialized body of knowledge in the attempt to gain public and institutional recognition [22–24]. Various activities and things that once stigmatized their makers, wearers, traders, and consumers have acquired artistic or cultural value over time. Italian painters and sculptors, for example, could not enjoy individual forms of creative production until they emancipated themselves from the Renaissance guilds. Tattoos used to be the tokens of shame, slavery, and social segregation until their significance was reconfigured through artifying processes [14]. Since the second half of the 20th c., French ceramic artists have been legally contesting the elitist definitions and policies of art [1]. The consumption of wine is also seen to be artified by connecting it to its history and conceptualizing it as heritage [12]. Artifying may entail or at least initiate social recognition, intellectual independence, the democratization of skills, political empowerment, and the demarginalization of individual and collective makers engaged in cultural production. On the other hand, it may create opportunities for recommercialization as in the case of fine wines. The historical cases mentioned above highlight the emancipation of the will to create and produce beyond the means and rules of that what seeks to contain it. As a process conducive to resistance against social oppression and institutional containment, artification may be centred on raising existential questions in the attempt to resolve an epistemic crisis. The process of artifying reveals and realizes the forces intent on making something artful. Even though it may yield artefacts valued for their aesthetic qualities, artification is not complementary to or derivative of art,4 argues Dissanyake [4, p. 17]. Neither is the making of something artful pertinent to art alone. Because the artful involves using skills and knowledge, the will to create is entangled with the will to know in these contexts. The when-question that Shapiro and Heinich [25] raise to explore the many causes of artification also extends to the intimate moments of being in the world. It is a fundamental behavioural term that describes cross-species adaptive/exaptive responses to the environment [4]. Various nano-processes make up our artifying behaviors. For example, we ritualize and modify our facial, vocal, and bodily expressions to make

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art is not necessarily concerned with critical inquiries into data anxieties, incoherences, and obscurities. Artistic research and practices, however, can do something to destabilize our assumptions of the fetishized value of data and our dogmatic relations to knowing with data. Aesthetic means can be employed to critique data rather than beautify it for mass consumption.

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others respond in aesthetic, affective, and ethical ways, as observed in bonding relationships across species [4]. Since we use our bodies as machines to be and eventually to know in the world, behavioural artification is performative, theatrical, and autopoietic. With the sociological and behaviourist perspectives combined, artification encompasses both making the artful and being artful. The question arises as to what comes first: our will to know or our desire for recognition?

3 The Will to Create and Know To describe artification as a multifaceted process that adapts, evolves, and reinvents itself, Shapiro [24] discerns ten types of artifying ‘microprocesses’. Social amelioration whereby non-art or not-enough-art are elevated to art seems to be central to her sociological theory. The characteristic of “intellectualization”, on the other hand, is the closest to the epistemological affordances of data artification that I will discuss in the following sections. This artifying microprocess involves the tendency to produce reflexive discourse [24, p. 271–272, 25] around stigmatized, marginalized, suppressed, and otherwise socially overlooked activities. “Discursive reinforcement” and “intellectualization” [25] emerge along with the recontextualization of that what is being artified, which in result changes its ontological structure and semiotic significance. Unlike in psychology, Shapiro’s intellectualization denotes a positive role since it invents new forms of critical consciousness. The perspective focused on the social reasons and consequences of artification tends to overlook the role of the will to know and to create. While for Shapiro the tendency to conceptualize and disseminate the knowledge about how we do certain things is a consequence of artification, in my view, it is often a prerequisite to artifying our habitual interactions with the world. In Lectures on the Will to Know, Foucault unravels the structural relations between knowing, knowledge, truth, freedom, and will. For him, knowledge comes before truth which is not implicit in knowledge, science, or facts ([8], pp. 214–215). Neither is truth objectively available. Instead, it has to be created in free will. For Foucault [8, p. 17], the most “serene” desire is curiosity because it seeks to know for the sake of knowing. By extension, the will to create for the sake of creating is another internal motivation that does not require external reward. Shapiro’s central tenet of social amelioration may be secondary or even irrelevant to artifying intents.5 To avoid equating such intents with socially motivated interests, let us conceptualize social improvement as a consequence of the will to know and to create. The Italian painters of the Renaissance, for example, removed whatever social 5 Shapiro

and Heinich [25] are nevertheless specific that “artification is not to be confused with legitimation” and its formal systems of assigning value to art to distinguish it from non-art or low art. Instead “legal consolidation” whereby artists achieve legal protection or rights is a characteristic feature of artifying processes.

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obstacles stood in their way to advance their knowledge and develop skills. Their emancipation from the guilds, however, was compelled by the will of “autocratic personality” [29, p. 26] to create independently from the collective constraints. We may be conditioned to associate our will to know and create with the desire for social improvement and justice. We see similar tendencies in theories explaining art as an outcome of social tensions, negotiations, and adaptions. The debates about the epistemological affordances of art making often revolve around the question whether art should or could yield knowledge. Scrivener [21], for example, argues that art making is a form of research the goal of which is to “generate novel apprehensions” rather than an object of knowledge. Wolff [29, p. 9] concludes that theories of creativity that deny that artistic production “arises in the complex conjunction of numerous structural determinants and conditions” are “metaphysical, and cannot be sustained”. Sociology should not exclude from its scope the will to know and create that does not seek social reward. Perhaps the problem lies in the semantics of the argument. Individual creativity indeed arises in certain contexts, but its reasons are many, including internal motivation. The metaphysical explanations that we may have for our inspiration to know and create are a part of our social self-realization. If an epistemic shift from the state of not-knowing to knowing is one of artifying processes, artification begins with the truth of not knowing or that what limits its knowing. It may though transform into a search for social justice or gratification. Artifying for the sake of social reward cannot resist effectively and deconstruct the habitual forms of knowing contained and constrained by a rewarding system. For this reason, I’m primarily looking for the phenomenological foundations of knowledge crises and pre-theoretical solutions that resolve them. In this context, how does the notion of artification, as a willful making of the artful or being artful for the sake of knowing and creating, which may result in social change and produce artefacts valued for their aesthetic qualities, intersect with what we do with and because of data?

4 Technologies of Obscuration and Compression Let us consider data artification as an expression of the will to know and to create the alternative ways of knowing when data obscure the order of things or when they produce social incoherences such as financial crises or academic resistances against its commercialization. Datafication has given us hope to resolve aporias that result from imperfect knowledge, solve problems, and thus improve our lives. Why is it nevertheless difficult to know in the age of knowledge economy in which large data have wide currency? When do data stop making sense? The problems are many, but to mention a few, data have become a ubiquitous interface through which we see and interact with the world. It has become exceedingly difficult to see or question how they operate and underpin our lives. Their deceptively homogeneous appearance harbors “plural logic” [13, p. 726] that escapes our attempts to grasp what data mean.

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Data structures are instrumental in controlling society, argue Fuller and Goffey [9, p. 84]. We let data into our lives to measure our identities and values. We cannot fathom the extent of their influence on the stability and livelihood of our societies, which causes individual anxieties and collective asymmetries. We live by feeding and consuming data. What remains invisible in the process is how data that we give are transformed into knowledge or further data. To keep us in the constant loop of consumption based on input and output, datafication requires the technologies and methods capable of compressing large data for fast consumption. The paradox of technological blackboxing lies in the fact that “the more science and technology succeed, the more opaque and obscure they become” [15, p. 304]. Knowledge based on data is highly specialized. As Koro-Ljungberg et al. [13, p. 726] note, the neoliberal data market produces “a particular kind of knowledge” that serves the agenda of governing bodies. This concerns not only what we know but, more importantly, how we are conditioned to know. Datafication is so intense that it obscures its own methods. When we apply those methods without understanding their inner workings, we replicate the ways of knowing rather than create them. Truth has to be created, argues Foucault, but for that we need free will to look inside the technologies and ideologies concerned with data. A discovery has to be made by us rather than for us if we seek transparency in knowledge production. Each visual or method that displays or analyses data in specific ways was once discovered, experimented with, and eventually codified for further replication of epistemic goods. The technologies of datafication estrange us from what numbers and measures are applied to embody. This semiotic gap between the social meaning of data constructed for our consumption and what is behind its construction opens itself up to exploitation. On the psychological side, the scale of data we believe we need to produce knowledge is beyond our comprehension. The human mind is incapable of coping with escalating numbers.6 For that, we develop and employ tools, technologies, and machines to compress large data into symbolic representations for our consumption. A data point constructed to signify something in the real world enters a chain of semiotic transformations when it joins other data points to form ever larger datasets. The ties between those single points and what they represent alone and as a cluster are severed in subsequent social contracts of analysis, exchange, and consumption. Once the signifier is emancipated from its origins, it makes itself available for reproduction as an object of desire and control. It is curious that our inability to cope with escalating numbers is considered to be irrational and flawed for and by scientific explanation. Yet what is rational about science that cannot cope with human flaws? For the promise of more rational and scientific knowledge, we have reached for economy of scale and thus trapped 6 See

Nordgren and McDonnell’s case study [18] which illustrates that our perception of the severity of crime decreases the larger the number of victimized people. This socio-psychological phenomenon is termed “scope-severity paradox” in the study. The economic technique of contingent valuation also shows a similar tendency in human inability to respond exponentially to increase in numbers.

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ourselves in data factories and regimes that operate on the desire to possess. Datafication has thus created the problem of endless deficiency. The dominating ideology is that large data are inherently valuable, we need to consume them exponentially, and we need machines to accelerate our consumption, even if it is achieved at the cost of ignoring how we come by those data.7 The faster the method of producing meaning in academia, for example, the more commodifiable our research or authority within the network of academic prestige.8 We are thus replicating the same mistake of consumer economy to live in the endless cycle of desiring and designing more.

5 Academic Data Factories and Regimes Knowledge production in academia and other institutions has always been regimented in one way or another.9 It also tends to go through the cycles of stagnancy and innovation. The most recent trend to reinvigorate research and teaching in higher education involves the creation of innovation networks between academia and industry. Intellectual crises are not a problem per se, but their inability to be productive and self-resolving is. What limits our will to know in modern academia? Institutional meaning-making, however open to the outside world, cannot afford being consistently radical or dissident enough to interrogate and resist exploitative knowing and knowledge made to measure.10 Datafication and quantification play a central role in the repurposing of modern academia as a productive domain whose objectives are aligned with economic interests [10, p. 124]. “Data and metrics set limits on what can be known and what can 7 Couldry and Yu [3] discuss in which ways commercial and governmental discourse protects corpo-

rate control from the ethical interrogation of data production. They do so by deconstructing the persistent metaphors of official documents that naturalize data as a resource without ownership and obscure the ideological underpinnings of the technologies used to design data applications and infrastructures. 8 Orr [20] characterized the twentieth century as the age of fast knowledge based on our assumptions that only measures produce genuine knowledge or that the more we know, the better, amongst other beliefs. The overheating results of this culture are already manifesting as a fatigue in academia and other industries. 9 Historically, it is not new that knowledge production would be subjected to economic and political interests to control how society thinks, theorizes, and interprets the world. The history of totalitarian regimes such as that of the Soviet Union and the Nazi Germany provides many examples of censoring epistemic freedoms. Cameralism is another example of science created to serve the states interests in Germany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Eugenics research has also contributed to discriminatory policies and their implementation. Early sociology in Germany, for example, would seek to study but also influence its subjects. See Lazarsfeld and Oberschall ([16], p. 185) on the development of empirical social studies in Germany and the mention of the Verein für Sozialpolitik group consisting of university professors whose studies of social issues were driven by the agenda of monitoring the tensions between industrialists and workers. 10 Koro-Ljungberg et al. ([13], p. 730) consider “self-regulated, self-directed, entrepreneurship and research capital”, which they call a “bureaucratic grotesque”, to be limiting academic perceptions of what can be done with and because of data.

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be knowable” [28, p. 352] on two levels. Large data have become authoritative both as an academic subject and as a governing factor in academic performance. They measure, validate, and otherwise control our will to create in the academic factories of recognition. Research production as quantified and evidenced by papers, chapters, monographs, projects, and public engagement,11 including activism, is tightly entangled with power and economic gain. There is little room left for Foucault’s curiosity and creativity as genuinely epistemic desires. The fantasy of big data is the result of a clever marketing invention, argues Few [7]. It is instrumental in implementing novel colonial practices which hide from where labor comes, and how data is consumed, multiplied, and recycled in asymmetrical ways along the chain of multiple exchanges. The automation of data collection undermines human agency and countervails responsibility and accountability by efficiency. The power that data exert over research has already received much criticism in academia. Koro-Ljungberg et al. [13] warn that intellectual paralysis is imminent. Some disciplines have already voiced their discontent about the datafied forms of management by interrogating the logic of big data [2]. Dissident views have been expressed in favor of creativity, experimentation, and “non-competitive” knowledge production. Jessop [11, p. 858], for example, sees “monastic production, military efficiency, research laboratories and social enterprises” as opportune outlets for unfettered research. However, little attention has been given to data pedagogies—that is, how data are being taught. What the current academic utopias overlook is how to oxygenate the pedagogical foundations of teaching data by means of radical knowledge production. Academic systems of recognition are pragmatic: knowledge should be sustainable. In other words, it should last by being cited, published, peer reviewed, awarded, and otherwise consumed by the public. Sustainability is thus equated with serving egalitarian and utilitarian purposes. It also implies following standards that allow us to package and effectively disseminate knowledge at the expense of freedom of experimental thought. Only few understood the vision of, for example, Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan at his time. Some of his ideas made their way into the academic factories of knowledge, while others remain a mystery even today. How utilitarian and egalitarian are the worldviews and reasoning of radical and interstitial thinkers and artists? How (readily) employable is, for example, Artaud’s notion of glossolalia meant to irrationalize our everyday vocal practices; or Ramanujan’s ways of doing mathematics; or discipline-defying artwork? Paradoxically, slow knowledge is genuinely sustainable because it arises from the crisis of not knowing and persists to know

11 The culture of universities is shaped by public engagement, amidst other factors. It may mean different things. The recent ideal of American academia is to gain recognition as media celebrity intellectuals performing TED talks, argues Shumar [26]. The most prominent example of theatricality as a form of public engagement comes from Ancient Greece where philosophers advocated for public rhetoric with thoughtful citizens. The use of theatrics or showmanship in education may be productive, but it becomes discriminatory when the intimate forms and practices of creativity and achievement are excluded from the systems of reward and recognition.

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for the sake of knowing. It de-escalates and decelerates the cycle of knowledge production and consumption. The emerging term of data humanism advocates personal and unique approaches to data. However, radically personal ways are unlikely to produce “hypercollective goods”.12 As such, they have no potential as academic capital. The question is whether such a watershed moment will ever arrive since data humanism entails slowing down the rate of research output and all other aspects by which academic success is measured in data regimes. The focus on inventing personal ways of knowing and producing slow knowledge13 disagrees with the aspirations of academia to be efficient, fast, and competitive.

6 Epistemology of Storm Fetishist slogans such as “data is beautiful” or “data is the new oil” imply that we desire data as commodities because of their aesthetic or mercantile values. The desire to possess is always exploitative and exploitable. The slogans also encapsulate the paradox of the deregulated data market in neoliberal society in which some ways of knowing are more valued than others [13]. We inscribe our desires not only on objects but also on how we create them. We have found ways to harness machine labor to quantify and datify even intangible things. The efficiency of machine labor, however, homogenizes our ways of knowing, thus leaving no space for the unorthodox will to create. Artist Nathalie Miebach keeps inventing her own systems of collecting, analysing, interpreting, and displaying weather data. By employing low-tech gadgets, she creates intriguing and complex artefacts across artistic disciplines. Nathalie (Miebach, “Art made of storms”) acknowledges that her multimodal experiments with data are her way into science. One artefact leads to another providing new means for a continuous flow of epistemic experiences. For example, Nathalie creates musical scores from weather data and then uses them to model spatial objects and sometimes performances. The artefacts are a means to an end, while the ability to sustain her desire to explore storms and their implications on human experience constitutes her major epistemic invention. Figure 1 juxtaposes the musical score and the sculpture inspired by the Perfect Storm, also known as the Halloween Storm, that took place in 1991. The image on the left side features the 2nd Act of the score based on wind levels, barometric pressure readings, and cloud cover of the fatal night during which the ship called Andrea Gail sank. The four-partite scale from one to twelve along the 12 The term belongs to Swiss sociologist Abram de Swaan [27] who uses it to define English language

as a commodity whose value increases with the number of its users. 13 The book by Lupi and Posavec [17, p. xi] is written in the form of a densely visual personal data-

diary which they distinguish from quantified-self approach to argue that their goal is to be more human than to be more efficient. Lupi’s advocacy for data humanism is yet another professional example of applying artification to free individual curiosity from exploitative knowledge.

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Fig. 1 Nathalie Miebach, The Ghostly Crew of the Andrea Gail, Act 2, 2011, paper, colored pencil, data; The Winds Kept Roaring Through the Night, 2011, paper, reed, wood, data, 24 × 18 × 20 . Reproduction courtesy of Nathalie Miebach

vertical axis represents a piano keyboard with black and white keys. The quantifiable elements such as wind and pressure readings provided the fixed tune for Matthew Jackfert to compose a musical piece called “Shifting Winds”. The image on the right side shows the sculpture called “The Winds Kept Roaring Through the Night” which Nathalie built using the musical score as a reference. Every colour bead and string of the sculpture signifies weather elements that can be interpreted as musical notes (Miebach, “Art made of storms”). The more recent example of Nathalie’s storm epistemology focuses on Harvey Hurricane which caused catastrophic landfall and flooding in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017. Featured in Fig. 2 are the musical score “Harvey Hurricane SOS”, based on data visualizations and maps published by the New York Times, and the wall-mounted sculpture that evolved from this score. In the Harvey project, Nathalie expands the semiotic field of violent weather by adding a theatrical element. The score was performed at Denison University in 2019. The performance of the musicians and the seats of the participants were orchestrated to evoke the storm closing in on the audience from different sides. The audience were reading out loud the Twitter messages posted during the storm when the 911 system broke down. Nathalie’s experiments succeed in translating the violence of the natural world in embodied ways, while scientific data are too anaemic to communicate it with numbers and the measures of barometric pressure, cloud cover, and winds. What does the convention of, for example, temperature mean to us? We know it is a measure of warmth and coldness in objects and humans. As any other measure, it has been invented, tested, and codified with scientific explanations. Nathalie devises her meta-measures with colors, unruly shapes, musical notations, and performative components to build storm epistemologies.

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Fig. 2 Nathalie Miebach, Harvey’s Twitter SOS, 2018, paper, wood, vinyl, data, 7 × 9 × 1 ; Harvey’s Twitter SOS, 2018, paper, watercolor, data, 16 × 20 . Reproduction courtesy of Nathalie Miebach

The ease with which Nathalie navigates the domains of science, music, and sculpture defies the authority of scientific method and disciplinary boundaries which are hard to break because those boundaries are deeply embedded in our worldview. Borders also persist because they engender fantasies of power and security. Many were seduced by the Trumpian fantasy to build the Mexican-US wall. It divided American society before it was even built, which shows how strong our desires and fantasies of severance, division, disunion, and containment are. Crossing geopolitical, social, or religious boundaries is often illegal, dangerous, and otherwise disturbing unless the passage is sanctioned or allowed. Boundaries are thus tools of control. They disempower many while giving the authority to a handful of people to produce the relations of inequality. Disciplinary boundaries are also repressing. They are meant to contain knowledge. When boundaries become more important than knowledge, they are no longer productive because they censor our knowledge wayfinding. To keep those disciplinary boundaries stable, knowledge production has to be centered on replicating the established forms of knowing. The argument of depth may justify such a knowledge centralization, but it also undermines the undisciplined will to know and create. Nathalie Miebach has discovered her ways of exploring the productivity of migration by crossing the semiotic borders of artistic and scientific disciplines. Her approach privileges phenomenology over ontology in overcoming the conventional boundaries of routine practices and structures.

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Fig. 3 Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, Dataflags, 2014, Somerset paper, screenprint, data from the last ten years of Lehman Brothers’ financial trading, electric paint, sound system, custom code, voice soprano, 1.40 m × 2.40 m, Prints & Drawings Study Room, room 405 M, case SR2, shelf 2, London, V&A. Reproduction courtesy of Fabio Lattanzi Antinori

7 Deconstructing the Data Oracle Like Nathalie, Fabio Lattanzi Antinori also deals with complex dynamic systems yet in the domain of finance whose psychological consequences can be as violent as the material damage caused by storms. Fabio builds objects such as flags, books, sculptures, and installations out of steel, paper, electric paint, data, and other crossmedia materials to expose hidden phenomena caused by modern technologies. His artefacts are elegant and minimalist on the outside, but they are designed to expose the messiness of the culture of black-boxing. The epistemic violence of economic data is a frequent motive in Fabio’s work. Artefacts such as Dataflags, Belvedere, or the Masters and Slaves series reify the themes of financial collapses and crashes in visual, tactile, and auditory ways. His artifying critique lies in the naming, the design, and the execution of his aesthetic pieces. For example, Dataflags (see Fig. 3), curated as a part of the V&A collection, is realized as a large rectangular flag suspended in the air. Its semantic and visual association with the flag is evocative of the emblematic and decorative functions of data. The Dataflags installation is made of a screenprint on paper covered in electrically conductive paint and connected to a microcontroller board which turns the painted surface into a sensor. When the surface is touched, a soprano voice sings out a piece of stock exchange data spanning ten years of the Lehman Brothers’ financial trading. The meanings of financial commodities and trading data are enshrouded in technical jargon, ticker symbols, intermediary facilitation of financial transactions, and the like. Our knowledge of what stock markets do and how they operate is disembodied, abstract, and insubstantial, hinging on the symbolic imagery of buildings, contracts, and omnipresent graphs illustrating sale rises and falls. By mapping the median of all share prices, Fabio reduces the ten-year data to a small graphic pattern

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Fig. 4 Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, Masters and Slaves. Google. LED, microcontrollers, extruded aluminum, electronics, financial Google data.175 × 13.5 × 60 cm; Belvedere. HD Video, no sound, 6 00 . Reproduction courtesy of Fabio Lattanzi Antinori

in white and black placed on the flag’s right side at the bottom. Its decorative quality as if embodies the “data is beautiful” doctrine. The graphic display is outbalanced by the surrounding black expanse of deceptive nothingness to show how manipulative the rhetoric of data is. What remains hidden in the compressed graph are the forces that deflated the long-standing legacy of the trading empire in a matter of weeks. Fabio builds an interactive interface to allow his audience to pierce through the wall of abstract stock market data and experience them as beautiful but irrational fetishes of financial systems. A piece from the Masters and Slaves series, featured on the left side in Fig. 4, and the Belvedere video installation on the right side explore the phenomenon of flash crashes. By artifying the economic data, Fabio defetishizes their power to command our view and beliefs. The Masters and Slaves installation featured in Fig. 4a, is based on the financial data of Google affected by a flash crash on the 22nd of April in 2013. The premise of this flash crash is intriguing—that is, it is considered to be caused by the fat-finger error which results from pressing the wrong key during data input. The title is subversively evocative: who is serving whom or rather what? While the promise of technology is to help humans, its consequences on our lives are relentless. The screen of the installation displays the financial graphs of the Google crash rearranged randomly by the code, which exposes the whimsical nature of technology. Belvedere (see Fig. 4) is a silent video installation that visualizes the micro flash crashes recorded on the financial markets by Nanex over several years. The irony lies in the name ‘belvedere’ which refers to a structure designed to provide a fair view in architecture. Fabio constructs a lens for viewing financial turbulations to make us question the trust we put into the power of algorithms and technologies to run our lives.

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What does unify Nathalie and Fabio? Their artworks interrogate the obscured or absent meanings of data, thus disturbing our illusions of the materiality, rationality, objectivity, and stability of data. Their methods defy disciplinary centers. Both make their data to be heard, performed, seen, and touched. Their sensory approaches are personal and primal. Their use of music is in particular curious. Whether Nathalie and Fabio are composing music or something else is an intriguing question. They give sound and voice to data, thus lending anthropomorphic agency to data. On the other hand, both artists allow their viewers to command data rather than the other way round. In Nathalie’s Harvey project, for example, the audience are given the means to interfere with the musical storm by reading the Twitter messages. The music keeps intensifying until the audience begin to shout out the messages in their attempt to battle the elements, which provides the metaphor of human voice as an instrument of surviving the storm of information. The viewers of Fabio’s Dataflags (co)produce music. By touching the flag, they interface with its operatic component created from the voice of an English soprano recorded at Goldsmiths. The singer’s performance of numbers and financial symbols was mapped onto trading values. Fabio explains that he used opera as the metaphor of the language of high finance since both are associated with elitism. At the highest end of the soprano range, the voice sounds almost hysterical, thus making it difficult to comprehend what is being sung (F L Antinori, personal communication, 22 May 2020). Like the oracles of antiquity through which gods were believed to have spoken to people, the operatic voice communicates data. Yet its soprano faculties also evoke the issues of data miscommunication between the contemporary financial gods and lay society.

8 Conclusions In the undisciplined spirit of the Renaissance, various projects meshing art and science have emerged throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Time and time again we rediscover how thin a line separates art from science in everyday life. It is when we accept that all things exist in a continuum that we see their epistemic interrelations and interdependencies [6, p. 460]. While these interdisciplinary experiments take place on occasion, intimate artifying decisions and behaviors continue to produce meaning in the ceaseless fabric of life. This enormous pool of everyday intuitive and sensual knowledge remains hidden from research, unless we invent a lens to give it prominence. The theory of artification is meant to bring the epistemic affordances of nonscientific decisions, aesthetic inventions, and artifying behaviors into focus. To expand Shapiro’s sociological definitions of artification as a completed, disrupted, or suspended social conversion of non-art to art, I have considered the artifying expressions of the will to know intent on resolving primarily an internal conflict between exploitative and exploratory knowing. The artworks of Nathalie and Fabio, whose

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epistemic resistances I have discussed in this paper, encapsulate a body of unique lore produced outside the regimented definitions and practices of data science. They provide blueprints for a pre-theoretical understanding of complex systems such as climate and human economies. Artification also generates a means to study that what data regimes obscure. It invents the ways of looking and seeing which have the potential to oxygenate the systems of knowledge-making in data science and data pedagogies. What data pedagogies do we need to exercise our will to know and create freely from the pressures of knowledge networks to be effective? The intersemiotic inventions of Fabio and Nathalie might not be easy to replicate and reproduce as methods. For the same reason, they resist being turned into commodities that would contribute to exploitative data regimes in academia and beyond. The question as to how to convert them into educational assets in the classroom opens up new possibilities for developing humanistic data pedagogies. Yet the challenge of commodifying the will to know will always be there. Some works of Nathalie and Fabio have already entered museum collections. By being embedded as collectibles in the institutional networks of value (re)production, they are singled out as aesthetic objects. To embrace their artifying epistemologies, they need to be studied, practiced, and performed. Only by practicing the difficult and slow will of knowing, data science and pedagogies can start questioning their phenomenological and ethical limitations from within.

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Correction to: Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project Pedro Beça , Sofia Ribeiro , Mónica Aresta , Rita Santos , and Ana Isabel Veloso

Correction to: Chapter “Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project” in: N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_8 The chapter “Definition of a Digital Tool to Create Physical Artifacts: The Case of the Gamers4Nature Project” was previously published non-open access. It has now been changed to open access under a CC BY 4.0 license and the copyright holder updated to ‘The Author(s)’. The book has also been updated with this change.

The updated version of this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_8 © The Author(s) 2022 N. Martins et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II, Springer Series in Design and Innovation 14, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_29

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