May 20, 2016
The relationship between business and design has gone through deep changes in the past years. We are assisting at a convergence between business and design lead by the formalisation and adoption of design thinking and the revelation that good design is good business: many approaches from design have migrated into business and management enhancing the potential of business focused companies.
But there is a very special case of a method that was developed as an answer to a business need that has successfully migrated to design practices.
This is the case of Lego Serious Play: developed from the ’90s to improve the quality of strategic development meetings it has now been adopted by design companies to enhance creative processes, collaboration among different department, promote co-creation and participative design that includes customers, users, designers, and stakeholders.
Presented at #CassCreativity Seminar series on May 4th 2916, you can watch the whole Storyfy from this Link.
Posted in cocreation, Methodology, Organisations |
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March 7, 2016
Markets are conversations (C) P. Bertini
One of the biggest challenges today, is to deliver meaningful experiences that create value to brands and are valuable for the users. As UX and CX professionals we are today responsible for the value generation processes, because an experience is created by the understanding of what does value mean for all those involved in the experience: the brand and the users.
I recently gave a speech at UX Denmark 2016, the theme was trust & emotion. If trust is the willingness to take risks, where does trust come from and how can it be useful in the UX field? Trust is generated by interaction, there is no trust unless the parts have had – or are in the conditions of having – an interaction that can build and support a relationship that generates positive emotions.
Interaction generates trust and relationships, and relationships generate experiences, and experiences are the real value in the experience economy.
Therefore, if relationships are the (metaphorical) places where value is generated between the interacting parts, then the only way to be in a relationship is through an EXPERIENCE.
Experience is generated by experiences, and the design of future experiences requires imagination and the understanding of the perception of the present experiences through narratives and storytelling of the past.
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Posted in cocreation, Methodology, Organisations, ux |
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February 12, 2016
Recently I have spent time reading and considering the future of UX and how recent research are affecting our understanding of our cognitive experiences and our perception.
I still had no chance to organise my thoughts into a decently structured article and explain what I see happening in the future. But if you are keen to know more, Marek Pawlowsky, the man behind MEX, invited me to talk about what’s boiling… And the result is a long chat (approx from min 40′) about Lego Serious Play, principles of embodied cognition and evolving research methods for the next generation of digital experiences.
Posted in cocreation, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, Methodology, Podcast, ux |
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July 5, 2015
Unleash playfulness
Lego bricks are a fascinating tool. Mostly considered a creative and engaging toy, they are much more than that. What is a toy that enhances children’s creativity and imagination, becomes a tool to enhance understanding and explore opportunities in business.
There is an increasing interests in anything that is LEGO: from the business case of a company that employed co-creation and changed a negative trend in the ’90s into a global success.
And there are an increasing number of applications that are exploiting the simplicity of systemic bricks that can be combined in countless ways and gain a number of different meanings based on individual narratives and stories.
Bricks are natural story maker tool: children imagine adventures while playing and building objects. And so do adults, although they may need some help.
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Posted in cocreation, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, Organisations |
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December 21, 2014
Cocreation brings together individuals
[Excerpt. The full article is available on UXBooth. Many thanks to Marli Mesibov].
“In the past decade, new technologies ranging from Twitter to customer service chat-windows have led to an increase in the quantity and quality of interactions between people and organizations. But listening to user feedback isn’t where the company-user interactions end. Today more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies have made co-creation an integral part of their innovation strategy, as Andrew Welch—Chief Executive Officer of Y&R reports.
Yet in user experience design, most organizations take a traditional approach to user research and design, using a researcher to act as a middle-man between users, designers, and business stakeholders. Users are consulted in the process, but not given creative control over solutions.
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Posted in cocreation, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, Methodology |
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June 20, 2014
© Patrizia Bertini
In the past few years, the number of articles published around Lego Serious Play is hugely increased.
The initial theories developed in the mid ’90s, 20 years ago, by Johan Ross and Bart Viktor and put into its current shape by Robert Rasmussen, are today converging and mingling with new trends and emerging needs.
What was supposed to simply be a language, communication tool, problem solving methodology, based on the belief that everyone can contribute to the discussion, the decisions, and the outcome, it has become a tool for exploring, both a crinkly and torn treasure map to be completed with the imagination of the facilitator and the participants, and a hammer to deconstruct and construct new opportunities.
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Posted in LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, Methodology, theory |
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July 4, 2013
Milena Kaneva
Milena Kaneva is a smiling and bright person, a filmmaker and film director who in 2006 produced one of the most inspiring films about Burma, Total denial.
The main characters of her film are activists Ka Hsaw Wa and his wife, and they wanted to make the difference by documenting how Karen villagers had been treated in Burma. The case came from the building of a pipeline that Unocal, a former oil company, that was built next to the Andaman sea to connect Burma to Thailand: Karen villagers ‘who stood in the way to progress’ – to say it with the oil company’s managers words – have paid their opposition with all sort of human-right violations.
Ka Hsaw Wa engaged and led an 8 years lawsuit agains Unocal and 15 Karen vilagers sued Unocal for human-right abuses with the support of Burmese military.
This is an inspiring story, the story of the victory of Ka Hsaw Wa and the victory of Karen vilagers who have seen recognised their rights in an US court.
Milena has followed this story for 5 years, between 2000 – 2005. Milena’s career yet is not that of a ‘classic’ filmmaker or journalist: she started as an actress, but then her interest towards society and stories that can inspire people has taken the lead and, inspired by the Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and lending the title of her book, she funded the Free from Fear Foundation. The foundation’s aim – as stated in the website ‘is to use the power of film, free media and other initiatives to educate and empower people about human rights and to denounce human rights violations everywhere. By telling the truth we remove the veil of fear.’
Something Milena already did and keeps doing, lending herself and her work to the cause of Burmese people and to those who are oppressed.
When She cames in, she is curious and excited – she immediately loved the concept of a LEGO based interview, and the whole interview had been a relaxed engaging and inspiring talk.
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Posted in Activism, Creativity Project, Journalism, Legoview |
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June 28, 2013
Jean-Philippe Tremblay
Jean-Philippe Tremblay is a Director/Writer, Producer and filmmaker. His latest work, Shadows of Liberty, costed him more than 5 years of work, and it has been presented in June at the Biografilm Festival and here is where I meet him.
Inspired by Ben Bagdikian‘s book “The New Media Monopoly” that in 1984 reported how media is controlled by only 5 conglomerate corporations, Shadows of Liberty is a true and sincere ode to freedom of information, where journalists tell their stories and present the difficulties they face to reveal the truth at any cost, going against the establishment. An inspiring documentary that shows and demonstrates that even today, regardless the corruption and the the power of corporations and governments that do their best – or their worst – to manipulate information and craft consent, there are still brave and hard-working individuals who investigate, research and reveal the facts and the truth. My interview with Jean-Philippe Tremblay could not be anything but about information. Yet, before getting into the real question, I also wanted to learn about what being a filmmaker means to him. And this is how we start.
What is filmmaking? I ask.
He immediately engages with the bricks with an open mind, like anyone who enjoys exploring and experimenting, he is one of those individuals who communicate life and experiences. He stares at the bricks and then he starts telling me the story.
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Posted in Activism, Creativity Project, Journalism, Legoview |
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May 24, 2013
Architect Gianni Cagnazzo
Gianni Cagnazzo is an Architect. But that’s not enough to fully catch his polyhedric and enthusiastic attitude towards his job and his passions. Gianni Cagnazzo is president of IEM (Indoor Environment Management) and ANAB (National Association of Bio-ecological Architecture), member of the International Academy of Colour, he is professor in bio-ecological architecture, colour design and humanisation of the built space, he gives lectures at various institutes, including ANAB IBN (Institut fur Baubiologie und Oekologie – Neuberern), UNITRE, University of Turin… Colour is his passion, therefore the question was certainly due: What is colour?
He knows how my kind of interviews work and he starts building. When he is done, he explains me his model.
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Posted in Architecture, Creativity Project, Journalism, Legoview |
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March 9, 2013
Francesca Valan, Industrial Designer
Francesca Valan is an industrial Designer. People call her colour designer, but she doesn’t agree – she doesn’t like the concept that colour is something to be added to an object, an artifact or a building. She works with colours, as one of the most recognised colour experts in the world: her job is to define, understand and give colors the right shape and form, changing the perspective that generally considers colour as something added to an object as a finishing touch.
When I met her, I immediately wanted to interview her, not only because she is responsible for the current shade of green of our LEGO bricks, but because I really had no idea of what colour was.
She accepted – being a curious and creative person, she couldn’t resist the idea to explore the subject she devoted her career to in a new way. When we sit down, she pretends to be comfortable – we’ve been talking a lot of my idea and knowing how things proceed, she was getting ready for the unexpected.
I put the bricks in front of her and simply ask her: What is colour?
She knows how the process works, and she builds.
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Posted in Architecture, Creativity Project, Legoview |
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LegoViews 