Week 1
Onboarding at TinkerLabs, Fogg's behaviour model, forming better problem statements and understand myself better as a designer.
The past week was my first week as a Design Researcher at TinkerLabs, a leading innovation consultancy in Mumbai, India.
Over the week, I began my onboarding project at TinkerLabs and was acquainted with their processes and methodologies. This became a rather introspective journey as I realised things about myself and my design process. Also had the opportunity to explore some cool projects and read up on behaviour design.
[Learning] Framing A Better Problem Statement
All throughout design school, we’ve been taught to form problem statements. The classic ‘How-Might-We’s’. However, at TinkerLabs, they spend a great deal of time diving into the specificity of the problem and, therefore, end up forming a highly specific problem statement. They do this because of their belief that a good problem statement will lead to a more impactful solution.
I really liked the structure of the framing of their problem statements. Using a How Might We to enable an extreme user to perform a highly specific desired action.
[Leaning] Fogg’s Behaviour Model
During my onboarding at TinkerLabs, I was also introduced to the Fogg Behaviour Model.
The model essentially conveys that in order for behaviour to occur, three elements must converge (resulting in the equation B=MAP). These are:
Motivation - The person must be motivated to do the action. In the example of a guitar player, he/she must be motivated (intrinsically or extrinsically) to learn the guitar.
Ability - The person must possess the ability to play the guitar or be equipped with it. In this case, probably have the tools necessary to play the guitar and the guitar itself.
Prompt - The person must be prompted to learn the guitar (either by scheduling, reminders or whatever is necessary).
It’s rather interesting how most design solutions often only address motivation. For example, in the guitar player example, it is not enough to merely provide a nudge to the person (through a prompt or, say, poster). The task must also be broken down into easy-to-complete steps that the person can achieve with their current ability, and they must also be prompted + motivated to pursue the task of playing the guitar.
[Article] The Dynamics of Music Exploration on Spotify
I have always been fascinated by the recommendation algorithm of Spotify. This article by the Spotify R&D team was, therefore, a very interesting read. It essentially discussed how people consumed heterogeneous (diverse) content on the aplication over time; i.e how do people seek variety to keep themselves engaged.
Here are some of the key pointers:
People either ossify (become rigid) because they already know what they like and aren't as bored or broaden (more interested) because they like variety.
Younger listeners consistently explore less across their dataset.
As listeners grow older, they appear to listen to a narrower set of content.
[Self-Realisation] Maybe I’m an Instinctive Designer
This week, as I explored the process that TinkerLabs follows, I realised how I’ve never worked in a sequential design process.
This is how we were taught to solve design problems and a lot of people still use this process in their creative lives. However, as I explored an onboarding task which was meant to get me familiar with the processes, I realised I’ve always followed a concurrent process.
As a sensitive and detailed observer, I often pick up insights that cover a lot of the separate steps in the sequential design process.
This type of process works best for me, a messy interconnected one; rather than a checklist of steps. At this stage of my life, I don’t quite know which one is the better one. Here is an article by Margaret on Open Law Lab that explores the same dilemma.
[Cool Projects] Exaluminal - An IoT Device To Detect Supernovas
I came across this project through a TNW article.
Exaluminal is essentially an IoT device that sounds an alarm one hour before a supernova impacting the Earth.
Quite an amusing product. However, what is important in this project is the power of IoT devices to predict natural disasters. The usage of these devices to mitigate and prevent loss of life & property could be revolutionary.