design

The Birth (And Death) of Market Research: Why Design Research Will Prevail

by Sam Ladner on January 28, 2010 · 9 comments

in Blog, Qualitative Research & Design, Research Methods, design, ethnography, home, market research, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, survey, surveys

Few would disagree that fundamental economic change is upon us. Business models are crumbling daily. From the auto industry to the banking industry, it is clear that old ways of doing things are no longer working. The market research industry is just as vulnerable to this shift, yet, like the auto industry before it, it [...]

9 comments

Tagged as: design research, ethnography, linkedin, market research, qualitative research, quantitative research

Categories: Blog · Qualitative Research & Design · Research Methods · design · ethnography · home · market research · product design · qualitative research · quantitative research · survey · surveys

When Can Innovation and Hierarchy Co-Exist?

by Sam Ladner on January 6, 2010 · 1 comment

in Blog, culture, design, home, innovation, management, organizations, sociology

Designing an innovative organization doesn’t necessarily mean a “flat” organization. We tend to believe that innovation and hierarchy are antithetical, but in truth, innovation often thrives in hierarchical organizations. Here are the key ingredients to an innovative organization, whether hierarchical or not.
The Internet: A Democratic Utopia We tend to believe that hierarchy kills innovation and [...]

1 comment

Tagged as: design, innovation, linkedin, management, organizations

Categories: Blog · culture · design · home · innovation · management · organizations · sociology

Ignite Toronto: Designing for Social Selves

by Sam Ladner on November 26, 2009 · 0 comments

For those of you who caught my Ignite TO presentation, here are the slides. For those of you who missed it, below is a text summary that goes with the slides.
I’d like to give thanks to my teacher and friend, Dr. Karen Anderson, whose scholarly work underpins many of the ideas in this presentation.
Slide 1:
This [...]

0 comments

Tagged as: design, facebook, identity, identity management, ignite, igniteTO, linkedin, technology, user experience, ux

Categories: Popular · design · facebook · goffman · interaction design · sociology · technology design · user experience

Why are Japanese lunches so beautiful?

by Sam Ladner on November 1, 2009 · 5 comments

in anthropology, culture, design, discourse analysis, food, product design, sociology

I am a big fan of MUJI, the simple Japanese housewares company. So I was quite interested to read a post by their art director Kenya Hara on the New York Times’s “Room for Debate.” Hara argues that Japanese people have
…a special ability to focus fully on what’s right in front of our eyes. We [...]

5 comments

Tagged as: bento, design, discourse analysis, food, Japanese design, John Maeda, linkedin, MUJI, symbolism

Categories: anthropology · culture · design · discourse analysis · food · product design · sociology

The essence of qualitative research: “verstehen”

by Sam Ladner on October 15, 2009 · 12 comments

in Research Methods, anthropology, culture, design, ethnography, home, interaction design, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, sample size, sociology, technology design, user experience

“But how many people did you talk to?” If you’ve ever done qualitative research, you’ve heard that question at least once. And the first time? You were flummoxed. In 3 short minutes, you can be assured that will never happen again.
Folks, qualitative research does not worry about numbers of people; it worries about deep understanding. [...]