Copernicus Consulting — Design Research and Strategy

Why are Japanese lunches so beautiful?

by Sam Ladner November 1, 2009

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 [...]

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

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The essence of qualitative research: “verstehen”

by Sam Ladner October 15, 2009

“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. [...]

Tagged as: anthropology, linkedin, organizations, qualitative, qualitative research, quantitative, quantitative research, sample size, sociology, thick description, verstehen

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Detecting Social Media Bullshit: A Sociologist’s View

by Sam Ladner September 29, 2009

Social media “gurus” abound these days. Which ones are worth listening to and which ones are bullshitters?
Philosopher Harry Frankfurt exposed bullshitters in his famous essay “On Bullshit.” The liar knows what the truth is and cares very much about concealing it. The bullshitter, on the other hand, doesn’t care what the truth is and has [...]

Tagged as: innovation, linkedin, organizations, social capital, social media, social networks, sociology

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Designers are from Venus, Six Sigmas are from Mars

by Sam Ladner September 25, 2009

DT has a great post over at Design Sojourn that discusses Six Sigma methodology and how it relates to design. He cites Tim Brown at IDEO who argues that Six Sigma is essentially Newtonian, while design thinking is quantum. In his own design work, DT expressed doubts about using Six Sigma:
After studying the Six Sigma [...]

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

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When "woman" means "short"

by Sam Ladner September 21, 2009

Sociological Images has a great post about product design gone wrong due to stereotypes. Lisa writes that Moto Guzzi motorcycles have created a “lady seat” (I kid you not; that’s what they call it).
Lisa points out, quite rightly, that the only characteristic that makes this a “lady seat” is its size:
So really, it�s just a [...]