R I A Z » MBA in Design Strategy

Experiences in Sight – Video Sketch

riaz — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:58:41 +0000

Teaching Design Play to Kids in Extreme Environments

riaz — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:33:59 +0000

In the images of poverty from around the world often we see young children plastered against car windows begging for alms. For those that have experiences this in person, the hands raised, bleating voices, afflictions and affectations, it’s a difficult world to navigate with an untouched mind or body.

But there’s another here as well story as well. One that starts after the begging is done, after hours on moments captured before heading home. It’s that story I want to share.

I remember sitting in the backseat of a car in Liberty market, Lahore, Pakistan. I remember staring out, fifteen and curious, at a young beggar girl playing with her friends in the hustle of the market place as the stalls closed for the night. Oblivious of audience lost were the sad faces, instead focused were all her energy entirely in the act of play. She was was transformed through an act of childhood wonder.

I don’t remember what they were playing, if at all it was a game with any real rules or not, or just a made up game, created in the spur of the moment. What I do remember is the how drastically the tone of their bodies changed as they moved from a world of want to a world of creation. They were lost in play.

That moment has stayed with me for a long time. Lurking somewhere in the back of my mind I know that if we can keep creativity and play alive we have an amazing transformative power that every child has access to.

There’s someone amazing in being lost in play. It didn’t matter what your situation is or what walk of life you come from play and playful discovery is a transformative force for children. More than that I think it’s a right for every child. A right sadly we focus too little on. This is a shame because I can think of few things that can bring a powerful transformative change to a child’s life.

Design at it’s core is has many aspects similar to play. There’s many models and methods but at it’s very core are two basic concepts. Making and Empathy. You make and game and lose yourself in it. You make something for your friends and share it. That in it’s iterative form is the bases of much design methodology.

This is what we aim to do. How can we teach a design process to kids (5 to 9) in extreme environments.

Can we, by playing like designers, create a sense of hope and bring back the belief in ownership over their own future, for kids in flooded Pakistan, or war torn Somalia, or the ghettos of Oakland.

Link to presentation slideshow

Presentation for MBA in Design Strategy – Experience Studio
Project Team : Jonathan Fristad, Chirapat Vorratnchaiphan, Susan Huang, Eric Dorf

A New Adaptable Experience

riaz — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 05:26:03 +0000

Imagine a hat that could be aware of the environment it was placed in. As you put it on it would readjust itself in response to the surrounding conditions.

If it was raining the rim would contour give make sure no rain got on to your back. If the sun increased the rim would increase to give you a bit more shade.

As you biked to work it would detect the wind and shape itself to be the most aero dynamic form.

Perhaps it could hear music and transform to reflect the sounds it heard. Jazz would cause it twist and turn and shape itself as a sweet fedora. Punk rock would cause it to transform into a red mohawk.

It would last for generations and you would pass it down from son to daughter to son sharing not just the object but the fashions of every era.

A hat for all occasions.

Exploration for MBA in Design Strategy – Experience Studio

A New Awareness Experience

riaz — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 03:03:54 +0000

Imagine a world where location awareness was as affordable and small as a RFID tag. At 50 cents a piece, always aware location sensors would start entering the market en mass. Anyone could easily be aware of the location of anything or anyone else.

People might start putting GPS aware technology in wedding bands as a sign of a technological union along with a civil one. The idea of privacy around location might erode as we start pinning chips on our kids to ‘keep them safe’.

While tracking our loved ones could be considered good parenting, teens would still find new ways to break boundaries.

Perhaps cities could use them to track traffic patterns and adapt in real time to the needs of the citizens. Location awareness would be used to tag endangered species.

Losing oneself would be a luxury.

Exploration for MBA in Design Strategy – Experience Studio

A New Tactile Experience

riaz — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:30:03 +0000

Imagine a place where our environments were not designed with color and texture in mind but instead with wind as the central focus.

Would you step into a meeting room where stuffiness was be deliberately designed, or perhaps a child’s room where little puffs of air created a playful environment. Would smells replace colors as accents? Would wind turbines be used in the best theme parks? Would cars all have convertible tops?

You would walk into a home depot and ask for ‘lilac with a hint of mint’ or perhaps uncork a bottle asking to mimic the scent of your mothers kitchen?

In this world, the quality of air would be considered number one requirement in creative work environments and people would obsess over what restaurants smelled like.