IDII: a life changing experience - 3 October 2005

Read this article in Chinese (translated by Ke Chen, proof read by Sean Liu)

Almost two years ago, twenty students from all over the world came to Ivrea, a city that once was the epicenter of Olivetti and of the Italian Hi-tech. They came to study interaction design, in IDII’s interaction design Master’s course. It was the beginning of a two years journey, of a life changing experience that taught them how to change lives with their design.

Few things intertwined and created the unique Ivrean experience. The Italian culture and the design heritage were a source of influence– studying and living in buildings which are architectural landmarks, surrounded by history and fine cuisine. Living and operating in a mixture of old and new, international environment and local surroundings, slow food and fast technology. From that arrived the realization, that as much as people are the same everywhere, their cultures are very different from each other. Each of us had to overcome barriers of language, spoken but also non-verbal, while learning about different perspectives, customs and beliefs that fellow students held regarding concepts such as life and death, work, love or health and which were influenced by the culture they came from.

First lesson learned was to leave any assumptions at the door when coming to design for other people. You need to observe, ask and try to understand the culture of the other. Too many times, what might look obvious to you is not so to someone from a different background.

The teaching methods took after the Arts and craft movement, “learning by doing” was a principal concept in IDII. The first year was devoted to teach skills and create a foundation for the thesis work in the second year. In the first year students were introduced to electronics and programming, learned how to control and sense real and virtual environments and create engaging interactions.

An important part was learning how to employ ethnographic and user research methods to inspire, inform and improve design of products and services. An emphasis was given on creating a systemic, ecological view for projects which considered the details along with the big picture. Projects took into account the different actors in the system, their roles, relationships and dependencies, infrastructure and hierarchies.

Some projects were collaboration with industry. Students participated in innovation workshops for companies such as Nokia, Hitachi, Orange, Alcatel and Telecom Italia.

The second year was all about thesis work. Twenty students, each one asking a different question that was answered in the end of a long process, resulting both in theoretical research and in a design project. Thesis projects ranged from tangible devices to service design. Each one walked in an individual path and was faced with unique challenges and rewards. Some explored social interactions, designing intimate methods of communication, seduction and information sharing. Some enhanced ways to control mobile devices, musical instruments and daily objects through gesture manipulation. Other students focused on ways in which interaction design can improve people’s well being. Studying and designing for extreme personas was another exploration path. Play was in the focus of two students that looked how play, in the sense of playful environments, and in the sense of acting can help people to construct new mental models, learn new ideas and express themselves in a better way.

The graduation exhibition (www.tiltool.com/eoy.htm) took place in Turin in June. After the show, the students were spread around the globe once again. Each one of us still carries something unique and valuable that we took from IDII. An experience that taught us how to design for people that come from different traditions, speak myriad languages, and have different opinions and needs than our own. Through having a life changing experience, we gained the understanding of how design can change lives.

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