June 2020
The pain…
...and the pleasure.
Early prototyping and user experience (UX) research is an essential design strategy, helping to quickly identify many of the pain and pleasure points of new applications, and creating a guide for future iterations.
👆Dr. Helen Davies and Dr. James Rendell discuss fluid collaboration practice within the research team.
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USW Research Fellows for Audience Research, Dr. Helen Davies and Dr. James Rendell, reflect on their contribution to the Wallace & Gromit: Big Fix Up project:
USW’s roles within the collaborative project Wallace & Gromit: Big Fix Up were myriad. As part of a diverse team, academic staff supported knowledge transfers in conducting audience-based research, bringing an understanding of existing media scholarship, various methods for engaging with human participants, and rigorous ethical guidelines and procedures that protect both researchers and participants taking part.
Dr. Helen Davies (USW Audience Research Lead) and Beth Smith (Fictioneers Go to Market / Product Manager) discuss their inclusive research strategies.
Anonymised transcript of a family research session
Audio: Trends identified through our research
As approaches to research can differ between academia and industry, collaboration enabled knowledge exchange and also required fluid negotiation, allowing research to be conducted in a timely manner to support the development of R&D of the product, but also remaining methodical in its undertaking and analysis of the data.
Secondly, the University created a pipeline for students to engage with the project and industry. USW provided a pool of students who could test the product for Fictioneers, supporting ongoing R&D. Moreover, we were able to facilitate various internships during the project. This gave USW students first-hand experience of product development, developed their social networks, allowed them to see how industry was responding to the Covid-19 global pandemic in real time, and enhance their employability.
USW Insights
Finally, as academic researchers collaborating with industry, this project has allowed us to develop the scholarly fields of Production Studies, Digital Media Studies, and Media Audience Studies. This was done by providing online academic masterclasses, invited guest lectures at other universities, and writing peer-reviewed journal articles about our roles on the project, undertaking research during the Covid-19 global pandemic, and utilising digital media to remedy the cessation of face-to-face human participant methods.
Thank you to Dr. James Rendell for his additional commentary within this section.
Please note, USW champions inclusive audience research. Nevertheless, as a member of a wider Consortium USW does not dictate the final outcomes of that work.
Learning through creative practice
What’s it like doing an internship remotely? USW Research Interns discuss their learnings with Dr. James Rendell
Is audience research creative?
USW Research Fellows Dr. Bronwin Patrickson, and Dr. Helen Davies led a discussion of the creative implications of commercial user experience design practice, presented at the 2020 International Design Research Society (DRS) conference.
Inspired by the practical example of the audience research practice embedded within the Wallace & Gromit: Big Fix Up R&D project, participants were invited to discuss the question:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN IF UX DESIGN IS BOTH AN INDUSTRIAL METHOD AND A CREATIVE PRACTICE?
Industry user experience practice tends to probe, shape and test objects and processes by focusing upon the way that people can use, or experience them using techniques like audience-profiling, experience mapping, prototyping, and usability testing. Academic US, as well as audience research and reception studies more broadly are linked to this work although they may also take a broader view, encompassing contextual questions as well that might also probe the social implications of a process. Within industry, user experience design research is traditionally much more focused upon the functionality and flavour of the experience itself. Over time, experience design has become an increasingly valued aspect of industrial research and development practice, particularly with the rise of playful, social and immersive engagements (Diefenbach, Kolb, & Hassenzahl, 2014; Stevens, 2019). But, debates continue about the value and impact of this sort of audience focused research and development process upon personal expression and maker creativity.
These debates have historically applied dualistic conceptions of design as either a scientific method, or an artistic practice (Cross, 2007) – but in this conversation we asked what if it is both? The phrase easy to learn, difficult to master is a popular principle of interactive game design (reference), largely because an accessible engagement, that also offers challenge and the opportunity to experience mastery over time has proven to be a popular and dynamic design approach.
To explore the creative value of audience research in more detail please see this USW Researcher commentary.
Editorial by Bronwin Patrickson, USW Research Fellow for Impact & Evaluation.
Historic debates about the creative value of audience research are still relevant to the sorts of Creative Industries research being undertaken in this project. I use that term ‘Creative Industries’ lightly, knowing that it is contested, and fraught (Lovink and Rossiter 2007, McRobbie 2018). Still, there is something so fascinating about this troubling term that, to reference seminal consciousness researcher Donna Harraway (2016), I found myself wanting to stay with that trouble, if only for a time.
In my own experience the perception that audience knowhow is a valuable tool of the creative media producer’s skillset is part of a professional tradition, or broadcast culture that tends to value effective communication, as much as personal expression.
Prior to my academic career I worked in public broadcasting, which introduced me to the benefits of audience research, alongside other professional craft practices like niche audience targeting, scheduling and duration considerations, audience profiling and the like. As a communicator who is motivated by the desire to connect, understanding my audience, as much as my market is part of my craft, a professional skill that in my experience enhances my media practice, in great part because I can then make creative and authentic interpretations, or responses to those contexts. In other words, audience awareness is part and parcel of my creative brief.
I don’t suggest that my own approach is universally relevant. The media content I produced needed to reach audiences, not make money. Equally, there are many valid reasons why the social and aesthetic values of avante-garde, disruptive, challenging and non-populist aesthetics are historically less likely to be focused upon audience research. Nevertheless, I do find myself wanting to complicate black and white views about professional creativity. As somebody who particularly appreciates niche, eclectic media I’m hardly a champion of commercialism, but I think it’s worth pointing out that a number of standout creative identities are also commercial.
George Rowe, head of Aardman Animations Interactive Division discusses the importance of creativity within Aardman’s operations.
One of the reasons that Aardman Animations Ltd is so successful is because they prioritise creativity over commercial return.
Audience research has been a more recent addition to their creative production processes. Nick Park, for example, first developed the globally loved Wallace & Gromit characters at film school during the 1980s without any formal audience research process. Aardman Animations Ltd. does now conduct extensive audience research. Nevertheless, at the start of this project there was still a lot more to be learnt about their current and potential audiences.
