OUGD602 - HAWRAF Studio - Design as a Conversation (Talk)

6A2 / 6B2.

Carly speaking at Awwwards in New York (November 2018)
Design as a Conversation:

Talking about practice:

Noun.
1. The actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to the theories bout such application or use.
2. Repeated exercise in or performance of an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it.

As a studio, HAWRAF had so many ways of working and thinking they wanted to try out/ideas, beliefs, methodologies they wanted to put in action and see what works.
Make lists - always start with the concept - every year check back on the list with new ideas/iterations to make sure they're continuing to grow and evolve in all the ways they want to.

"A studio practising practice".
Core idea of the studio - anything can be interactive - the things you put out in the world should say something and they should invite someone to say something back.

Be transparent - HAWRAF believe that if they can be open and honest about what its like to start a studio then hopefully it'll make it a little bit easier for someone else also just starting out. For example, showing where all their clients come from/also done it by showing the process of developing their own process.

There's lots on the internet that give a false narrative of what you need/what it takes to be a designer. In an attempt to de-mystify that, they decided to respond to 26 briefs over 26 hours (1 per every letter of the alphabet). They created an application which generated a random word with its definition, and then they would make something in response to that word.
This became an exercise in trying out a lot of different ways of working together to better understand how they come up with good ideas and to figure out how each person works best/how can they work well together as a team and as a studio.
Each hour they would document the highs and lows so they could do it a little better the next time.
As a part of this process, they also created live streams of them working on the briefs - invite people into the process - when you do this, people tend to get a lot more invested in it and care more about the end result.
This was put into practice through their work for CW&T - label maker/serial no. that doubles as a hashtag so people could follow their process of making a specific product - aimed to drive more of an audience to their kickstarter and their work with the intention that if someone sees the process that goes into making their products, they will be more invested in (and therefore more likely to buy) the end result.

Good work or good money? - ask yourself if the project is worthwhile, make pros and cons.
Give people the tools (make them easy to use) - think about how a piece of work is going to exist long after you are gone. For instance, their tool they created for Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra which allowed them to create their own visuals which could then be applied to all materials, such as posters, tickets and visuals for concerts.

Set clear expectations - when you set rules and guidelines for how someone can act in a space then you make it easier for everyone involved/they are aware of what will happen if things do go wrong - hold each other accountable (trust), listen, and ask a lot of questions - create spaces for people to also ask you questions back, share what you know.

Do better.
"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you known better, do better" - Maya Angelou.
"And the only way we can get better is if we listen to each others' stories. That we create spaces where people can share those stories so we can learn from them" - Haraldur Thorleifsson.
Practice does not make perfect, but it does make better.

https://www.awwwards.com/talk-design-as-as-conversation-from-partner-at-hawraf-carly-ayres.html