Aishwarya Jare, Rutuparna Jadhav, and Shivani Gupta
In recent years, multiple systemic thinking and design tools and practices have emerged to visualise and make sense of complexity. While these are easily accessible, we (design practitioners) have faced a challenge in integrating and implementing them in our projects. The predefined scope, short timelines, and fast-paced nature of the projects often limit and contradict the systemic approach. Therefore, we were motivated to explore and experiment with ways to enhance our existing design tools and approaches to embrace the complexity of today’s world.
Our focus centres on two key inquiries: Firstly, how can we enhance our primary research approach to uncover the dynamics and complexity of people’s contexts? Secondly, in what ways can we enhance our use of synthesis artefacts such as personas and journey maps to more accurately reflect the complexity?
After approximately three years of research and exploration, we offer this workshop as a way to share what we have learned and provide actionable strategies to empower participants to integrate and embrace complexity into their tools and approaches through activities and discussions. The activities are designed to encourage and probe participants to think beyond the conventional use of tools and approaches. We believe that by taking small, deliberate steps to enhance current tools, we can gradually shift our team’s, colleagues, and clients’ mindset towards a more systemic disposition and approach to design.
We find ourselves in a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly interconnected, and where, because of this increasing interconnectivity, everything is more contingent on everything else happening around it — much more so than ever before (A. Pendleton- Jullian & Brown, 2018b, p. vi).
KEYWORDS: Complexity, complex, contexts, design artefacts, primary research, personas, journey maps
Facilitator/organiser profile
Aishwarya Jare is a Service and Strategic Designer based in Frankfurt, Germany. She advocates for a systemic and complexity science-based approach to design and innovation. Her research and practice revolve around challenging conventional design paradigms to embrace the increasing complexity of our world today.
Previously, she worked with the Chôra Foundation, employing a Portfolio Approach to tackle complex challenges alongside UNDP Malawi and Kosovo. She channels her deep commitment to gender equity into actionable initiatives, working with organisations like UN Women, Sajhe Sapne, and Sayfty to design multiple interventions for complex problems such as violence against women. She was also the Ladies, Wine, and Design Pune City Lead, where she led and facilitated events to foster a culture of collaboration and empowerment among women designers in Pune, India. Outside work, she is an Improv Theatre artist and is part of the organising committee of the English Improv Theatre in Frankfurt.
Contact: Aishwarya Jare, Service and Strategic Designer at Accenture Song, aishwarya.jare81@gmail.com, Linkedin
Rutuparna Jadhav is a behavioural science and design strategist based in India. She focuses on using behavioural science to decipher human decisions and specialises in crafting interventions that drive impactful outcomes.
Her expertise encompasses understanding the intricacies of financial decisions, ‘the mind on money’, such as how individuals select credit cards, and the mental models adopted by small business owners when evaluating credit options to fund their ventures. She has also delved into the information-seeking behaviour of oncologists, aiding them in staying abreast of new research findings and effectively communicating with patients.
Currently, Rutuparna is part of her company- Fractal’s strategic function, where she strives to integrate a human centred design perspective into AI consulting initiatives.
Beyond her professional endeavours, Rutuparna indulges in her passion for exploring languages worldwide. She finds joy in dissecting the intricacies of language and delving into how culture and language intertwine to shape thought processes.
Contact: Rutuparna Jadhav, Sr. Behaviour Architect at Fractal, jrutuparna99@gmail.com
Shivani Gupta is a behavioural science specialist who currently heads Fractal Dimension, the executive cross-functional strategic unit at Fractal Analytics. She leads a team of experts at the intersection of Data, Engineering, and design for a diverse set of global clients in the Retail, Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Technology, Finance, and government sectors.
Having applied her expertise across geographies, cultural contexts, sectors and problem statements, she firmly believes that the integration of these seemingly divergent practices affords greater value than any of them can deliver individually. Shivani previously worked at Studio 5B – Dr. Reddy’s, an award-winning design and innovation lab and holds an MSc. in the Psychology of Individual Differences from the University of Edinburgh. Born in Mumbai, raised in Chennai, and recently relocated to Chicago, outside the office, she serves as the Development Committee chair on the Board for the Chicago Poetry Centre and is a published performance poet.
Contact: Shivani Gupta, Head–Fractal Dimension, shivanigupta2511@gmail.com
Reference
Pendleton-Jullian, A., & Brown, J. S. (2018). Design Unbound: Designing for emergence in a white water world. In The MIT Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11801.001.0001