Conversation Cards — Rodrigo Dyer

How might we convey the complexities of an emerging academic discipline in a digestible, didactic manner?

Role: user researcher, communication designer, strategist

Skills: primary and secondary research, analysis and synthesis, low & high fidelity prototyping, diagramming, systems design

Tools: miro, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign

Team: Alpha Wong, Esther Lee, Evie Yu, Kait Silva, Lavanya Julaniya, Shiya Xiao, Sike Liu, Xuanyu Chen & me. Teamwork on first 7 weeks; individual work on last 7 weeks.

A generative tool to enable conversations

Context

From 2021 on, every new net person in the world will be born in a city. If we are to thrive in this dynamic flow of the global population, we need to understand urban problems differently, develop new knowledge. Scientists from various disciplines are collaborating in cutting-edge teams for this purpose, all across the world. One of these teams is in University of Chicago’s Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation (MI).

Challenge

Their altruistic endeavor notwithstanding, as an emerging academic discipline, Urban Science’s essence is extremely difficult to grasp, even more so to communicate. That was the task assigned to our class: to visually represent what Urban Science is, its principles, value, potential and shortcomings.

Initial weeks of the process. I’m building and understanding context of the challenge by interviewing post-doctoral fellows from the Mansueto Institute. Every stakeholder we interviewed had a different perspective about Urban Science. It was fascinating.

After the interview processes, we analyzed and synthesized the key findings into a comprehensive system. This co-coding practice helped reduce the bias from the narrowed single perspective.

My first prototype was a process diagram to go through the main dimensions of Urban Science. I realized I needed a more generative approach for an emergent body of knowledge.

Round #2 of critique with Diane Petty and Nicholas Marchio from the Mansueto Institute team. Collaborating closely with partners throughout the process ensured the final deliverable’s quality and provided a sense of shared authorship that was key.

Process

We conducted an (almost) end-to-end communication design process, from research to prototyping. Parts of the project were done collectively and others individually. We worked collaboratively with MI.

Initially, we gathered and read scientific papers, articles and previous projects from the Urban Science discipline, which were enough to create discussion guides and conduct interviews with stakeholders. We facilitated the conversations using virtual tools. After analyzing research, we coded and categorized relevant pieces of information. Discrete, overlapping categories arose; then, we divided them up.

I volunteered to take ‘Definitions’, arguably the first piece of the domino. I synthesized 70 points of data gathered from interviews and other sources. We used whiteboard tool miro to publish, critique and polish our prototypes. I went granular with single-worded tags, then added them up into a comprehensive diagram. Refining the visualization was only possible through close collaboration with MI folks.

63 cards to convey the most pragmatic definitions of Urban Science and to spark conversations about this new discipline. Blank cards give space to create even more definitions until there’s common ground to build on work pertaining this field.

Results

Every stakeholder we interviewed had disparate yet overlapping definitions and perceptions about Urban Science. I realized the discipline is still emerging; hence, a static visualization would not do it justice nor it would be helpful for communicating its many intricacies.

The cohesive items that resulted from my process could be condensed into a more interactive communication tool: cards for having conversations. Cards are familiar, popular and their approachable, playful nature would be a compelling spark for an unknown topic. I decided to pivot from a descriptive to a generative instrument. Some cards were left blank to expand the definition of Urban Science with each conversation. The client was thrilled!

Learnings

There were learnings all across the board. The relevance of a strong leadership with solid project management skills and work ethics. The positive consequences of involving the client in the process from the start. Within the process itself: the power and impact of co-analyzing research, of communicating effectively and diligently, and of a constant flow of prototyping and critique with divergent mindsets.

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