The Dawning of the Age of Research

When I last met my designer friend Hala Hemayssi, she said to me: ‘Dotti, you are very lucky!‘
And I said: ‘That‘s great, but what is this all about‘?
Her reply: ‘Well think about it – you, the researchers, have the chance to replace us, the designers, as the new rock stars of the modern
business world.
So you better get ready, because at some point all eyes are going to be on you!‘
… wow! Pretty flattering, isn‘t it?!
But give it a think, my friend Hala, she might as well be right!

There’s a big trend out there towards human centricity. Many people say it will be key for future business success.
So… computers, with their never ending patience, their hang for repetition, & logical patterns...
They might have it in them to emerge as the better thinkers and dethrone us, the humans, in their capacity for thought leadership!
But now – think about complex adaptive systems...
By complex adaptive systems I mean those fuzzy creatures you meet out there on the High Street, on the Internet,
or at tonight’s dinner reception...
Human beings, falling in and out of love with brands, products and services.
To make sense of them, you need a different kind of animal, you do need People‘s People – … AND THAT‘S US!
And because the key to success in the future business world will be, no doubt, HUMAN CENTRICITY, the future might as well belong to us –
the people‘s people!

I. HUMAN-CENTRICITY
II. MAGIC
III. MAGPIE

Activate Human-Centred
Thinking in Marketing

So my first point is about doing our share to push for a more human-centric marketing.
In other words, how can we transform an existing mega trend towards human centricity into a marketing reality?

To illustrate how this could potentially happen, let me talk you through a success story from our sister discipline design research that we
market researchers might be able to capitalise on. It’s about how they were able to push for a shift from an idea-centric to a human-
centric innovation culture.
So let me take you on a little excursion into the Silicon Valley of the late 80s / early 90s.
OK, think Silicon Valley & late 80s/early 90s – you’ve got the picture - … it’s all about geeks fanatically programming on their computers
and inventing new technologies as they go.
But what also happened at the same time, was that computers – for the first time –
were hitting the humble homes of the so-called consumers.
So, a niche product, (yes, I’m talking about the computer here!!) became a mass market product almost over night.
All of a sudden, geek to geek communication was not enough anymore. There was a profound need for geek to housewife communication.
What we saw happening there was a COMPLETE DISCONNECT between PRODUCT INNOVATION & CONSUMER REALITY!
Luckily though, due to the proximity of UNIVERSITIES and INNOVATION HUBS in the Silicon valley, what had been developing over time was
that two strange animals had met and had started cross-breeding: IT GEEKS & PEOPLE’S PEOPLE, mostly anthropologists

Together, they PUSHED FOR A SHIFT from IDEA CENTRIC towards HUMAN CENTRIC INNOVATION.
They systematically reframed the way that INNOVATION was THOUGHT ABOUT & ACTED UPON in the forward-looking businesses in the
valley.
By doing this, our sister discipline DESIGN RESEARCH became the KEY DRIVER for COMMERCIAL SUCCESS of computing technology.

Wow, that’s a success big story, isn’t it? I love talking about it because
- …. it is a showcase example of how enabling HUMAN CENTRICITY can be, and how it can help an industry spread its wings.
AND - … if our research colleagues in the Front End of Innovation could do it – why shouldn’t we be able to create a more human centred
business culture in marketing?
But what can we learn from how our design research colleagues got there?
Well, first of all, there were in the right spot at the right time. There was a dire need for a change of perspective in order to help make
computing technology fit for run-of-the-mill households. Today, the trend of human-centricity in Marketing has already been called out
loud and clear – and we need to proactively offer our services in being part of this process.
Secondly, they identified the right people, forward-thinking decision makers with a taste for doing things differently. They sought out
these people specifically, and they refused to talk to anyone but those able to make and follow through decisions. For us, this means we
need to constantly seek to make our voice heard in Marketing – and talk to those that can change the business… before the business
changes without us.!
And thirdly, Design Researchers came with confidence – confidence in their tools and the value of their perspective. When I look at our
industry, well, we all in the room know that qualitative research wants to be part of solution crafting and not just identifying problems.
But I often feel that this message does not always come across with the marketing and advertising folks. Our voice needs to be heard
clearer in order for us to become the new rock stars in the business world.

But where to start with all of this? What’s the entry point?
Well, why don’t we go where the buzz is: The wind of change is out there. Jugaad Innovation, Maker’s Culture and Upcycling are in the
process of making it into mainstream. Ethical Consumerism is becoming a buzzword. I increasingly feel that this needs to be our place –
where innovation acknowledges the greater good of the people whose advocates we are. And we can help translate these smaller, leaner
means of production and development into powerful Marketing.
So why don’t we go where the music plays and become the rockstars of the ETHICAL business world?

The second point is about how to rekindle decision makers’ fascination with the FINE ART and MAGIC of QUALITATIVE SENSE MAKING.
Well, I suppose, everyone here knows a lot, and some of you a lot more than I do, about the fine art of research – so let me tap into the
more obscure aspect here, let me tap into the magical aspect I see in our profession.

To kick us off, I’ll take you through my personal analysis of the MECHANICS BEHIND MAGICAL PRACTICE.
Ok, so magic is not something that just comes out of thin air – it is hard work, and it is diligent work.
When you’re out there performing magic, you need to have the right SETTING. The right place, the right time, the right robe, the right
lighting, the right music the right scenting. For example, it needs to be full moon, you need to wear a white dress and you need to be on
the highest point outside of your village, surrounded by ancient stones. Could be something different, but you have to get the FRAME, the
CONTEXT, perfectly right for magic to work.
Other than that, there is also a PROTOCOL that rigorously needs to be followed. Witchcraft – without a book of spells? Impossible! To cook
up a love potion in your The Magic Cauldron you better know what ingredients you need and what to do with them… think about getting
the eighth leg of a young spider cooked on the first day of April, cooled down and then fused with a frog’s tongue and sprinkled with a
drop or two of True Blood. You don’t get that stuff at your local Tesco’s around the corner. So you have to GET PREPARED – and you have to,
literally, GET THE CHEMISTRY RIGHT.
So again, let’s face it: Magic is hard, diligent work. It’s not something that comes to you like the whims of inspiration.!
The third aspect, and probably the most important, is the very person that drives all of this – THE MAGICIAN. This Magician comes with a lot
of KNOWLEDGE, comes with CONFIDENCE, and most importantly, he uses his EMPATHY for the people who take part in the ritual, to bring it
all together and MAKE MAGIC HAPPEN.

But, make WHAT happen exactly? Well, what we really do in magic as in qualitative research, is to set the scene for the UNEXPECTED to
happen.
Once we have shaped our ritual & protocol & performance to the max and once we have invested diligence & expertise… Well, what then?
We have to be willing to WAIT & to TRUST. Call it ‘leap of faith’ or maybe ‘new neuronal connections’. What we ultimately do is we give birth
to new truth, we pave the way for something original to emerge. We are setting the scene for a MAGIC MOMENT.
MAGH, is the Persian root of our word magic, spelled m – a – g – h. And you can translate it into English as TO ENABLE, TO HELP.
To open new doors – new perspectives… a disruptive idea – an original thought

The big mistake that I see being made in today’s business world in how it deals with qualitative research is that qualitative research is
abused as a source of confirmation… abused as a source of validation… abused for providing security.
Honestly, this is not what we are meant to be. Like Magicians, we are game changers by nature. We are those that unhinge and unlock
doors. That’s what magic and qualitative sense making is all about.

But Isn’t it remarkable that magic, almost automatically, is criticised for its fuzzy roots and procedures, rather than being acclaimed for its
interesting and enabling results? Well, yes! It can lack logic & proof. In this it looks ‘made up’ and it ultimately is man-made. But what in
the way we perceive the world isn’t man made? The very logic behind science is the result of human thought. Not a given. What we often
consider to be scientific fact actually is theory and gets disproven once in a while. No, the sun doesn’t circle around the earth… and yes,
Newton’s ideas of absolute space and time have long been disproven (in fact, by Albert Einstein).
So, magic, you could say, is something very man-made but so is measurement and the scientific view of the world.
So we have two perspectives here to offer, both are man-made.
Let’s stand up for our own perspective, and wear our magician hats with pride in order to become
the rockstars of the modern business world.

Black magic
Magpie Way of Inspirational Thinking

The third point that I want to make today is about the magpie way towards inspiration.
Ok, look at the magpie, the famous stealer of all things shiny - annoyingly feisty, highly intelligent and very playful.
Research on animal behaviour tells us that he’s one of the most intelligent creatures around us – this bird has learned to only pick up stuff
on the street when the pedestrian traffic light is green. So, he is definitely very capable of making sense of our world. But apart from this
research trivia, what I personally find even more fascinating is that research tells us that the magpie steals out of instinctive playfulness.
So let him stand there as symbol for a playful and nondirective way of taking an interest in the world around us.
And this is the guiding principle behind my ‘magpie way of inspiration’

As everything that comes from a German, there are some clear rules behind magpie-ing.
I have tried to boil down the ‘Magpie-ing’ recipe to a 3 step approach – here is how it works:
Step 1: EXPERIMENTATION. Go out there and just dabble with things. Like the magpie, pick things up just because they are glitzy & shiny.
And if you look at it and it just fails to spark any deeper interest – let it go.
Dabble, experiment, play.

Step 2: EXPLORE. This is about non-utilitarian learning, and here is what you do:
focus on one of the things you have picked up – the one that inspires you most. And now, dedicate your time and attention to it. … bring it
into ‘your nest’ and make it your own. … BUT still be ‘intent free’ with your choice –
go for what drives you, not for what you consider useful.
This will take you places: maybe you find yourself on a ship taking a master class in deep sea fishing, go and learn how to use 3D printers
even though you don’t know anyone who owns one.
While immersing yourself, you will acquire:
- a new perspective, a new way of looking at things
- you will meet new people around this new topic
- and you will acquire new skills.
Non-utilitarian learning will TRANSFORM YOU. … and that’s what makes it interesting.

Now step number 3 is my humble try to connect this back to business and research realities again.
Actually it’s a cheeky one. Charles Eames says: ‘Eventually, everythings connects’ …. and with a bit if faith into his words and trust into our
brains’ proven capacity to establish new neuronal connections between seemingly unrelated areas & ideas, step number 3 is about sense
crafting.
Once you connect your ‘transformed self’ e.g. the inner deep sea fisherman with your researcher self –
new and unexpected ideas & practices will emerge.

The gain? Possibly some outlandish excursions on you company budget, but definitely some new,
inspirational ways of approaching things.
I for example used my love for animals as a trigger point to develop the concept of 5 senses research within my company… and, as you
might have spotted this presentation is also very animal heavy.
It takes more than good guitar riffs to be a rock star. The magpie way of inspiration is my home-made recipe to add some spice and
edginess to our thinking… and it will help us to claim our space in the hall of fame and become
the rock stars of the modern business world.

So here in recap, is my activation plan for us, the researchers to replace designers as the rock stars of the business world:
- Let us push for more human-centricity in Marketing
- Let us stand up for our way of thinking and wear our magician hats as qualitative thinkers with pride
- and let us add some spice and edginess to our thinking and doing

Presentation content by:  
Dörte (Dotti) Töllner (@DottiToellner), Christoph Welter (@christophwelter)!
Drawings by: Julia Walter-Hermann (@wh_julez), inspired by the book ‘Spirit
Animals’ by Stefanie Iris Weiss (2009, Chronicle Books)!
Digital Design by: Paul Galow (@paulgalow)!
Overall inspiration:!
Beveridge, W.I. (2004): The Art of Scientific Investigation (Blackburn Press)!
Epley, Nicholas (2014): Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think,
Believe, Feel, and Want (Allen Lane)!
Hemayssi, Hala – Experience Design Bureau Linked In Profile: http://
www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=2484402&locale=en_US&trk=tyah&trkInfo=tarId
%3A1398769830759%2Ctas%3Ahala%2Cidx%3A2-1-2!
Klein, Gary (2013): Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain
Insights (Public Affairs)!
Koren, Leonard (2008): Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
(Imperfect Publishing)!
Krznaric, Roman (2013): How Should We Live?: Great Ideas from the Past for
Everyday Life!
Madsbjerg, C. and Rasmussen, M. (2014): The Moment of Clarity: Using the
Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems (Harvard Business)!
Related Reading ‘Human Centric Marketing’:!
Baba, M. (2006): Anthropology and Business, in: Encyclopedia of Anthropology. H.
James Birx, Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Pages 83-117. !
Dourish, P. (2006): Implications for Design. Proc. ACM Conf. Human Factors in
Computing Systems CHI 2006 (Montreal, Canada), 541-550.!
Dourish, P. (2007): Responsibilities and Implications: Further Thoughts on
Ethnography and Design. Proc. ACM Conf. Designing for the User Experience
DUX 2007 (Chicago, IL).!
Illich, Ivan (2001): Tools for Conviviality (Marion Boyars)!
Kotler, Philip (2010): Marketing 3.0 - From Products to Customers to the Human
Spirit (John Wiley & Sons)!
Madsbjerg, C., Krenchel, M., Ramsey-Elliot, M.: A Case for Ethnography in the
Study of Corporate Competencies (EPIC Conference Paper, 2011)!
Sthanunathan, Stan (2012): Research Must Change: http://de.slideshare.net/
TheARF/research-must-change-11257698!
References!

Related reading ‘Magic of Qual’!
Barnham, Chris (2010): Qualis? The Qualitative Understanding of Essence (IJMR,
Vol. 52, Issue 6)!
Bell, Genevieve – Closing Keynote: Magical thinking (EPIC Conference 2013)!
Gibson, William (2005): Pattern Recognition (Berkely)!
Gigerenzer, Gerd (2008) Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious
(Penguin)!
Gilbert, Elisabeth (2009): https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius
(TED)!
Hara, Kenya (2010): White (Lars Müller Publishers)!
Mauss, Marcel (2001): General Theory of Magic (Routledge Chapman & Hall)!
Pollack, Rachel (2014): Tarot Wisdom – Spiritual Teachings and Deeper Meanings
(Llewellyn Publications)!
Suhr, Dierk (2009): Kleine Geschichte der Magie (Thorbecke Verlag der
Schwabenverlag AG)!
Wang, Tricia – Opening Keynote: The Conceit of Oracles (EPIC Conference 2013)!
!
!
Related Reading ‘Magpie Way of Inspiration’:!
Riechelmann, Cord (2013): Krähen. Ein Portrait (Matthes & Seitz Berlin)!
We would like to thank the following people who contributed ideas and
inspiration:!
John Curran!
Aurore Gailing!
Sabine Gräfenstein!
Hala Hemayssi!
Emma Jefferies!
Catriona Macaulay!
Nik Pollinger!
Nicole Reinhold!
Simon Roberts!
And everyone at Point-Blank International!
!
!
Follow Dotti’s Spark&Craft blog to see what she and her colleagues are up to:
http://sparkcrafters.tumblr.com!
References!

The Dawning of the Age of Research

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