Welcome to Cognitive Ink’s Fieldnotes
A behind-the-scenes look into our practical observations of life, work, society and everything in between. Our fieldnotes are made for curious people who like bite-sized inspiration. It’s going to be full of new ways of looking at things, forgotten facts, curious insights and little pieces of everyday life, annotated. We’re full-time ethnographers, which means that we’re good at picking up the interesting side of things wherever we are. We hope, in time, this will become a varied quilt of ideas.
Moving from one moment… to the whole experience
Last month I bought a box of the best pencils I have ever used. I go through pencils by the dozens, so this is saying a lot! They’re a joy to write and draw with – light to hold, clean to sharpen, smooth to write with, pleasant to hold (no splinters) and the graphite is easy to erase. They’re available at the supermarket and are ‘eco-friendly’. On the surface, the pencil designers have created me something that meets every need I could dream of. … Except …
Getting Support When Lost Between Two Service Providers
What happens when people try to get help for a problem with their service that somehow falls between the cracks of two large service providers?
A touch of human
How do you change a transaction into something more meaningful? Add what is not machine-like. Add something human.
Draw the first line
‘Everyone is most afraid of the blank page, of drawing the first line. So what I do is I draw the first line quickly and boldly. Without fear. Without recrimination. Because I know I can always draw a second line. And a third. And a fourth. And so on. Eventually, I can shape the outcome to be whatever I need it to be by drawing a dozen lines, a hundred or a thousand. As long as I get over my fear of that first line.’
Looking for workarounds
When there’s a gap in a service, people will instinctively create their own workarounds to fill that gap. Find the gaps, and you may well find opportunities for improvement or perhaps even to create something entirely new. What workarounds are being created by the people you're serving?
Looking for something a bit more?
Dip into one of the hundreds of articles available on Christopher’s psychology, history, design and technology blog, Adventures in a Designed World. Here’s a few interesting samples…
