Outer Orbit: Why User-Centred Design Matters in the Space Industry

WEBVTT

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Dallas Campbell: Hello and
welcome to Outer Orbit, one of

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our little bonus episodes where
we continue the conversation

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from one of our main episodes.

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Giulia thanks very much
for sticking around.

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Giulia Bencini: My pleasure.

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Dallas Campbell: This is the
bit of the show where I can ask

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like, really dumb questions.

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It's really funny, I've
been struggling with topic.

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You know, this idea of design.

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Because when I think of design, I think
what most people think of design, we

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think of kind of physical objects.

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You design a chair and then someone can
sit in a chair and maybe the chair looks

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nice as well and that adds to the thing.

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That's what I imagine design.

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So when we talk about design in space.

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We're not talking about
designing rockets or satellites.

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We're talking about designing
something else, a kind of interface,

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if you like, between what space
does, what it provides us, and...

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Giulia Bencini: how people use it.

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Dallas Campbell: I think for me it's
kinda, it's quite difficult to imagine

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what that looks like because I want to
visualize a chair and there isn't a chair.

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So what should I be thinking about?

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What should I, what mental
image should I have in my mind?

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Giulia Bencini: I
completely agree with you.

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I think it's quite tricky when we refer
to service design or user-centered design.

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Because it's not tangible as other things.

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Usually when I say that I'm a designer,
people either say, do you do fashion.

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No, actually they say fashion
design or do you make interiors.

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Interior designer.

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So those are the things that
people come back to me when I say

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I am a designer and then I try to
explain what I am actually doing.

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Dallas Campbell: Okay, so
we're at a dinner party.

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Explain on the spot or actually no,
we're at a children's birthday party.

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So let's say they're kind of five explain.

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Giulia Bencini: So I think what
we do, it can be described as we

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have someone that has a problem.

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So first of all, we understand what their
problem is and we observe it as well.

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It's about listening, it's about
observing, it's about really understanding

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what they go through, and then we
identify what they need to solve

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their problems or what we need to
do to make their experience better.

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So something that probably we
haven't touched on, and it's quite

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interesting, is the experience side
of things like designing experiences.

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We want people to have good
experiences when using something.

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When doing something when...

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Dallas Campbell: Like the kind of like
the interface of a piece of technology?

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Giulia Bencini: I think that's
the crossover between service

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design and user experience design.

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User experience, which is usually
connected with user interface design,

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is most of the times quite digital.

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So we're talking about apps, we're
talking about websites, we're

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talking about digital interfaces.

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Whereas when we talk about service design,
we go a bit wider and we can apply the

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experience or like shaping and designing
an experience to different things like.

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Even just like using an object.

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So maybe we're not the ones that design
the object, but we are the ones that

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understand how to design the object in
the best way so that people can have the

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best experience that they need to have.

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Or designing the experience that you
have when you enter a space, for example.

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So service design is a bit wider
and it is in that sense really

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connected to user research, which
sometimes is a thing on its own.

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Dallas Campbell: Am I right in thinking
then it's, I should be thinking not

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of a physical object, but a problem.

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Let's use your farmer analogy.

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So you were talking about how farmers can
use data from space to better plan, to

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better understand their land usage, to use
perhaps modeling to look into the future

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to see how things are going to change.

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Using that as an example, give us
a sense of where you fit into that.

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Giulia Bencini: So in that sense is first
of all, at the very beginning, I go to the

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farmer and I have a chat with the farmer
and I try to understand what they're

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facing in terms of challenges or problems
in managing their land, for example.

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Once I have those information and
then summarize them in a way that is

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understandable and clear and I try to
extract technology requirements, so

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what do we need to do from a technology
point of view to solve the challenges

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that the farmer was talking about?

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And I work with my technical
colleagues in doing that as well.

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Usually when we do interviews and user
research, we always have technical

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colleagues observing as well.

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We bring people along, which I
think is a power that we have as

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Dallas Campbell: So you do
kind of market research.

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Giulia Bencini: We call it user
research, but yeah it is market

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research as well sometimes and we bring
back findings or insights that then

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inform the technology development.

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So we have those insights.

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Dallas Campbell: You'll go, oh,
farmers, they really wanna know about

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this particular thing, and then you
pass that knowledge onto the Satellite

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builders or the data and say, look,
can you build it a bit more like that?

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Because that's actually what we want.

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Giulia Bencini: Yeah, so that then you're
gonna have people that buy it and then

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once they develop it, we test it as well.

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So something else that we do is
then once we have something, we

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take it, we go back to the farmer,
we say, look, we have this thing.

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Can you try and use it?

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Maybe in front of us so that we
can see how you use it, and we

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see if it's actually like helping
you and solving your problem.

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And then we iterate and change
whatever doesn't work to make it

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even a better product basically.

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Dallas Campbell: And what's
that gonna look like?

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We talk, obviously talk a lot about
space technology on this podcast.

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As space becomes increasingly more
important as we become increasingly

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more reliant on it, as users, as
the data that we get from space

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exponentially increases, what does the
sort of future of your world look like?

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Giulia Bencini: So...

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Dallas Campbell: Can we
make it more user friendly?

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Giulia Bencini: Yeah, exactly.

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I think a lot is about making sense of
the amount of data that we have now and

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we will have more and more in the future.

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So translating those data into
things, applications, being it a

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software or something else that
people like farmers can use.

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But at the same time it's also
about, I think, simulating technology

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development and helping our more
technical colleagues, in thinking about

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the future and what we need to develop
ahead of developing it in that sense.

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Dallas Campbell: Rather than just
accepting a particular future,

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what it looks like actually being
part of the shaping of the future.

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Giulia Bencini: A
preferred, yes, precisely.

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So, I do like thinking about futures
thinking as something that involves

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a proactive engagement with what we
want to go towards and like, once

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we understand what the future might
look like and what is preferred

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versus what is maybe more likely.

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We have then kind of a route
that we can design to reach what

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we prefer to reach in a way.

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Dallas Campbell: Kind
of making it more human.

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I always think that in, in the kind
of wild complexity of modern life,

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we forget what it is to be human.

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Giulia Bencini: But also I think to
that point, like I do think design as a

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fun methodology and approach to things.

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There's so many parts of like the work
that I do now that needs creativity.

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Even just when interacting with
people, when organizing workshops,

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Dallas Campbell: Oh, tell
me about the workshops.

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Giulia Bencini: Yeah, that's a big part...

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Dallas Campbell: What happens in
a, what happens in a a workshop?

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Giulia Bencini: That's usually the part
where we bring people together and we

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make them share things and empathize
with each other and do things together.

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Dallas Campbell: Like what
kind of things do you do?

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Giulia Bencini: So in one of the projects
that I worked on a couple of years ago

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now, we brought people together from
a company that was trying to develop

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a software that was using space data,
local authorities and private companies.

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So it was different types of
stakeholders in different markets.

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We brought them together to understand
the potential of that technology and

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understand at the same time how they might
use the technology, but also like what

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were the really key problems that those
stakeholders were feeling and to which

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the technology needed to be adapted to.

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So it was just like so nice being
there and seeing everyone connecting

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and talking and being able to
work together towards a solution.

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Dallas Campbell: I'm a big fan of
people coming together and we've, we

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kind of have lost that a little bit.

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I'm a big fan of people coming together.

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I mean in a workshop do you do fun
stuff that you know, when I think

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of sort of workshops, I always think
it's good to play games and do things

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just to make people feel human again.

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Giulia Bencini: Yeah, exactly it
is basically, and that's where

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the creativity comes in as well.

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We need to develop activities that will
allow us to get the things that we need.

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But at the same time, we need
things that are simple, that are

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fun, that are engaging, and it's
never a frontal discussion like

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somebody presenting to an audience.

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It's always like groups of people
working together, using post-its

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using Lego, and just like doing...

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Dallas Campbell: Okay, gimme a, gimme the
example of a creative of a game that you

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would play in a workshop that would open
that would open up people's creativity.

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Giulia Bencini: Lego is quite an
interesting one because people usually

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look at it as something that kids use
and they're a bit skeptical when they

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see it in a workshop and then they
use it and they're like mind blown

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Dallas Campbell: Do you
get into build things?

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Like do you say, go build me a house or...

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Giulia Bencini: They're really useful
to visualize things and we usually

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use them when creating scenarios.

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So we usually give a bit of a framework
or some boundaries to work within,

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depending on like what we're working
on, and then people have these literally

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like these pieces of Lego to create
what they think the solution might be.

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Or maybe just even map the
relationships between stakeholders

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that are gonna use that solution,
how they interact with each other.

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So it's just like nice to have
something physical to be able

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to move and use and visualize.

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Dallas Campbell: Well, it sounds
like it's a way of making people

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just feel less self-conscious.

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Because suddenly when you are engaged
in play, whether it's Lego or some kind

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of activity, you suddenly forget about
the big stuff and you are concentrating

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on the rules of the game, and then
you become open and you stop thinking

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about, oh, am I doing the right thing?

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And actually just letting the kind
of creativity flow, which is good.

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Giulia Bencini: Yeah, precisely and
I think as well, like you might not

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develop the right thing, but then you
have something visual that allows you

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to see why is not the right thing and
you stimulate discussions, like, we

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haven't talked about it as much in in
the podcast, but visualizing is really

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a superpower that we have as designers.

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Dallas Campbell: Yes.

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Well, that's the thing, when we
talk about design we think visual.

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We think of objects, we think of clothes
or interiors or whatever it might be.

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And so how do you encourage that visual
sense that's so important in design

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within this rather more amorphous space?

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Giulia Bencini: I think for
us it's probably mostly on

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us designers to visualize.

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We always get involved in very technical
conversations and things that we talk

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about, but we don't necessarily see.

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And when we map those things, then
people are able to have a baseline

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in something that we all look at
and we can have a discussion on.

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And for us, it means mainly like
mapping things or visualizing things

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like processes or relationships between
people or an ecosystem and how the

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elements within that ecosystem are
connected or related to each other

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or even part of that ecosystem and
I think that's a really, like, it's

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not for the sake of visualizing, but
it's really like that's a tool that is

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not a final tool as a chair might be.

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It's something that you take, you
bring to people, and you let people

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input into it, like give feedback
and you change it and you iterate

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and you move that way to create
understanding between people and help

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decision making as well in that sense.

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Dallas Campbell: Do you enjoy it?

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Giulia Bencini: It's very interesting.

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I feel like every time I start
a new project, I become a bit

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of an expert in something new,
which is extremely exciting.

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Dallas Campbell: I think all the
designer designers, they're all

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obsessive and I understand that
obsessive creative brain, you know?

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I get it.

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Who's your favorite designer?

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I'm obsessed by Charles and Ray Eames.

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Giulia Bencini: Maybe I'm a bit biased
because I'm Italian as well, but

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Bruno Munari is probably one of my
favorites and just the work that he's

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done as well with kids' books and that
simple language and playful language.

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Dallas Campbell: Playful that's
a, yeah, I'm a big fan of playful.

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I think playful is just like
really key in all areas of life.

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I worry that we've become,
we're sort of, we think of

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playful as something not valued.

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Actually I think it's, I think it's of
real value, and I think we can learn a

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lot from kind of the work that you do.

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Which has a little playful element
as a way of getting people to be

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their best in whatever area it is.

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Giulia Bencini: And I think
like that playfulness as well

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is brings with it, the fact that
you are allowed to make mistakes.

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Dallas Campbell: Correct.

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Thank you.

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Giulia Bencini: And that's
something that is really important.

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Especially like if you do them early on.

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That's the best way to de-risk
something before it's too late.

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So, I do think design has that power.

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Dallas Campbell: Thank you
very much for sticking around.

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It's been lovely to chat further.

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It's been great.

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Maybe I'll come up and
play with some Lego.

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I'm an eighties kid, so I
grew up with space lego.

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Part of the reason I'm
here is we had space Lego.

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It was a thing and here I am.

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To hear future episodes of In Orbit, be
sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast

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app and head over to YouTube to watch the
video versions of all of our discussions.

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And if you'd like to find out more
about how Space is empowering your

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industry, visit the Catapult website
or join them on social media.