Two asks: your case study, and the last community spots

[00:00:00] ​ [00:00:02] Hey folks, and welcome back to another episode of [00:00:05] This is HCD. My name is Gerry Scullion, and I'm a human-centered service design practitioner [00:00:10] based in Dublin, Ireland. I'm the founder of This is HCD, and I'm also the founder of Humana [00:00:15] Design, a service design consultancy based in Dublin in Ireland. It's gonna [00:00:20] be me on the mic today. [00:00:20] I just wanna give you a couple of things, uh, that we're working on at the moment to get your [00:00:25] thoughts and feedback, and point you in the directions of things that I think you might be interested [00:00:30] in. The first thing that I wanna talk about is obviously the book. I am [00:00:35] deep in administrative kind of pieces for the book at the moment.[00:00:40] [00:00:40] I've written a large amount of it, and the design is [00:00:45] currently going on at the moment. Jacob Schneider is the creative director of the book, and I'm [00:00:50] working with Jacob pretty much every couple of days. And you'll start to see [00:00:55] things happening on thisishcd.com to give you an idea of the brand [00:01:00] direction that that's going in, because they're gonna marry, uh, and they're gonna be very much part and extension of that [00:01:05] brand as well. [00:01:06] The book is called This is Human-Centered Design. Now, one of [00:01:10] the funny stories on this is when I started the podcast, my very good friend [00:01:15] Mark Stickthorn had already written This is Service Design Thinking, [00:01:20] which was out, uh, I don't know, maybe 2011 or 2012. And there was no connection [00:01:25] between the two, but, uh, when my publisher had said to me that they wanted to call it This [00:01:30] is Human-Centered Design, I was like, "Well, look, I'd rather not," mainly because of This is [00:01:35] Service Design Doing, which I hold in the highest regard. [00:01:39] If you [00:01:40] haven't bought that book, go ahead and do it right now. But some people think that [00:01:45] there's a connection between This is HCD and This is Service Design Doing and stuff [00:01:50] with Marcus and Adam and Mark- Really the origination of this [00:01:55] is human-centered design comes from my utter and sheer devotion to [00:02:00] Liverpool Football Club. [00:02:01] And if anyone knows anything about Liverpool Football Club, they [00:02:05] will know that there's a very famous sign in Anfield, in the stadium, where [00:02:10] it says, "This is Anfield." And when you get to play for [00:02:15] Liverpool, you get to touch that sign, and that is my hat tip [00:02:20] to Liverpool Football Club. That's why this is HCD, it's called 'This Is [00:02:25] HCD.' [00:02:25] Human-centered design to me is my Anfield. So there you go. Anyway, the book is called 'This Is [00:02:30] Human-Centered Design,' and it's really centered around four parts. And we're [00:02:35] looking for case studies, actively looking at the moment. Uh, so we're getting much [00:02:40] more of a global representative, uh, of the case studies that are on there at the moment. [00:02:44] [00:02:45] And its whole piece is built on real work from real practitioners, not [00:02:50] theory delivered from a height. And what I mean by that is I don't want to be having, [00:02:55] um, you know, all beautiful polished, uh, case [00:03:00] studies where, you know, ultimately I look at it as well and I kind of go, "Wow, that's amazing. I don't know if [00:03:05] I'll ever get the opportunity to do that." [00:03:07] And you know and I know that design most of the [00:03:10] time you know, we struggle. We have-- we've got these, you know, large rocks that we're trying to [00:03:15] push up the hill, and it's hard work. It is really, really hard work, and I'm looking [00:03:20] for more real case studies in that sense. I'm obviously attracted to the social [00:03:25] impact element of human-centered design. [00:03:27] That's what drives me. And I'm [00:03:30] speaking to you. Um, I'm in your ears at the moment, and I really believe you might have something out [00:03:35] there that could be of interest to be submitted to this book. So if you've got a real [00:03:40] project, real project that contains the messy middles, that kind of stuff [00:03:45] is what I'm interested in. [00:03:46] So it doesn't have to be a glossy win. The constraint, the [00:03:50] pushback, the bit that nearly fell over, the real version, not the polished case [00:03:55] study deck version that you see at conferences and we all kind of go, "Wow, that's amazing." I want the [00:04:00] real stuff. So if you do have something that you think you [00:04:05] might want to submit, maybe- get a few ideas across, there's a link in the show [00:04:10] notes for this episode. [00:04:11] All you have to do is click on that link, and I know the link looks like it's really [00:04:15] big and chunky. You can fill in parts that are blank if you just wanna get an early conversation [00:04:20] going with myself. I'll work with you on the case study. I'll refine it and polish it. Obviously, I'm [00:04:25] writing the book, so I'm all over the, you know, the, the kind of content that's gonna go into it.[00:04:30] [00:04:30] In return, you get a credit in the book and you get a photograph of being a contributor [00:04:35] as well. And the reason for this is we really want to create this shared [00:04:40] understanding of where we're at in human-centered design and [00:04:45] really genuinely help, uh, the next person who is out there [00:04:50] who's going through the same kind of problems that you went through and how you resolved it. [00:04:54] [00:04:55] And the whole, you know, benefit of this is this is gonna get out. It's being published by Binch [00:05:00] in the Netherlands, and it's gonna be, um, circulated amongst the human-centered [00:05:05] design community and hopefully the service design community if, uh, if it takes that [00:05:10] So I'd love to, um, give a shout-out to that. [00:05:13] It is the form, it's [00:05:15] just a form, and I really wanted to try and keep things in a structured way so I can actually ensure that we've [00:05:20] got, um... We're capturing things as we go along, and we know what we've got, so we [00:05:25] can evaluate which pieces to include. There's probably gonna be about six case studies in this book, [00:05:30] maybe eight if I can push it. [00:05:31] It all depends on the number of pages. So the second [00:05:35] thing I really wanna talk a little bit more around is the community on This Is HCD, [00:05:40] and many of us are going through what I would like to c- you know, kind of the [00:05:45] messy middle. Uh, everything is difficult at the moment for lots and lots of people, [00:05:50] myself included. [00:05:50] Work has slowed down for whatever reason. Maybe there's a global [00:05:55] kind of, uh, wave of, uh, kind of lack of confidence in things at the [00:06:00] moment. But the community is super important in these [00:06:05] moments, and when we created this community, we looked around and we [00:06:10] saw that there was lots of communities out there, there was lots of Slack channels out there, but they didn't [00:06:15] really offer anything that was more around growth. [00:06:18] And the [00:06:20] reason that we've built our community in this way is it's very much me, [00:06:25] and there's Gaurav as well, who's in Scotland, who, who helps us out from time to time. But the [00:06:30] whole point of this is to have access to each other, but also to [00:06:35] coaching with me. So I will work with you over the course of a year [00:06:40] and you get access to all the courses and the WhatsApp community, which we've just started [00:06:45] opening up for people, and the reason why we put the WhatsApp community in there is because sometimes you [00:06:50] might have a quick question and you need to get an answer, and we're already seeing people [00:06:55] posting things where they've got success. [00:06:57] You know, they might have run a workshop and they wanted to [00:07:00] share it with somebody, but they don't want to share it 'cause it might be too cheesy in work. But we're interested in [00:07:05] that stuff as the community. So, um, I'm there, and I'm [00:07:10] always working with people in the background to review things. Maybe it's a, a [00:07:15] journey map, maybe it's a research, uh, proposal. [00:07:17] Whatever it is, I like to see these [00:07:20] things and help you. So think of me as, you know, your kind of friend [00:07:25] slash s- biggest supporter in your pocket. So as I said, [00:07:30] most communities out there are either quiet Slack communities, and our community online in our circle [00:07:35] isn't bustling. But what we do have in there is the spaces for you to go and complete the [00:07:40] courses, where you can get answers, you can look at me doing things And that's the [00:07:45] reason why we, we're, we're charging quite a low price at 299, and that's euro. [00:07:49] [00:07:50] And the reason why I'm charging that is because usually if I'm to do a coaching [00:07:55] call with somebody, uh, the range of prices for a coaching call with me tends [00:08:00] to be around 299 to 500 euros for the hour. And I used to do a coaching [00:08:05] program that was 1,900 euros for five hours, five one-hour [00:08:10] sessions. [00:08:10] And, you know, generally speaking, I would get a couple of those a month, and it was [00:08:15] fantastic. And I liked it, but in reality, I was saying to myself, like, "How [00:08:20] much impact can anybody have for that large amount of money over five [00:08:25] hours?" And it is, it was, to me, I felt it was kind of like starting to get [00:08:30] to the point where I wanted to create something that was much more affordable for people [00:08:35] to be able to engage with and to be around. [00:08:38] So, uh, [00:08:40] and this is how I'm able to do that, by lowering the price to 299 and making [00:08:45] myself more available across the year as opposed to those five hours, work asynchronously, [00:08:50] and I'm there to support you. So we do have a fair price promise on the community as [00:08:55] well, and this one really matters to me ethically because when I was in [00:09:00] university and I was studying industrial design, I felt completely lost. [00:09:04] [00:09:05] My lectures, you know, as good as they were, I just didn't really feel very connected [00:09:10] to the course. I didn't really f- feel connected to the work, and as a [00:09:15] result, you know, I probably wasn't applying myself as best as I could've been. [00:09:20] I would not have been able to pr- pay 299 euros for, um, a [00:09:25] community. So there's a few different things. [00:09:27] If you're a student and, or if you're somewhere [00:09:30] located where the euro is just too strong against your own currency, just [00:09:35] talk to me, okay? Send me an email. This is where you're at, what you can afford. [00:09:40] Nearly always I will try and work with you, okay? So it's not about the money for me. [00:09:45] It's much more around trying to support people at scale. [00:09:49] We'll work out a [00:09:50] price that's fair from where you are. I don't want money to be the core [00:09:55] reason that you are not in the room with us. So really feel free, you can get in [00:10:00] touch. And generally speaking, you'll be surrounded by other people who are practitioners who are [00:10:05] going through that experience as well They can offer you, you know, maybe leg [00:10:10] ups in terms of introductions, but that's not what it's about. [00:10:13] We're here to review [00:10:15] portfolios, we're here to help, and generally that is why I believe [00:10:20] our community at This Is HCD, the Circle community, is one of the [00:10:25] best communities on the web today. So again, just to wrap [00:10:30] up, um, and to recap, if you've got a case study, the form is in the show notes, and the [00:10:35] second thing is, if you want into the community, there are a few spots. [00:10:39] Um, if you [00:10:40] go to the link that's in the show notes, you can WhatsApp, and it will be me [00:10:45] messaging you back if you've got any questions about that stuff. Don't overthink it, [00:10:50] just reply to the newsletter if you're getting anything about this stuff in the next couple of days. [00:10:55] Send me a DM, whatever's easiest, uh, to get in touch. [00:10:58] I really appreciate you [00:11:00] listening. So thanks for your time, and I'll look forward to speaking to you [00:11:05] soon.