For a ongoing intranet consultancy project I undertook a set of stakeholder interviews as part of the research process. As we headed into the stage of assimilating the mass of gathered information - and there is a staggering amount of it - into a clear set of recommendations from observed patterns, I wondered if there was a way to visualise the interview content with the notion that it may enable further understanding.

Reading between the lines

To this end whilst wading through recordings of stakeholders, I converted them into tag clouds. Using TagCrowd, a Tag Cloud generator, I upped a transcript from each interviewee.

The resulting clouds, ignoring words like “oh”, “going”, “anyway”…,  whilst not scientific (and not the point) give an intriguing look at the content of the conversation, its themes and the ideas that are high, possibly subconsciously, on the interviewee’s agenda. It also made apparent common patterns across different interviewees.

As a supporting device I like them. Whilst independently inconclusive they give the designer a way to communicate, in an engaging visual way, to other people involved in the project the areas interviewees are gravitating towards.

The resulting images were  also well received by the client. I’m sure in part due to their simplicity. It is a diagram amidst dendrograms, tables of stats and other analysis that can be  easily digested and as such opens conversation.

Below are some of the generated tag clouds. I’ve blurred out a few client sensitive words.

^ Interviewee 1

^ Interviewee 2

^ Interviewee 3

Prospecting for gold

To compliment tried and tested formal methods I am an advocate of creative experimentation as part of this clarifying process. The willingness to peer into the problem without a clear route to the solution and knowing that it will take a bit of poking around, some dead ends but the chance of discovering something with value makes it worth pursuing. Having the time to do this however is difficult to manage which is why i think it is best done in the early stages of the process for two reasons. Firstly, if there is nothing springing from the well you can cut the activity and resolve solutions with existing methods. Secondly, the freedom from rationalised existing solutions helps to keep thinking expansive and experimental.

If you have applied existing approaches in unconventional ways or have made discoveries through serendipity post a comment.

c15 years after writing about the ingenious top-down build methodology used on the then under-construction British Library for my undergraduate study, I finally made time to visit the now completed building.

Designed by Sir Colin Wilson this modernist idyll sits back from the perpetual rush of the Euston road. Its hard lines are attenuated by unfashionable red brick that give form to an urban ship buoyed against the recently renovated and relinked St. Pancras station.

Standing in the forecourt space I was initially underwhelmed expecting to be awed, especially given her size. The building did not impose itself but on reflection, why should it. The exterior space should support the needs of the visitors and their activity. I imagine this to be a lunchtime salvation in the warmer days for local workers and patrons who would be able to enjoy the feeling of calm space free from the office.

Upon entering the atrium the story changes. The layered slanting ceiling runs away rising to its height introducing an expanse of calm order where one immediately feels a guest in the imagination of a master craftsman. And it just gets better.

The artificial lighting is blended with the natural light to create a peaceful, uplifting environment with variances throughout that turn up and down the intensity so patrons can situate themselves in a space that most suits their preference.

Wilson’s understanding of the purpose of the building as a busy library and community hub is evident everywhere. His sensitivity for this makes using it not only easy but pleasurable and brings people together in serendipitous natural collisions. A lunch table is often occupied by people previously unacquainted, which is how i happened to have a surprising conversation with an author Laurence Shorter.

There is a good vibe to the place and for a public space in central London this is not easy to achieve. It is the kind of space i remember fantasising about when i was freelancing and would make, in fact it probably is, a wonderful remote office especially as they have recently opened up the broadband wifi connection.

^ Restaurant and working space at the British Library