PocketGuide_Cat-Centered-Design-jhrv
PocketGuide_Cat-Centered-Design-jhrv
PocketGuide_Cat-Centered-Design-jhrv
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THE<br />
POCKET GUIDE
WELCOME TO THE POCKET GUIDE<br />
TO CAT-CENTERED DESIGN.<br />
HERE ARE THE NINE ESSENTIAL<br />
METHODS TO KICKSTART A LIFETIME OF<br />
COMPANIONSHIP FROM YOUR FELINE<br />
FRIENDS, DESIGNED TO FIT IN<br />
THE POCKET OF YOUR CRAZY<br />
CAT LADY SWEATER.<br />
Immersion<br />
Interview<br />
Conversation Starters<br />
Brainstorm<br />
Mash Up<br />
Role Play<br />
Get Feedback<br />
Live Prototyping<br />
Keeping it Real<br />
CHECK OUT DESIGNKAT.ORG!
02<br />
WHAT IS<br />
CAT-CENTERED DESIGN?
<strong>Cat</strong>-centered design is a creative<br />
approach to problem solving and the<br />
backbone of our process at IDEO.org.<br />
<strong>Cat</strong>-<strong>Centered</strong> <strong>Design</strong> is the only way to meet your cat’s<br />
downright sophisticated 21st century needs. It’s time to<br />
move beyond saucers of milk, fake mice, and leaving the<br />
faucet on.<br />
<strong>Cat</strong>-<strong>Centered</strong> <strong>Design</strong> starts with the cats you’re designing<br />
for (from feral to furless) and ends with new solutions that<br />
are tailor-made to make you feel damn good about your<br />
parenting skills. It’s all about developing deep empathy (just<br />
shy of joining the Furries), coming up with tons of purrrrfect<br />
ideas, meowing compulsively, building a bunch of prototypes<br />
and then pointing at them with a laser pointer, and putting<br />
your innovative new solution out in the world.<br />
03
04<br />
THE THREE PHASES OF<br />
CAT-CENTERED DESIGN
INSPIRATION<br />
In the Inspiration Phase you’ll learn from a variety of real<br />
cats. Please don’t talk to Puss in Boots. He’s got a Napoleon<br />
complex. Oh yeah, and please also don’t talk to Grumpy<br />
<strong>Cat</strong>. He’s just not very pleasant - remember, this is about<br />
getting inspired.<br />
IDEATION<br />
We know you love cats and the simple things, so let me<br />
tell it to you straight. Ideation is just a fancy pants way of<br />
saying idea generation. This is what you’ve been waiting for<br />
because this is your moment to shine. It’s your moment to<br />
show Mittens that you get her, in a you-had-me-at-helloat-the-SPCA<br />
kind of way.<br />
IMPLEMENTATION<br />
It’s real! Your thing is real. So is your constitutional delusion<br />
that cats have needs as sophisticated as people. But hey,<br />
don’t let that stop you. You made it this far, and by golly,<br />
you are going to be the Steve Jobs of cat toys. You will show<br />
them all in your signature cat-face sweatshirt.<br />
05
Immersion<br />
Walk 10 miles in her paws. There’s no better way<br />
to truly understand your cat than being in her<br />
context, completely.<br />
If you really want to get inspired by cats, you need to be a<br />
cat. Some magicians in New Mexico can actually help you<br />
trade bodies with your cat for a day. But if you’re short on<br />
cash and can’t make it to Taos, take a day to really observe<br />
your cat in her context. Mirror her movements for an hour<br />
(oh, it’s totally cool for you to give yourself a cat bath).<br />
See how she makes decisions, but don’t influence her<br />
motivations. If she want to chase a speck of light caught in<br />
a window’s reflection, you should prepare to do so as well.<br />
Phase<br />
Inspiration<br />
Time<br />
3 days<br />
Difficulty<br />
Extreme<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Going for feral cat field research?<br />
A Tetanus shot, camera phone, and<br />
band-aids<br />
Participants<br />
You and your local animal control to<br />
steer you away from the truly krazy kats.<br />
06
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
Got ambitious plans to study the wild cats you’ve<br />
been dreaming about? Try to organize a alley-stay<br />
if possible. You’ll adopt a nocturnal schedule, and<br />
spend your days lounging in the sun of someone’s<br />
back porch and your evenings street fighting with<br />
strays.<br />
Once you’re in the field, observe as much as you<br />
can. It’s crucial to record exactly what you see and<br />
hear. It’s just as critical to note the smells and feels.<br />
Pungent cat pee, talon-like claws, and half-eaten<br />
cans of tuna fish are just parts of the process to get<br />
to know your cat better.<br />
If you’ve got a shorter window for immersion, you can<br />
still learn a lot by following a cat for a few hours. Pay<br />
close attention to the her surroundings. Try adding<br />
kitty ears and mitten paws to feel like you’re part of<br />
the posse. Really, this is all part of the work.<br />
07
Interview<br />
You know when you ask your cat questions, as<br />
if they could actually respond? Get ready for 45<br />
minutes of that. Katie Couric has nothing on you.<br />
F*!k inspiration. You’re really just trying to get your cat to<br />
fall in love with you, right? You’re sick of the mixed signals<br />
- purring one minute and then clawing your face the next -<br />
and you’re desperately seeking more mammalian attention.<br />
This is when <strong>Cat</strong>-<strong>Centered</strong> <strong>Design</strong>ers, the really good ones,<br />
turn to the interview. Not the kind in which you’re guided<br />
by your general curiosity about someone or something.<br />
No, the kind where you have a serious agenda to drive<br />
(L-O-V-E looooove) and you’re practicing your capacity for<br />
clandestine manipulation.<br />
Phase<br />
Inspiration<br />
Time<br />
45 minutes<br />
Difficulty<br />
So easy it should be illegal<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Your list of questions and catnip hidden<br />
on your person<br />
Participants<br />
Just you and the cat - don’t get frisky<br />
08
STEPS<br />
01<br />
You’re like a dream come true.<br />
02<br />
I just want to be with you.<br />
03<br />
Kitty, it’s made to be.<br />
04<br />
Ask 36 questions.<br />
05<br />
Make you fall in love with me.<br />
09
Conversation Starters<br />
Conversation Starters put a bunch of ideas in front<br />
of the cats to spark the ‘arch-your-back, puffyour-tail,<br />
scratch-the-hell-out-of-the-couch’<br />
kinds of reactions.<br />
Conversation Starters are all about sparking dialogue and<br />
ruining your furniture. The idea here is to suggest ideas<br />
around a central theme and then see how your cat reacts,<br />
ranging from sauntering away with disdain to digging her<br />
claws with excitement into that new overpriced rug you<br />
bought from CB2. The goal here is to encourage creativity<br />
and outside-the-litter-box thinking from the cats you’re<br />
designing for.<br />
Phase<br />
Inspiration<br />
Time<br />
30-60 minutes<br />
Difficulty<br />
Moderate<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Pen, notepad, humility<br />
Participants<br />
<strong>Design</strong> team, the cat you’re<br />
designing for<br />
10
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
Determine what you want the cats you’re designing<br />
for to react to. If you’re designing a kickass<br />
scratchpost, you might come up with Conversation<br />
Starters around objects that are hideous, or shaggy<br />
carpet styles from the ‘70s.<br />
Come up with many ideas that could get the<br />
conversation going. What is the litter box of the<br />
future, the litter box of the past, a super litter box,<br />
the president’s litter box?<br />
Once you’ve presented all of these ideas to your kitty,<br />
look for any strong reactions she may have had to<br />
one idea. Did she lick her paw when you mentioned a<br />
floating litter box? Note that down!<br />
11
Brainstorm<br />
Brainstorms generate ideas. Like the time when<br />
you thought leashing your cat and going for a walk<br />
was a viable way to casually pick-up the opposite<br />
sex. Lots more of those, please.<br />
So you learned some things. You certainly learned<br />
some things about your cat, but most importantly, you<br />
learned a lot of things about yourself. You’re confused,<br />
afraid, and hyper aware of just how important that<br />
cat is to your identity and to your sanity. Boom: the<br />
big insight. You now know that you must do whatever<br />
it takes to make your furball happy and prevent that<br />
“accidental” dash out of the open door. Get generative!<br />
Phase<br />
Ideation<br />
Time<br />
ad nauseum<br />
Difficulty<br />
Moderate<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Post-its, pens, and the walls of the litter<br />
box<br />
Participants<br />
<strong>Design</strong> team, key stakeholders, partners<br />
18
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
Calibrate your thinking. <strong>Cat</strong> in the Hat? Good idea.<br />
<strong>Cat</strong> in the microwave? Bad idea.<br />
Now that you’re calibrated, get your ideas on Post-its<br />
and line the walls of the litter box. Lick and repeat.<br />
You keep at it because you damn well know you can<br />
keep your cat satisfied. Remember those Bud Light<br />
real men of genius commercials? We salute you catcentered<br />
designer, and we know your cat will, too.<br />
19
Mash Up<br />
How would a Maine Coon’s dominance mashed<br />
up with the social intelligence of a Siamese<br />
behave? Mash-up two existing cats to explore new<br />
concepts for felines that may not even exist.<br />
Much like chasing your tail, Mash-Ups are a thought<br />
exercise, an opportunity to pose bold, new, even fantastical<br />
cat combinations that will push your thinking along. Do<br />
you want to better understand the luxury cat market? How<br />
about re-imagining the spa experience for a Bengal mashup<br />
Persian cat? What if you wanted to redesign <strong>Cat</strong>mazon<br />
for a discerning cat? Would a cat simply give a dismissive<br />
swat to scroll to the next item? Creating real-life scenarios<br />
and layering in different cat-xtremes allows you to gain<br />
empathy for different breeds and design for their needs.<br />
Phase<br />
Ideation<br />
Time<br />
Equivalent to making mashed potatoes<br />
Difficulty<br />
Stratospheric<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
PhD in Genetics and Genomics, two cats,<br />
patience<br />
Participants<br />
Heavily sedated<br />
12
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
Pick two cats. Bonus points if you start<br />
inter-species mashups. A Tabby Wooly Mammoth?<br />
Sphinx Velociraptor? Peacock leopard? British<br />
shorthair chameleon?<br />
Get them a yurt off Highway 1 in Big Sur. If that<br />
doesn’t work, put on your gene splicing cap.<br />
Incubate, incubate, incubate.<br />
04<br />
Watch out. Remember gremlins? Did you produce a<br />
Gizmo or a Stripe?<br />
13
Roll Play<br />
Roll Play is a type of prototype that we can<br />
all get our paws on and our tails behind. While<br />
the roll certainly falls behind the place that the<br />
box and bag hold in a cat’s heart, it should not<br />
be overlooked.<br />
I know you just get this. I have faith in you.<br />
Phase<br />
Ideation<br />
Time<br />
30-60 minutes<br />
Difficulty<br />
Moderate<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Toilet paper, props, cinnamon rolls<br />
Participants<br />
<strong>Design</strong> team<br />
14
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
04<br />
05<br />
Gather rolls from around your home: namely, paper<br />
towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, and yarn rolls.<br />
Place them in a large box big enough for you to swat<br />
rolls of all different sizes around. Get in said box.<br />
Take about 30 minutes to determine the necessary<br />
roles of the rolls; what it is that you’re looking<br />
to test—is it a type of interaction with a roll, the<br />
durability of a roll, or even your own reaction to<br />
different rolls?<br />
Next, put yourself in the mindset of a cat: it’s<br />
important to vacillate from obsession with the rolls, to<br />
feigned indifference, then to complete boredom, and<br />
finally, genuine aggression toward the rolls.<br />
What did you learn? What would you do differently?<br />
06<br />
Costumes and props can be highly effective tools in<br />
bringing your Roll Play to life.<br />
15
Get Feedback<br />
Collecting feedback, whether it be via mews,<br />
hisses, purrs, scratches, head butts, or scathing<br />
looks is exactly what you need to push your<br />
idea forward.<br />
The only real advice we have is to exercise caution when<br />
throwing around the words ‘feedback’ and ‘adoption’ in<br />
front of your cat. ‘Feedback’ insinuates that you could<br />
be removing food from the premises and ‘adoption’<br />
could cause widespread panic in your household.<br />
Phase<br />
Ideation<br />
Time<br />
120 minutes<br />
Difficulty<br />
Hard<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Pen, paper, relevant supplies<br />
Participants<br />
<strong>Design</strong> team<br />
16
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
04<br />
Convene a kitty focus group via random cat intercepts<br />
in backyards, alleys, and pet stores.<br />
Capturing honest feedback is important in order to<br />
further your concept. This shouldn’t be difficult for<br />
most cats who won’t hesitate to tell you exactly how<br />
they feel.<br />
Remember that you want to solicit feedback from<br />
extreme cats: current and former stars of Fancy Feast<br />
ads to dumpster dwelling kitties that have survived on<br />
the streets.<br />
Be curious. Not too curious. <strong>Cat</strong>s have been killed<br />
for that in the past. But be fairly inquisitive by asking<br />
following up questions and pushing your cats to<br />
articulate their needs and desires.<br />
17
Live Prototyping<br />
After dozens of cat interviews, cat focus groups<br />
and, let’s face it, some catastrophic ideas, your<br />
team will have a strong hunch about the right<br />
solution. What is the best way to know if it will<br />
work? Enter Live Prototyping.<br />
Live prototyping is where this shit gets real, yo. If your<br />
solution doesn’t fly in the real world, it’s over: your animal<br />
companion is long gone, and you’re left nibbling the cat<br />
treats she left behind in tears. Don’t worry, we won’t let<br />
that happen to you.. Test actual demand in a notoriously<br />
finicky feline market. Want to test a base-jumping cat<br />
parachute? Live prototype it by dropping a feline friend<br />
off a roof and into a swimming pool full of piranha. Does<br />
your prototype (and kitty test pilot) sink or swim? Oops?<br />
Embrace failure. Iterate. Good thing cats have nine lives.<br />
Phase<br />
Implementation<br />
Time<br />
Google Glass fast<br />
Difficulty<br />
<strong>Cat</strong>nip high<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
A Sweeney Todd-esque zeal<br />
Participants<br />
The crew of Jackass; autopsy specialist<br />
22
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
04<br />
Decide what to test first. It could be how a gang of<br />
stray cats discover your offering or how your kittylitter<br />
model works.<br />
Next, sort out logistics. Will it be in an in-cat<br />
experience or a digital one? Incentives such as catnip<br />
or feathers?<br />
If you have cat-pacity, run a few Live Prototypes at<br />
once. We all know the saying about herding cats, but<br />
if you’re able to pull this off, it will allow you to test a<br />
variety of ideas quickly.<br />
Never stop iterating. If something goes wrong on Day<br />
1, try a new approach on Day 2. There are plenty of<br />
cats in the sea (literally if you test the idea above). If<br />
all else fails and you run out of cats to test with, you<br />
can live prototype a cat cemetery business.<br />
23
Keeping it Real<br />
Human-centered design is hard work. A healthy<br />
dose of humor and creativity keeps us inspired<br />
and bold in the face of some otherwise daunting<br />
challenges.<br />
IDEO.org was built on a foundation of love, laughter, and<br />
some serious design (pork) chops. Let’s stay inspired and<br />
optimistic, keep designing for people, but more importantly,<br />
let’s start doing more design for cats. In partnership with<br />
the <strong>Cat</strong>s Across America, SPCA and Sarah MacLachlan, we’ll<br />
be launching a <strong>Cat</strong>-<strong>Centered</strong> <strong>Design</strong> Initiative to ensure that<br />
cats have access to the best toys, treats, and opportunities<br />
out there. I will remember you. Will you remember me?<br />
Phase<br />
Implementation<br />
Time<br />
A lifetime<br />
Difficulty<br />
It’s hard. We know it.<br />
What You’ll Need<br />
Optimism<br />
Participants<br />
IDEO.org and you.<br />
20
STEPS<br />
01<br />
02<br />
03<br />
04<br />
Assemble the best darn crew of designers, innovators,<br />
and non-profit experts along with their cats to tackle<br />
the toughest challenges related to poverty alleviation.<br />
Keep them in close quarters for long days and<br />
occasional overnighters (remember that yurt off of<br />
Highway 1?).<br />
<strong>Design</strong> a series of activities that make them realize<br />
that the relationships and partnerships we build with<br />
our cats are the foundation to the work that we do.<br />
Find out in the end that dogs are perhaps superior<br />
companions.<br />
21
At IDEO.org, we believe that the most<br />
potent weapon against global poverty and<br />
cat malaise is design. The socialization<br />
innovations that arise from truly<br />
understanding and designing alongside feline<br />
communities that are the most likely to<br />
offer ephemeral entertainment and improve<br />
at least one of nine lives. And for us, if we<br />
can’t see real impact, we call our local<br />
veterinarian or visit that overly-confident,<br />
highly compassionate cashier at Pet<br />
Food Express.<br />
Born in 2011 out of the global design and<br />
innovation firm IDEO, IDEO.org is a registered<br />
501(cat)(3) nonprofit dedicated to applying<br />
<strong>Cat</strong>-<strong>Centered</strong> <strong>Design</strong> to alleviate poverty.<br />
We partner with nonprofit organizations,<br />
social enterprises, and foundations, to<br />
directly address pressing issues in sectors<br />
like spaying and neutering, faucets and kitty<br />
litter, feline inclusion, and product design.<br />
Don’t worry, no public resources were used<br />
to make this cat book, so no need to do<br />
anything crazy like give the IRS a ring.
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