Researc.her — Grace Ascuasiati
I met Grace back in 2008, and right away I knew that she was someone special. We coincided on Designit for a short period of time, and having her at the office was a delight!
Join me reader on this new adventure of research to know her a bit better.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Grace, I am a design researcher because I believe empathy is key to building meaningful and respectful products that help people.
I currently work at BBVA in what we like to call Design Transformation, with the goal of helping the whole organization learn, share and apply design tools.
Before BBVA I worked as a Design Researcher for Spring Studio in San Francisco and Designit in Germany and Spain, where I had the opportunity to do research all over the world, for clients like Simple Bank, Ikea, Huawei, etc.
What is your background?
I studied Psychology and specialized in Sociology of Consumption and Marketing Research. I had been working in marketing research for a couple of years unaware of the existence of user experience world, until I received an offer from a very well known design agency in Madrid. I was lucky enough to get a job there (at the time I didn’t know how many people were dying to get an opportunity like that).
In that agency is where I became a design researcher, and where I started learning the best way there is to learn, through practice, amazing colleagues I admire to this day, and must read books.
I went from working to craft better messages, to helping improve and develop useful products and services, to creating from ideas… and I found my vocation.
On the research field, which female professionals inspired you?
I am constantly inspired by women around me. I especially admire the ones that take the time to not only constantly reflect about their work and the impact of what they do on people, companies and society, but also to share these reflections through writing and/or teaching and somehow make us all better professionals.
I have had the pleasure to have Maritza Guaderrama as my mentor and colleague, she is a reference in the sector not only due to her experience, but because she teaches in a way that not many experts can, always connecting the dots between design research, anthropology and sociology, which is extremely important to maintain rigour in our practice.
In the same line, I admire Dorothy Silva, because she is very cultured, a great teacher and friend, and last but not least, she is always up for the next extracurricular challenge.
Other professionals that I recommend following and reading at any point in your career are Tricia Wang, for a refreshing view of anthropology and technology, Indi Young and Erika Hall for tips and exquisitely crafted arguments to advocate for our work.
In your opinion, what is the value of design research?
Design research is what makes the difference between a useful and a useless product or service. In my humble opinion, it impacts people around us as they realize that the things we design with design research in the process will be used, appreciated and even loved by someone.
I am aware that behind every great product launch there isn’t necessarily design research, however, at some point in that product’s development it will be necessary and it will be part of a turning point.
What obstacles do you find in your daily work?
In my current position understanding and dealing with the intricacies of a big organization. It’s hard, but it’s also quite a humbling experience to see that neither design nor the user are at the center of everything and the process of making that happen is organizational change.
As a design researcher, and after more than a decade working in the sector, it is still challenging to prove the value of design research. Even in places where it is now an established practice, there is still struggle to get the time to do it right and to do it at the beginning of the projects.
How do you see the future of research?
Very exciting! Design research is becoming more and more relevant as we design for global, for different cultures with different customs, languages, codes… If we want to be respectful and useful, design research is a must, and it will keep evolving.
A great example of why this is relevant is what happened to AirBnB and the name they chose for their brand in China, which made it sound like it was store selling sex toys… an epic fail that is taking more time and money to fix than a good design research.
Can you give some advice for someone that is starting now?
Read, read, read, and get out of your comfort zone. Learn through practice and if you don’t have the opportunity at your workplace, create it. I am not officially a design researcher now, but I never start a project without research. If this is difficult in your context, do personal projects or pro bono work (this also fills your heart).
Please, recommend 3 books that you love about research
For starting I’d say start with The Design of Everyday Things is a must, for understanding what empathy means from a designers perspective I really like Designing for People, and for understanding the world we are working in and the concept of complexity, since we are not islands and we have to work collaboratively, Team of Teams.
I guess for a design researcher everything is about research : )
You can find Grace on Linkedin and send her some love.