the middle object: the center piece of strategic design
Stordes’ contribution to the 2020 dutch design week
the provocation
the catalyst
the token for an unknown outcome
a turning point in the design practise
the end result
the starting point
a shift in responsibility
a work of art
The middle object is an intermediate outcome of the design process, a conversation piece that allows designers and clients to align requirements, attributes and qualities of the final design. In architecture and industrial design, it could be identified as a visualisation or a prototype, while in strategic design it becomes more blurry and abstract: it’s the step between creating a strategy and taking on the responsibility to execute it. In this way, the middle object allows the clients to position themselves in the process and act intrinsically motivated towards adopting a new vision in their company.
This project aims to explore in the following three workshops the meaning and implications of this peculiar phase of the design process, highlighting its value as a fundamental step in the human relationship between the different actors.
#1
The contextual modi operandi of the middle objects
The middle object evokes a dialogue and positions in a defined context. In the workshop we use images of works of art to reflect on in the context of leadership. We close with a fly on the wall perspective.
#2
The qualities, attributes and materialisation of the middle object
We set out a speculative context for the second workshop and ask participants to search for a middle object that could evoke new insights in that context. We reflect with two designers on their middle object contribution to a stordes project and on the characteristics of a middle object.
#3
The middle object as activator
We reveal the outcomes of an experiment of shifting the responsibility from the designer to the user/client. We ask people in advance to move a big object in their living room/office and experience what scenario’s develop. The move as a middle object to evoke movement.
