The Musician As Designer

Everything around us is designed, from products and services, to buildings, roads, parks, concerts, health care, justice systems... everything. Human-centred design places the person who uses the system, product or service at the centre of the entire design process, and asks questions about their wants and needs, their barriers, their frustrations etc. Through using the five stages of design thinking - empathy, problem definition, ideation, prototyping, testing - barriers and problems are identified, and innovative solutions are reached.

While studying and putting into practice this process with my college classmates, I kept thinking about my experiences as a musician, and the different types of performances I had taken part in.

Why were they there? Why this concert in particular? Would they come back again? What did they love about the whole thing? How did they find out about it? What stopped them coming to other concerts? What were their frustrations around the experience? How can they continue to be delighted? How can they be enticed back?

There were so many gaps in my understanding. The same goes for our students. How well do we know their worlds? Have we ever tried to step into their shoes, see the experience from their perspective, define their wants and needs, as well as their frustrations and barriers, and brainstorm ways to continue to excite them?

The relationship between musician and audience is empathetic. We ideate continuously, trying out different techniques and interpretations. We prototype new concert formats, ensembles, programmes, teaching methods, and then test them. If we apply all of our innate skills to the design thinking process, we can gather huge insights into our audiences, our students, and our ensembles. It is astounding the amount of assumptions we make about the world and others. The only way to truly know what your end user thinks and feels is to ask them.

Design thinking is an exciting, creative, innovate way to discover who your audience member, your student, your online following is, to really get to know them, to meet them where they are, and to innovate ways to continue to delight them.

I’m so excited to present this course to The Exhale from November 1-5.

Join me for the adventure!