Responsive design

The idea of designing in response to what people say and do, rather than determining the programme in advance, was at the heart of Yellow, from the outset. But we had to discover how to make it work in practice.

Discipline and rigour turn out to be important. First, you have to pay really close attention to what is going on in each session – or you have nothing to respond to. This ‘read’ needs to be subtle not superficial.

You need systems. With two sessions to design every week, whilst delivering and digesting two others, capturing and tracking what we do is crucial. 

But discipline alone won’t do it. It is a complex process, done mostly by feel. We consider a wealth of factors: the personality and style of the individuals and the group; the mood and energy of a session; the content or activity; the kinds of stimulus (visual, artistic, somatic, intellectual etc.); whether to invite a guest. If so, who, and what about their mood, energy, stimulus, activity etc?

We think about how all this unfolds over time. At any point, we ask if we need a complement, a contrast or a complete ‘cut’[1]. If the last session was serious, should we be playful, go deeper or do something altogether different?

Then we need to pay attention again, on the day. We have learned to use a ‘slow start’ so that we can feel whether what we had planned still makes sense, or if something else wants to happen. Which means be willing to let go.

All of which, means we are always designing. Which is incredibly inefficient. But we have realised we don’t give a fig about that. It is this very inefficiency that keeps it alive for us, and, we have every reason to believe, for the participants.

Lose that, and we have lost everything.

[1] We stole this vocabulary from a chef, who said that these are the variations you work with in ‘composing’ a dish or a meal.