Iterated Window - Experiencing the In-between and Informing the Practise of Business and Design

Abstract: Our research begins with understanding human experience and continues to inquire on, what we refer to, as the iterated window metaphor that frames the in-between to inform the practice of business design. Our exploration first attempts to understand human experience by exploring how humans perceive and inform their experience through the philosophies of Pragmatism and Hermeneutics. Then, through a method of action research, we tested a set of assumptions that built an understanding of the research question: how might the in-between inform designers to enable embodied meaning in an experience at an organization. Along our journey, we found that the term in-between is defined as a physical state of in-between, where one stands in the middle and it is the phase of a transition in understanding. This transition of understanding, or interpretation becoming meaning, starts in the present and transitions from one’s past experience to a new understanding. As researchers, we personally are situated in the in-between as we are between our two different human experiences that have led us to this collaboration, the two fields of business and design, academia and the organization, and our stakeholders of Microwave and Packet Core at Ericsson Site Lindholmen. Specifically, the aim of this research is testing the use of the in-between (metaphorically, philosophically and literally) in creating design criteria for an Experience Center at Site Lindholmen. Our process inquires through a documentation of a spectrum of events and experiences, both inside and outside Ericsson. The aesthetic events proved to inform how meaning is interpreted, or misinterpreted. The Ericsson events informed the communication of the organization, but also included the practice of working with our stakeholders. This co-creation required a collective sense-making dialogue and using designerly methods, such as externalization and visualization. Hence, embodying the in-between throughout this research we found and understood the importance of the process: doing, reflecting, framing and iterating. As practitioners of business design we realized through this research that the in-between informs the practice as our proposed notion of the in-between stance. The in-between stance is an active balancing act that navigates uncertainty and finds peaceful moments of understanding. Applying the in-between stance when designing an intended experience with other humans at an organization, enables embodied meaning.