Example Field Notes: Graphic Design Study

Note to Students:

The notes below are actual field notes focusing on interactions among graphic designers working in a small business partnership. Participants have been given pseudonyms and some parts have been redacted to preserve anonymity. We'll discuss these notes in class, specifically

• how I took them,
• what I focused on, and
• how these related to the study objectives.

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[date]

Bob, Tom, Alan.

10:10am

B, T, A sitting around a round table. All 3 have laptops.

B: So they want to see the stacked config?

T: yep ...

B: like this? (tilts laptop so others can see screen)

chat

T: Angela just IM'd me about x (some personal thing)

T: (transfers file) It's on your desktop.

B<>T discussing file and feedback as they remember it. Dimensions.

T: I think we address color and make it less comic booky. I can call X about this...

Discuss how file was built. A leans over.

T: "less feminine." (color) gets up, dials mobile phone.

A<>B discuss printer problem. B: replace photo with gray box.

T: he'll be here at 2

B: cool, Y will be here at lunch.

(constant discussion during work)

T: typing email

B: in indesign

B<>T: where they are with this project

T moves around to see B's screen

A: goes to closet -- printer here

B: to us: we're working on logo rev for client that does HD content for [REDACTED]. 3rd or 4th round. trad logo approach was not well rec'd. spouse of owner is graphic designer; they have gained traction and also put outside GDs on it.

"I have no idea how X created this thing."

B: so what do you think it was when they said it looked feminine?

T: color. too bright.

A: puts printouts in bag and 2 to desk. compares.

T: Bob, where are you on that [REDACTED] thing?

A: discusses

B: When does school start?

they discuss timeline

A: gets notebook

B<>T: discuss job again

A: gets ?? from foot locker.

B: do you want me to call X?

T: I already called him. coming at 2.

discusses other project

T: So Z's working on it?

..

B: with nobody to drive it, it's going to languish, but it's off our plate.

B: i'm gonna get this ready for X.

J>T. i wonder if we should show them this ... (they discuss color changes and virtues)

B: what if it looked metallic?

T: yeah, we could have X work on that.

B: okay. I'm going to pull these for him.

T: looking at basecamp. looking at dashboard, then indiv projects

B: reading email. "Z emerges from the depths. he doesn't want to meet with me. 'Do you think it will take more than a phone call?'"

T<>B discuss this guy, related event

T: looking at Finder -- folders for projects. Drills down, opens one in Photoshop

T: gets printout from closet

B: gets up, dials on mobile phone

T: tells us they will convert house room into dedicated studio. says: their web dev will be here at noon, designer at 2.

B: and G soon

they discuss how they met F at party.

T: editing something in photoshop. gets out mouse.

B: Tom, did that print out for you? ready?

scoots over to A

B: looking at b&w printout of layout,. circles these while discussing changes:

"ah. this is a simple misinterpretation of content." points out some body text that should be heading.

B: what pt size is this?

A: 9

B: take it to 8. ... so make those revs ...

now looking at screen to discuss color. "can you think of a better place to put this? ... everything's very monotonous." they discuss. "that will hep weigh the page down ... keep in mind they're engineers too ... they want to fill everything ..." coaches him on how to deal with this.

T: looking up something on iPhone. (he and B both have one)

brings up Adium. chatting back

T: looks across table to discuss printout

B: messing with iPhone. "why is my email not syncing?"

now showing A his screen. discussing how A' stuff needs to match what's on screen (www). "everything's just all rigid and square." promises to get images.

A: more questions re

(makes sense they are on laptops and wifi)

B: hold on, it's telling me something ... let me get you some of these image files ... all right, here come some more. (transf over nw) I'm just gonna put them on your desktop. I'm gonna label them w/green tags so you know which ones to use

T: gets prtout from closet

B: looking at Bridge A

B: we need to get those whole foods t-shirts if you want to handle this week

T: expects other thing to come back

B; maybe we should get X to work on this

T: yeah cause we want to clear these off this week

B<>T plan how to distrib work, offload to X

T: I'll tak to him about it ... he's just doing that [REDACTED] logo for his friend

B>A. okay, I'm putting these on your desktop. (moves to see A screen. they discuss files, pointing at screen)

B: [RESEARCHER 2], you'll be very happy we use Basecamp

B<>T. they discuss late items. invoices sent. should they call together?

T: we didn't get paid to manage the project, and she just has to deal with it!

B: reports that after they took a site live, client wants two new links

tells us: this client just wanted us to reproduce our site as theirs

J, T are sharing power supply: cats chewed through one

B: in mail, reading comments for Basecamp

T; reading Y's portfolio

T: there's a new myspace type site for designers called [REDACTED]. (shows Y'S page)

B: he's gonna get sued

B: there's a message in Basecamp but I don't know where it is ... (finds it, reads) that's hard to find when they post a cmt to a msg

T: still in photoshop

B: indesign. brings up bus. card. compares to msg in basecamp

"I told her it's the ugliest thing in the world to do this typeface in all caps." client listened

B: editing bus. card. "they want their website on their mailing list"

B<>T. discusses problem with small caps and nums on [REDACTED] project

B: cool. they didn't hardly have any chgs on this. (opens other file)

"this is one of our 1st clients. we still haven't prt their ident sys 11 mo later." discusses issues.

T: at least we're almost done

B: yeah, but we were almost done last time too.

B: i am using the tiniest type in the world. 5pt. Tom and i have a competition for world's smallest type. Tom had one in 5pt

T: now in finder, looking at files. renaming "_v2" after each

B: these [CLIENTS] measure everything. 'this isn't exactly centered!' I say 'it's optical!'

they discuss tickets to an event

11:10