Design documentaries adopt and adapt many techniques that documentary filmmakers have developed and explored. Observation, compilation, intervention and performance techniques provide an inspiring toolbox for researchers who make design documentaries. The films Fred, Kent and Debra illustrate how these techniques can be used in various ways.
For Philips Medical Systems in Seattle, I made three design documentaries with heartpatients. The stories in the films are partly based on interviews Philips previously did in the USA. In response to these interviews, I did discovery research with heart patients in London. The design documentaries Fred, Kent and Debra stimulated designers to speculate concretely about how their work might affect individual heart patients. The designers developed a fresh perspective, grounded in the everyday of the heart patients in the films.
