Page 57 - Design meets Business:An Ethnographic Study of the Changing Work and Occupations of Creatives
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                1. Introduction 45
particular, I explored when and how the activities of ‘morphing’ and ‘acti- vating’ were performed, and how this related to the attributes of liminality (ambiguity, freedom and community). So, inspired by theory, I did selective coding. Then, I compared how liminality was facilitated across the three projects. I identified similar patterns and some differences with respect to the action of ceremony masters. This comparative analysis offered the basis upon which the theoretical arguments are developed, in Chapter 4.
1.8. The Structure of this Dissertation
Against this backdrop, I now outline the structure of this disserta- tion. In order to explore how creatives cope with their changing work and occupations as a result of collaborating with business, I conducted three empirical studies. In this dissertation, I first present my most recent work, the papers that I developed based on my ethnography at Fjord, and then I discuss my first study, the qualitative case study of Waag.
Chapter 2 helps to explore how interactions with artifacts changed in the work of creatives as a consequence of collaborating with business. This chapter is set in the context of the design firm Fjord. Here, the work of designers has become increasingly abstract work, oriented at created intan- gibles (such as ‘services’ and ‘experiences’) instead of tangibles (‘finished products’). In this renewed work context, the designers do not need to use all former material practices to achieve design success. Making a service is likely to demand different approaches and tools than the development of products. Yet, as craftsmen, designers closely relate their creative identity with the performance of certain material practices. In other words, desig- ners are intertwined with material practices at work. Hence, ‘dropping’ their tools might not be desired or possible at all. In this chapter, I explore how designers as craftsmen cope with changing material practices at work.
Chapter 3 explores how the changing work of creatives shapes inte- ractions within occupations. It elaborates on Chapter 2. It is also located in the context of design firm Fjord and starts from the idea that as the work of designers is changing, the occupation Service Design is attrac- ting different members. In particular, as designers now do work that is similar to management consultants that offer advisory services to their clients, there has been an influx of people with a background in business and management in the occupation. In this chapter, I explore how desig- ners among themselves struggle to come to an agreement about ‘what service designers ought to do’. The newly arrived business designers have different approaches and perceptions than the already serving designers in the occupation. The study enlightens how occupational mandates





























































































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