ACTIO VOL. 5 NÚM. 2 | Julio - Diciembre / 2021

Intensificar el bienestar: diseño para posibilitar las narrativas deseadas

Recent research has looked at how products and services can enable positive narratives about those who use them and at the beneficial impact that this has on wellbeing. To date this work has focused on how users’ desired life-narratives can be identified from the products and services they most cherish and which add the greatest value to their lives. This paper reports an exploratory study aimed at taking the work to the next stage - starting with a desired set of narratives and designing a product or service that enables them. A user (n = 1) worked with the research team, using an autoethnographic approach, to identify his desired life narratives. He then designed an experience – in this case a motorcycle rally – to enable a selection of these narratives. It was concluded that the outcomes suggest that it is possible to design for a set of desired narratives. However, challenges remain in terms of making the approach scalable. A multistage approach to meeting these is outlined.

Recientes investigaciones han examinado cómo productos y servicios pueden posibilitar narrativas positivas acerca de quienes los usan y el impacto benéfico que esto tiene sobre el bienestar. Hasta ahora, este trabajo se ha enfocado en cómo las narrativas sobre la vida deseada de los usuarios pueden identificarse a partir de los productos y servicios que más aprecian y que agregan el mayor valor a sus vidas. Este artículo informa sobre un estudio exploratorio dirigido a llevar este trabajo al siguiente nivel – comenzando por un conjunto de narrativas deseadas y diseñando un producto o servicio que las posibilite. Un usuario (n = 1) trabajó con el equipo de investigación, utilizando un enfoque auto etnográfico para identificar las narrativas de su vida deseada. Luego diseñó una experiencia – en este caso un rally de motocicletas – para posibilitar una selección de estas narrativas. Se concluyó que los resultados sugieren que es posible diseñar para un conjunto de narrativas deseadas. No obstante, sigue habiendo retos en términos de hacer escalable este enfoque. Se esboza un enfoque en múltiples niveles para solucionar estos retos.

De récentes recherches ont étudié la façon dont les produits et services peuvent rendre possibles des récits positifs pour ceux qui les utilisent, et l’impact bénéfique que cela a sur le bien-être. Jusqu'à présent, ce travail s’est centré sur comment les récits sur la vie désirée des utilisateurs peuvent s’identifier à partir des produits et services qu’ils apprécient le plus et qui donnent plus de valeur à leur vie. Cette article présente une étude d’exploration dont le but est d’amener ce travail au niveau suivant – en commençant par un ensemble de récits désirés et en concevant un produit ou service qui les rendent possibles. Un utilisateur (n =1) a travaillé avec l’équipe de recherche, choisissant une approche auto ethnographique pour identifier les récits de sa vie désirée. Il a ensuite imaginé le design d’une expérience – dans ce cas un rallye de motos – pour permettre une sélection de ces récits. La conclusion fut que les résultats suggèrent qu’il est possible de concevoir des designs pour un ensemble de récits désirés. Néanmoins, des défis persistent dans le fait de rendre cette approche évolutive. L’approche est ébauchée à de multiples niveaux pour résoudre ces défis.

Ricerche recenti hanno preso in esame sia il modo in cui prodotti e servizi possono rendere possibili narrative positive per chi le usa, che l’impatto positivo che questo ha sul benessere. Fino ad oggi, questo lavoro si è focalizzato nel modo in cui le narrative sulla vita desiderata degli utenti possono essere individuate a partire dai prodotti e dai servizi che loro stessi apprezzano maggiormente e che apportano il massimo valore alle loro vite. Il presente articolo informa su uno studio esplorativo che vuole condurre questo lavoro allo stadio successivo – iniziando da un insieme di narrative desiderate e progettando un prodotto o servizio che le renda possibili. Un utente (n = 1) ha lavorato con il gruppo di ricerca usando una prospettiva auto-etnografica per individuare le narrative della sua vita desiderata. Ha progettato quindi un’esperienza – in questo caso un rally di moto – per rendere possibile una selezione di queste narrative. La conclusione suggerita dai risultati, è che è possibile usare il design per un insieme di narrative desiderate. Nonostante ciò, continuano ad esistere sfide per poter rendere questa prospettiva scalabile. Per risolvere tali sfide, si abbozza un approccio basato su multipli livelli.

Recentes pesquisas analisaram como produtos e serviços podem possibilitar narrativas positivas sobre aqueles que os utilizam e o impacto benéfico que isso tem no bem-estar. Este trabalho tem se concentrado em como as narrativas de vida desejadas pelos usuários podem ser identificadas a partir dos produtos e serviços que eles mais valorizam e que agregam valor a suas vidas. Este artigo relata um estudo exploratório voltado a levar este trabalho ao próximo nível - começando com uma série de narrativas desejadas e delineando um produto ou serviço que as habilite. Um usuário (n = 1) trabalhou com a equipe de pesquisa, utilizando uma abordagem autoetnográfica para identificar as narrativas de sua vida desejada. Depois, foi delineada uma experiência - neste caso, um rally de motocicletas - para permitir uma seleção destas narrativas. Os resultados sugerem que é possível projetar para um conjunto de narrativas desejadas. No entanto, permanecem os desafios para que esta abordagem seja escalável. É delineada uma abordagem multinível para fazer frente a estes desafios.

Patrick W. Jordan

University of Middlesex

Correo electrónico: p.jordan@mdx.ac.uk
ID ORCID: orcid.org0000-0001-8133-1757

Muskan Gupta

Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

Correo electrónico: muska170205017@alumni.iitg.ac.in
ID ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8287-681X

Andy Bardill

University of Middlesex

Correo electrónico: a.bardill@mdx.ac.uk
ID ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2451-3260

Kate Herd

University of Middlesex

Correo electrónico: k.herd@mdx.ac.uk
ID ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0019-1340

Silvia Grimaldi

London College of Communication

Correo electrónico:

ID ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5895-5801

ESP / ENG / FRA / ITA / POR

Intensificare il benessere: il design per rendere possibile le narrative desiderate

Riassunti

PAROLE CHIAVE: narrativa, benessere, design centrato sull’utente; psicologia del design; design ed emozione; auto etnografia

Resumen

PALABRAS CLAVE: narrativa; bienestar; diseño centrado en el usuario; psicología del diseño; diseño y emoción; auto etnografía.

Enhancing wellbeing: designing to enable desired narratives

Abstract

KEYWORDS: Narrative; wellbeing; user-centred design; design psychology; design and emotion; autoethnography

Intensifier le bien-être : le design pour rendre possibles les récits désirés.

Resumé

MOTS-CLÉS: récit, bien-être, design, centré sur l’utilisateur, psychologie du design, design et émotion, auto ethnographie.

Intensificar o bem-estar: design para possibilitar as narrativas desejadas

Resumo

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: narrativa; bem-estar; projeto focado no usuário; psicologia do design, design e emoção; autoetnografia.

Recibido: 2/08/2021; Aceptado: 23/11/2021; Publicado en línea: 28/12/2021

Introduction

Design and Narrative

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in how the design of products and services can support positive self-narratives in users (Grimaldi, 2012, 2014, 2018; Lichaw, 2016; Lupton, 2017; Jordan, Bardill, Herd and Grimaldi, 2017; Kim, Srinivarasan and Zhou, 2019). This has built on a growing body of research within the field of narrative psychology.

Narrative Psychology

The discipline of narrative psychology asserts that meaning and purpose emerges from, and is embodied in, our treasured narratives and the stories that comprise them (Bruner 1990, 2009; McAdams 1993, 2001, 2003, 2013; Schiff 2012, Randall 2015). Identifying what our treasured narratives are and living our lives in a way that fits those narratives, is the key to having meaningful, purposeful lives (Morgan 2000; Brown and Augusta-Scott 2007).

Previous research indicates that psychological wellbeing is correlated with whether people’s aspirations and values are reflected in people’s self-narratives. (Waters and Fivush, 2015; Alder et al., 2016; Ochs and Capps, 2002). If our self-narratives match our values this can lead to reduced anxiety (McNamara, 2000; van den Poel and Hermans, 2019), and enhanced happiness and resiliance (Bauer et al., 2008; Dunlop et al., 2016). We are also likely to find more meaning in life (Hart et al., 2010; Köber and Habermas, 2017; Waters et al., 2018) and to show greater perseverance in achieving goals (Jones et al., 2017).

Design and Research Challenges

Creating products that enable positive self-narratives raises two sets of challenges for designer and researchers:

1. Understanding what self-narratives are important to the user.
2. Enabling these to be delivered through the design of the product or service.

Products, Services and Wellbeing

The exploratory study reported here is part of an approach, now spanning almost thirty years, that has seen designers and researchers engage with questions about how products and services can be pleasurable to own and use in addition to their practical function. Early work looked at design and emotion (e.g. Jordan and Servaes 1995; Overbeeke and Hekkert, 1999; Helander, 2002; McDonagh et al., 2003; Norman, 2004). More recently ‘positive design’ has investigated their contribution to wellbeing more broadly (Jimenez et al., 2015 for an overview).

Wellbeing can be a broad concept, with many different definitions in the literature. Although this work doesn’t depend on a particular definition, for the sake of illustration we suggest the American Psychological Society’s definition: “A state of happiness and contentment, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook, or good quality of life” (VandenBos, 2007).

A substantial body of research, summarised in Hamblin, 2014, indicates that owning a lot of material possessions is unlikely, in an of itself, to lead to wellbeing. Nevertheless, most of us will have some products that do significantly improve our wellbeing through the stories we associate with them, if the stories support life-narratives that we value (Ahuvia, 2005; Belk, 1988; Liu et al., 2017; Gordon, 2017). The premise of this study is that we can understand people’s desired self-narratives through identifying the products and services that they find especially life-enhancing and analyzing the narratives associated with them. Once we have that understanding, along with an understanding of how the products and services enabled the narrative, we can design other products and services that will enable the person’s treasured narrative.

This understanding is potentially valuable in a number of ways, both to the person whose treasured narratives have been identified and to those who are designing for them. For example, a person who understands what narratives they value might be able to make better purchase decisions, spending their money on products and services that will enable the treasured narratives. It may also guide them more broadly as to how to live their lives – what job to do, how to spend their leisure time, what voluntary activities to get involved with etc. This has parallels with the Design Your Life approach pioneered at Stanford University, which uses design-thinking as a means of self-help (Burnett and Evans, 2016). There is much evidence (Gilbert 2007; Dolan 2019) that we tend to be poor at predicting what will enhance our wellbeing. A structured, analytical approach, based on insights about our treasured narratives, might help us make more effective choices. From the designer’s point of view, understanding users’ desired narratives may facilitate the design of products and services which enable these.

What are narratives?

Narratives and stories

Narratives are described by McAdams (1993) as ‘systems of stories’. They can be thought of as overarching themes that emerge from collections of stories that we have about ourselves. Unlike stories – which have a beginning, middle and end – narratives are open ended and dynamic. They motivate us to further actions that enhance narratives that we are positive about.

An example of a positive self-narrative might be “I am a good mother”.

• The day my daughter was born
• My son’s first day at school
• How I helped my daughter rehearse for her first school play
• The wonderful family trip to Disneyland
• How scared I was after my son’s accident and how I looked after him while he went through rehabilitation
• How proud I was when my daughter got her PhD
• How I gave my daughter emotional support after her marriage broke down
• How she gave me emotional support after my husband died
• How my daughter and my son have come to visit me every day in hospital

The Three Components of Narrative

Narrative themes

The theme is the central content of a narrative – its subject, topic or message. It will typically reflect both how the teller sees a particular issue and how the teller sees themselves (Kirszner and Mandell, 1994; Griffith, 2010). Narrative themes can be identified from recurring content within or across stories (Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2019; Guest, MacQueen and Namey, 2012), however a theme may also emerge from a single piece of story content that is central to the story’s value to the teller.

Narrative tones

The tones with which the stories involved in the narratives were told are reflective of the teller’s attitudes or feelings towards the subject matter and the audience. (Holman, 1975; Baldrick, 2004). The teller’s tone is not necessarily the same as the ‘mood’ engendered in the audience. For example, if a story is told in an aggressive tone, it might create a mood of intimidation.

Narrative audiences

We are both the teller and audience for stories and narratives about ourselves. In terms of our wellbeing, it is the effect on us that the story has which is likely to be most important. However, there will be other audiences – individuals or groups of people – whose reaction to, and engagement with, our stories and narratives is important to us (Denborough, 2014) and we may shape aspects of our stories and narratives with these people in mind (McAdams, 1993). Stories and narratives may also have imaginary audiences (Morgan, 2000). These are not usually fictitious people (although in principle they could be) but rather real people who we imagine telling our story to, but, in a literal sense, don't. An example would be a deceased loved-one or someone we no longer see.

The study

Strategic approach

As this was an exploratory study, it was decided to have only one participant and that the participant should have a background that would enable them to engage with the concept of narrative and with the methodology employed. This was the first of an anticipated multistage strategy going forward, with a research question at each stage, as follows:

1. Can we work with a participant who has understanding/experience of both narrative and design to create a product or service that enables a life-enhancing narrative for them?

If so, then:

2. Can we work with a participant who has little or no understanding/experience of either narrative or design to create a product or service that enables a life-enhancing narrative for them?

If so, then:

3. Can we work with a group of participants who have little or no understanding/experience of either narrative and design to create products and services that enable life-enhancing narratives for them?

If so, then:

4. Can we develop a scalable methodology that could be used in industry for understanding narratives that are life-enhancing to particular user/consumer segments and create products and services that enable life-enhancing narratives for them?

This study only addressed the first of these research questions.

Aims and Approach to Research

The study was designed to:

4. Understand what narratives were meaningful to a person through an analysis of the products and services that they associated with life-enhancing narratives.
5. To work with them to design something that would contribute to these narratives.

Participant

The participant (n = 1) was a university-educated man in his early 50s. He was a psychologist by background and had an understanding of narrative psychology. He also had professional experience of design research and working with designers to create products and services.

He was known to the research team and selected for this study on the basis of having professional experience that would enable him to engage with the concept of narrative, and the methodology – autoethnography and co-design – that was used.

The research that we were carrying out was of professional interest to him, and he agreed to take part without payment.

Methodology

The analysis was conducted using autoethnography, the participant being asked to reflect on his own experiences in order to identify his treasured narratives. The professional background of the participant enabled the use of this technique, which is described below. It may be less effective with others. The intention was that the design work be done using co-design, an approach well established within design (Sanders and Stappers, 2008; Pieters and Jansen, 2017; Trischler, Pervan, Kelly and Scott, 2018). In large part due to disruption caused by the lockdown, the participant did the design work without the research team (although he did involve two of his friends in it), only reporting back what he had done once lockdown was over and we were able to reconvene. At this point the team and he reflected on his experiences and the lessons learned.

Autoethnography

Autoethnography is an approach in which the participant uses self-analysis and self-reflection to gain insights into themselves. Traditionally, participants in the method have tended to be trained social scientists and have explored how these insights might be applied more broadly within a population – for example a particular user or consumer group (Ellis 2004; Holman-Jones, Adams and Ellis, 2013; Hughes and Pennington, 2017). It is an approach commonly used in narrative psychology (Folkenflik, 1993; Anderson, 2006; Randall, 2015). However, for the purposes of this study, we asked the participant to focus only on what he learned about himself.

With autoethnography the researcher and the participant are the same person, enabling insights to be gained from both the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’. This gives them an opportunity to assess the extent to which the outcomes of the approach reflect, in their opinion, who they are (Allen-Collinson, 2012).

There may also be ethical advantages in this approach. The study probed the participant’s life in ways that had the potential to expose deeply personal information, views and perspectives. There was a potential danger of causing psychological discomfort or harm to the participant and in such cases, even when the possibility of harm may be remote, self-experimentation approaches, such as autoethnography, may be the most ethically appropriate approach (Burchell, 1982; Davis, 2003; Gandevia, 2005; Hanley, Bains and Church, 2019).

Co-Design

Co-design is an approach that involves stakeholders in the design process and gives them an input into ensuring that a design meets their needs (Cantore, 2018, Gatenby, 2018, Gatenby and Cantore, 2018, McKercher, 2020), in this case that it would enable his desired narratives. The approach has a long history of use in design (Trischler, Pervan, Kelly and Scott, 2018).

Snapshot of Important Narratives

Research suggests that the narratives that people value change significantly over the course of a lifetime (McAdams, 1993). This study focussed on the narratives that were currently important to the participant, rather than what may have been important to him in the past.

Instructions to Participant

The participant was asked to select 10 products or services that he felt currently enhanced his life to a notable extent. He was then asked to explain how these products and services enhanced his life. As part of this, he was asked to reflect on any stories associated with the products and services which were particularly important to him. He was then asked to look for patterns and commonalities in these stories and from these identify narratives that were particularly meaningful to him. For each narrative he was asked to identify: theme, tone, and audience.

Once his meaningful narratives had been identified the participant was asked to work with the rest of the research/design team (the authors) to create a product or service which would help enable these narratives. A budget of GBP 20 (approx. USD 30) was given for materials. Table 1 contains he instructions given to the participant.

Table 1. Instructions to Participant

Part 1 – Identifying Treasured Narratives 1a. Think of 10 products and/or services that you currently own or use that significantly enhance your wellbeing. 1b. Describe the ways in which each of these enhances your wellbeing, in particular thinking about the positive experiences they have enabled and the stories associated with these. Write up to 100 words about each of the products and/or services. 1c. Review the descriptions and, looking across the 10, identify narratives that emerge. For each narrative include: theme, tone, audience. Part 2 – Designing a Life-Enhancing Experience 2a. Select one or more of the narratives that emerged from Part 1. 2b. Design an experience that fits this/these narratives that has within it a product or service. The product or service should cost no more than £20. 2c. Partake of the designed experience.

The intention had been that both parts of this would have been done in collaboration with the research team, but as mentioned before, due to unforeseen circumstances he carried out Part 2 without the team’s input.

Part 1 results

Identifying treasured narratives

The participant’s ten selected products and services and his descriptions of the ways in which they enhance his wellbeing are described, in his own words, in table 2.

Table 2. Participant’s selected products and services with his descriptions of how they enhance his life

Ford Focus RS	“When the RS was launched in 2016, my son and I were very excited. I wanted to buy one, but there was a year’s waiting list. In 2018 I came across a second-hand one in nitrous blue, the colour I wanted. It was tuned to be even more powerful, and had a special number plate. I bought it. I didn’t tell my son about it, but made a postcard from images on the dealer’s website and sent it to him. He was thrilled. Friends joke about it being a ‘hooligan car’. It is, but that just adds to the fun.”
Kawasaki ZZR 1400 Performance Sport	“It’s the most powerful production motorcycle ever made and the fastest. I love the extremeness of it. I spend much of my free time motorcycling, it’s a very important part of my life, and is enhanced by this machine. I like mentioning that it is the most powerful motorcycle ever made. It makes people go ‘wow’. A problem at the start was that no company would insure it, but that just added to the excessiveness factor. It’s ridiculous to have a 208 bhp motorcycle, but most people wouldn’t ride one, so that makes me feel special.”
Lonsdale Backpack	“Since he was five my son and I have loved adventure. This started as hill climbing and country hikes, but got more extreme including: off-road biking, cliff and gorge scrambling, storm walking, urban hiking, tide running, microlighting, rock-climbing and bungee jumping. During adventures we have great conversations, we also love recalling adventures. He is now fourteen. We use this backpack on our adventures. He wears it, so I can reach into it. We also use it on his charity bike rides. It is yellow and black and stands out in photos, which remind me of some of the most precious moments of my life.”
Union Jack Club	“I see it as my home and spend more time there than at my house. Very few people in the UK qualify for membership, which makes it feel exclusive. The staff know my son and often ask about him. He and I have great times there. I have planned lots of adventures from the Writing Room, which is one of the club’s studies. It is opposite Waterloo Station, so very convenient. The area is extremely busy and going up the steps to the club feels like entering an oasis of calm. London is special to me as my family history is there.”
Icon	“This hangs in my living room. I used to stand in front of it to say my daily prayers, but now tend to pray less formally – for example when walking. I find it visually appealing and emotionally comforting. I pray directly to Jesus or God the Father rather than through Mary, but sometimes I imagine her watching over me.”
Haynes Motor Museum	“The museum has a very large car collection. If you gift-aid your ticket you can go as many times as you want in a year. My son and I have been together a lot. Outside they also have electric go-karts, which he used to enjoy driving. Sometimes we just stop there for cake and tea for a snack and chat. I go there on my own a lot too. On weekends car clubs meet there and I go and chat. British cars from the 1950s and 60s remind me of cars that I would see in Dorset where my grandparents lived.”
Black Zeynep Motorsport Mug	“Black Zeynep Motorsport as an affiliation under which I compete in motorsport. The name comes from what I called a previous motorcycle as it was black and had a number-plate ending with ZNP. Although it was created a couple of years ago, I backdated its inception to 2005, when I started doing motorcycle competitions. All the awards and honours I had previously won were incorporated into Black Zeynep Motorsport’s history. For the fifteenth anniversary I had a souvenir mug made. It has the logo, the team slogan – ‘Everything in Excess’ – and honours list. It’s my favourite mug to drink tea from, which I do many times per day.”
Fullers Red Lion, Uxbridge, London	“I stay here frequently for work and leisure. It feels cozy, but I have met some colourful characters there. The restaurant is fantastic, the rooms very luxurious. They feel like a different world to the bar. I have often stayed there with my son. He loves the kids’ menu and we have long dinners with great chats. We came up with the idea of doing charity bike rides there. I find working-class London nostalgic. Hoxton, where my family are from, has been gentrified. This feels like a last outpost of something that will soon disappear.”
Record Holders Republic World Record Certificate	“I started record-setting after the Land’s End – John O’Groats Association told me that I had the record for the most end-to-end trips of Great Britain by motorcycle – riding between the farthest points apart. Guinness World Records doesn't certify this record, but I was able to get it certified by Record Holders Republic, the second largest world-record association. I then had the idea of setting motorcycling records for the End-to-Ends of the individual countries within the UK. As part of this process I discovered the end-to-ends of Wales and Northern Ireland (those for England and Scotland were already known). This certificate lists all my End-to-End records. I have also set and broken lots of other records. In total I hold 320 records for speed, endurance and navigation.”
Celtic Football Club Calendar	“I lived in Glasgow in the 1990s. It was still somewhat sectarian in those days. My father’s side of the family are Irish Catholics. Rangers, the city’s protestant team, were far better, but supporting Celtic affirmed my identity and values. I stood in the ‘Jungle’ with the most hardcore fans and bought shares in the club. Our club and fans have good values, fighting poverty and being passionately anti-racist and anti-fascist. The calendar is a symbol of an important part of my life.”

Analysis

The participant presented his choices and explanations to the research team. This was the basis for a semi-structured discussion lasting three hours, exploring what the emergent narratives were and the associated themes, tones and audiences. The discussions probed the reasons for choosing the selected products and services and elicited additional information pertaining to their importance in the context of his lifestyle and values.

The participant then described the narratives in his own words. His descriptions are in Table 3.

Table 3. Emergent narratives including descriptions in the participant’s own words

Narrative: I am an adventurer

Description: “Usually this involves literally going on an adventure – road-trips by motorcycle or car, long hikes and bicycle rides with my son. There is a particular narrative tone that accompanies many of these. It includes a sense of excitement and danger, but also an element of excess, which makes things feel slightly ridiculous. I get a great deal of pleasure from this combination as it makes for stories that are both exhilarating to recall and funny to tell. Adventure can also include situations that feel adventurous because of the others involved – hardcore football fans or colourful characters in the pub. I enjoy the planning of adventures too – something I often do in the Union Jack Club. I think that planning adventures ‘in my club’ makes for a better story. I get a great deal of pleasure from recollecting these stories to myself, but also enjoy discussing them with my son – they are, I feel, a major part of our relationship. I also write some of them up for inclusion in a journal that is published by a club I am a member of and discuss them with some of my friends. I hope both they and the journal readers will be impressed.”

Theme: Having adventures, being in extreme situations, meeting colourful people

Tone: Excitement, danger, excess, ridiculousness

Audience: Myself, my son, friends, other adventurers

Associated products and services: Ford Focus RS; Kawasaki ZZR 1400 Performance Sport; Lonsdale Backpack; Union Jack Club; Fullers Red Lion; Black Zeynep Motorsport Mug; Record Holders Republic Certificate; Celtic Football Club Calendar

Narrative: I am part of a great family tradition

Description: “Growing up I felt a strong affinity with my Grandfather and still do now, although he died 35 years ago. He grew up in poverty, worked hard, and spent his working life in the Navy, which he loved. He aspired to education, something that he had little of, and passed his enthusiasm for it onto my mom and me. As a child I always loved going to visit my grandparents. It was like going into happy world. I have spent much of the last 20 years trying to find a way back into it through traces of what remains and triggers that bring back a specific, but indefinable, feeling. Recently I have been tracing my family history. It starts in London when my great-great grandfather, a Polish Jew, came to London in the 1870s. Our family history is full of adventure, entrepreneurialism, caring for people in distress, and fighting against oppression. I talk to my son about it a lot – I feel it is important that he knows and feels part of the family history. I have also enjoyed sharing what I have learned about my family with my mom and sisters and a cousin on my mom’s side.”

Theme: Being part of a decent, interesting, dynamic family, with a history in London

Tone: Respect, nostalgia, sense of duty

Audience: Myself, my son, my mom, my sisters

Associated products and services: Union Jack Club; Haynes Motor Museum; Fullers Red Lion

Narrative: I am smart and creative

Description: “I like to think of myself as having smart and original ideas and seeing them through. Setting records takes a degree of planning – often done at the Union Jack Club – and intelligence, and creating Black Zeynep Motorsport logos and slogan was a creative process. The ideas for charity rides that my son and I came up with were imaginative and we thought of engaging ways to promote them. The motor museum is a place where you can learn and discuss things about cars. My son and I have some quite deep conversations about a variety of issues on our walks and when having dinner in the Red Lion. I enjoy these very much and see this as central to our relationship. Having said that, I am not particularly concerned about whether he sees me as smart, it is more about exploring interesting ideas together and seeing how he thinks of them. I do care about whether my colleagues see me as smart though and, to some extent, what my mom thinks.”

Theme: Smart thinking and original ideas

Tone: Intellectual, inquisitive, imaginative

Audience: Myself, my colleagues, my mom, my son

Associated products and services: Lonsdale Backpack; Union Jack Club; Haynes Motor Museum; Black Zeynep Motorsport Mug; Fullers Red Lion; Record Holders Republic Certificate

Narrative: I am accomplished and recognised

Description: “It is important to me to feel that I am achieving in areas of life that are important to me, whether that be motorsport records, raising money for charity, or the reflected success of my football team. It is also important to me that others recognise my accomplishments. This includes friends and family, other motorsport participants, and, above all, my son.”

Theme: Achieving things in a variety of areas, others recognising those achievements

Tone: professional, competent, determined

Audience: Myself, my son, friends, family, other motorsport participants

Associated products and services: Ford Focus RS; Kawasaki ZZR 1400 Performance Sport; Lonsdale Backpack; Union Jack Club; Black Zeynep Motorsport Mug; Fullers Red Lion; Record Holders Republic Certificate; Celtic Football Club Calendar

Narrative: I am a Christian

Description: “The icon on my living room wall is the most obvious manifestation of my faith. When my son and I stay at the Red Lion or Union Jack Club we pray together. Aside from with him, I rarely talk about my faith. Once, when we were having dinner, he told me that he thought God wanted us to raise money to help homeless people – this was after an encounter we had with a homeless man earlier in the day and was the start point for the charity rides. The backpack is associated with these, and the Celtic calendar with my social values, which are also born of, or at least associated with my Christian beliefs.”

Content: Faith in God and living by Christian principles

Tone: Sense of duty, comfort

Audience: Myself, my son

Associated products and services: Lonsdale Backpack; Union Jack Club; Icon; Fullers Red Lion; Celtic Football Club Calendar

Participant’s Reflection

Having been through the analysis process, the participant was asked to reflect on the extent to which it captured the narratives that are important to him.

I think it has captured much, but left gaps. My first reaction was that I like to think of myself as an intellectual person with a successful career. Both of these are part of my identity, but neither of which comes across from the products and services that I chose. Success and intelligence are mentioned, but in the context of what I do outside of work. On reflection, though, maybe my career has become less important to me in the last few years. My son has become a key audience for my stories and narratives – certainly the most important audience other than myself – and I imagine that, as a fourteen-year-old boy, he will be far more interested in adventures than in my professional life.

Similarly, I don’t feel that the examples capture the full extent to which humour is so central to my life. It does crop up several times, but doesn’t come across as the dominant quality that I believe it is. I hope that if you asked my friends or family to describe me they would say that I am funny and make them laugh.

Part 2 – Designing a life-enhancing product or service

The participant had been set the challenge of designing a product or service that would enable an experience that would contribute to his treasured narratives. He describes how he approached it.

Because of my love of adventure and, specifically, motorsport, I decided to design a motorcycling challenge. This would comprise of a service – the stipulation and administration of the challenge – and a product – a trophy that would be awarded on successful completion.

There was no family tradition of motorsport, nor any obvious link to my Christian faith, but I tried to connect with the other main narratives that emerged from the research:

• I am an adventurer
• I am smart and creative
• I am accomplished and recognised

To meet the tone that I enjoy, I wanted the adventure to be both extreme and have an element of ridiculousness about it.

Because I enjoy motorcycling long distances, I decided to make it a long-distance endurance challenge. The first issue I had to address was how long a ride had to be to qualify as being ‘long-distance’.

There are three prominent organisations that certify long-distance motorcycling challenges: World's Toughest Riders, Long Distance Riders, and British Long Distance Riders.

On checking their websites I found that the shortest rides that they certify are respectively: 1000miles in 24 hours, 500 miles in 12 hours and 250 miles in 24 hours. The last of these differs from the others in that it follows a set route, so competitors can’t choose fast roads. I decided that my challenge would also follow a fixed route, but that it would be on fast roads. A route was identified that was circular, with 27.5 miles per lap.

To meet the criteria of giving an extreme tone to the adventure, I decided that, by some measure, it would be the world’s most extreme certified long-distance ride. Distance itself was ruled out – the World’s Toughest Riders certify a 10,000 miles in 10 days ride, and outdoing that was both too time consuming and, I have to admit, too demanding. I decided to make it the most extreme in terms of speed.

The fastest ride certified by the other organisations was 1500 miles in 24 hours by World’s Toughest Riders (which they describe as 'extreme'), giving a minimum average speed of 62.5 mph. This ride, I decided, would be 20 laps of the designated route, 550 miles, in 500 minutes, giving a minimum average speed of 66 miles per hour. Its length brought it comfortably into the category of 'long-distance' as stipulated by two of the three organisations, while also falling clearly within the speed limits of the United Kingdom, which was where the challenge would be carried out.

The route went through the English counties of Somerset, which has a dragon on its flag, and Wiltshire, which has a bustard – accordingly the challenge was named the Dragon and Bustard 550X – the X standing for extreme. I chose the name because it was both pompous and absurd, fulfilling the criterion of ridiculousness. Bustard is a type of bird, but the word also sounds like an English expletive.

I worked with a fellow motorsport enthusiast, Ron, to set the rules for the 550X and also some lesser challenges. The idea was to publish these so that others could also do the challenge. We wanted it to become a ‘thing’ within the long-distance motorcycling world. All the challenges required a higher average speed than the basic rides certified by the three main organisations and all exceeded the mileage required to be classified as long-distance by British Long Distance Riders. We decided that instead of just winning the highest award achieved, participants could also potentially win all lesser awards that they qualified for. This added an element of safety as it would require participants to keep to legal speeds throughout to complete each award within its time-window.

Table 4. Dragon and Bustard Awards (‘Sport’ rides require an average speed of 60 mph; ‘Extreme’ rides an average of 66mph)

Award	Distance (miles)	Laps	Time Allowed (min)	Minimum Legal Time (min)	Minimum Av. Speed (mph)
330	330.24	12	420	284	47.18
330 Sport	330.24	12	330	284	60.04
330 Extreme	330.24	12	300	284	66.05
440	440.32	16	540	379	48.92
440 Sport	440.32	16	440	379	60.04
440 Extreme	440.32	16	400	379	66.05
550	550.40	20	720	473	45.87
550 Sport	550.40	20	550	473	60.04
550 Extreme	550.40	20	500	473	66.05
Grand Slam	Achieving all the above awards on a single ride

To bring a product into it as well as a service, our rules stated that, provided they achieve at least one award, competitors can buy a trophy of their choice on completion, which must be engraved according to specific wording. It was specified that the trophy must cost no more than GBP 20, keeping it within the set budget.

To make the challenge formal, Ron and I created a third-party organisation to oversee and certify the ride. We named this the Midwest Road Rallying Association, as the ride took place in the mid-west of England and was what would be classified in motorsport as a road-rally. We asked someone we knew, Danni, who was also interested in motorsport, if she would accept the role of president of this. The role would involve checking people’s evidence to ensure they had completed the required distance in the right time, checking that they had kept to the rules and issuing certificates.

Figure 1. Dragon and Bustard logo.

Although we wanted the ride to be challenging, it was essential that it was safe and legal. The roads that the challenge was on had, apart from a very short stretch, 70 mph speed limits, giving an average legal speed of 69.9 for the course as a whole. Minimum time limits for completing each award were also set, with disqualification from all awards resulting from any evidence of exceeding the speed limit. This meant that the course had to be ridden in a disciplined and controlled way, with narrow time-windows for completing the more demanding awards.

Fatigue was also an important safety issue that I considered. In the UK motorcycle sport, including road-rallies, is governed by the Auto Cycle Union. They stipulate that the longest a road-rally competitor can ride without a break is 9 hours and 15 minutes*. The most extreme of our challenges had to be completed in 8 hours and 20 minutes, comfortably within this limit. Finally, we stipulated that competitors could try the challenge whenever they wanted to, but that they could only attempt it once per year – this was to give a sense of occasion on the day of the challenge (*The participant had interpreted their rules incorrectly – see section 9.2 for details).

TAKING THE CHALLENGE

The Participant’s Experience

Here, in his own words, is the participant’s experience of the challenge:

I took the challenge on Saturday, 20 June, 2020. It was cold for the time of year, with occasional rain showers. All went well, until lap 5 when I crashed on an exit ramp. There was no other vehicle involved, I just lost control of the bike. I wasn’t badly hurt, suffering cuts, bruises and a sprained wrist. I was upset about the damage to the bike and annoyed by an elderly couple, who drove around me without checking how I was as I lay in the road. A van pulled up, and the driver and his partner helped me lift the motorcycle, but it wouldn't start. I knew from the experience of previous crashes that this might be from the fuel having run up the lines when the bike was on its side. I waited for a while and eventually it started.

Because of this delay, I now wouldn't be able to take any more breaks if I were to complete the 550X within the time allowed, meaning I would have to ride 413 miles non-stop. My wrist injury made it very painful to use the throttle and brake. I kept going and completed the 550X with seconds to spare. When I got home, I was physically and mentally exhausted. It was one of the most demanding days I have ever had on a motorcycle.

The next day I went hiking with my son. I told him about the Dragon and Bustard, and he laughed about the extremeness of the challenge. He was impressed that I hadn’t given up after my accident.

Enhancing the Experience

I had been able to maintain a consistent pace and as a result gained all the awards available. Most motorcycle road rallies only enable competitors to gain one or two awards – the highest that they achieve plus, sometimes, a supplementary award, but not all the lesser ones below these. Ron suggested that I could claim a record for the most awards achieved in a single road rally. After getting an additional adjudicator to certify evidence of the ride, in the form of time stamped photos, Danni applied to have this certified by Record Holders Republic. They approved this as a record, which gave the Midwest Road Rallying Association and the Dragon and Bustard official status as, respectively, motorsport organisers and a motorsport event. They now have the record listed on their website and the rules of the rally within their database for others who want to attempt it. The ride details were submitted to Long Distance Riders, who also certified the ride, confirming that the Dragon and Bustard met their criteria for a long-distance ride.

Participant Reflections

Here are the participant’s reflections on the challenge.

The Dragon and Bustard enabled several narratives that I found affirming. It was an adventure that presented a genuine challenge, but at the same time seemed ridiculous – going round and round the same roads. The name and logo added to this, as did the pompous claim that it was the world's most extreme long-distance ride. Yet, technically, this claim had merit, which was important to me. The experience of riding it underlined this. Having three World’s Toughest Riders awards, six Long Distance Riders awards and nine British Long Distance awards, I consider myself competent at long-distance riding, but this challenged me to – arguably beyond – my limits, requiring me to increase my average pace by 60% compared with most demanding of these.

I also felt that my part in designing the challenge gave an opportunity to explore, be creative and demonstrate intelligence – helping to research what was needed to make the ride count as long-distance and extreme, and to define the route and rules, and design the logo as well as brainstorming the name of the event. It was also interesting to be involved in working out how to get official recognition. The recognition and awards from Record Holders Republic and Long Distance Riders added to the sense of achievement.

When I selected the trophy I decided to go for something which I thought looked phallic as I thought it would add to the absurdity of things. But when it arrived, with the logo on, I actually thought it looked impressive, so although that element of childish humour was lost it was good in another way. I have it with my other motorcycling trophies and it has sparked a few conversations. I entered the rally under the name Winston Velocity. The number-plate of my motorcycle is WN69 VEL, so if I was called Winston Velocity that would be almost a personalised number-plate, which in the UK is a special and expensive thing to have. I also found that amusing. I thought the certificate looked great!

Figure 2. Certificate of awards.

Figure 3. Dragon and Bustard Trophy.

“The extreme element of the challenge enabled a talking point and a shared laugh with my son. That and not giving up after an accident supported narratives that he and I see as central to our identity”.

Analysis

Did the Challenge Enable the Desired Narratives?

An analysis of the extent to which the Dragon and Bustard challenge enabled each of the participant’s desired narratives is given below. This is based on a structured discussion including the participant and the research team.

Narrative: I am an adventurer

Theme: Having adventures, being in extreme situations, meeting colourful people

Tone: Excitement, danger, excess, ridiculousness

Audience: Myself, my son, friends, other adventurers

The participant felt that the challenge met these criteria and supported the narrative. The Dragon and Bustard was an adventure requiring him to cope with an extreme situation. In tone it was, in a sense, ridiculous – going round and round the same circuit and having a silly name. That it was billed as the most extreme long-distance motorcycle ride lent it a sense of excess. He enjoyed telling the story to his son, who in turn enjoyed hearing about it, which meant that he successfully connected with his intended audience. Ironically, the crash contributed significantly to the enablement of this narrative, underlining the danger associated with the challenge and bringing other characters – the elderly couple and the couple in the van – into the story of what would otherwise have been a solo activity.

Narrative: I am smart and creative

Theme: Smart thinking and original ideas

Tone: Intellectual, inquisitive, imaginative

Audience: Myself, my colleagues, my mom, my son

The participant felt that this narrative was also enabled. Working with the external facilitators, he had taken a leading role in the design of the challenge and in the research – for example about what would make the ride count as long-distance and extreme and what the safety regulations were for an event of this nature. Afterwards, he enjoyed discussing the event with the research team, and found this intellectually stimulating.

Narrative: I am accomplished and recognised

Theme: Achieving things in a variety of areas, others recognising those achievements

Tone: Professional, competent, determined

Audience: Myself, my son, friends, family, other motorsport participants

He was able to complete the rally, but it had genuinely stretched him, giving him a sense of accomplishment and achievement. That the achievement was recognised by Long Distance Riders, an established motorsport organisation, and Record Holders Republic, a world-record body, was satisfying to him. The detail that had gone into planning the rally and his determination to keep going, particularly after crashing early on helped deliver the required tone. He had enjoyed telling the story to his son, friends and sister, so the hoped for audience was reached.

Discussion

Although there has been work looking at how products and services can enable particular narratives for their users (Gosling, 2009; Grimaldi, Fokkinga and Ocnarescu, 2013; Lupton 2017; Grimaldi, 2018; Jordan, Bardill, Herd and Grimaldi, 2021), there has been little in the other direction - starting with the desired user narratives and creating a design to enable them. (Dunne and Raby (2001, 2005, 2013) have addressed the topic, but from an experimental and philosophical perspective, rather than as something that could be applied to a product or service creation process).

There has been considerable work on narrative within the field of branding (Becher et al., 2016; Mark and Pearson, 2001; and Houraghan 2018) but this has been about building a narrative around the brand, products and services themselves rather than enabling a narrative about the user through their interaction with products and services, as we are aiming to do. Much of the narrative work in branding has involved classifying narratives into metanarrative categories based on Jung’s Archetypes (Maso-Fleischman, 1997; Thompson, 2004; Grundy, 2006; Tsai, Jones, 2013). Products and services are then designed and marketed in a way that creates associations with the selected archetype. Table 5 lists the narratives associated with each archetype, while Table 6 gives examples of brands associated with each.

A metanarrative is a narrative about a set of narratives. For example, seen as a category of narratives, the innocent archetype would be associated with the metanarrative ‘I am humble, honest and do things in the right way’. Examples of narratives within this category might be: ‘I always keep to the law’; I act responsibly’; ‘I am an honest person’; ‘I don’t cheat’; ‘I play by the rules’ etc.

Jung’s archetypes are symbolic concepts that, according to Jung, come from the ‘collective unconscious’. He claimed at the archetypes would be recognisable to people in all societies and are the embodiment of attitudes and behaviours that are innate in the human condition (Jung and Hull, 1991).

Table 5. Metanarratives associated with each of Jung’s Archetypes (based on Mark and Pearson 2001, and Houraghan 2018)

Jungian Archetype	Associated Meta-Narrative
Innocent	I am humble, honest and do things in the right way
Sage	I am knowledgeable, assured, and wise
Explorer	I explore the world, am daring, and open to new things
Outlaw	I am disruptive, rebellious, and combative
Magician	I am mystical, well informed and amazing
Hero	I am strong, competent and courageous
Lover	I am sensual and romantic
Jester	I am fun-loving, playful and make people laugh
Everyperson	I am friendly, authentic, and have the common touch
Caregiver	I am warm, reassuring, and help and look after others
Ruler	I am commanding, articulate and successful
Creator	I show imagination, inspiration, skill and creativity

Table 6. Brands associated with each metanarrative category (according to Houraghan 2018)

Jungian Archetype	Brands Associated with Meta-Narrative
Innocent	Aveeno, Dove, Innocent
Sage	Google, BBC, University of Oxford
Explorer	The North Face, Jeep, Patagonia
Outlaw	Virgin, Harley-Davidson, Diesel
Magician	Coca-Cola, Disney, Dyson
Hero	Adidas, Nike, FedEx
Lover	Alfa Romeo, Chanel, Victoria’s Secret
Jester	M&Ms, Old Spice, Dollar Shave Club
Everyperson	IKEA, Target, Lynx
Caregiver	Unicef, WWF, TOMS
Ruler	Louis Vuitton, Mercedes Benz, Rolex
Creator	Lego, Apple, Adobe

Jung’s archetypes could also be used as a means of classifying users' desired narratives. Our participant’s desired narratives were:

• I am an adventurer
• I am smart and creative
• I am accomplished and recognised

The first of these would be associated with the Explorer archetype, and because he enjoyed a tone of ridiculousness to his adventures, also the Jester. The second would be in the Creator category, and the third, perhaps, in Hero and Ruler.

The Dragon and Bustard enabled narratives in these five categories in part because of its design (Explorer and Jester), in part because of his involvement in the design (Creator), and in part because of his success in completing the challenge and gaining the awards (Hero and Ruler).

As a stand-alone service, available to anyone who wants to take part, the Dragon and Bustard Rally would enable Explorer and Jester narratives due to the nature and name of the challenge. It might enable Hero and Ruler depending on a competitor’s performance.

As well as enhancing wellbeing, designing products and services to enable narratives about their users could have commercial implications for organisations. Segmentation by desired metanarrative – e.g. by Jung’s archetypes – gives a new way of thinking about users and about how to meet their needs – a Jester’s restaurant; a Hero’s hotel; an Explorer’s airline etc.

Sometimes a user’s desired narrative can be enabled through association with a product or service that has a similar narrative associated with it. In their paper I Love My Jeep Because it’s Tough Like Me, Govers and Mugge, 2004, report a study in which they found that participants tended to become attached to products that they felt had a ‘personality’ that reflected a positive side of their own personality. More recent work by Jordan, Bardill, Herd and Grimaldi, 2020, cites association with a product or service's narrative as one way in which a narrative about a user can be enabled, but they also identify five other ways in which a product or service can enable a user narrative. In these cases, the narrative about the product and the narrative about the user need not align (see Table 7).

Table 7. How products and services can support positive self-narratives based on Jordan, Bardill, Herd and Grimaldi (2020).

How Narrative Supported	Description
By Association	The user perceives the product as having properties that they aspire to themselves
Showcasing Strengths	The product enables the user to demonstrate their skills and abilities
Enhancing Performance	The product enables the user to become better at something
Transformation	Using the product transforms the user in some way
Opening New Worlds	The product provides a gateway into a new and rewarding world
In Opposition	The user overcomes difficulties posed by the product or opposes what the product is

Examples, from their study, of how products or services enabled user-narratives in this way are given in Table 8.

Table 8. Examples of how products and services can support positive self-narratives in these ways (Jordan, Bardill, Herd and Grimaldi, 2020).

How Narrative Supported	Description
By Association	Participant bought a brand of clothing associated with Outlaw narratives, so that he would be seen as an Outlaw.
Showcasing Strengths	Participant brought some high-end orange football boots so that it would draw attention to his ability and make him a Hero.
Enhancing Performance	Participant performed better at art and design work when an oil diffuser helped her relax, helping her to be a Creator.
Transformation	Participant felt transformed into a Ruler when she wore a particular pair of boots.
Opening New Worlds	Participant saw herself as an Explorer by getting into a new and very rewarding sport through the purchase of some colourful boxing gloves
In Opposition	Participant felt like a Magician because she was able to ride a bicycle that was far too big for her

In our study, The Dragon and Bustard Rally had enabled our participant’s Hero and Ruler narratives by showcasing his strengths - in this case the ability to ride a long distance safely within a comparatively short time and to show determination in the face of adversity. The Creator narrative was also enabled by showcasing strengths - in this case his ability to think imaginatively about how to make the event conform to the parameters of long-distance riding while at the same time being unique. It had enabled the Jester narrative by association - because of the name of the rally, the logo etc. The Explorer narrative, meanwhile, had been enabled through opening new worlds - although he had done many road rallies, this one was more extreme in a particular sense.

Next steps

Future Research Questions

As mentioned in the description of the study (section 3.1), this work was conceived as the first stage in a four-stage research program aimed at creating a scalable approach to designing products and services that enable desired narratives among particular user/consumer groups (see Table 9).

Table 9. Stages in exploring how products and services can be designed to enable desired narratives in users

1. Can we work with a participant who has understanding/experience of both narrative and design to create a product or service that enables a life-enhancing narrative for them?

2. Can we work with a participant who has little or no understanding/experience of either narrative and design to create a product or service that enables a life-enhancing narrative for them?

3. Can we work with a group of participants who have little or no understanding/experience of either narrative and design to create products and services that enable life-enhancing narratives for them?

4. Can we develop a scalable methodology that could be used in industry for understanding narratives that are life-enhancing to particular consumer segments and create products and services that enable life-enhancing narratives for them?

The outcomes of this study appear to answer the first question in the affirmative, suggesting that the next step may be to address step two, perhaps using a similar methodology, but with someone with no expertise in design or narrative who is not well-known to the research team.

Ethical Issues

An issue going forward is with ethics. Probing narrative can potentially touch on some very personal stories and there is a danger that some of these may cause upset to the participant on recall.

In this study, the participant may potentially have been at some degree of psychological and (given the challenge he designed) physical jeopardy. His view was that as someone who was interested in doing his own research in the area of narrative, this was a case of self-experimentation.

In a meta-analysis of research on ethics in empirical research, Hanley, Bains and Church, 2019, conclude that the ethical right of a researcher to expose themselves to psychological or physical risks is ‘clear’. Their focus was mainly on medical experimentation. However, there are many examples within the social sciences of researchers putting themselves at risk as part of a study (Buford, 1992; Sluka, 2020; McDonald, 2004). The participant subsequently expressed the view that it was within the tradition and best practices of his discipline to take such risks and that he didn’t need our approval to do so.

However, had the research team been aware of the nature of the challenge that the participant had designed, we would likely have cautioned against it or suggested more safety measures. While the participant had built a number of safeguards into the design of the challenge, these may not have been sufficient, especially given that he ended up crashing. When we reviewed the ACU rules on road rallying, we discovered that he had misinterpreted their rest requirements. While it is true that they require 45 minutes of rest in a ten-hour event, this doesn’t mean that they allow 9 hours and 15 minutes of continuous riding. They actually state that 6 hours riding is the longest they allow without a break. The participant’s confusion had arisen because these are stated in separate rules (Rules 3.2 and 3.6 respectively) and he had read the first one in isolation. In any case ACU road-rallies involve stopping at several checkpoints, so there would likely be a lot of short stops along the way.

As well as the safety of rally participants, we felt that there was also an issue of the safety of other road users. The issue was conducted entirely on dual carriageways, so it could be argued (as indeed the participant did), that as a motorcyclist he would be the most vulnerable road-user as pedestrians, cyclists etc. are not allowed on such roads. Nevertheless, we felt that danger to other motorists couldn’t be ruled out entirely. However, we do accept that, as a matter of fact, such road rallies are legal in the UK and that many occur every year for both cars and motorcycles.

Given the doubts over safety, we suggested that he should not disseminate the rules of the rally within the long-distance motorcycling community or encourage others to take part. He agreed to this.

The participant’s reflections on this were as follows:

I can understand the research team’s issue with safety and agreed to their request not to make this rally a ‘thing’ within the long-distance riding community. However, I would say that there are more far extreme rides that people do. We all know the risks but try and mitigate them as much as possible. For me this was a challenge, but I have done many other motorcycle challenges that have also been difficult and, for me, this is the kind of activity I would do irrespective of whether someone was going to analyse it for a study.

Scalability

An issue with this approach is whether or not it is scalable. Given the intensity of effort required, it may not be practical to base scalability on using multiple participants. However, there may be other possibilities. One might be to first do research to understand the characteristics of a user group and then to select someone from that group as a ‘living persona’ – someone whose characteristics are representative of the issues of the group as a whole – to take part in a narrative analysis of the nature reported here.

Done this way, this method need not necessarily be more onerous than many current design approaches. The use of personas as a way to distil and focus the findings of user research is long established within the profession (e.g. Cooper, 2004; O’Connor, 2011; Jordan, 2002). A potential advantage is that, unlike conventional personas, a ‘living-persona’ can give their opinions and insights directly, unlike the use of a conventional persona which relies on the researcher’s judgement, assumptions and interpretations.

Conclusion

Previously, there has been much work on understanding how products and services can enable desired narratives in users’ lives. This study was a first attempt at coming at things from the other direction - starting with desired narratives and creating a product or service that enabled these for the user. The outcomes of the study were promising with the service created - a motorcycle road rally - enabling an experience that contributed to the narratives that the user desired.

There are limitations to the inferences that can be drawn from the study, chiefly because it only had one participant, who was experienced in design and narrative. This enabled him to contribute to the research and design process in a way that most couldn’t. We can’t yet conclude that the process is scalable, but have a potential ‘living persona’ strategy to investigate going forward.

Overall, this is a promising start on which to build. As well as application to products or services there may be the potential to apply such an approach more broadly – for example to the design of the built environment or simply to life experiences generally. These are suggested areas for future research.

References

Referencias

1. Ahuvia, A. C. (2005). Beyond the Extended Self: Loved Objects and Consumers' Identity Narratives. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(1), 171-184.
2. Alder, J. M., Lodi-Smith, J., Philippe, F. L., & Houle, I. (2016). The Incremental Validity of Narrative Identity in Predicting Well-Being: A Review of the Field and Recommendations for the Future. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(2), 142-7.
3. Allen-Collinson, J. (2012) Autoethnography: situating personal sporting narratives in socio-cultural contexts. In K. Young and M. Atkinson (eds.). Qualitative Research on Sport and Physical Culture (pp. 191-212). Emerald.
4. Anderson, L. (2006). Analytic Autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), 373–395. DOI
5. Baldick, C. (2004), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press.
6. Bauer, J., Mcadams, D., & Pals. (2008). Narrative identity and eudiamonic well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 81-104.
7. Becher, C., Farinelli, G., Rolf-Dieter, D. & Frey, M. (2016). Advertising between Archetype and Brand Personality. Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, 13(2).
8. Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139-168.
9. Braun, V. & Clarke V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(3), pp. 77-101.
10. Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597.
11. Brown C. & Augusta-Scott, T. (2007). Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives. Sage.
12. Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Harvard University Press.
13. Bruner, J. (2009). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Harvard University Press.
14. Buford, B. (1992). Among the Thugs. Arrow.
15. Burchell, H. B. (1982). The investigator as volunteer subject. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 57 (Suppl.), 28-33.
16. Burnett, B. & Evans, D. (2016). Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well Balanced Joyful Life. Penguin Random House.
17. Cantore, S. (2018). Co-Design, Volume III: Practical Ideas for Learning Across Complex Systems. Business Expert Press.
18. Cooper, A. (2004). The Inmates are Running the Asylum. Sam’s Publishing.
19. Davis, J. K. (2003). Self experimentation, Policies and Quality Assurance, 10(3), 175-187.
20. Denborough, D. (2014). Retelling the stories of our lives: Everyday narrative therapy to draw inspiration and transform experience. W.W. Norton & Co.
21. Dolan, P. (2019). Happy Ever After: Escaping the Myth of a Perfect Life. Allen Lane.
22. Dunlop, W. L., Guo, J., & McAdams, D. P. (2016). The autobiographical author through time: Examining the degree of stability and change in redemptive and contaminated personal narratives. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(5), 428–436. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550616644654
23. Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2001). Design Noir – The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. August/Birkhauser, London
24. Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2005). Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience and Critical Design. MIT Press.
25. Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative Everything: Design Fiction and Social Dreaming. MIT Press.
26. Ellis, C. (2004). The Ethnographic I. Walnut Creek. AltaMira Press.
27. Folkenflik, R. (1993). The Culture of Autobiography: Constructions of Self-representation. Stanford University Press.
28. Frank, A. (2009). The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate. University of California Press.
29. Gandevia, S. C. (2005). Self-experimentation, ethics and efficacy. Monash Bioethics Review, 24(2), 43-48.
30. Gatenby, M. (2018). Co-Design, Volume II: Practical Ideas for Learning Across Complex Systems. Business Expert Press.
31. Gatenby, M., & Cantore, S. (2018). Co-Design, Volume I: Practical Ideas for Learning Across Complex Systems. Business Expert Press.
32. Gilbert, D. (2007). Stumbling on Happiness. Harper Perennial.
33. Gordon, D. S. (2016). Mor[t]ality and Identity: Wills, Narratives, and Cherished Possessions. Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, 28(2).
34. Gosling, S. (2009). Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You. Profile Books.
35. Govers, P., & Mugge, R. (2004). The effect of product-personality congruence on product attachment. In Proceedings of Design and Emotion Conference.
36. Griffith, K. (2010). Writing Essays About Literature. Heinle.
37. Grimaldi, S. (2012). Cinematic Narratives of Product Interaction Experiences. Methods for Cross-Media Fertilisation of the Design Process. En Proceedings of 8th International Design and Emotion Conference London 2012 Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design.
38. Grimaldi, S. (2014). Narrativity of Object Interaction Experiences: A Framework for Designing Products as Narrative Experiences. In P. Benz (ed.), Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies. Bloomsbury Academic.
39. Grimaldi, S. (2018). Design for Narrative Experience in Product Interaction [PhD Thesis, University of the Arts London].
40. Grimaldi, S., Fokkinga, S., & Ocnarescu, I. (2013). Narratives in design: A study of the types, applications and functions of narratives in design Practice. Proceedings of Conference: DPPI 2013: Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces. Association of Computer Machinery.
41. Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M. y Namey, E. E. (2012). Applied Thematic Analysis. Sage Publications Inc.
42. Gundry, R. (2006). Beyond psyche: symbol and transcendence in C.G. Jung. Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
43. Hamblin, J. (7 Oct 2014). Buy Experiences, Not Things: Live in anticipation, gathering stories and memories. New research builds on the vogue mantra of behavioral economics, The Atlantic. https://bit.ly/31iUe6x
44. Hanley, B., Bains, W., & Church, G. (2018). Review of scientific self-experimentation: ethics history, regulation, scenarios, and views among ethics committees and prominent scientists. Journal of Rejuvenation Research, 22(1), 31–42.
45. Hanley, B. P., Bains, W., & Church, G. (2019). Review of Scientific Self-Experimentation: Ethics History, Regulation, Scenarios, and Views Among Ethics Committees and Prominent Scientists. Rejuvenation Research, 22(1), 31–42.
46. Hart, K., Laville, J-L., & Cattani, A. D. (2010). The Human Economy. Polity.
47. Helander, M. G. (2002). Hedonomics - Affective Human Factors. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. HFES.
48. Holman, H. (1975). A Handbook of Literature. Odyssey Press.
49. Holman-Jones, S., Adams, T. E., & Ellis, C. (2013). Handbook of Autoethnography. Routledge.
50. Houraghan, S. (2018). Brand Archetypes: The Definitive Guide. Iconic Fox.
51. Hughes, S. A., & Pennington, J. L. (2017). Autoethnography: Process, Product, and Possibility for Critical Social Research. Sage Publications Inc. Thousand Oaks.
52. Jimenez, S., Pohlmeyer, A., & Desmet, P. (2015). Positive Design Reference Guide. Delft University of Technology.
53. Jones, B. K., Destin, M., & McAdams, D. P. (2017). Telling better stories: Competence-building narrative themes increase adolescent persistence and academic achievement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 76-80.
54. Jones, R.A. (2013). Jung’s “Psychology with the Psyche” and the Behavioral Sciences. Behavioural Science, 3(3), 408–417.
55. Jordan, P.W. (2002). Designing Pleasurable Products. CRC Press.
56. Jordan, P.W., & Servaes, M. (1995). Pleasure in Product Use: Beyond Usability. In S. Robertson (Ed.), Contemporary Ergonomics (pp. 341-346). Taylor and Francis.
57. Jordan, P.W., Bardill, A., Herd, K., & Grimaldi, S. (2017). Design for Subjective Wellbeing: Towards a Design Framework for Constructing Narrative. The Design Journal, 20(1), S4292-S4306.
58. Jordan, P.W., Bardill, A., Herd, K., & Grimaldi, S. (2020). Narrative and design for wellbeing, Actio, 4, 85-107.
59. Jordan, P.W., Bardill, A., Herd, K., & Grimaldi, S. (2021). Enabling narrative through design. International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 8(1), 85-104
60. Jung, C. G., & Hull, R. F. C. (1991). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Routledge.
61. Kim, M., Srinivasan, D., & Zhou, X. (2019). The morphology of dignity: service storytelling and prototypes for a service design tool. The Design Journal, 22(6), 793-812.
62. Kirszner, L. G., & Mandell, S. R. (1994). Fiction: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Harcourt College Publishers.
63. Köber, C., & Habermas, T. (2017). How stable is the personal past? Stability of most important autobiographical memories and life narratives across eight years in a life span sample, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(4), 608–626.
64. Lichaw, D. (2016). The User’s Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love. Rosenfeld Media.
65. Liu, J., Dalton, A. N., & Mukhopadhyay, A. (2017). My Favourite Thing: How Special Possessions Can Increase Subjective Wellbeing, In Advances in Consumer Research Volume 45 (pp. 228-232). Association for Consumer Research.
66. Lupton, L. (2017). Design is Storytelling. Cooper Hewitt.
67. Mark, M., & Pearson, C. (2001). The hero and the outlaw: Building extraordinary brands through the power of archetypes. McGraw-Hill.
68. Maso-Fleischman, R. (1997). Archetypal research for advertising: a Spanish-language example. Journal of Advertising Research, 37(5), 81-84.
69. McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. William Morrow & Co.
70. McAdams, D. P. (2001). The Psychology of Life Stories. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 100–122. DOI
71. McAdams, D. P. (2003). Identity and the life story. In R. Fivush & C. A. Haden (Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 187–207). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
72. McAdams, D. P. (2013). The redemptive self: Stories Americans live by (Rev. and expanded ed.). Oxford University Press.
73. McDonagh, D, Hekkert, P, van Erp, J., & Gyi, D. (2003). Design and Emotion. CRC Press.
74. McDonald, M. (2004). Danger in the field: Risk and ethics in social research. Science Education, 8(5), 816-818.
75. McKercher, K. A. (2020). Beyond Sticky Notes: Doing Co-design for Real: Mindsets, methods and movements. Beyond Sticky Notes.
76. McNamara, S. (2000). Stress in Young People: What's New and What To Do. American Psychological Association
77. Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional Design. Basic Books.
78. O’Connor, K. (2011). Personas: The Foundation of a Great User Experience. UX Magazine.
79. Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2002). Living Narrative: Creating Lives in Everyday Storytelling. Harvard University Press
80. Overbeeke, C. J., & Hekkert, P. (Eds.) (1999). Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Design and Emotion. Delft University of Technology.
81. Pieters, M., & Jansen, S. (2017). The 7 Principles of Complete Co-creation. BIS Publishers.
82. Randall, W. L. (2015). The Narrative Complexity of Ordinary Life: Tales from the Coffee Shop (Explorations in Narrative Psychology). OUP USA.
83. Sanders, E.B-N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. Co-Design, 4(1), 5-18.
84. Sluka, J. A. (2020). Too dangerous for fieldwork? The challenge of institutional risk-management in primary research on conflict, violence and ‘Terrorism’. Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, 15.
85. Thompson, C. J. (2004). Marketplace mythology and discourses of power. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 162-180.
86. Trischler, J., Pervan, S. J., Kelly, S. J., & Scott, D. R. (2018). The value of codesign: The effect of customer involvement in service design teams. Journal of Service Research, 21(1): 75-100
87. Tsai, S-P. (2006). Investigating archetype-icon transformation in brand marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24, 648-663.
88. Vanden Poel, L., & Hermans, D. (2019). Narrative Coherence and Identity: Associations With Psychological Well-Being and Internalizing Symptoms. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1171. DOI
89. VandenBos, G. R. (Ed.). (2007). APA Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association.
90. Waters, E. A., Köber, C., Raby, K. L., Habermas, T., & Fivush, R. (2018). Consistency and stability of narrative coherence: An examination of personal narrative as a domain of adult personality. Journal of Personality, 87(2), 151-162.
91. Waters, E.A., & Fivush, R. (2015). Relations Between Narrative Coherence, Identity, and Psychological Well-being in Emerging Adulthood. Journal of Personality, 83(4), 441-451.