Designing for Fika

(1)

At Topp Design & Innovation Studio

Freja Detter

Interaction Design Bachelor

22.5HP Spring 2018

Supervisor: Jens Pedersen University username: af0286

(2)

Abstract

Together with Topp Design & Innovation, this thesis explores the possibilities of designing for fika time - a Swedish phenomenon of scheduled coffee breaks. The thesis attributes to interaction design through inspiration of how one can design the social context of fika. By conducting semi-structured interviews and observations, the aim is to unravel the opinion of fika from the employees’ perspective. Insights from the research showed that improvement in norms, non-work-related conversations and planning of fika were themes to be improved on. As a result, this thesis proposes three concepts; “Visual Conversations”, “Fika Troll 2.0” and “Breaking the Norms”.

Keywords: Interaction Design; Social Behaviour; Structured Breaks; Fika;

(3)

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all participants of Topp, which helped me create and shape this thesis.

Special thank you to Jens Pedersen, for inspiring discussions and a guiding hand.

(4)

1 Introduction

When coffee breaks were introduced to the workplace in the early 1900’s, professional relationships began to blossom (Citylab, 2015). The socialisation amongst colleagues was an attempt to improve the work environment (Waber, Olguin, Kim, & Pentland, 2010). At the time introducing an appointment for socialising with your colleagues made sense seeing how the workspaces were planned back then. Back in the late 60’s the common office space was built upon individual cubicles (Leadon, 2015). However, there is a significant difference in how the workplaces were structured back then to now (Leadon, 2015). Design agencies, among other creative businesses has taken distinct actions to move away from the closed cubical environment and most modern workspaces are open workspaces (Leadon, 2015). An open workspace where your share desks and spacious rooms together with your colleagues (Leadon, 2015) (Topp, 2018). Drawing from my own observations from working at a design agency, I find that employees engage with each other most of the day. This leads me to believe that coffee breaks in the office has become an anachronism, implemented for an aged working environment that heeded other needs then the ones we require today. After two months of internship at the design agency Topp, I stumbled upon this phenomenon. At Topp there was a weekly scheduled coffee break every Wednesday. The scheduled coffee breaks often came with something sweet to eat. The concept of scheduled breaks in Sweden is called fika. I found myself contemplating on a sense of lack of enthusiasm regarding fika. During my internship at Topp, I noticed that employees were not as enthusiastic towards fika as I thought they would be. I witnessed that most employees failed to arrive to the kitchen where fika was held, until 10-15 minutes after the appointed time. Furthermore, I found that some employees were reluctant to socialise. Socialise in the sense of making conversation with other colleagues. I noticed that users would drop in late, take something sweet from the table and leave again. However, contrary to the attitude towards fika, the employees portrayed a sense of pride towards their fika time. I noticed that the employees of Topp always spoke well of fika time and even branding themselves with their fika time on their webpage (Topp, 2018). This confused me, since their spoken excitement towards fika lacked a consistency in their behaviour towards fika.

During my internship at Topp I picked up on a lack of coherence between what was being said and the behaviour around fika. Therefore, I was eager to investigate and explore the employees’ attitudes towards fika. Viewing fika from a designer’s point of view I saw the need of re-thinking fika, designing for fika if you may. Thus, I ask myself, from an Interaction Design stand point, what are the possibilities of designing for fika time at Topp? (Cooper, Reimann, Cronin, & Noessel, 2014)

(7)

1.1.1 Fika at Topp

Image 1 – Leftover fika at Topp

According to one of the seven founders at Topp1_{, fika did not arise from a} strategic place (Martin, personal communication, March 19, 2018). Instead fika came to be from one of the employees making too much sound when preparing smoothies for the office (Martin, personal communication, March 19, 2018). Then and there Topp decided it appropriate for a set time and date, so the rest of office can expect mess and noise coming from the kitchen (Martin, personal communication, March 19, 2018). Since then, fika has been planned for Wednesdays at 15 o’clock (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018). According to an employee in management, fika is created by the employees, for the employees (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018). The practicalities of fika is decided by the fika troll (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018). The so called fika troll is a physical toy troll that is passed around from employee to employee (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018). The troll represents who is responsible for fika that week (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018). The responsibility requires the employee to plan and present fika at 15 o’clock on Wednesday (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018). The individual who had fika last is responsible of passing the troll on to the next employee, free of choice to be on fika duty (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018).

1.1.2 The Users

The users in thesis is everyone who is a part of fika at Topp, which in this thesis is the employees of Topp. Employees of Topp consists of 30 people (Topp, 2018). The people consist of a combination of designers, management and administrators. Within the designers there are titles such as Design

1_{Topp Design & Innovation is a Malmö-based digital design studio. Topp was}

founded in 2013 and today they consist of 34 employees. The company’s full name is Topp Design & Innovation Studio, however in this thesis I will refer to them as Topp.

(8)

Technologists, User Experience Designer and Visual Designers. It is these users that I will conduct interviews and I will refer to as participants. How the interviews will be conducted will be presented shortly, before doing so the research question is to be clarified.

1.2 Research Question

Motivated by previous introduction, the research question of this thesis is as follows;

Departing from interaction design, what are the possibilities of designing on a concept level for fika time at Topp?

1.3 Contribution to the Field Interaction Design

As mentioned in the research question, the aim is to design from a perspective departing from interaction design. An interaction design point of view in this thesis, focusing on designing towards human behaviour, rather than focusing on the technological perspective (Cooper et al., 2014). My contribution to the field of interaction design is built upon researching human behaviour in the social context of an office space. The purpose is that the concepts designed from the insights found in research of this thesis, will support designers’ inspiration towards how to aid social context through design.

1.4 Ethical Considerations

The work conducted in this thesis is structured according to ethical guidelines by the Swedish Research Council (The Swedish Research Council, 2018). The participants were all informed of the purpose of the ethnographic research, before each session began. The participants were asked if they would wish to be anonymous. Explaining that all material collected will strictly be used for research purposes. Therefore, the names of the interviewees in this thesis have been altered.

1.5 Delimitations

Whilst I would have wished to design a finished product, the ambition of this thesis is to design for fika at Topp on a conceptual level. Ergo, the designs created in this thesis will not proceed further than to a detailed level of how the concepts will look like, or how they can be implemented (see page: 10). Iterations of the concepts will not be conducted in this thesis. Detail, implementation and iterations are not prioritised due to my aim of placing my effort in packaging insights found from the research. Hence, I will be prioritizing finding valuable themes and creating them into design opportunities.

In regards of researching fika, I will not be taking into consideration other companies than Topp since I will be studying the specific employees of Topp. Therefor it will be the opinions of the employees that will subjectively

(9)

construct the context of fika. Since these constructions will lay the foundations of my design, I can therefore not argue that a similar design could apply on other companies.

1.6 Approach

The question of designing for fika at Topp will be answered through two main sections. The first section is to research problems of fika and the second section is to answer those questions found. In the ambition of finding problems of fika, I will conduct several interviews to research how employees view fika at Topp. The interviews will be analysed and packaged into insights representing the employee’s perspective on fika. The last section of solving the problem will consist of concept designing. Concepts will be designed upon these insights, in an effort to answer the question of what the possibilities of designing for fika is.

1.7 Author Limitations

This is the last section of the Introduction chapter, before presenting the theory of the thesis, I see it fit to present my limitations as an author. I include this section to shine a light on and be transparent with my potential confirmation bias. With a point of departure in interaction design, the attempt is to research the possibilities of solutions for fika at the design company Topp. It is my opinion that objectivity is of utter importance, thus it is in my best interest to minimize the amount of subjectivity. The subjectivity that will follow through in this thesis is coloured of my background in behaviour science. Apart from behaviour science, I will throughout the thesis be glancing at the world through a designer’s perspective. Furthermore, a complexity arising when creating this thesis is that my objectivity is limited due to that fact of my previous internship at the company Topp.

This section is inspired by the hermeneutical ontology’s perception that I as an author has to be aware of my own bias (Kristiansen & Bloch-Poulsen, 2000). I will not dive further into this theory, merely mention where my inspiration comes from.

2 Theory

The first theory presented in the following chapter is to give an understanding of the aim of the design work. Furthermore, theories that will backup concepts and theories that will support the analysis of findings from the empirical research will be presented. The latter two of the theories depart from sociology, the aim of this thesis is not to analyse from a complete sociological perspective. Rather, the aim is merely to adapt the theories of

(10)

group norms and organisational theory to aid the analysis of the findings in the research.

2.1 The Role of The Design

Departing from Houde and Hill’s model of prototyping the ambition is to focus on the role of the design (Houde & Hill, 1997). According to Houde and Hill, if a design is attempting to serve new functionalities for the user, the designer should focus on what the role of the design is playing (Houde & Hill, 1997). Houde and Hill argue that in order for a design to be tested, hence designed probably, the designer should take in all three aspects into consideration: role, “look and feel”, and implementation (Houde & Hill, 1997). Since this thesis’ main goal is to design on a conceptual level, my attempt is to focus mainly on the role of the design. The motivation has to do with the ambition to design a probably well-thought through design concept, rather than to rush to the next phases for the sake of it. To clarify, the purpose of this model is to decribe my area of focus when designing for fika at Topp.

Figure 1 – Illustration of Houde and Hill’s prototyping model. Exemplifying the focus of this thesis.

2.2 Embodied Interaction Design

According to Klemmer, Hartmann and Takayama, our bodies play a part in apprehending our surroundings and that we learn through our bodies (Klemmer et al., 2006). I choose to adapt this theory by interpreting embodied interaction design as learning a behaviour by doing (Klemmer et al., 2006). Seeing that skills and behaviour of an individual is taught by the adaptation of an interaction through body movement (Klemmer et al., 2006). The purpose of this theory is to apply it on a concept, presented later in the thesis.

(11)

2.3 Organisational Culture

My research in this thesis has a point of departure in an organisation. The organisation called Topp. I see it therefor fit to gain an understanding of organisational culture theory. Presented below is a quote from Mats Alvesson (2015) taken from his book “Organisational Culture”. In this quote he is defining “Organisational Culture”:

“Common guidance that rule the cognitive and emotional aspects on the membership in an organization and the methods that form and lead to expression.” (Alvesson, 2015)

Organizational culture is not defined as a phenomenon of the individuals, rather the definition lies on the orientations of the collective company (Alvesson, 2015). The culture of an organisation is visible when the individuals are interacting amongst each other (Alvesson, 2015). The culture is tightly coupled with the social norms within the company (Alvesson, 2015).

2.4 Group Norms

Upon analysing interviews and social behaviour, I will touch upon the subject of norms in groups. Thus, below is a quote which I will use as point of departure for my definition of group norms in this thesis:

“Norms reflect the ‘standards for behaviour that are expected of group members” (Patterson, Carron & Loughead, 2011)

According to Patterson, Carron and Loughead (2011), norms in groups and teams determine the behaviour and expectations of the individual. Depending on the ambition of the team, the individual will strive to meet the ambition (Patterson et al., 2011). Moreover, if the ambition of the team is lower than the individual typically strives towards, the standard of the individual will lower their ambition to adjust to the ambition of the team (Patterson et al., 2011). Accentuating that the individual endure pressure from the collective team norm, adjusting manner to behave appropriately.

3 Methodology

The purpose of the methodology chapter is to present the various methods that are used throughout the thesis. Methods that aid the research regarding the possibilities of designing for fika, from an interaction design stand point. The method’s main purpose is to aid the finding of an issue at hand and to solve the issues found. Methods used in researching and finding problems are

(12)

inspired by the field of ethnographic research. The ideation process methods are to aid solving the problems found from research.

3.1 Ethnographic Research

In this first section, the methods used are to find problems of fika. In order to research the possibilities of designing for fika it is essential to understand the issues at hand. The methodology chosen to scope the core issues of fika at Topp is ethnographic research. Due to limitations in time and experience, the ambition is not to complete a thorough ethnographic research. Rather the goal is to conduct research inspired by the field of ethnographic research. As earlier mentioned the inspiration for this thesis came from my internship at Topp. The observations found during my internship sparked my interest to further investigate on the phenomenon that is fika; and this time from an “Interaction Design”-perspective.

It is important to state that there was a clear separation between my time as an intern at the company Topp, to the time as an investigator of the phenomenon “Fika”. The separation became clear when I investigated what fika’s value is to the employees. In this relation, I conducted 10 semi-structured interviews. Allegations and interesting insights made from the interviews drove me to investigate if the claims had coherence with the participants behaviour during fika. The coherence investigations were made through observations, under the method “Post-Interview Observations”. After gathering all research data, I began sorting out findings. The design process and its methods will be presented after presenting the ethnographic research methods.

3.1.1 Semi- structured Interviews

In order to design for the possibilities of fika through an interaction design point of view, I need to understand what fika is at Topp. In order to understand what fika is, it is of importance to gather knowledge in the users’ perspective on fika (Visocky & Visocky, 2006). The attempt of the interviews is partly to understand the origin of fika. Why fika was established and how it is perceived by the people of Topp. The people of Topp is broadly divided into three larger groups, management, designers and administration (Topp, 2018). Within the group of designers, there is yet another division: Design Technologists, UX Designers and Visual Designers (Topp, 2018). In order to gather the most honest view of the opinion on fika by the people at Topp, all groups need to be addressed (Wilson, 2014). In total 10 Topp employees were interviewed. Two in management, seven designers and one office administrator. Before each interview officially began, the purpose and anticipations of the interviews were introduced. The purpose presented was described as the attempt to understand the participants’ opinion of fika. Additional to presenting the intentions of the interview, the participants were politely asked if I have their consent of recording the conversation. All

(13)

interviews will depart from an open question, in an ambition to achieve a flowing conversation.

The purpose of these interviews is to be conducted according to a semi structured method. A semi-structured interview is a mixture of un-structured and structured interviews (Wilson, 2014). Meaning that the interviews should be prepared with questions yet attempting to keep a relaxed atmosphere (Wilson, 2014). The ambition with the semi structured interviews is to understand the users’ opinions and attitudes regarding fika at Topp (Wilson, 2014). The choice of semi-structured interviews is motivated by the ambition to uncover unknown issues (Wilson, 2014). Understanding the perspectives of fika touches upon the culture of the company, the issue at hand becomes a complexed one. In order to uncover a complex issue, the method of un-structured interview would be the better choice (Wilson, 2014). However, being aware of the lack of my own experience in interviewing, it is advised to avoid un-structured interviews (Wilson, 2014). By using the method of semi-structured interviews, the hope is to raise additional concerns and issues directly from the user by creating a rapport with the participants (Wilson, 2014). The interview will be conducted with one interviewer together with one participant. When conducting interviews with the same number of conductors as participants, the interviews will hopefully result in a better levelled interview (Wilson, 2014). Hoping that a better levelled interview will result in the participant feeling less intimated by the conductor (Wilson, 2014). However, a restriction of only being one interviewer is that there is no other interviewer to take notes. If the only interviewer is writing notes while interviewing, it risks becoming a distraction for the participant (Lazar, Feng, & Hochheiser, 2010). In an attempt to solve note-taking the interviews will be recorded2_{, with note-pad} as a backup if mental notes need to be written down (Lazar et al., 2010).

3.1.2 Pre-interview Observations

During my internship at Topp I partook in fika time every Wednesday at 15 o’clock. These observations were neither planned not written down. It was these observations that sparked my interest and formed my pre-interpretations of fika at Topp. During these so-called observations I was a part of fika, therefor a user (see page 7). As a user of fika at Topp I created my owns experiences. Now as a researcher I can use my experiences and translate them into inspirational observations. How long time did I usually stay for fika? How punctual was I to fika? What made certain fikas stand out? And which fikas were less popular in my own opinion as a user of fika? Factors such as what we ate, how we prepared and how we cleaned after the fika was finished was also one of my interest points. The inspired fieldwork was later to be known to be the first building blocks to this thesis.

2_{Please note, all recordings of interviews are found in the supplementary folder. The}

interviews took place in Swedish and it is my own translation which is used in this thesis.

(14)

3.1.3 Post-interview Observations

The ambition of observational research is to gather as much untampered data of the social behaviour during fika as possible (Visocky & Visocky, 2006). Attempting to collect untampered social behaviour at fika, the overall ambition is to gain deeper knowledge in what fika is to the employees. The knowledge from the observations will aid in finding possibilities of designing for fika through an interaction design standpoint. In order to achieve a higher level of objectivity, it is crucial for me to observe without interfering with any of employees of Topp during these fika times (Visocky & Visocky, 2006). The employees will be informed that I will be observing from a distance, taking notes on my computer. A distance close enough to hear conversations, yet far enough to signal that I am not a part of the social interactions. The observation research takes place during fika time. Prior to the observations I will let all of Topp know that, with the consent of the employees, I will during specific fika time be observing their interactions.

The ambition of the observation is to examine the dynamics after new learnings gained from interviewing the users (Lazar et al., 2010). However, due to my previous internship at the company, my lack of objectivity is a limitation. Because of my previous field work as an employee there is a risk of me seeing behaviour that fits into my preconceptions. With my bias in mind, I will strive to see the data as purely as possible. Meaning that I will not try to put too much of my own value in the behaviour that I observe.

3.1.4 Investigation of communication of fika

Discussions regarding fika occurs through Topp’s communication tool called Slack. Since employees discuss matters of fika on Slack I see it fit to investigate what is said when mentioning fika. Hence, I will look into what employees are saying about fika on the communication channel Slack. With respect towards the employees and potential sensitive material, the names and pictures will be replaced.

3.2 Ideation Process Methods

I have divided this thesis into two sections, researching problems and solving the problems found. In the previous section, the choice of methods to unravel the problems of fika was presented. Following methods to be presented belong to the second half of this thesis - the ideation process. The methods used to solve and design for the opportunities found in the research section are mainly inspired by IDEO’s design kit (IDEO, 2018). Methods inspired by IDEO are three. The purpose of the three methods are to aid ideation through formulating “Insight Statements”, “Brainstorm” and “How Might We” questions (IDEO, 2018). These methods are to aid the un-packaging of findings through asking why and sorting them into possible themes. Sorting insights into themes is a method to crystallise design opportunities. Apart

(15)

from the IDEO inspired methods, there is one last method to be presented: “One-pagers”. “One-pagers” is a tool I have chosen to use to sketch out the core value of the concepts.

Figure 2 – Ideation process method

The methods chosen in this second half of the chapter has adapted throughout the thesis according to what was needed in order to create and develop possible concepts. Before elaborating on each of the ideation methods, I will shortly describe which design thinking I approached the ideation process with.

In order to solve the problems scoped from the research phase, I have throughout this phase had a mind-set of back and forth between thinking and doing (Topp, 2018). Thinking and doing is a design approach I learned to adapt during my internship at Topp. The goal of the design process is to not overthink (Topp, 2018). According to Topp, to achieve a great design one should alternate between the two phases of thinking and doing (Topp, 2018).

Image 2 – Poster of Topp’s Think and Do process

Thinking, according to Topp is when you are in your own mind and pondering of possible design ideas (Topp, 2018). Most often in the thinking stage the designer is attempting to understand issues, pitches, products etc. (Topp, 2018). With the ambition to understand before actually designing, designers can become scared of making something (Topp, 2018). Making something

(16)

can be anything from a doddle to a prototype (Topp, 2018). The two processes fuel each other and a designer should be frequently going back and forth (Topp, 2018). It is my interpretation that Topp’s method of thinking and doing is inspired by Buxton’s design process of mind and sketch (Buxton, 2007).

Figure 3 – Personal remake of the illustration of Buxton’s sketch and mind

Buxton argues that in order to achieve the right design and to “get the design right”, it is crucial to have a constant back and forth movement between the mind and sketch (Buxton, 2007); it is the alternation between the mind and sketch that aids the understanding and inspiration of the two stages (Buxton, 2007). Meaning that it is when sketching the designer understands the mind, yet also inspires to other ideas to the mind (Buxton, 2007). Back and forth between thinking and doing inspires both stages (Buxton, 2007). It is through the eyes of the method Think and Do that I approach the challenges of the ideation process. In a state of moving from attempts of understanding to sketching “top of mind thoughts”.

3.2.1 Insight Statements

After the ethnological research is conducted the data needs to be collected and analysed (Visocky & Visocky, 2006). The ambition of insight statements is to articulate key findings (IDEO, 2018). In this thesis I define key findings as interesting raw data collected from the research. Upon asking the question of why to the key findings, they are translated into insight statements (IDEO, 2018). The shaping of valuable insight statements is what will make it possible to create design opportunities (IDEO, 2018). Hence it is of importance to lay thought and editing into the statements, since the design opportunities lay the foundation of concepts (IDEO, 2018). Typically, insight statements lay the foundation for the themes (IDEO, 2018). However, finding a necessity of categorising insights into themes could limit myself by shutting out potential insights. Hence, I will not force myself into categorising my insights into themes if I do not see fit when analysing my data. In order to create insight statements, the findings should be re-framed into shorter statements (IDEO, 2018). These statements should articulate the main insights from my research. When statements have been created I shall compere the statements to my research question. If I believe that the statements fit into answering the question of exploring the possibilities of

(17)

designing for fika with an interaction design standpoint, they are qualified to proceed. The insight statements are not meant to be formulated as solutions to the problem, rather they should merely be relevant to the research question (IDEO, 2018). Relevant in the sense that the insights should perceive possibilities into finding solutions of designing for fika time (IDEO, 2018). Subsequently, after creating thought through insight statements, the upcoming steps into ideating design opportunities will be more fluent (IDEO, 2018). The next step of creating design opportunities is the method of “How Might We”. This is presented below.

The motivation behind selecting insight statements as method of choice, is that it serves as a tool to identify patterns within the semi-structured interviews, which otherwise can be difficult to generalise due to their natural lack of structure. Throughout my years of the “Interaction Design” program, the steps of insight statements have guided me into creating valuable design.

3.2.2 How Might We

The method of “How Might We” is an attempt of finding design opportunities from the insight statements (IDEO, 2018). The previous method of insights statements has identified areas of potential design possibilities (IDEO, 2018). In the attempt of framing design opportunities, the insight statements or themes are to be translated into a question of “How Might We” (IDEO, 2018). By formulating the statement into questions of “How Might We”, the statements are translated into opportunities rather than problems (IDEO, 2018). A correctly articulated “How Might We” question should be adequate enough to inspire to several solutions (IDEO, 2018). The questions should not be too broad since it can limit the Brainstorm by not knowing where to begin (IDEO, 2018). The art of articulating “How Might We” questions should be a balance between being broad enough to inspire ideas yet narrow enough to know which ideas to begin with (IDEO, 2018).

3.2.3 Brainstorming

According to IDEO, brainstorming is a method of producing ideas (IDEO, 2018). An assumption I have made when brainstorming is to dare to take up space. A tool when brainstorming consists of post-it notes (IDEO, 2018). Assuming there will be produced a large amount of post-its. I argue it is close to impossible to obtain an overview in the brainstorm if the ideas are not placed out. Hence, when I brainstorm I make sure I take space. Placing my ideas on surfaces around me, to give myself an easier overview.

3.2.4 One-pagers

One-pagers is a method learnt from my internship at Topp. It is a method of scribbling down first thoughts of ideas on a sheet of paper. The sketches could consist of story boards or simple ecosystems displaying the core of the idea.

(18)

This tool is merely an inspirational tool thus not an academically based theoretical design method.

4 Results from Research

In this chapter the process of adding value and categorising findings and insights from research into themes is presented. Thereafter, the themes which are a result from the process will be presented.

Figure 4 – Packaging of the findings and insights from the research process

The figure above illustrates the process of results gathered with the aid from the research methods previously mentioned. Illustrating findings being translated into insights statements which in their turn is categorised into themes. Once the themes are established, design opportunities are translated to aid the process of creating concepts.

The first steps into creating themes was to describe the raw findings as insight statements (IDEO, 2018). The insight statements were collected on a whiteboard to create an overview. Post-it’s were moved around several times in an attempt to categorise the insights into descriptive themes.

(19)

The picture above shows one of the earlier attempts to categorise the insight statements. Dark-yellow post-it’s are insight statements. The pink is a first attempt of categorising, where the light-yellow tries to find design opportunities to asking how I might design for the theme. When finding that the themes inspired towards design opportunities I collected the themes on A3 paper placed on walls. The ambition was to inspire myself of possible concept ideas to the themes, by reminding myself of them on the walls.

Image 4 – Insights sorted into themes

The sub-chapters in this chapter are themes of insights found when analysing the findings from interviews and observations, where the main part of the research is made from interviews. The themes will be elaborated below.

4.1 Fika as a Social Break

Starting the interviews, I asked the participants to explain the latest fika they attended. The answers deviated in what they chose as their own characterization of fika. Some participants explained Fridays wine-club meeting at Topp as the latest fika. Whereas others began explaining the traditional fika at 15 o’clock last Wednesday. The various answers to the questions of asking the participants to explain their latest fika at Topp led me to ask what their personal definition is of fika is at Topp. A common recurring definition was that fika was a break. However, when digging deeper in what a break was for them individually their definition that fika was a break was subtracted.

“Fika is a break […]. More like a social break” (Erik, personal

communication, March 19, 2018)

When asked what fika is then, if not a break, most of the participants redirected from that fika was a break to that fika was a social break.

“[Fika is a] social break” (Hedda, personal communication,

March 19, 2018)

“The most important part of fika is to be social” (Lisa, personal

(20)

“Fika is a break where you socialise with your co-workers”

(Patrick, personal communication, March 19, 2018)

Close to all participants claimed fika to be a social break, however upon asking the participants what a break is they usually answer that a break is when they are away from the computer, putting their mind on something else than work. Asking if the participants find it necessary to be alone, most of them answer that they do not mind being with others on a so-called break. What is interesting is that participants stated that during fika, employees tend to talk about work.

“I don’t prefer talking work during fika, but we tend to do so anyway” (Patrick, personal communication, March 19, 2018)

This quote leads me to believe that the participants wishes fika to be a social break. However, the expectations of a break are not quite fulfilled. Seeing as the participants defined a break as being away from the computer and not talking about work. Adding to this, the quote above symbolises for me that the participants are not fully satisfied with the conversations during fika. It is my interpretation from the interviews that the participants expressed a certain discomfort in the conversations during fika. Even though I lack a direct quote from a participant claiming to not enjoy conversations during fika, it was the overall atmosphere I picked up during the interviews. Contemplating that admitting for the participant that they do not enjoy the conversations during fika is a taboo. Especially admitting it to me as a potential future employee of Topp. Here is when my role of a researcher might influence the research material.

In contrary to discussing conversations of fika, the participants expressed a direct pleasant association to conversations at lunch. Upon asking the participants about the conversations during fika, most of the participants agreed that compered to lunch, lunch conversations were more appreciated. Claiming that conversations during fika tend to be superficial.

“At lunch I tend to go out with the colleagues I’m closer to. We

pick up on subjects we’ve recently talked about together”

(Karin, personal communication, March 15, 2018)

Stating that during lunch the topics tend to gravitate towards deeper tendencies.

“At lunch we usually talk about really interesting stuff!”

(21)

My interpretation of the findings regarding the conversations is that the employees are not expressing a particular pleased opinion towards the conversations during fika. This is an insight found in what the participants are not saying rather than what they are saying. Compared to lunch, the conversations during fika were not expressed as thrillingly as when the participants discussed conversations during lunch.

There is a red-thread in how the employees view fika as a social break. Especially pointing towards that the participants claim fika being a social break yet talking work during fika. The statement that the participants do not prefer talking work during fika, could be a main reason as to why fika is not living up to the expectation of a break.

Due to my post-interview observations, I could detect that there was a lack of colleagues breaking out from their work teams during fika time. This will be elaborated on in the next theme: Splitting norms.

4.2 Splitting Norms

When crystalizing the insights and categorising them into themes, there is a pattern arising. According to my post-interview observations, most teams came to fika together, whether if it was from their shared working space or a joint meeting. Furthermore, the team members more often than not left approximately at the same time. The insight drawn from the observations was that the teams were not breaking up during fika.

“[Explaining the ambitions towards fika] You are supposed to check-in with your colleagues, especially the ones not on your team” (John, personal communication, March 16, 2018)

The quote above explains the ambitions a few of the participants felt towards fika. That during fika the users should socialise and check-in with the employees outside of their working teams. Yet as presented above, during my post-interview observations there was a lack of the teams breaking up and socialising with others.

I will in the following section elaborate on the norms of the teams versus the norms of fika time. Although, both sets of norms lie under the umbrella of Topp’s set of norms, where Topp’s norms are defined by the action of its employees (Alvesson, 2015).

A theory I drew from observing the resistance of breaking up from the team is the theory inspired of norms (see page 8). Being a part of a team implies various norms, which influences the behavioural pattern of the individual (Patterson et al,. 2011).

(22)

“I usually keep an eye on my team, so I am not the only one left at fika” (Joseph, 2018)

Joseph a user of fika time, explains in the quote above that he dislikes being at fika if the team he is currently working with chose not to attended. Expressing a worry of what the team would think of him. That he would rather leave from fika with the majority of the team to reduce the risk of the team members thinking that he is not pulling his part to the team.

Apart from the norms created from the teams, there are other norms playing a part in the behaviour of the individual. The particular norms are those under fika.

“It’s a time made for us to have a stop, have a breather and we just check-in […] Collect in the social area and we check-in together” (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018).

The expectations of norms, as expressed from management during fika is to “check-in” with everyone at the office, not staying in your teams.

There arises a confusion of how to act for the participants, not fully understanding which norms to follow. The norms of the teams imply for the individual to work, whereas the norms of fika is to socialise with the colleagues.

Departing from my own observations, I argue that the participants have difficulties in finding a balance between expectations from fika to the expectations from the team. The expectations from fika deviates from the norms of the team. Therefore, I want to explore the possibilities making it easier for the participants to know which norms to follow during fika.

4.3 Preferences of Fika

I have examples of split opinions on what makes fika enjoyable. These examples will be seen below, afterword the examples will be elaborated upon:

“It’s always someone buying bought fika-bread, which is boring [...] It’s more fun when someone makes an effort, which not everyone does” (Karin, personal communication, March 15,

2018)

“I love seeing Jack [a designer at Topp] standing up shouting five minutes to three: ‘Shit! It’s me who has fika today’. And then he runs out and buys something weird” (Martin, personal

(23)

Firstly, I will comment on the first quote. Some participants explicitly expressed that the lack of effort is not appreciated at fika. Referring to the lack of effort being that the employee being responsible for fika, in the last minute buys buns from the local bakery.

“It’s always someone buying bought fika-bread, which is boring[...] It’s more fun when someone makes an effort, which not everyone does” (Karin, personal communication, March 15,

2018)

Karin, a designer at Topp states that most of the fika’s consists of someone buying fika-bread, which is boring and that she rather enjoys when someone has put time and thought into what you can do with fika. The participant herself usually has been known for making out-of-the-box fikas, such as coffee and chocolate tasting. Interestingly enough, another participant expressed arguably the opposite. Suggesting that the most appreciated fika where the ones that were not planned.

Now I will elaborate on the second one of the two quotes.

“I love seeing Jack [a designer at Topp] standing up shouting five minutes to three: ‘Shit! It’s me who has fika today’. And then he runs out and buys something weird” (Martin, personal

communication, March 19, 2018)

Martin, one of the founders of Topp, reveals that he feels more relaxed when the fika is un-structured. Claiming him not being sure of what is to be expected of him when someone has put in a lot of effort in their fika. Adding that of course he enjoys seeing people who has put in time in the fika, but he is not as comfortable. As discussed in previous themes, the social norms play an interesting role during fika. That even a few in management are not quite sure on how to act when fika becomes too large of a project. The opinion of preferring un-structured fika is shared with another participant. Comparing fika with a party, that it is the relaxed and un-planned ones that are enjoyed the most. A common opinion was that it was the creative fika’s that stood out the most. A few also stating that a fika that shows some personality is most appreciated. Whereas one of the participants states that it is the sugar rush that is most valuable.

“My brain says I prefer creative fikas, but my body says the sugar rush” (Joseph, personal communication, March 15,

2018)

Joseph expresses in the quote above that his body wants sugar when he attends fika. Joseph explained that his body is conditioned to expect sugar

(24)

and that he becomes somewhat disappointed when there is lacking sugar during fika.

Finding that participants express large variations of what is preferred during fika, I ask myself how I might find a design for different preferences for fika?

4.4 A Falling Behind Fika Troll

Upon discussing the preferences of fika, the fika troll came in to discussion. Participants argued that the troll no-longer played the role of a visual reminder, since most of the participants forgot to plan for fika even though the troll was bestowed on their desks. Adding to this, one in management complained that she often had to sort out who is responsible for fika next, since the employees forgot to handover the troll.

Image 5 – Screen shots of mentioning fika in the communication channel: Slack

As illustrated above, an employee in management in green boxes often has to ask the office of who has the fika troll. Notice that the questions are 5 minutes past the appointed fika time. Which leads me to believe that the person with the fika troll has not fulfilled their duty as fika responsible. Furthermore, the participants seem to not trust the role of the fika troll. Even if they have the fika troll, the participants seem to not trust that it is them who has the responsibility of fika.

Lisa, in management expressed in her interview that the participants were forgetting to handover the troll.

“They [the employees] don’t remember to pass the troll on”

(Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018).

Claiming that she often has to ask around to see if someone knows they are on fika duty that day.

The insights lead me to believe that the fika troll is not fulfilling the function of the visual reminder. Neither are the participants remembering to hand over the responsibility of the fika troll. The design opportunity could be to design for an improved way to remind the participants of their fika duty.

(25)

4.5 Divided Responsibility Towards Fika

A pattern of insights which arose upon gathering my data was that there is a difference in how the participants view fika in relation to themselves and their own contribution to fika. The employees’ attitude towards fika was apparent when asked when they believe they show up for fika. This is bestowed in the in the next two sentences:

“You show up at the appointed time, not later” (Hedda,

personal communication, March 19, 2018)

“Do I feel like fika today? Yes, I do but I need to finish this first. […] It’s supposed to be a calm moment in the day where it’s not about being on exact time” (John, personal communication,

March 16, 2018)

To begin I will elaborate the first of the two quotes.

“You show up at the appointed time, not later” (Hedda,

personal communication, March 19, 2018)

Hedda, a designer at Topp states that fika is a responsibility towards your colleagues and you should show up on the appointed time. Furthermore, the participant states it to be practically important to arrive on time to fika since it is your own peers who has made an effort in making or buying the fika. Contrary to this, others claimed fika being a personal break for yourself. Now I will elaborate on the second quote of the two:

“Do I feel like fika today? Yes, I do but I need to finish this first. […] It’s supposed to be a calm moment in the day where it’s not about being on exact time” (John, personal communication,

March 16, 2018)

John explains that due to fika being during when he his productive, he does not prioritise to arrive on time for fika. Expressing no certain feeling of responsibility towards fika. I argue that if John instead felt that he should arrive on fika on the exact appointed time, then fika as he refers to as a calm moment, would no-longer be calm. Resulting in a fika no-longer acting as a break, rather a situation with expectation.

Below management expressed her opinion on the responsibilities towards fika:

(26)

“It is disappointing when the employees don’t take the time, set aside for them to have a breather and check-in with each other” (Lisa, personal communication, March 16, 2018).

Office administrator Lisa stressed that it is disappointing when there is a large absence at fika. She expressed that it is a shame that the employees are not taking the time set out for them to have a break and check-in with each other.

Even though pointing out that fika is meant as a ‘breather’ there is an expectation from management for the employees to ‘check-in’ with each other. Lisa expresses a disappointment when employees are not showing up. The situation where the management expects break creates a paradox where fika is advertised as a breather for the employees, but with expectations from the management.

This paradox is subject to my interpretation of why employees have various opinions on the responsibility towards fika. Where some of the employees has understood that there are certain responsibilities, whereas others oversee the notion of responsibility. Thus, I would like to investigate if it is plausible designing for a more transparent responsibility for the employees regarding fika.

4.6 The Optimal Fika Time

Upon asking the participants if they reflect upon when they arrive to fika, I stumbled upon an insight which arguably in itself can be a standalone theme. A participant stated that they do not feel any reluctance of arriving to fika first. Claiming that they rarely arrive to fika first claiming that this is due to the fact of them being in their most productive hour at fika time [15 o’clock].

“I’m seldom first at fika since I’m often in the middle of something. That time [15.00] is my most productive hour”

(John, personal communication, March 16, 2018)

In this quote, John states that 15 o’clock every Wednesday is his most productive hour, I ask myself; is there a potentially optimal time to consume fika?

Another participant brings in another theme; the theme of “End of the working day”. Fika is well planned for her, as she never feels she has to choose between fika or picking up her daughter from day-care since fika is as early as 15 o’clock. Once again, the theme is stated in what the participant is not saying; if fika time was at a later hour, she would not be able to attend, because she has to pick up her daughter from day care. Therefore, I argue, that the optimal fika time has to take place within the norms of regular working hours. Apart from this fact, the most productive working hour might

(27)

be an individual preference. Therefore, it would be difficult to meet everybody’s wishes.

Fika time started out being scheduled to be at one specific time, so that people could foresee when to expect noise from the kitchen (see page 7). If everybody’s optimal working hour has to be taken into consideration, and fika time is, once again, at an individual time, we would have moved back to square one; where you do not know when to expect noise from the kitchen. There might in fact not be an optimal time for fika, which could be a finding in itself. An optimal time or not, I argue there is a design opportunity in investigating this matter.

5 Design

Image 6 – One-pagers

The previous chapter’s attempt was to present themes made from insights found in the research. The upcoming chapter is where the themes are translated into design opportunities. The purpose of the themes is to aid the ideation process of crystalizing concepts. Upon noticing that the themes are limiting the ideation process, I am not foreign to the thought of concepts which is a combination of several themes.

(28)

5.1 Concept Development

Figure 5 – Illustration of concept development

The ideation process was a shuffle between thinking and doing, a method adapted by Topp (2018) and inspired by Buxton (2007) (see page 15-16). Beginning the design process, the themes had been established, which was a result of thinking about the insights and how they are to be categorised. To aid the thinking process, the themes collected were analysed and broken up into smaller themes. Smaller themes could for example be definitions of the words used in the themes. Thereafter, the first steps of the ideation process were to begin doing. The miniature themes created from the thinking process inspired me create to concept ideas. Concept ideas which were created through brainstorming which resulted as one-pagers.

(29)

The ideas were sketched out as one-pagers and placed up on walls, to facilitate an overview. The result of a fruitful brainstorm produced a wall of ideas to potential concepts. The various concepts were created to be a solution to the opportunities presented in each theme. To follow up a doing-driven phase, it was now time to withdraw back to thinking. When the concepts were put up on walls, I critically viewed them one by one. Asking how the concepts help solve the issues of the various themes and linking back to my original research question. By critically viewing the concepts there arose almost a concept for each design opportunity in each theme. However, there were themes in which I lacked creating a concept for. The themes in which I unsuccessfully came up with concepts were qualified as non-opportunities. The non-opportunities will be presented below. After which, a list of the design opportunities will be illustrated. Ending with presenting the concepts based from the design opportunities.

5.1.1 Non-opportunities

Upon analysing the concepts of the various themes, there emerged problems in which I had difficulties designing for. In an attempt to find solutions to two of the design opportunities, the hill became arguably too steep to climb. According to myself and the experience I have from designing, if a solution to a problem is too complexed to explain, the solution could be not well enough thought through.

5.1.1.1 Finding an Optimal Time for Fika

When contemplating on the opportunity of finding the optimal time for fika, there arose several issues. One of the ideas for finding the optimal time for fika was to locate when the most productive period is for a majority of the employees of Topp. Once establishing the productive hour, the propose was to avoid it for fika time. The challenge quickly escalated into finding possible ways of measuring productivity. Exploring possible ways of measuring productivity, an example in measuring could be to see when the employees are using ‘acceptable’ software to know when they are productive. Although quickly realising, that according to myself, a majority of the designers of Topp sketch on paper, not using anything digital. Another theory to measuring productivity could be on the level of sound in the office. Assuming that when employers are quiet they are being productive. However, drawing from my experience from my internship, most employees work in teams. When discussing with the team, the productivity could be just as high as when sitting quiet behind your computer.

The concept comes down to defining productivity and how to measure it. This is not a project that is impossible to do, however I argue the task of defining and measuring productivity is over the abilities of this thesis. Moreover, amusing the thought that productivity is possible to measure, the most productive hour could presumably not be constant for every week, which eliminates the possibility of planning for fika. Assuming that if eliminating

(30)

the opportunity of planning for fika, employees with hectic schedules will seemingly have difficulties finding time for fika.

In hindsight, the insight of fika occurring during their most productive hour was from one particular employee. The employee expressing fika being his most productive hour, was a result of why he is not often first to fika. The opinion of fika occurring during their most productive hour was not shared with the majority of the participants. Weighing the possibility of the statement could be somewhat of an excuse. Possibly an excuse of not wanting to be first for fika.

Weighing all the aspects, there are presumably more setbacks than there are possibilities for this design opportunity. Hence, I will not be further iterating on the design opportunity of finding the optimal time for fika.

5.1.1.2 Split Responsibility Towards Fika

Insights found resulting in a theme was that employees of Topp had various opinions on what was expected from the employee at fika. Furthermore, the insights presented a paradox. A paradox where management explicitly mentioned the purpose of fika being a check-in with colleagues. Resulting in a break no-longer acting as a break, rather a situation with expectation. The opportunity of design was arguably to find a transparency towards the responsibility of fika for the employees. Touching upon responsibility towards fika could gravitate towards politics of the company. In order to design for fika and the employees’ responsibility I would have preferred gathering material focusing on a deeper level of the company’s policy towards taking breaks in general. Researching the paradox regarding mixed signals towards employees of taking a break with expectations. Even though the design opportunity intrigued me, I chose to not continue finding concepts due to the weight of the theme. The design opportunity is out of scope for this thesis and I would not manage to produce a well-advised concept to the complex problem of company politics. Thus, I choose not to further iterate on the concept of designing for transparent responsibility towards fika.

5.1.2 Design Opportunities

Challenge: Fika is not arriving at the expectations of a so-called social break Design Opportunity: How might I design for fika as an improved social

break?

Challenge: Mixed norms to act upon during fika time

Design Opportunity: How might I create a space where different norms

(31)

Challenge: There are various opinions of what makes fika appreciative Design Opportunity: How might I find a common ground for preferences

at fika?

Challenge: The fika troll is no-longer fulfilling its functions

Design Opportunity: How might I find an improved way of reminding

participants of their fika duty

Challenge: There are various opinions regarding the responsibilities

towards fika

Design Opportunity: How might I design for a fika with a transparent

responsibility?

Challenge: Participants expressed fika being during their most productive

hour

Design Opportunity: How might I find the optimal time for fika?

5.2 Visual Conversations

Figure 6 – “Visual Conversations”

Design Opportunity: How might I design for fika as an improved social

break?

When brainstorming on the theme of how to design for fika as a social break, there were several miniature themes that arose. The sub-themes emerged through critically breaking apart the sentence within the design opportunity. Defining the words: “social” and “break” inspired to various ideas of concepts. The ideas were sketched out as one-pagers, suggesting possible concepts. Amongst the one-pagers there emerged a group which particularly amused my interest.

(32)

Image 8 – One-pagers of concepts

Topp employees seem to be lacking conversations during fika which do not mention work. The participants stated that they prefer conversations during lunch where there is discussion on a deeper level rather than the kind of conversations during fika. Talking about work and lack of deeper conversation results in fika not living up to the expectations of a social break. Yet persisting that it is of importance for both the employee as well as management to obtain a social contact during fika.

The first flash of ideas was to aid conversation topics towards the employees. Reluctant of risking being condescending towards the employees and management I placed the category of conversation topics on hold. However, dwelling in the thought of enhancing discussions, this specific concept emerged: The concept of visualising conversations during fika.

(33)

Figure 7 – Illustration of the concept “Visual Conversations”

The goal of this concept is to inspire richer conversations through abstract visualisation. The idea of visualisations is to inspire the users to introduce new topics in the conversation during fika. The functionality behind the concept is that the visualisation will be driven by the level of conversations being held during fika. The richer the conversations, the more explosive visualisations. Rich conversation in this concept is measured by the quantity of the variation of words being spoken during fika. The higher diversity of words, the higher visual feedback is provided.

Figure 8 – Sketch of concept

The purpose of the concept is not to frown upon a less-rich conversation. If conversations are not according to the data rich, then the visualisations will remain in a steady flow. This is to not create negative association to the design. The sole attempt is therefore to create awareness and to inspire to more varied conversations.

During the first few fika’s there will be more explosive visualisations, since all words are new data. However, after a few fikas the data will have created a library of words that has been spoken often. The words spoken often will not evoke volcanic explosions.

Departing from my findings, that employees recognise that they un-willingly talk work during fika, a goal of the concept is to create awareness when talking about work. According to my research, the employees admit talking about work often during fika. Thus, work and work-related topics will be words spoken often during fika. Hence, the visualisation will not be explosive when discussing work. Rather the visualisations will be in a steady flow. The purpose is to create awareness for the employees, to realise when they talk work during fika, the visualisation is not explosive. Upon talking of other topics than work, the participants will be awarded positive feedback in the form of explosive visualisations. Resulting in the employees striving to reach explosive visualisation which are found in richer conversations.

(34)

Figure 9 – Sketch of technology

The concept is thought to have the visualisation on a table. The idea is to use the same technology behind voice assistants. Voice assistant technology can pick up and translate words and use as data (Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patentnr Patent No. 7,216,080. , 2007). Translating the data from words into visualisations.

Figure 10 – Ecosystem sketch

The visualisation should be placed in the centre of the room to create awareness of the design. In order by creating awareness of the design, the goal is that participants will be stimulated to evoke in richer conversations.

5.2.1 Unknowns

An issue of placing the visualisations on a table could be that the table and visualisation draw too much attention. A consequence of the visualisations drawing too much attention could be that the participants are drawn downwards towards the table, eliminating eye-contact. If the concept results in participants minimizing eye-contact and not engaging in deeper conversations, the value of the concept has arguably failed. Thus, it is to consider if it is the best execution of placing the visualisation on a table. Another theory regarding the placement of the visualisation is that regardless of where the visualisation takes place it will take focus from the conversations. Contemplating on the possibilities of presenting the visualisation after fika, the first thoughts that come to mind is creating an app. Showing in detail the visualisations and the specific data that triggered

(35)

the certain visualisation. However, showing detailed data could risk in the participant feeling pressured, rather than inspired. An idea could be to present the previous fika’s conversations’ visualisations before each fika. It is also to be investigated if defining rich conversations through new words might be a hard line to draw. Using new words as a data to explosive visualisation could work as first prototype. It would be interesting if I could add another layer into measuring rich conversations. Such a measurement could be sound volume, arguing the more sound the more people are in engaging conversations.

5.2.2 Conclusion

Insights found in research showed that employees expressed fika as a social break. Defining a break as being away from the computer and taking your mind off work. Participants admitted talking work during fika, which led me to believe that fika does not live up to the expectations of being a social break. The purpose of this concept is to inspire employees to talk less about work during fika. Inspiring to richer conversations through giving positive feedback when new words are mentioned to the table. Unknowns such as the placement of the visualisations and further directions of the input data would be interesting directions to follow up on.

5.3 Fika Troll 2.0

Figure 11 – “Fika Troll 2.0”

Design Opportunity: How might I design for the various preferences

regarding fika?

The research found that the participants of fika had various preferences. The preferences varied from spontaneous fika, to well-planned. The participants expressed enjoying personal fika, some preferred creative, whereas others

(36)

merely attended fika to enjoy the sugar rush. Departing from that there are various opinions regarding what makes fika favourable, there arises certain risks when designing for subjective demands. A liability in an attempt to design for everyone’s opinions could result in designing for no-one (Cooper et al., 2014). Hence, rather than trying to squash all preferences from fika into one, I will instead respect the participants of fika and their preferences and let them be what they are – differences. Instead I will focus on a subtler insight. The insight that participants expressed that fika tends to be unoriginal. Claiming that a standard during fika is employees buying fika-bread from the local bakery (see page 22-23). Due to this insight the goal of this concept is to inspire. The inspiration will be suggestions which are based on a few common grounds. Furthermore, participants expressed that the fika troll no-longer was fulfilling its role as a reminder, which will be addressed in this concept. To clarify, this concept is a combination of two themes.

The concept is an update of the fika troll - the fika troll which had the role of reminding the employees of their fika responsibility that day. The role of the app is to remind participants of their fika duty. When reminding participants, they will get suggestions based on common ground, such as weather and holidays.

Figure 12 – Wireframes of “Fika Troll 2.0”:1

The user who is on fika duty that day receives a notification reminding the user of its responsibility. Upon receiving the notification, the user can choose to open the app to see fika proposals. Proposals which some are adjusted to common grounds of the participants. Where one of the common grounds of