eacubo financial reporting_for_a_visually-oriented_audience[1]

DESIGNING FINANCIAL LANGUAGE

2010 EACUBO Annual Meeting10/12/2010

William E. Mea,Fraser Marshall Ph.D.,

Justin Witman

a story from the field

Designing Financial LanguageToday’s Presentation

1. Introduction2. Initial Research3. First Prototype4. Re-evaluation5. Stakeholder Interviews6. Story Development7. Finding a Collective Purpose8. Having a Conversation9. Leaving The Picture

With over 2,400 students and 500 faculty members, The University of the Arts in Philadelphia is the first and only university in the United States solely dedicated to educating creative individuals in the visual, performing and communication arts.

Opening conversations with designMID@UArts

At MID@UARTSOur goal is not to isolate and solve problems. It’s to connect issues – and to connect people – in order to fully understand the challenges we face in a broader context.

Only then can we find innovative ways to inspire changes that are economically, ecologically and socially responsible.

“I want to have a more productive conversation”FINANCIAL LANGUAGE

FINANCIAL LANGUAGECommunicating to artists, designers and musicians

Presenting informationFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

RIGHT BRAIN LANGUAGELEFT BRAIN LANGUAGE

Understanding PerceptionFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

1

2

Language

finding a mate

fair compensation

creative initiative

basic human drives

confusionAuthority

Direction

Roles

Humans have three innate drivers that direct their lives. These are:To find and mate; to earn fair compensation for work and to excercisecreative initiative. However, in work teams, confusion over Language,Authority, Direction and/or Roles is detrimental to creative initiative.

HUMANTIC DESIGN The three drivers of human function

3

Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive : the surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY, Riverhead Books.

Three drivesFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Conventional Group Collaboration and Conversations

Language

abc

Authority Direction Roles

Language Authority Direction Roles

High cognitive load

Conventional group collaboration

Designed group collaboration

Low cognitive load

Anxiety

Anxiety

Confusion

Cognitive tools

Weak Collaboration

Strong Collaboration

Collaboration

Collaboration

FINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Bion, W. R. (1961). Experiences in groups, and other papers. London, Tavistock Publications.

Bion, W. R. (1948). “Experiences in groups.” Human Relations I-VI. Highhouse, S. (2002). “A history of the T-Group and its early applications in management development.” Group Dynamics-Theory Research and Practice 6(4): 277-290.

Designed Group Collaboration and Conversations

Language

abc

Authority Direction Roles

Language Authority Direction Roles

High cognitive load

Conventional group collaboration

Designed group collaboration

Low cognitive load

Anxiety

Anxiety

Confusion

Cognitive tools

Weak Collaboration

Strong Collaboration

Collaboration

Collaboration

FINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Carroll, J. M. (1991). Designing interaction: psychology at the human-computer interface. Cambridge England ; New York, Cambridge University Press.

Simon, H. A. (1981). The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press.

FINANCIAL LANGUAGEOld language

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

100

100100 100

100ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS

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$= 100K

Annual Budget411K

Annual Actual623K

Extra Surplus+212K

Creation of a New LanguageFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Operating Revenue-804K


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+19KNet tuition andfees for credit

+79KAuxiliary enterprises

-207KNet tuition and fees

for Cont. Studies

-461KAnnual fund

-166KOther investment

income

Infographic PrototypeFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

-135KGrad assistants/student employment

+475KNo Jan 1st salary increase

+405KHiring freeze

+84KContinuing Studiessavings

+200KReserved funds from Operations/IT


100

100100 100


$


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+Saved Expenses

+1016KOperating Revenue

-804K


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$


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100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


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100100 100


$


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$




for Cont. Studies

-461KAnnual fund


income


-135KGrad assistants/student employment

+475KNo Jan 1st salary increase

+405KHiring freeze

+84KContinuing Studiessavings

+200KReserved funds from Operations/IT


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$

+Saved Expenses

+1016KOperating Revenue

-804K


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$


100

100100 100


$




for Cont. Studies

-461KAnnual fund


income

Extra Revenue+212K


100

100100 100


$


100

100100


$

=


PresentationFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Presentation - all not happyFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Phase 1developing language

Bill

CLIENTS

DESIGNERS

School Community

studioNEXT PresentationInfographics


100

100100 100

100ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS$


100

100100


benefits?sabaticals?


100

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100

100100


“I need the right language”

Phase 2refining language and developing the story

Bill GraphicDesign

Prototype 1 Co-design Prototype 2

FacultyCouncil


100

100100 100



100

100100


“we want more story”

“graphics needwork”

Phase 1developing language

Bill

CLIENTS

DESIGNERS

School Community

studioNEXT PresentationInfographics


100

100100 100



100

100100


benefits?sabaticals?


100

100100 100



100

100100


“I need the right language”

Phase 2refining language and developing the story

Bill GraphicDesign

Prototype 1 Co-design Prototype 2

FacultyCouncil


100

100100 100



100

100100


“we want more story”

“graphics needwork”

ProcessFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

CollaborationFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Design RefinementFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Stakeholder interviewingFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

InterviewingFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Stakeholder interviewingFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Story developmentFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

“Speak about restoration, not gifts”

“It would be great to use the Faculty Council as a sounding board”

“We need a clearer distillation method for financial information”

“More of a dialogue, even if we cant change the reality of the numbers”

“It would be great to have a full picture of the options”

Bill Larry Anna

DetailsClarity

SensitivityAcknowledgementPrioritizingAwareness

DeliveryMethodologyDetails

DeliveryMethodologyClarity

DeliveryMethodologyAesthetics

DeliveryMethodologyClarity

Jack Mary Peter Amy Sara

Faculty CouncilFacultyFinance Staff Council

Anxieties and NeedsFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Accountancy AdministrationDesign Liberal Arts Film + Media

VISUALDATA

VERBALDATA

FINANCIALDATA

EXPANDEDSTORY

Story DevelopmentFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Phase I

an incomplete story questions about the storyPragmatic(visual language)

infographics

Pragmatic(visual language)

infographics refinement

contentprioritytoneawarenesssensitivityacknowledgement

Psychology(verbal language)

Phase 2

+ conversation about the story

a more complete story

Story DevelopmentFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Creating a shared storyFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Creating a shared storyFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Talking about money can be emotional and stressful.

Design helped stakeholders have a conversation to find collective financial interests deemed most important for discussion.

FINDING COLLECTIVE PURPOSE BETWEEN FINANCE & FACULTY

Strong Interest

SEEING EYE TO EYE

THE BIG PICTURE

Agree

28%Similar65%Difference

7%

Agree


72%

Agree


67%

9/22

9/22

Slight Interest No Interest

SEEING EYE TO EYE SEEING EYE TO EYE

Results of a meeting between the Finance Office CFO at The University of The Arts & the Faculty Council head. The goal was to identify points of common interest to aid in creating a more democratized dialogue about finances.

Each group was given 22 cards with topics pulled from interviews.They were then asked to prioritize Interests and find common threads.

COLLECTIVE AGREED & SIMILAR INTEREST 93%

WHERE THE CARDS FALLFaculty Council

Finance Office

41%

41%

9/22

7/22


Finance Office

41% 4/22

6/22


Finance Office

18%

27%32%

• TRANSPARENCY OF INFORMATION

• MORE VISUAL COMMUNICATION

• FEELING AS IF THERE IS A LACK OF TRUST

• INFORAMTION ABOUT INSTUTUTIONAL HEALTH

• IMPORTANCE OF A DIALOGUE

• COMMUNCATION IS OFTEN PERCIEVED DIFFERENTLY

This created CFO level understanding of stakeholder experience. We subsequently designed information that encouraged shared conversations.

A shared discussionFINANCIAL LANGUAGE

Moving ForwardKeeping the conversation open

INTERVIEWEDCOMMON GOALS

past present future

RELATIONSHIPSCONVERSATIONSBUILDING TRUST

FRASERJUSTIN

BUILDING TRUSTCOLLABORATION

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

NEW DESIGNERS+ STAKEHOLDERS

Design can provide an innovative method to help overcome the challenges of financial communication.

To communicate effectively, a shared language is a must. However, it is also important to consider the underlying psychology that occurs during financial discussions.

Key to this process is the creation of tools that can be used to reduce the anxiety of “talking money”, allowing a more open, productive and successful conversations.

FINANCIAL LANGUAGESummary points

AcknowledgementsA special thanks

Project PartnersDr. Benjamin OlshinDr. Anna BeresinJonas MilderDr. Jeff Wolper

The University of The ArtsBill MeaDr. Jack DeWittDr. Mary MartinLarry Bach

eacubo financial reporting_for_a_visually-oriented_audience[1]

Business

group dynamicstheory

cambridge university

human relations

direction andor roles

drivers of human function3pink

cambridge england new

humancomputer interface

mit press