A design process
Focus of today
EMPATHY
gives confidence that you are working on a meaningful problem;
forces you to take a perspective other than your own
IDEATION
gives you copious and diverse design solution possibilities
to select, develop and test
PROTOTYPING & TEST
gives confidence that your solution is desirable, feasible and viable;
accelerates learning when you adopt a low-resolution prototyping mindset
Mini Project for today
Improve the car maintenance experience
Mini Project for today
Improve the car maintenance experience . . .
for a unique user
EMPATHY
gives confidence that you are working on a meaningful problem;
forces you to take a perspective other than your own
IDEATION
gives you copious and diverse design solution possibilities
to select, develop and test
PROTOTYPING & FEEDBACK
gives confidence that your solution is desirable, feasible and viable;
accelerates learning when you adopt a low-resolution prototyping mindset
Getting started: One type of user
Note: What is meaningful to John?
John: The mechanic
What’s important to John
To tackle a challenging
problem
“Watching it drive out of
the driveway with no
problem at all”
“I listen to Car Talk on
my day off to listen to
peoples’ gripes and see
if I can get the answer.”
To be trusted
“You think you had a
good reputation, but it
wears on you when
people question you.”
To service
knowledgeable
clientele
“They understand
stuff, so it’s not a big
battle”
To build relationships
with customers
“I love the clientele…
familiar faces that
come back time and
time again comprise
80% of my enjoyment
of my job.”
Now: Play the role of an “imposter” ethnographer.
Do some accelerated empathy work.
Note: what is meaningful and important to Erica
Erica: The truck owner
What’s important to Erica
To feel empowered
“It makes me feel good”
(to drive up in the big
truck)
To appear knowledgeable
“I don’t want to look dumb,
or sound dumb”
To trust her mechanic
“I have to trust,
I have no other choice”
To be independent
“I can deal with the situation . . . I can
figure out what I need to do and just do
it”
To learn
“I wish they would let me go in
the bay . . . So I could learn
more”
Mini Project for today
Improve the car maintenance experience . . .
Respond to a specific user need
EMPATHY
gives confidence that you are working on a meaningful problem;
forces you to take a perspective other than your own
IDEATION
gives you copious and diverse design solution possibilities
to select, develop and test
PROTOTYPING & FEEDBACK
gives confidence that your solution is desirable, feasible and viable;
accelerates learning when you adopt a low-resolution prototyping mindset
Brainstorm to create design solution possibilities
Respond to the needs to you found in through empathy
Erica: The truck owner
how to brainstorm: RULES
What’s important to Erica
To feel empowered
“It makes me feel good”
(to drive up in the big
truck)
To appear knowledgeable
“I don’t want to look dumb,
or sound dumb”
To trust her mechanic
“I have to trust,
I have no other choice”
To be independent
“I can deal with the situation . . . I can
figure out what I need to do and just do
it”
To learn
“I wish they would let me go in
the bay . . . So I could learn
more”
In the context of car maintenance,
How might we enable Erica . . .
To feel empowered
To appear knowledgeable
To trust her mechanic
To be independent
To learn
Mini Project for today
Improve the car maintenance experience . . .
Develop and test solutions
EMPATHY
gives confidence that you are working on a meaningful problem;
forces you to take a perspective other than your own
IDEATION
gives you copious and diverse design solution possibilities
to select, develop and test
PROTOTYPING & FEEDBACK
gives confidence that your solution is desirable, feasible and viable;
accelerates learning when you adopt a low-resolution prototyping mindset
Why Prototype and Test?
BUILD TO THINK
LEARN AND ADVANCE YOUR IDEA QUICKLY
CHANGE THE CONVERSATION
GET YOUR USER’S REACTION
Selection :: Post-Brainstorm
THERE IS NO ‘BEST’ IDEA
DON’T EDIT BASED ON FEASIBILITY YET
MAINTAIN YOUR INNOVATION POTENTIAL
Selection :: Post-Brainstorm
MAINTAIN YOUR INNOVATION POTENTIAL
Carry multiple ideas forward
Consider these selection criteria:
Most likely to please
Most breakthrough if…
Most likely to succeed
Prototyping Activity
ON YOUR OWN
Select two of your design solutions:
Take 8 minutes to develop and sketch these solutions
Get Feedback
IN TEAMS
Test your ideas with your user (Erica or another group).
Partner: play the role of Erica as you are giving feedback.
4 minutes for each share/test, then switch.
Share your results :: Headline!
Share the ideas you built.
What was Erica’s feedback?
What would you do next?
Takeaways
• Empathy
–
–
–
–
Get outside your team
Empowered to be an ethnographer
Interview tips/insights
Dig for MEANING
• Brainstorm
– Create innovation potential with quantity and diversity
– Brainstorm rules
– Selection criteria—maintain innovation potential
• Low res prototyping
– Build to think
• Testing with user
– Try it out
– Get outside your team