Methods and the design processHere is a selection of design methods to offer practical advice and to share best practice.
Methods: Assessment Criteria, Being Your Users, Observation, Physical Prototyping, Quantitative Research, Brainstorming, Character Profiles, Cluster and Vote, Workshop Toolkit, Fast Visualisation, Drivers and Hurdles, Choosing a Sample, Secondary Research. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/About-Design/Design-Methods
Assessment criteriaScoring individual ideas against common criteria in order to select ideas
Why Agreed assessment criteria are useful for taking into account the concerns of multiple stakeholders and selecting ideas.
How Brainstorm, refine and agree a set of assessment criteria. These need to be structured so that they encourage individual participants to consider the perspectives of other stakeholders when making their assessments.
For example, if you were selecting a product design to take forward into production you might give each of the ideas a score of 1-5 on the criteria of: technical feasibility (the concern of stakeholders in engineering), cost (the concern of finance), passion for the idea (the concern of the project team), portability and size (which might be some of the concerns of the customers).
Score all your ideas against individual criteria before totalling the final score for each idea. A method to define the expectations of both the client and the design team at the start of a new project
Being Your UsersHow Identify your target user group, then carry out research to identify user scenarios and typical tasks users undertake.
Put yourself in the user's situation for a couple of hours, a day or even a week.
Carry out the tasks that they would do, in the environments where they would do them. This could mean, for example, working on a supermarket checkout or driving an unfamiliar car for a week.
Make detailed notes or keep a diary to record your thoughts.
You could...
...use empathy tools to simulate specific user characteristics. For example, wearing gloves and tinted glasses can simulate some of physical effects of old age, or a pregnancy suit with a weighted 'bump' can simulate what it would be like for a pregnant woman to use your product or service.
BrainstormingBrainstorming is working together to help you generate ideas more quickly and effectively
How Start with a warm-up. Brainstorm a fun problem such as 'How can we get every Monday morning off work?
State the problem clearly and concisely.
Don't lose anything. Write your ideas on flipcharts, or on the wall.
Number your ideas, and set a target, say to get to 100.
Keep the focus sharp. Edgy and precise statements are better than fuzzy ones.
Keep the ideas flowing, be responsive and keep trying to approach the problem from different viewpoints.
Brainstorming will be most effective if you keep to these ground rules:
Defer judgment - build on ideas to make them better.
Don't criticise!
One conversation at a time
Go for quantity - the more ideas the better
Have wild ideas - every idea is valid
Stay focused on the problem in hand
Be visual - draw ideas or represent them with whatever is to hand.
Resources
Flipcharts and pens
Refreshments and biscuits - it can be hard work and you need to keep energy levels up
Character ProfilesHaving character profiles visible and to hand during the design process will stimulate ideas and aid decision making. They can also help in justifying innovations to stakeholders in the project
How Based on actual research of your user groups, or a brainstorm, identify the key characters that you are going to design for.
Give the characters names and visually represent how they look and dress, their aspirations, behaviour, lifestyle and any challenging peculiarities.
It is important to create profiles of extreme users as well as typical ones. It can also be useful to write 'stories' about a typical day in their life.
Display the profiles prominently. They will help you to stay on course and stop you designing for yourself. At decision points, ask yourself, 'What would Mary or John think of this?'
You could...
...make composite profiles by merging the characteristics of real users you have met.
Resources
Photographs and images cut from magazines, a sheet of flipchart paper or foamboard
Choosing a SampleChoosing a sample is a design method that helps you create a strategy to find the most appropriate or effective group of users to recruit will make the most of limited time and budget
Why It's not possible to research each and every one of your users. Creating a strategy to find the most appropriate or effective group of users to recruit will make the most of limited time and budget.
Creating a sample is the first step for many methods of understanding users, including one-to-one interviews and focus groups.
How Start by brainstorming the user attributes that you think influence behaviours in relation to your project. Then choose the most important attributes to determine a useful range of people to study. For example, if you were designing a bike for female commuters you might want to study people who commuted by different means (train, car, bus), and in geographical areas with different weather, as well as people of different size and strength.
Other common attributes to consider might be age, life stage, ethnicity and socio-economic background, as well as emotional characteristics or attitudes. Be wary of speaking to more people than you have time to analyse. There is a trade-off between the number of people you speak to and the number of insights you will get. Often a sample of six to nine people will be enough.
Remember, your sample doesn't have to be representative. In fact, talking to non-representative or extreme users will often yield the most insight and inspiration for your project. For example, if you were designing a bike for commuters you might want to include a cycle courier in your sample.And don't make the mistake of only talking to people who use your products or services - speak to those who don't use them too. Don't only talk to people who love commuting by bike, but include those who have tried it and hated it, as well as those who love commuting by car. Always be mindful of who you haven't met.
The sample you choose will depend on what you are trying to get from your users. If you are researching to identify opportunities, a diverse sample including extreme users can often yield the best results. If you are researching to validate a resolved design (for example in a focus group ), on the other hand, then a more representative and less diverse sample may be more appropriate
Cluster and VoteCluster and vote is a method to identify patterns in a problem area or in a series of ideas. This in turn will help you select solutions
Why Agreed assessment criteria are useful for taking into account the concerns of multiple stakeholders and selecting ideas.
How Brainstorm, refine and agree a set of assessment criteria. These need to be structured so that they encourage individual participants to consider the perspectives of other stakeholders when making their assessments.
For example, if you were selecting a product design to take forward into production you might give each of the ideas a score of 1-5 on the criteria of: technical feasibility (the concern of stakeholders in engineering), cost (the concern of finance), passion for the idea (the concern of the project team), portability and size (which might be some of the concerns of the customers).
Score all your ideas against individual criteria before totalling the final score for each idea
Drivers and HurdlesDrivers and hurdles helps you identify where to concentrate energies for most effect in the next stages of your project
Why Use this method to understand people's perceptions, manage their expectations and identify where to concentrate energies for most effect.
How Gather together a diverse group of stakeholders in your project. Brainstorm what the workshop participants perceive to be the barriers (hurdles) and motivators (drivers) to a project's success. Collect the ideas on two separate sheets of paper.
Establish what the project can and can't address, and agree which drivers it would be best to focus on in order to overcome the hurdles.
Resources
Flipcharts, marker pens, sticky notes
Fast VisualisationVisualising ideas will make them easier to understand and modify, and will in turn stimulate new ideas
How Get people who can draw to sketch ideas during a group brainstorm.
The drawings don't need to be perfect: they only need to have just enough detail to communicate the idea.
Visuals are then shown to the group and used to stimulate discussion and more ideas. The visualisers themselves are most effective when they are part of a team which also has a facilitator.
Resources Someone who can draw, paper, marker pens
Focus GroupsFocus groups is a design method that helps you get a broad overview of users' reactions to, and ideas about, a topic.
How Focus groups usually involve six to ten respondents in a group discussion lasting two to three hours, moderated by a skilled facilitator.
The facilitator will lead the group through a series of exercises designed to uncover their thoughts on the given topic. Good preparation of these exercises is vital, as is creating a democratic, supportive and informal atmosphere. The aim of focus groups is to get people talking freely and informally, so it's important that the people feel comfortable with the others in the room, otherwise they might go quiet.
The sample of people you choose to come to the session will usually represent part of your user group.
You could...
...ask someone to visualise responses to users' comments and bring them into the group for further discussion.
...use a video link or two-way mirror to allow the development team to observe. The session could also be videotaped for future reference.
Physical PrototypingPhysical prototyping is a design method to help you to iron out any unanticipated problems with your creative ideas
Why Prototypes give you insights into how a product or service will be used, before you create a finished version.
How First decide which aspect of the user experience you want to test, and choose an appropriate representation to test it. This will vary according to the stage of development your project is at.
At an early stage a 'quick and dirty' prototype that people are not afraid to criticise is best for testing principles.
At a later stage a you may want to create 'works-like' prototypes to detail aspects of build and functionality and a (possibly separate) 'looks like' prototype to test response to form.
For example, you might first test the principles of a new office workstation by building it in foamboard using hot glue. In later stages you may test a detail of the mechanism by building 'works-like' mechanical prototypes and the form of the furniture by building separate 'looks-like' models at scale and with no moveable parts.
Build your prototype using available material and test it with end users, or role play how you might use the design yourself.
Use what you learn to improve the prototype design further.
Physical prototypes are also particularly effective in communicating design ideas to diverse groups of stakeholders.
Resources
Paper, card, foam board, hot glue... you might need a whole DIY store, depending on the level of realism required.
ObservationObservation is a design method to identify the problems that can arise when people interact with products, services and environments
How Depending on your project, you might want to make general observations of something that already exists - for example, how people move around a shopping centre, or how people in the street use their mobile phones. Or you might need to create specific situations to test a design. This could mean observing how people complete a specified task on a computer in a simulated environment, or observing how people use a prototype of a new product.
You could...
...record your observation through photos or video. This lets you analyse the material after the event (and even catch important details you might have missed, like the expressions on people's faces). Photographs or videos can also provide evidence to show to other partners or stakeholders in your project.
Resources Optional: camera, video camera
Quantitative ResearchQuantitative surveys is a design method to understand the 'big picture' and provide you with statistics that can help to inform the direction of your project
How There are two types of quantitative survey:
1. Omnibus surveys are regular monthly surveys, allowing you to place a number of questions on a shared questionnaire. This is the cheaper option but limited in scope.
2. Ad hoc surveys are bespoke pieces of work and allow you to ask as many questions as you need.
Both of these will involve commissioning a specialist market research agency. It's best to look for one familiar with the territory so that they will produce a usable report that directly responds to the needs of the project.
Don't forget - the information you need may already be available at reference libraries. See Secondary Research.
Resources
See www.mrweb.co.uk for a list of agencies and their capabilities.
Secondary ResearchSecondary research is a design method for finding a range of published information about your customers, your competitors and political, social and economic trends
How Search online or at your local reference library (where you can ask for help). Some online systems allow you to automatically repeat your search daily or subscribe to RSS feeds, enabling you to keep up with developments in your area.
Particularly good sources of information are:
National press and trade periodicals
Specialist blogs
Conference reports
Market research, market reports and official statistics
Business reports from commercial publishers (such as KeyNote, Euromonitor, Mintel, Datamonitor, and The Economist Intelligence Unit)
Public sector periodicals, reports and papers
Trade associations and organisations
Colleges and universities
Think tanks
Resources Some libraries will require a reader pass, some websites will require a subscription. Most current market research reports will have to be paid for, however last year's reports can often be accessed free at local reference libraries
Workshop ToolkitWorkshop toolkit are what you need when it's difficult to predict all the eventualities of a workshop - so it's best to be prepared for a wide range of activities
How Make yourself a box with the following resources in it... (and don't forget to have refreshments on hand to keep everyone going.)
Resources
• Thick and thin marker pens of different colours; pencils
• Sticky notes - different colours, sizes and shapes
• Notepads and paper of different sizes
• Flip charts - sticky ones are best
• Pins and masking tape
• Digital camera, Polaroid camera and film
• Foamboard, cardboard, cutting mat, knives and glue for prototyping
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