2008 How Design Conference Notes: Designer’s Guide to Research
presented by Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady, founders of Enspace Design and authors of A Designer’s Research Manual. (original description)
Design Research
- Qualitative and quantitative
- Primary and secondary sources
- Formative: at the beginning of a project to help define the problem
- Summative: at the end of a project to determine outcome strategies
Methods
- visual exploration: creating prototypes (sounds more credible), aka ’sketching’
- competitor analysis: media scanning is ‘open source intelligence gathering’
- ad placement, time & place to determine target & agenda
- social media, conversations
- ethnographic research: link human behavior to culture, e.g. geography, interest
- etic: from the perspective of an outsider
- emic: immersive study as a member of that culture
- marketing research: human behavior linked to market-based economy
- demographics: track measurable, concrete traits
- psychographics: track opinion, attitudes
- user testing: satisfy needs of the end user, i.e. useful, usable, relevant
information literacy
- manufacturing economy: reading, writing, arithmetic
- information economy: communication, computer literacy, search & evaluate
- The Big6 process:
- Task definition
- Develop search strategies
- Location and access
- Use of information
- Synthesis
- Evaluate process and products: don’t forget after delivery
(steps 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6 are research, step 5 is design)
Articulating value
- research is the key to being able to properly aim creative impluses
- show shared set of values
- UK Design Index: companies that use design effectively outperform others by 200%
- Case study: Type 1 Tools
- based on personal research into the lack of good information
- flash cards, magnets
- website for community building
- designer as author
Resources