Design research

Research is not new in design. Study of consumer behavior is one of the common research in design. The users’ needs and wants are the priority of design.

Understanding context is essential in making designers critical about their designs.

Being a better designer

Do you approach every problem with the utmost confidence? Confidence comes from understanding the problem

Do you follow the same exact process every project? As a designer with deadlines, this is a trap you can easily fall into

Do you struggle to brainstorm a wide range of ideas? It happens when you dont know who you’re designing for?

Can you validate your creative decisions?

Four qualities of a designer

• Embrace complexity. We’re not just makers, we’re problem solver
  • Research helps you to get out of a linear process. Each problem has a different way to solve it.
• Be collaborative. Co-creators with multiple disciplines
  • Research makes you collaborative. You get to sit with interdisciplinary teams to try and solve a problem
• Design in context. Know the clients and users
  • With research, there’ less assumptions and more context. Without some degree of real information, assumptions are just assumptions.
• Be Accountable. Take ownership on your work.

Add value and credibility to your work

Design research adds values to your work. Design is strategy and should be integrated in the culture and goals.

Style and aesthetics can only carry a company so far. To be successful companies must invest in developing ideas.

Hierarchy of User Needs

• Functionality - must function
• Reliability - function consistently
• Usability - easy to understand and process
• Proficiency - empower the user to do something better than before
• Creativity - never before seen/imagined

Understanding different research methods

Primary vs Secondary Research

• Secondary - done by someone else. Sources: books, case studies, market reports, media. Good method to start with.
• Primary - original work. Interviews. Context-specific data from the target audience. Comprehensive - you can learn a lot from strategic thinking
  • Planning and understanding of tools
  • Careful of your bias. Observing what you only want to see, or questions that only leads to answers you want.

Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

• Quantitative = objective and can back up your claim
• Qualitative = tells you “why”

Generative vs. Evaluative research

• Generative - understand. conducted on early stages and form initial hypothesis
• Evaluative - conducted on later stages. test potential solutions

Design Research Tools

Literature Review

• Internet, books, etc.
• Combination of different sources

Competitive Analysis

• How do their competitors work? Learn what you shouldn’t do, learn how to become better, and learn the existing standard

Observational note-taking

• remain invisible so people can behave in a more normal way
• have general questions: where do people get lost? how do people get from A to B? who do they talk to? how does the existing system work? who uses it?

Photo Ethnography

• asking users to record how they do a task
• eg. how do users do their morning routine? how do we learn more about college students’ eating habits?
• maybe group of 10 to 20
• Provide clear instructions

Questionnaire or survey

• Sample audience to represent a larger population
• Survey - verbally, through phone or face-to-face
• Questionnaire - forms

Interview

• Series of questions asked to a participant
• Mostly qualitative

Focus Group

• ask multiple people at once
• 6-10
• for sensitive subject that can be uncomfy for participants on 1 on 1

Advice for performing research

• Have a plan
  • Understanding what you’re looking for
  • Identify the tools
  • Find sources of participants and information
• Know your limitations
  • What resources do you have? Budget? Time?
• Make Connections
  • Identify with someone close with a certain group of people
• Keep your bias in check
• Get consent
  • Explain their role and how their involvement will be used
• Try different tools

Writing a good interview questions

• Demographics
  • Age, income, and background can give more context
• Patterns
  • Each move different. Learn why
• Plan or no plan
  • A can be structured, and B can just go with the flow
• Impulse
  • Habit? or something was enticing?

Design Research Plan

• Task Definition
• Information-seeking strategies
• Location and access
• Use of information
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

KWHL Table

• Know - what you already know
• What - what do you need to find out?
• How - how will you learn it?
• Learn - what did you learn?