discovering unmet needs & new solutions through participatory design
TRANSCRIPT
Jennifer Briselli Managing Director, Experience Strategy & Design
Participatory DesignDiscovering Unmet Needs & New Solutions
What is Participatory Design?
Why might you use these this approach in your own practice or organization?
How has it been successful for others?
What does it look like? How do you do it?
Overview
What it is:
An approach to design that invites all stakeholders (e.g. ‘end users,’ employees, partners, customers, citizens, consumers) into the design process as a means of better understanding, meeting, and sometimes preempting their needs.
What it is not:
• A variation on interviews or focus groups• A way to “make your users do your job for you”• A single prescriptive method or tool• A rigidly defined process
• (see also: co-design, co-creation, co-production, collaborative design…)
• A holy grail
What is Participatory Design?
Involving the people we’re serving through design as participants in the process.
What is Participatory Design?
Design Process
DISCOVER
diverge on needs &
assets
Adapted from “Double Diamond Model of Product Definition and Design” from UK Design Council
DISCOVER SYNTHESIZE
diverge on needs &
assets
converge on opportunities
Design Process
Adapted from “Double Diamond Model of Product Definition and Design” from UK Design Council
DISCOVER SYNTHESIZE GENERATE
diverge on needs &
assets
converge on opportunities diverge on ideas
Design Process
Adapted from “Double Diamond Model of Product Definition and Design” from UK Design Council
DISCOVER SYNTHESIZE GENERATE FOCUS
diverge on needs &
assets
converge on opportunities diverge on ideas
converge on solutions
Design Process
Adapted from “Double Diamond Model of Product Definition and Design” from UK Design Council
DISCOVER SYNTHESIZE GENERATE FOCUS
diverge on needs &
assets
EVALUATE
converge on opportunities diverge on ideas
converge on solutions
Design Process
Adapted from “Double Diamond Model of Product Definition and Design” from UK Design Council
DISCOVER SYNTHESIZE GENERATE FOCUS
Adapted from “Double Diamond Model of Product Definition and Design” from UK Design Council
Generates design principles & direction
Generates viable solution concepts
Where does participatory design fit in?
“Participatory design methods, especially generative or ‘making’ activities, provide a design language for non designers (future users) to imagine and express their own ideas for how they want to live, work, and play in the future.”
- Liz Sanders
Why it’s useful
For example…
Users often talk about wanting to have an “easy to navigate” site and “answers at their fingertips,” but when they created imaginary screens, they focused less on easy navigation and more on making sure the interface would know the person viewing it and remind them of key information, pre-empting questions and the need to navigate much at all.
Framing: Identifying goals, objectives, key questions, hypotheses
Planning: Planning activities that answer these questions
Facilitating: Ensuring & documenting productive participation
Analyzing: Making sense of it all to identify actionable insights
How to do it
Stakeholders, Co-creators, End Users
Challenges & Goals
Questions & Unknowns
Assumptions & Hypotheses
Choosing Activities
Framing
Many types, many goals
• Trust Building
• Collaboration
• Narrative
• Generative
• Reflective
Choosing activities & methods
Participants help us understand their needs via storytelling. These activities are intended to elicit memories and help build empathy and understanding, building trust and identifying opportunities along the way.
Examples:• Journey mapping• Love letter/breakup letter• Collaging• Empathy mapping• Knowledge hunt• Reenactments
‘Narrative’ activities
Participants generate ideas and create prototypes of products, services, or experiences• Sometimes participants create viable solution concepts• Sometimes participants create items that give designers insight
& direction
Examples:• Magic screen/button/object• Interface toolkit• Physical/paper/rapid prototyping• Fill in the blank• Ideal workflow• Ecosystem mapping
‘Generative’ activities
Participants make connections and judgments that help us understand the value of potential design solutions. These activities help participants and designers evaluate and understand the value of existing experiences or potential future design solutions.
Examples:• Card sorting• Value ranking• Storyboard/Concept speed dating• Bodystorming/Gamestorming
‘Reflective’ activities
The design prompt sets the stage and ensures participants will focus their contributions on the goals, questions, or hypotheses you’ve identified.
For example:
“Use the items provided to create a perfect remote control.”
“Draw an imaginary classroom that provides all your educational needs.”
“Create a script for the ideal interaction between a student and counselor.”
Design Prompts
Where: office, school, home, outdoors, in context
Who & how many: large group, small group, individual
Observation methods: notes, video, photo, artifacts
Materials: construction kits, legos, playdoh
Logistics: recruiting (>2 weeks), honorarium, volunteers, observers
Planning
Be prepared
Be yourself
Be flexible & adaptive
Be reflective
Be warm & friendly
Facilitating: Participation
Document Document Document• Dedicated note taker(s)• Photograph• Record audio & visual when possible (consent is key)• Keep artifacts when possible
Ask participants to tell you about what they create• 1 on 1• Show & tell• Share a story• Write a commercial• Create a pitch
Facilitating: Capturing Value
Cut irrelevant or incomplete information
Get everything into a common format
Follow your instinct… analysis is as much art as science
Expect to spend at least 2 hours of analysis for every hour spent facilitating.
Analyzing
Raw Data• Notes• Photos• Videos• Audio• Artifacts
StandardizedData• Spreadsheets• Post-its
Participant Clusters
Opportunity Clusters
Theme/Affinity ClustersIdentified Patterns
Potential Output• Focus Areas• Design Characteristics• Design Principles• Solution Concepts• Prototype Ideas
Instead of asking people to tell us “what they want,” why not give them the language and tools to show us what they want... Or even to create it themselves.
Thinking about…
What are the most important takeaways for your organization?
What are the most important questions left unanswered?
Wrap Up – Q & A