EMPHATIC DESIGN

INTRODUCTION

A successful product design needs to meet the real or perceived needs of the customer.

“Get close to the

customer”

“Listen to the voice of the customer”

SHORTCOMINGS OF MARKET RESEARCH

Inability of user to recognize the problems Assumption of the user that their desires can’t

be fulfilled Hiding the real practices suspecting that they

might be deemed inappropriate Tendency to please the inquirer Biasness of surveyors into questioning Customers needs are converted into text and

numbers Problems with totally new product

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION ???

EMPHATIC DESIGN

Observation – watching customers use products or services in their environment in the course of normal, everyday routines.

Different from: focus groups, usability laboratories, and other context of traditional market research.

HOW ARE THE TWO DIFFERENT ???

TRIGGER OF USE

What circumstances prompt people to use your products or services ?

Breakfast product “Cheerios”

Spray on cooking oil for lawn mower

INTERACTION WITH USER’S ENVIRONMENT

Software package “Quicken”

Venting hood for air pollution

USER CUSTOMIZATION

Users reinvent or redesign your product to serve their own purposes.

Labeling product

Japanese automakers’ design studio in Southern California

INTANGIBLE ATTRIBUTES

“

“my mother used this”

“when it smells clean it makes all

my work worthwhile”

UNARTICULATED USER NEEDS

Observation of customers encountering problems with your product or services that they don’t know can be addressed and may not even as recognize as problems

Surgeon guiding his scalpel

Women’s razor

EMPHATIC DESIGN: THE PROCESS

Observation

Capturing data

Reflection and analysis

Brainstorming for solutions

Developing prototypes

CONCLUSION

Emphatic design can’t replace market research rather they contribute to the ideas that need further testing.

It is a low cost, low risk way to identify critical customer needs.

It has the capability to come up with entirely new product ideas.

It has the potential to redirect a company’s technological capabilities toward entirely new businesses.

Thank You

courtesy: Dorothy Leonard and Jeffrey F. Rayport