sparking innovation through empathic design
TRANSCRIPT
Sparking Innovation through Empathic Design
Presentation by – Piyush Jain, 06020511
- by Dorothy Leonard & Jeffrey F. Rayport
Introduction
• Companies strive for continual innovation.• Way – “Getting close to the users…”• Problem – How?• Users ignorant of what they want.• Tendency to adjust and compromise.• Solution – Empathic Design.• Empathic Design – Observing the users as they
are.• Different from laboratory set ups.• Helpful in eliciting subtle information.• A practice known but not practices well by
companies.
Importance/Benefits
• Subtle feedbacks about the bondage of the user with the product which even the user is not consciously aware of.
• These could be problems too, which the users has seemlessly accustomed to.
• Things like smell of leather, sounds of an engine etc.• Experience is deeply ingrained and users feel nostalgic.• Source of innovation.• Important for generating user feedbacks for products the
type of which currently do not simply exist.• Examples –
– Harley Davidson Engine’s Sound.– Radio as Music Box– Nissan’s leather selection for Infinity J-30 etc.
Things we learn from Observation
• Usability Feedbacks. Examples - – Is the packet easy to open?– Does the user have to resort to the manual, or are operating principles
clearly telegraphed by the design?– Are handles, knobs, and distances from the floor designed
ergonomically?– Does the user hesitate or seem confused at any point? – What unspoken and possibly false assumptions are guiding the user's
interaction with the product?
• Empathic Design techniques can yield at least five types of information that cannot be gathered by traditional marketing or product research.
1. Trigger of Use
• What circumstances prompt people to use your product?• Do your customers turn to your offering when, and in the
way, you expected? • If they don't, there may be an opportunity for your
company.• The HP 95/LX PDA case.• The spray-on cooking oil case.• Unanticipated usage patterns can identify opportunities not
only for innovation and product redesign but also for entering entirely new markets.
2. Interaction with User’s Environment
• How does the product or service fit into your users' own idiosyncratic systems.
• Intuit’s personal finance manager – Quicken.
• Intuit learnt by watching user boot up Quicken on a home computer.
• Discovered software applications are running on customers’ system and how they can interfere with or complement Quicken's own operation.
• Some small changes resulting from these observations could be competitively important.
3. User Customization
• Users reinvent products as per their own requirements.– Functional.– Ego intensive.
• Numerous examples.• Users taping pieces of papers as labels for products.• Homemakers making recipes for washing clothes etc.• Users combining Beepers and Cellphones to allow and
deny access to particular users.
4. Intangible Attributes of the Product
• Peripheral or intangible attributes of the product.• Users feeling nostalgic by the familiar smell of a product
and evoked satisfaction.• Could be dangerous and hampering.• Could be augmented, exploited and redirected.• Pull-on diapers seen by parents as a step toward grown up
dress.• Failing to note these aspects could sink a new product.
5. Unarticulated User Needs
• Greatest potential benefit is the observation of current or possible customers encountering problems with the products or services that they don't know can be addressed and may not even recognize as problems.
• Surgeon – display problem.• Innovation of a new Helmet type Display
system.• Innovation of Female safety razor – The
Gillette Lady Sensor.• Empathic-design techniques can't replace
market research; rather, they contribute to the flow of ideas that need further testing.
Empathic Design – The process
• STEP 1 – OBSERVATION• Who should be observed?
– Cutomers, Non Customers, Customers of Customers, Group of individuals (Team).
– Selecting wrong focus group could result in cacophonous results.
• Who should be observing?– Different people observe different things in identical scenarios.– The solution is to work in teams comprising of expertise from different
disciplines.– The IDEO approach.
• What behavior should be observed?– People being observed should be carrying out normal routine activities.– Observations should be highly unobtrusive.– If possible, people should be oblivious of being observed.– If not, a real-life atmosphere- even a slightly stilted one-is still better than
the highly artificial setting of a focus-group conference room or a laboratory
Empathic Design – The process
• STEP 2 – CAPTURING THE DATA• Visual, Auditory and Sensory clues.• Videography, & Photography – Very powerful tools.• On the spot drawings, illustrations.• Notes.• Inquiry by means of open ended questions if necessary.
Empathic Design – The process
• STEP 3 – REFLECTION AND ANALYSIS• Each member reflects on what he/she has observed.• Reviewal of all the data gathered collectively.• Mutual questioning and answering rounds amongst team
mates.• Decision for further observation or re-observation.• Identification of all of customer’s needs and problems.
Empathic Design – The process
• STEP 4 – BRAINSTORMING FOR SOLUTIONS• Brainstorming – Productive and Creative.• 5 principles –
– Defer Judgment– Build on the ideas of others– Hold one conversation at a time– Stay focused on the topic– Encourage wild ideas
Empathic Design – The process
• STEP 5 – PROTOTYPING• Developing prototypes of the possible concepts.• Prototypes clarify the concept of the new product or service
for the development team.• They enable the team place its concepts in front of others
who work in functions not formally represented on the team.• They can simulate reaction and foster discussion with
potential customers of the innovation because of their concreteness.
• Sometimes 2 prototypes are used – one for function other for form.
• Simulations are also powerful prototypes.• Role playing is also a kind of simulation.
Empathic Design as a culture shift
• Common criticism – “But the user’s haven’t asked for that.”• By the time they do, the competitors will have the same
new product ideas you have and you will be in the “me too” game of copying.
• Empathic Design advocates that new product development should be guided by the user.
• Beyond producing the same thing only better.• Developing a deep, empathic understanding of users'
unarticulated needs can challenge industry assumptions and lead to a shift in corporate strategy.
Thank YouQuestions are invited…