Introduction to design synthesis tommy liu

“Design Synthesis”

*Using: 1. Just Enough Research – Erika Hall 2. Abductive Thinking and Sensemaking – Jon Kolko 3. Design and Research Processes…. InCompass/Reboot.

Design Synthesis 8/3/2015 Tommy Liu

1. What


Synthesis What


1. Research

2. ???

3. Informed Design Direction


1. Research

2. Analysis

3. Synthesis

4. Informed Design Direction


Primary & Secondary User Research Market Research Contextual Research Org Research Prototyping

Research

+ Previous Worldviews

Analysis Synthesis Outputs


*CIS, Snook


Research Analysis Synthesis Outputs

Observation Something we saw in one interview



Research


Analysis Synthesis Outputs

Insight Combination of multiple observations and your worldview



Insight Something really insightful goes here.

Strategic Framework Ecosystem Map

User Profile Journey Maps

Strategic Direction What are we going for?



There’s hundreds to choose from…. Find some more here: http://www.ideasforideas.com/ http://www.servicedesigntools.org/repository http://liveworkstudio.com/tools/ http://diytoolkit.org/tools/


http://www.ideasforideas.com/

http://www.servicedesigntools.org/repository

http://liveworkstudio.com/tools/

http://diytoolkit.org/tools/

2. Why


Synthesis Why?

Synthesis elegantly consolidates findings into a form which enables teams, stakeholders, and clients to frame problems and design effective* solutions.

*meets the brief, and user/market/contextual/organizational needs


Synthesis In a Project

Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Three Scenarios

1. Informal Synthesis

2. In-depth Synthesis

3. Repeated Synthesis


Synthesis 1. Informal Synthesis

Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge


Informal Insights Something really insightful goes here.



Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge



Prototype Iteration Iteration Iteration



Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge



Prototype Iteration Iteration Iteration

Success! Iteration Iteration Iteration

Synthesis 2. In-depth Synthesis

Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Research Outputs



Analysis Synthesis



Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Research Outputs



Prototype

Analysis Synthesis



Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Research Outputs



Prototype Iteration Iteration

Success!

Analysis Synthesis


Synthesis 3. Iterative Synthesis

Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Research Outputs



Prototype

Analysis Synthesis



Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Research Outputs



Prototype

Analysis Synthesis

Synthesis

Strategic Framework

Ecosystem Map Strategic Direction What are we going for?



Research Knowledge

Design Knowledge

Research Outputs



Prototype

Analysis Synthesis

Synthesis

Strategic Framework

Ecosystem Map Strategic Direction What are we going for?

Iteration

Success!


3. Thinking

A) The parts

B) An art form

C) Unifying team frames

D) Researchers & Designers


Analysis Synthesis

Analysis Objective parsing, and clustering of research findings.

Inputs: Raw research

Outputs: Research excerpts clustered into patterns and themes,

Synthesis * Combination of research outputs and “things you know” to create insight. Subjective, abductive thinking.

Inputs: Analysis outputs

Outputs: Insights, research artifacts, strategic artifacts.

*Jon Kolko, AC4D

3. Thinking

B) An art form

Analysis Synthesis

Analysis Synthesis

Analysis Synthesis

Analysis Synthesis - Fast

Analysis Synthesis

Analysis Synthesis - Slow

Analysis Synthesis

Analysis Synthesis - Mid

3. Thinking

C) Unifying team frames

Shared Frames (1)

Conducting analysis intrinsically increases understanding of a space.

Doing the activity as a team creates a sense of shared understanding among team members… essentially unifying the frames through which they view a problem.

Researchers

Designers

Offering Managers

Engineers

Marketing

Executives

Researchers

Designers

Offering Managers

Engineers Team Frame Unified Team

Frame


Analysis Synthesis

Shared Frames (2)

By tying in a diverse se of worldviews, the team can uncover more insights relevant to the project.

The analysis and synthesis process provides a formal way of enabling teams to do so.

Researchers

Designers

Offering Managers

Engineers

Marketing

Executives

3. Thinking

D) Researchers and Designers


Analysis Synthesis

The Researcher Mindset

The Designer Mindset

Objectivity We need to be objective & rigorous: do the observations, themes & insights reflect truth?

Build First Shhh let’s build something (research artifact)… try it out and see how it works!

Analysis Synthesis



Intentional Artifact Prototyping Get something out there, but keep all you assumptions in mind for the next research sprint.


Analysis Synthesis



Organization We have quite a few insights, journeys & strategies to show

Building a Tool Let’s put the complexity in a visually compelling, actionable form.

4. The Steps

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews

2. Read Out to group

3. Themes 4. Insights 5. Framing

Tools 6. Strategies

1. Clean Interviews Re-read your interviews, prepare for storytelling, and pull out interesting observations in case the group misses something.

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews

2. Read Out Interviews


Tools 6. Strategies

2. Read Out Interviews* As you review the notes or recordings, [have teammates] write down anything interesting on a sticky note. An observation is a direct quote or objective description of what the user did or said.

*Just Enough Research, Erika Hall

Observation: Something really

interesting that came out of the previous

interview

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

3. Themes* Start grouping the notes on a whiteboard. You should start seeing

patterns pretty quickly. Name the pattern and identify the user need that emerges from it, such as “Needs reminders for organized activities.”

Other possibilities are concept mapping, empathy mapping, or space saturation.


Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

3. Themes* These can be grouped on:

1. Post-its

2. Mural.ly

3. Word Documents

4. Excel documents

5. Qualitative data analysis tools

Depending on you team’s needs


Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

4. Insights* Uncover insights by combining observations and what you already know.

*Abductive Thinking and Sensemaking, Jon Kolko

I Saw This + I Know This = Insight

Observation 1: Something really interesting that came out of the

previous interview


previous interview


previous interview

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

4. Insights* Uncover insights by combining observations and what you already know.

*Abductive Thinking and Sensemaking, Jon Kolko

Need Statement: ____ needs to ____ in order to ____

General Insight: There are hierarchies in room reservation: -Status: executives, managers, line employees -Room type: conference room, meeting room, phone booth, common space -Task: large meeting, internal meeting, phone call, quiet space to work

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

5. Framing Tools Fit your findings into a visually compelling, actionable form.


There’s hundreds to choose from…. Find some more here: http://www.ideasforideas.com/ http://www.servicedesigntools.org/repository http://liveworkstudio.com/tools/ http://diytoolkit.org/tools/


http://www.ideasforideas.com/

http://www.servicedesigntools.org/repository

http://liveworkstudio.com/tools/

http://diytoolkit.org/tools/

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

5. Framing Tools –

User Profiles Why?

A profile synthesize characteristics, habits, incentives

A visual distillation of findings to represent many individuals as one “user.”

Divide target users into “classes:”

What could we include?

-Category of people this person represents

-Information about the tasks they do

-Insights/ Painpoints

-A spectrum to compare capabilities

-Whatever else you imagine

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

Archetypes

A) The Squatter

B) The mobile worker

C) The average worker

Personas Typologies

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies


Journey Maps Why?

Dissect a current system — detail insights about the current user experience

Quick user feedback - run your map by users to see how it differs from their actual experience.

Serve as a home for ideas which address certain steps in the process. It may make more sense to put your ideas into an experience map or service blueprint rather than an affinity diagram, as parts dependant on relationships will rise to the surface.

Facilitate service prototype or trial - building out a hypothesized

Portray the end result of a design

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

Storyboard * Tell a story Goes beyond interactions with the service

*Thinkpublic

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

Experience Map * Doing, thinking, feeling Insights, opportunities Cuts across channels Emotional Lines, etc. Multiple Phases

*Adaptive Path

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

Service Blueprint * Multiple Channels Phases Front/back-end (multiple users) Emotional Lines, etc.

*Blueprint + , Andy Polaine

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies


Ecosystem

Different actors

Flows of Information, influence, $

Find leverage points, feedback loops

Find the (to-be)

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies


Strategic Framework

Lay out findings across different axes

Uncover new insights

Also (hierarchy of needs, powers of 10, much more)

Analysis Synthesis

1. Clean Interviews



Tools 6. Strategies

6. Strategies

Hills

Design Principles

Strategic Vision

Design Principle Our design should do X because Y