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research methods
kelly ludwig, assistant professor
kcai graphic design department
design process
1. Examine (setting goals)
2. Understand (researching)
1. gather information
2. interpret information
3. Ideate (prototyping)
4. Experiment (testing)
5. Distill (implementing)
02 Understand
Combat the desire to design for ourselves (or the client) rather than designing for the target audience
design research
followed by a prototype
design/research
people
organizational systems
build design
artifacts & processes
technical systems
relevance cycle
building
research
problems &
opportunities
design cycle
between building
design artifacts &
building and
evaluating
research
evaluate
knowledge base
scientific theories
& methods
experience & expertise
rigor cycle
evaluating
research
After you have set your goals, the first step is found in the understanding/research phase.
you then move into the ideate/prototyping phase, and you will be taking those prototypes back into the environment for more
experimenting/testing.
Once you bounce back and forth between research, prototyping and testing, you will distill and implement
design research
Investigative techniques are used to add context and
insight to the process
quantitative
Quantitative design research:
building statistically significant data
from a large pool (usually 100 or
more people)
qualitative
Qualitative design research:
learning about the audience by
listening, watching or experiencing
their lives firsthand.
narratives
ethnographies
case studies
primary
Primary design research:
collecting data that does not yet
exist; creating new knowledge
secondary
Secondary design research:
collecting and synthesizing
other peoples research
malleability
Design research is full of unanswered questions
Personas
Mental models
Storyboards, etc.
gather information
research methods
Several research methods can provide data upon which we
can build user archetypes, including:
surveys
ethnographic research
interviews
surveys
ethnography = observation
A research approach that produces a detailed, in-depth
observation of
peoples behavior
beliefs
ethnography = observation
The primary method of gathering qualitative information
on an audience, and is primary research
ethnography is
human-centered
Human-centered design research is a way of
looking at a population with the intention of
making a positive impact and addressing the
needs expressed by that population.
Watching, listening,
talking
Photos, notes,
interviews,
questionnaires
In 2004, the media design program at Art Center College of Design was sponsored by HP to conduct research of tweens (11-14)
in relation to technology, personal agency and engagement. The course focuses on the importance of conducting research as
designers.
The focus was on the ability for media designers to bring unique insight into the different aspects of the world through design.
Designers see the world differently and can communicate their ideas through visual representation. This enables us to capture
and convey the emotional aspects of research, which are often difficult to glean when reading a more traditional type of research
report.
interviews
The interview format allows some flexibility for researchers
to explore ideas and motivations that are not accessible to
an observer
non-directed interviews
Simply set up some rough guidelines and talk with your
audience
be non-judgmental
survey
A word exercise with tweens.
survey
A word exercise with tweens.
contextual inquiry
Observing what people do as
they go about their day (not what
they say they do)
questionnaires
Invite people to say
What they do
thoughts on interviewing
Prepare beforehand
interpret information
personas
Personas are fictional characters that represent patterns
and clusters of traits based on real people
personas
Personas help designers:
personas
it is important to recognize that any audience is diverse
and all people are unique individuals.
personas
psychological layer
psychological layer
aspirational layer
social layer
aspirational layer
social layer
personas
more in-depth research projects will build multiple
personas to reflect more finely-tuned audience categories
social layer
social layer
personas
psychological layer
technology layer
aspirational layer
scenarios/storyboards
Scenarios are
detailed illustrations
of moments and
activities that
engages the audience.
Multiple moments can be combined together to form a meaningful narrative of what the audience member might experience in
daily life.
mental models
Mental models are visualizations of task analysis.
mental models
Simply put they are the models people
have of themselves, others, their
environment and the things that they
interact with.
influence maps
Influence maps help to visualize
who and what is impacting and
shaping an audience member
and in what ways
In most institutional change,
theres usuallya handful of
relationships that play
adisproportionatelylarge role in
bringing those changes about.
These particular influences are from more art center design research; this time into 6-year-old boys.
Thats part of the reason its hard to truly separate institutional change from personal change. Finding the key influencers will aid
your project immensely. It can be a community leader in position or just on the block.
influence maps
influence maps
influence maps
influence maps
infographics
Infographics are detailed visual pictures that describe your
findings.
infographics
First presentation:
design concepting
Include
1. Research summary & statement
2. Problem statement or question
3. Audience definition and characteristics
4. What social behavior you want to change
5. How will you measure the results of that change?
relevant imagery
Include as much relevant imagery as possible and relevant.
You are visual people, so make your presentation reflect
that. Each group, will have 5 minutes to present, and will
have up to ten minutes for feedback (15 minutes total).
1. research summary
Fairly obvious - summarize the research that lead to your
problem statement
2. problem statement
or question
This is a concise statement of the issue you have
researched and determined to be a problem.
It may be phrased as a statement of fact -- too many teens
are being bullied in the classroom, or it may be phrased as
a question to explore through your creative process -- how
can creative problem solving help eliminate bullying in the
classroom?
Either approach is acceptable.
3. audience definition
& characteristics
3. audience definition
& characteristics
Explain their relationship to the problem, mentioning
where they fall on thereceptivity gradient as well as
specific input you have received from your audience
contacts.
A few examples:
the audience is apathetic (not ready to know) to the
issue and distracted by xyz;
the audience is interested (ready to know) in the issue
but does not have the time to get involved.
ready to know
knows facts
accepts ideas
acts on
the opinion
by David Rose
becomes an
advocate for
the cause
deliverables
Presentation
sources