2. Design research helps us
understand the deeper problems.
It inspires us to create solutions
and make informed decisions.
No, it’s not market research.
3. To find a promising direction To co-create and prioritise To improve incrementally
When…
• You want to gain a broader
understanding about your users
• Entering a new market
• Create a non-existent service
When…
• You have a rough service/product
in mind and look for ideas to
differentiate
• Introduce a better [x]
• Combine [x] and [y]
When…
• You want to make sure your
product is usable
• Refine the current product
FOUNDATIONAL GENERATIVE EVALUATIVE
3 TYPES OF DESIGN RESEARCH
4. DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5
PREPARATION INTERVIEW / DEBRIEF DEBRIEF
• Define scope
• Recruit
• Prepare
materials
• Plan travel
• Incentives
• Paperwork
• Interview
• Debrief
• Refine materials
• Team
discussion
• Refine
hypotheses
5-DAY RESEARCH PLAN
5. HYPOTHESIS ON PRODUCT/SERVICE OFFERING
HYPOTHESIS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
This will help [ target users ]
to [ solve x problem or gain y benefit ]
by [ how it works at a high level ].
• How do the target users think of the
the product/service offering?
• How important is XY for the target
user?
• Besides XY, what are other
problems/benefits that we haven’t
thought about?
• Who will be involved in providing
the services?
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
6. HYPOTHESIS ON COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
HYPOTHESIS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
There are many players in the market,
such as [ competitors ],
but users will choose ours because
[ differentiation ].
• Who are the potential competitors?
• How can your product stands out?
• How clear can the user see the
differentiation?
•
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
7. HYPOTHESIS ON INITIAL HURDLES
HYPOTHESIS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
However, users might not use it
because [ risks ].
We could avoid it by [ solutions ].
• What are the potential risks? Not
just purely about the product, think
about mental hurdle, market access,
influencers…
• How can you pre-empt it?
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
8. HYPOTHESIS ON BUSINESS MODEL
HYPOTHESIS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
We can sustain the business by
[ business model ].
[ Paying party ] will be happy
to pay for it because [ benefits ]
• What are different charging
models / pricing framework?
• What does it take to make the
paying party pay for the service?
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
9. PREPARATION
Objectives
What are the most important questions
need to be answered at this stage?
Team
2-4 people: interviewer, note taker,
photographer, translator
Recruit participants
4-6 people (Excluding friends/family)
Snowball, social media, social meetups
Interview locations / Travel
Home, office vs. lab/coffee shop
Remote interview
Incentives
Gift cards, donation, product coupons
Paper work (optional)
Data consent, non-disclosure agreement
Equipment
Notebook, pens, post-its, camera, business cards
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
10. 10 mins 10-30 mins 20-40 mins
WARM UP CONTENT DEEP DIVE ACTIVITIES
• Explain why and
how
• Get permission on
photos and other
media recording
• Small talk/ ice
breaking -> Trust
building
• Start with a broader topics, then narrow it down
• Active listening and observing
• Areas to explore: functions, frequency, preferences (why),
workarounds, influence, marketing/brand, perception,
emotion…
• Don’t stop at what, the goal is to understand why
• What do you mean by [easy, good, difficult…]?
——————————————————————
• Treat discussion as a guide, not a shopping list
• Get used to awkward silence. Let the participant think
• Ask them to show how they do XYZ
• Using activities to get answers that
might not be easy to get out of when
just chatting
• Low-fi prototype or sketches are
more inviting for discussions then the
high-fi ones
• We are not asking users for a
solution. We are looking for the
reasons behind to inspire design
solutions
ONE HOUR INTERVIEW BREAKDOWN
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
11. Would you use it?
Do you think it is helpful?
-> When asking ‘YOU’, you are putting the participants
on the spot. They will always say yes because they
don’t want to offend you.
What do you want?
-> not enough, need to know the why
How much will you pay for it?
-> hard to get a real answer
• See if the participant has paid for similar
product before, and ask how would they
compare those two.
LESS EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS MORE EFFECTIVE ONES
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
• Who do you think this product is for?
• When/what do you think this product is for?
• How does it compare to your current solution?
• How would it fit into your current workflow?
• Why do you want X?
• Why is it important?
12. 3-STEP DEBRIEF
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
WHAT CAUGHT YOUR ATTENTION YOUR INTERPRETATION
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE
PRODUCT/SERVICE
• Participant’s quote/opinion
• Observation
• Align/mis-alignment
• What do you think the
participant mean by x?
• Why did the participant
say/do that?
• Do you think this participant is
a general user or an outlier?
• Did you see a similarity share
with other participants?
• With the knowledge you just
gained, are your product
hypothesis still true?
• How could you refine the
hypotheses and product/service?
• Can we retire some of the
questions?
• How to improve the interview
process?
PREPARATION | INTERVIEW | DEBRIEF
13. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
It’s an iterative process.