Our design research guide on how to "design the right thing before designing the thing right. For everyone who are beginners to UX or just need a reminder. We cover design values, interviewing techniques, and empathy.
2. Design the right thing,
before designing the thing right
why design research matters to us
BECAUSE IT SUCKS BUILDING SOMETHING FOR 9 MONTHS ONLY TO
FIND OUT NO ONE ACTUALLY WANTS TO USE IT
3. Any solution can only be as good as
the depth of understanding of the
problem.
DESIGNING THE RIGHT THING IS ABOUT ASKING
âWHAT IS A GOOD PROBLEM TO SOLVE?â
4. Empathy gives us a deep understanding of the
problems of others
It helps us ultimately design the right thing because
we can see, feel, and understand the perspectives of
people who are different from ourselves.
6. âwould you use this ifâŠ..â
asking hypothetical questions about the future
âso what do you think of my idea?â
directly pitching your idea
People who are new to design research start by
asking two types of questions (donât do this)
7. Itâs the users job to tell us about their problems,
itâs our job as designers to solve it.
We donât act on the userâs request, we act on their behalf
8. âAre you interested in working out?..â
People donât say what they mean,
and donât mean what they say
Attitudes help us understand what
people think but are a poor
reïŹection of actual behavior.
People are bad at predicting what
theyâll do in the future. Itâs not that
we donât value what people think,
itâs just that we canât make design
mandates solely based on peopleâs
opinions.
Instead of askingâŠ
âŠa better question is
âHow many times have you exercised
in the past month?â
EVERYONE WILL
SAY YES TO THIS
9. âYou may say that you like Blond,
Jewish, Democrats but you have a
habit of reaching out to pot-smoking,
Indian, Republicans..
This is called Revealed Preferenceâ
- âLooking for someoneâ, New Yorker
Stated vs Revealed preferences
Online dating sites know that what
people say doesnât always match
their behavior so their design has to
accommodate attitudes + actual
behavior.
They call this difference Stated vs
Revealed preferences. Our products
messaging should reïŹect stated
preferences, but the designs should
be based off of revealed preferences.
10. The things we ïŹnd attractive in an online dating
proïŹle have almost nothing to do with the things
that we ïŹnd attractive in a real life person when
weâre sitting in from of them.
We react to a personâs behavior but what we see
in a proïŹle are attitudes, preferences, and
background characteristics.
- Benjamin Karney, UCLA psychology professor
11. Short answer
5 - 20
Long answer
Typically we would speak with 5-20 people.Youâll start seeing clear patterns after
speaking with a few carefully selected people. Nielsen Norman group did a study
showing 3 users gets you about 75% of the total usability problems. Speaking with 5-6 is
a good number.
Before we talk about how to interview customers correctly youâre
probably wondering, how many people should I speak with?
12. FRAMEWORK
FOR INTERVIEWS
TO LEARN ABOUT
PROBLEMS WITHOUT
DIRECTLY ASKING
FOR SOLUTIONS
1. what was the hardest part about?
2. can you tell me the last time that happened?
3. why was that hard?
4. how did you solve that problem?
5. why was your solution not awesome?
13. HEREâS A SIMPLE
FRAMEWORK FOR
INTERVIEWS
Meet Dave, a tech
startup founder
with 3 employees
âKnowing the bare minimum of what I had to doâ
âWhen I wanted my company to be legitâ
âI always felt like I could get in trouble laterâ
âFelt like lawyers were reaming you every secondâ
âI paid lawyers to help me set it upâ
1. what was the hardest part about ______?
2. can you tell me the last time that happened?
3. why was that hard?
4. how did you solve that problem?
5. why was your solution not awesome?
14. âKnowing the bare minimum of what I had to doâ
âWhen I wanted my company to be legitâ
âI always felt like I could get in trouble laterâ
âFelt like lawyers were reaming you every secondâ
âI paid lawyers to help me set it upâ
Itâs tempting to give Dave exactly what
he wants, in this case some type of
feature that gives him access to lawyers.
But we as a design team know that the
solution was the give him the assurance
of â knowing the bare minimumâ and ânot
getting in trouble laterâ without ever
even needing to speak with a lawyer.
1. what was the hardest part about_______?
2. can you tell me the last time that happened?
3. why was that hard?
4. how did you solve that problem?
5. why was your solution not awesome?
15. Why we observe
We observe people with our products
or in their natural habitat.
Research interviews can teaches us
about peopleâs attitudes and what
they say they do but when we
observe we see true behaviors.
Pairing observation, listening, and
doing it ourselves lets see the
workarounds and contradictions.
The starting point for most of our
projects is observation in itâs natural
setting.
Observation can sharpen our awareness
of how people respond to particular
arrangements; we notice what people
already do intuitively. That helps us
make predictions about how people
interpret this things we design.
-Jane Fulton Suri, IDEO
16. So after listening to, watching , and doing it yourself
you want a list of the following
How are people ïŹnding creative ways to solve
problems they donât even realize they have.
What are the contradictions between what
people say and what they actually do
Workarounds
Contradictions
shows you that
people actually
want your
product
makes sure your
product is
designed correctly
17. âPeople are already solving their problems somehow,
the Workarounds are so unconscious that people donât even
realize that they do it.â
18. But when I asked him, âhow did you
solve this problem?â He said
1. found out his friendâs dad owns a
specialty athletic boutique 2.
reminds himself of the release date
3. finds out if his friend is working
there 4. asks him if itâs there 5.
pays him ahead of time 6.asks
friend to hide it under counter 7.
organizes his day to go pick it up
after school
One athlete mentioned an
occasional problem of
specialty gear being sold out
in his size but that âit wasnât
a big deal to himâ
We once spoke with athletes
about their buying behaviors
of specialty athletic gear
19. His workaround validates our
solution but we heard a
contradiction between his
attitude and workaround so we
need to frame our product so he
sees the value in it.
But when I asked him, âhow did you
solve this problem?â
1. found out his friendâs dad owns a
specialty athletic boutique 2.
reminds himself of the release date
3. finds out if his friend is working
there 4. asks him if itâs there 5.
pays him ahead of time 6.asks
friend to hide it under counter 7.
organizes his day to go pick it up
after school
One athlete mentioned an
occasional problem of
specialty gear being sold out
in his size but that âit wasnât
a big deal to himâ
20. Design the right thing,
before designing the thing right
thoughts on designing the thing right
21. in order to design the thing right we ask
âwhat is the best way to solve a problem?â
Designing the thing right is about designing for the way people
already think and matching mental models. We know we designed
the right thing when people intuitively know how to use a product
without ever even seeing it before.
22. 1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, STAND UP
GET CHECK
4. CHECKS ARE ALREADY SPLIT
5. TIP IS ALREADY INCLUDED
6. PAY AT COUNTER
1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, WAITER BRINGS CHECK
4. FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPLIT CHECK
5. HOW MUCH SHOULD WE TIP?
6. WAIT FOR WAITER TO COME BACK
7. VENMO
5A. (STARE AT FRIEND WHOâS GOOD AT MATH)
4A. (FIGHT FOR CHECK)
mental model of eating out in the US mental model of eating out in the
Costa Rica
23. 1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, WAITER
BRINGS CHECK
4. CHECKS ARE ALREADY SPLIT
5. TIP IS ALREADY INCLUDED
6. STAND UP, GO PAY IN COUNTER
1. SIT DOWN AT RESTAURANT
2.WAITER COMES, PLACE ORDER
3. FINISH EATING, WAITER BRINGS CHECK
4. FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPLIT CHECK
5. HOW MUCH SHOULD WE TIP?
6. WAIT FOR WAITER TO COME BACK
7. VENMO
5A. (STARE AT FRIEND WHOâS GOOD AT MATH)
4A. (FIGHT FOR CHECK)
Eating out in the US Eating out in the Costa Rica
Designing the thing right is about designing for the
way people already think and matching mental
models.
If we opened a restaurant in Costa Rica we would
have to match their Mental Models for eating out, the
same is true for the products we design.
24. INTERVIEW
FRAMEWORK
FOR LEARNING
ABOUT MENTAL
MODELS
âwhere do you go next?â
3. Before each step ask..
âwhat do you expect will
happen?â
4.âŠand then ask
1. SHOW YOUR PRODUCT OR PROTOTYPE
2.GIVE A SAMPLE TASK
5. KEY AN EYE OUT FOR ANY CONFUSION
25. do you know the workarounds?
do you know the contradictions
between what people say and
what they actually do?
CONCLUSION
Designing the right thing..
when you ask âwhere do you go
next?â and âwhat do you think
will happen?â
do people consistently give you
the correct answer?
âŠdesigning the thing right