1.
HITD 201
Framing Problems
Mark Billinghurst
HIT Lab NZ
December 10th 2013

2.
Design Thinking Process
5 modes iterated through

3.
Empathize

4.
Define
 Expresses the problem you are addressing
 Defines your unique point of view
 Unique design vision based on Empathy outcomes
 Two Goals
 Deep understanding of users and design space
 Actionable problem statement (point of view)

5.
Expressing the Problem
[User] needs [verb phrase] in a way that [way]
How might we [verb phrase] ?

6.
Empathy Map
 Synthesize observations and draw out insight
 4 quadrant layout
 SAY: What are some quotes and defining words
your user said?
 DO: What actions and behaviors did you notice?
 THINK: What might your user be thinking? What
does this tell you about his or her beliefs?
 FEEL: What emotions might your subject be feeling?

7.
Empathy Map

8.
Stakeholder
 Identify key elements of target person
 Demographics
 Occupation
 Motivation
 Express as adjective description
 Develop typical persona

9.
Personas
• Personas are a design tool to help visualize who you are
designing for and imagine how person will use the product
• A persona is an archetype that represents the behavior and
goals of a group of users
• Based on insights and observations from customer research
• Not real people, but synthesised from real user characteristics
• Bring them to life with a name, characteristics, goals, background
• Develop multiple personas

10.
Persona
 Capture elements relevant to problem

11.
Need
 Human emotional or physical necessities.
 Needs help define your design
 Needs are verbs not Nouns
 Verbs - (activities and desires)
 Nouns (solutions)
 Identify needs directly out of the user traits you
noted, or from contradictions between
 disconnect between what she says and what she does..

12.
Insight
 A remarkable realization that you could leverage to
better respond to - a design challenge.
 Insights often grow from contradictions between
two user attributes
 either within a quadrant or two different quadrants
 Asking “Why?” when you notice strange behavior.

13.
Journey Map
 To gain empathy for a person’s process
through an experience
 Consider the details of that process to illuminate
areas of potential insights
 Create diagram with multiple observations
 Organize data in timeline with significant dates
 Look for patterns

14.
Journey Map

15.
2 x 2 Matrix
 Use during problem synthesis process
 Organize relationships between things or people
 Process
 Pick two spectra - axes
 Draw 2 x 2 matrix
 Plot items on matrix
 Look for gaps/opportunties

16.
Example: Breakfast Cereals

17.
2 x 2 Matrix

18.
Problem Definition Creates Insight
User + Need = Insight

19.
How Might We … ?
 Short questions that launch brainstorming

20.
Good Point of View
 Inspires your team
 Provides focus and frames the problem
 Provides a reference for evaluating ideas
 Fuels brainstorming by suggesting ‘how might we’
 Captures the hearts and minds of people
 Guides your innovation efforts

21.
Assignment Two
 Interview people to find out what are the key
elements in a creative space for them
 Complete an empathy map and define a
problem statement with insight into how
space could be improved
 Sketch/write a list of things that could be done
to improve the class space for creative design
 Submit the empathy map and list of
improvements