In week 2 we looked at various research techniques and how we should complete our research for the best outcome. Research is one of the most important, if not the most important, stage in a design process. It sets the foundations for a successful end product, if we as designers are well informed on the user, what they want/need, and the existing market.
To begin with, it is important to go into research with an open mind. This stops any preconceptions or stereotypes from altering the end product and therefore make the end product as good as it possibly can be. The next thing to remember is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, an example of this is IDEO's rethought calendar called 'Peak', still maintaining the same principals of a calendar but with additions of lovely animations and overall a better look and feel making the user experience so much better.
As an example we looked at how to research if you were considering buying a food truck, this research would include looking at the users as well as the market, covering topics such as: how many festivals are available to attend? where are these locations in regard to fuel costs etc? what price is it to attend festivals? what is the audience demographic? what style of food do they like? what are they reading/shopping for/spending money on?
Three main questions when starting out with a product include: does it need to exist? is your product solving user needs? what goals is the product fulfilling? To understand the answers to these, we need to have an understanding of the user by completing a series of user research. This research must be completed as soon as possible, allowing for better decisions to be made.
During the process of developing a product there is two ways to go about releasing it. We can release an MVP (minimum viable product), which is a first version of the product - often far off the final product. This allows the designer to alter the final product and make changes in relation to the user opinions and give an understanding of the time that is worth being spent on it. The other option is a grand reveal - which is a lot more risky. When releasing a product via a grand reveal it is crucial that designers make sure there is a need for the product and ensure that your world view matches the worlds. If this is not ensured then the product e.g. the Segway, will not go as well as possible.
When receiving user feedback we can fall into thinking about our product in a bias way and this will alter progress going forward.
A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from rationality in judgment. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception. It is key that we as designers do not put our perceptions into a product.
A confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. As designers sometimes we only see what we want to see, it is key that we see all the information. and take it all into consideration.
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Setting aside own beliefs is not ideal when researching or participating in research, it can make the results not accurate and therefore impact the validity of the overall outcome.
Anchoring or focalism is a type of cognitive bias where an individual depends too heavily on an initial piece of information offered to make subsequent judgments during decision making. Once the value of this anchor is set, all future negotiations, arguments, estimates, etc. are discussed in relation to the anchor. It is key to remain as open minded as possible, avoid staying stuck on an initial idea and don't base all decisions off initial thoughts.
Selection bias is the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomisation is not achieved, thereby ensuring that the sample obtained is not representative of the population intended to be analysed. It is sometimes referred to as the selection effect. We need to ensure we don't choose test participants who will agree with our point of view as this can lead to error in the outcome.
A clustering illusion bias is the bias that arises from seeing a trend in random events that occur in clusters that are actually random events. We see patterns that simply do not exist.
Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others (often reworded as “Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept”). Things to be conservative about include time and matching product value to this, things to accept include assistance and keep in mind variations in users such as band width and real estate.
It also covers how a designer should be empathetic and tolerate any actions that could be taken by the user or any input provided. It is key to anticipate anything in the process of input/access/capability while providing reliability and more resilience within a product. It is important to define boundaries for users to control what they can do. Adding this level of control ensures we fulfil our job to bridge the gap between computers and users.