4. empathize define test ideate prototype
Define is a transition – it is a both a discovery and focusing stage. You focus to ground your efforts – and you work to discover insights that will change the way you
You are moving from understanding to creating. ‘Define’ is the beginning of your creation phase.
empathize
define
test
ideate
prototype

5. discover
In this mode we are looking to discover insights and focus our efforts on a challenge worth solving.
We will do two things today (flip slide)
focus

6. focus on designing for a person
First, focus your work, by finding one person (who you actually met) to concentrate on.
Why focus on individual people? :
We are trying to discover insights on an emotional and behavioral level (not validate findings across a population)
One person’s needs often have surprising relevance to others
who inspires your work

7. focus on designing for a person
look for patterns and resonance
leads to specific and human solutions
[Caution: “look for resonance” doesn’t mean attempt to find “most common” issues. It means what are the most interesting things that you heard in different ways. What connections do you see? But don’t discard outliers either. These surprises can inspire.]
who inspires your work

8. that reframe the problem and uncover opportunities
discover new insights
Second thing you will do: discover insights . . .
that reframe the problem
and uncover opportunities

9. that reframe the problem and uncover opportunities
discover new insights
make sense of
your empathy work
leads to novel and meaningful solutions
You’ll do this by making sense of your empathy work you just did.
And those insights help you reframe the challenge – see the challenge in a different way – and act as a springboard for new and powerful ideas.
that reframe the problem
and uncover opportunities

10. OBSERVATION + INFERENCE = INSIGHT
discover new insights
OBSERVATION + INFERENCE = INSIGHT
What is an insight? . . .

11. “why is this important?”
discover new insights
OBSERVATION + INFERENCE = INSIGHT
Insight: actionable [novel, surprising, meaningful] learning about people
notice
something
“why is this important?”
actionable
learning about
people

12. OBSERVATION
INSIGHT
You have to make the leap from your observations to big insights. It is not a logical process. It is a creative process.
Inference also known as “abductive reasoning”, reasoning based on probability, experience, intuition. Imagine “what might be” based on what you heard.
“The conclusions from an abductive argument might turn out to be false, even if the premises are true”

13. THE CHALLENGE: Redesign home cleaning
for the sustainably-minded consumers
An example. A few years ago a team from the d.school partnered with a large consumer goods company – and took on the challenge to “redesign home cleaning for the sustainably-minded consumer”.
And the team focused their empathy work on talking to, what we call, extreme users. Extreme users are people how are extreme in some way in respect to the challenge. The reason we talk to extreme users is that their needs and behaviors are more evident (to us, as design researchers) – but what we learn from them can often be applied to a larger set of people.
In this case the team decided to talk to organic farmers. They are an extreme in their views and behavior around sustainability.

14. Those apples look sad to me.”
The team talked to a number of people. Let me highlight two of them.
Reiren lives and works at the Marin Zen Center (in Marin county). She rarely shops in regular grocery stores, especially for produce.
But sometimes she’s forced to. She told the team about a time she went into Safeway grocery store – and about the produce aisle
Reiren: Organic Farm at the Marin Zen Center
“Safeway apples are all the same size and color. But that’s just not how things grow. Things that look machine made are not organic.
Those apples look sad to me.”

15. The team also met Steve selling organic produce at a local farmers’ market. Steve gets annoyed at what he calls “fraudulent produce” at the market – fruit and vegetables that aren’t grown by the seller and not organic. He said
Now these are just bits of two conversations of out dozens – but the team noticed something about these comments and other comments from others.
Steve: Organic Produce Farmer
“If you want to find the good apples at the farmer’s market, walk around and look for the batch of apples that are all different shapes and sizes.”

16. OBSERVATION
INSIGHT
So we noticed those two comments – those two quotes are part of our “observations”

17. OBSERVATION INSIGHT “Things that look machine made are not organic.
Those apples look sad to me.”
“Walk around and look for the batch of apples that are all different shapes and sizes.”
So now, remember now we ask ourselves “Why is that important?”, “What can we infer from this?”

18. Imperfections and variations are visual indicators of purity.
OBSERVATION
INSIGHT
“Things that look machine made are not organic.
Those apples look sad to me.”
Imperfections and variations are visual indicators of purity.
“Walk around and look for the batch of apples that are all different shapes and sizes.”
What struck the team – what they found to be an interesting insight is:
That for these sustainably-minded people, Imperfections and variations are visual indicators of purity.
This is in contrast to the traditional view: that perfection or immaculacy is an indication of purity. So you see a new, perhaps surprising, viewpoint here.
This is an insight the team could then use going forward.
Usually insights are abstractions from specific observations/quotes to an actionable declaration. In a sense, it is a hypothesis – but one you are going to act on and test through your prototypes.

19. THE ORIGINAL CHALLENGE:
Redesign home cleaning
for the sustainably-minded consumers
THE REFRAME:
How might we leverage imperfections and variation to create and communicate a green cleaning product
Your insight helps you reframe the challenge. It gives you a new way to look at the problem and an actionable direction to go in.
So you remember the original broad challenge . . .
Now you can use your insight to reframe the challenge . . .

20. do it: focus and discover
0. pitch your users
unpack your empathy work
2. leap from observations to insights
3. detail your user
Now you are going to do it. Here’s how . . .
[“Pitch your users” =
Today, because of the time restriction:
1. Each pair (how interviewed together) in your team should pick the most surprising person they met.
Then each pair “pitch” (one-minute) that user. Tell us a couple things s/he told you and why you found this interesting.
2. Then vote for which user to concentrate on.]

21. focus and discover unpack insights user Unpacking:
3. Then have that pair recount the conversation with that person in detail. And capture what they say visually and put it up on the board.
Unpacking means getting all of what you heard and say that is in your heads (and in your notes) shared and visually on the board.

22. space
saturation
When you have your board saturated with the all these pieces you can start to see how things relate, see patterns, and start to synthesize.
By getting visual you are expanding beyond the limitations of your working memory.

23. say think tensions contradictions surprises do feel
The (simple) tool we are going to use today is called a User Empathy Map.
(Explain quadrants)
“As you unpack, also keep a running list of tensions, surprises, and contradictions.”
“We will unpack our empathy work by retelling our team what we saw and heard -- and capturing all the data using a user empathy map. We will watch our performers here demo the process . . .”
[DEMO] do
feel

24. focus and discover unpack insights user
Then look back to your Empathy Map and the tensions/contradictions/surprises. Notice something interesting and then ask yourselves “Why is this important?”
[DEMO]
Shoot for two or three insights.

25. focus and discover unpack insights user
Finally, sketch up your user –the person you are designing for – and note a few details that you think are important and inspiring about this person.
These details are about about this person, but things you see would resonate across a number of similar users.
[DEMO]

26. define: discover and focus
unpack
5 min pitch users, pick one
15 min recount story, capture on empathy map
insights
15 min move from observations to insights
user
5 min sketch up user, note details