IA Summit 2013COLLABORATIVE DESIGN

04.05-07.2013

Monday, April 8, 13

04.05-07.2013

HELLO.

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04.05-07.2013

@KELANINICHOLE

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Back home in Brooklyn

Director Product Strategists User Experience Designers You?

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Sketch

Refine

Critique

Present

DESIGN STUDIO

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What about when you don’t know what all the pieces are?

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Or what you want to build?

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Or want to take your product in a whole new direction?

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IT WORKED!

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An effective and actionable means to build strong relationships across mixed client/agency teams.

What we found...

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A natural fit with our working style, and a great way to invite clients into our culture.

What we found...

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A way to get clients out of their typical environment and engaging across internal walls.

What we found...

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A means to create shared ownership in envisioning new products, services and digital platforms.

What we found...

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1. What does new product X look like when you login?2. How can we reinvent this customization tool?3. What is the new homepage experience on site Y?4. How can a new search and directory tool help

connect people?5. How can we create a social shopping experience on

this eCommerce product page?

How we’re using collaborative design:

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1WHAT IS DESIGN STUDIO?

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How it Works

Present Critique Sketch Refine/Repeat321 4

Group provides positive and negative

feedback

Steal the best ideas – incorporate feedback and refine concepts

Present ideas to your group from a user-

focused POV

Generate ideas through quick rounds

of sketching

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• Generate eight ideas in 8 minutes – they should be distinct concepts, and can be very rough.

• Present & Critique with your group – 5 minutes each.

Round 1

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• Steal the best ideas from your group – combine them into 4 refined concepts, with a little more detail, in 10 minutes.

• Present & Critique with your group – 5 minutes each.

Round 2

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• Collaborative Design – Divide & conquer to deepen one concept, incorporating the best elements by working together for 20-30 minutes.

• Present & Critique with the entire group, 5 minutes per team – vote on leading concepts.

Round 3

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• Creates shared understanding around the design challenges, user needs and functional scope.

• Produces leading design patterns through iteration and consensus building.

Why it works:

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2HOW WE’RE USING IT

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Foster a sense of ownership,

investment and deepen engagement

with partners.

Create a common language and frame of reference around the product, unite

collaborators.

2Functional Emotional

1

Why Collaborative Design?

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Build Relationships

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Overcome Obstacles

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Establish a Common Language

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Create Shared Understanding

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• Research informs well-defined design challenges.• Background is presented at the beginning of the

workshop. • Participants break into teams of 4 or 5 for three rapid

rounds of sketching, presentation and critique and then refine ideas.

• The whole group gathers together after the third round to regroup and build consensus.

Overview of the Workshop

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Tips: Sketching

Everyone can sketch!

It’s about quantity NOT quality.

Focus on getting the idea down on paper, then refine.

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• Persona-first thinking should always lead presentation of designs.

• It’s about selling a concept and getting to the best solutions through collaboration.

• The art of critique – focus on articulating the strengths and weaknesses of each and every design solution.

Tips: Presentation & Critique

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• Aligning stakeholders on priority and scope.• Exploring a problem space from a user-focused

perspective.• Educating collaborators on how context impacts a

person’s needs, and what to expect from our iterative product design process.

• Working through internal politics, agendas, bad ideas and constraints.

What its great for:

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• A simple brainstorming method you can run on-the-fly in an hour – it requires investment and preparation.

• A means to identifying a fleshed-out approach to implementation.

• A decision-making tool – consensus is different than approval.

What its not:

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• Scheduling is a challenge – getting a group of stakeholders in a room to sketch for six hours is sometimes not so easy.

• Environment is essential – table space, ambient music, healthy nourishment and the right leader.

• Preparation – a well-framed set of challenges is essential in addition to a solid understanding of the participants roles & relationships.

What it takes:

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3HOW TO PREPARE

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People-focused Research

Understanding not only user behavior across context, but also needs and behaviors of internal stakeholders is essential.

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Frame the Challenge

Sketching is uncomfortable enough, without a clearly defined challenge your participants will struggle to dig-in.

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Provide some Inspiration

Thought-starters should be easily accessible by each participant as they hit mental blocks – a look at competitors

and innovators can help ignite creative sparks.

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Moderation & Critique

A strong leader to guide the session is an essential component – to both keep the loudest voice in the room in check and

encourage participants to push their critique.

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PEOPLE-FOCUSED RESEARCHHOW TO PREPARE A SESSION

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Contextual Inquiry, Interviews & Surveys:

Interrogate user behavior, surface internal and external needs, and explore organizational challenges.

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Analytics:

Discover behavioral patterns, investigate what’s working and what’s not, understand context and device usage.

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Journey Workshops:

Take an immersive step-by-step journey into a problem space, discover thoughts, feelings, needs and constraints across contexts.

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Goal Alignment:

Clearly articulate findings from research, and build consensus around leading goals.

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FRAME THE CHALLENGEHOW TO PREPARE A SESSION

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Personas/Profiles:

Create actionable representations of the people and behaviors you’re designing for – personas are a great tool to have in a session.

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Experience Map:

Illustrating the problem space through an experience map or user journey map helps to anchor design across contexts.

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Content Outline:

Participants have different roles and relationships with the content of a challenge – give them an outline to work from.

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Requirements & Constraints:

Clearly articulate the functionality that might be included – encourage blue sky thinking but provide some foundation.

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Design Challenges:

Articulate the leading challenges, explaining how they align to your research and stakeholder goals.

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PROVIDE SOME INSPIRATIONHOW TO PREPARE A SESSION

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Competitive Analysis:

What other solutions are out there in the problem space? What’s working, and what isn’t? Where do opportunities exist?

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Explore Paradigms:

Look for inspiration in a completely different problem space, think about how divergent paradigms could lead to opportunity.

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Outline Thought Starters:

How would you begin to tackle this challenge? What are the most fertile dimensions of the problem space?

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Ambience + Setup:

Comfortable seating for groups is a must, music helps stimulate creativity – make sure to stock up on supplies to set participants up for success.

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MODERATIONHOW TO PREPARE A SESSION

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• Push your understanding of critique with each new session – read up on methods and best practices.

• Practice makes perfect – the more time spent in critique the better equipped you’ll be to lead it.

Practice Critique.

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• Get to know your participants ahead of time – what are their goals, needs and personal agendas?

• If you don’t have a chance to interview participants, take the time to understand their role & responsibilities.

Foster Alignment + Buy-in.

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• Keep pushing for more time and participants – the more diverse the disciplines the better the output.

• Articulate the value of the collaborative session, why its worth an investment, and what you’ll come out with.

Diversify + Excite.

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4OUTPUT + LEARNINGS

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The work has just begun.

Collaborative design is a great starting point and exploration tool, but it requires further definition and follow-through.

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Solutions will evolve.

At the end of a session it can feel as if the solution is obvious, but evolution is inevitable as the solutions are defined & refined.

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Communicating output is essential.

Consensus and understanding is a huge part of collaborative design – it must be nurtured and kept alive.

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1. Regroup with participants to review the output and conversation that happened in each round.

2. Articulate the leading design patterns that emerged.3. Produce a readout deck to circulate with the team.4. Include photos of people sketching, presenting and

photograph work output.5. Position the work alongside next steps – be it

wireframes, annotated sketches or other documentation.

After a session...

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This is just the beginning. The possibilities of this methodology are vast – let’s continue to explore the approach and push its boundaries.

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04.05-07.2013

THANKS.

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04.05-07.2013

QUESTIONS?@KelaniNichole + k.nichole@bigspaceship.com

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