design research 2010

Nanqian Xu (Nancy) design researcher & strategist

Who are we designing for and what should we design? I’m always trying to find answers. The design exploration process excites me, and leads me to become a designer.

Nanqian Xu

Nanqian Xu | Design Research + Strategy

Design Management InstituteLong Term Planning

Design Management Institute Long Term Strategy Planning

Design Management Institute (DMI) is a non-profit organization aiming for bringing design and business together. With a long history which was started in 1975, DMI has become a center of forward thinking about innovation. Facing the challenge of other competitive organizations like IDSA, AIGA, TED etc., DMI wants find out what will be their long term vision for next 10 years.After analyzing existing opportunity area and DMI’s strength, we conducted 16 stakeholder in-depth interviews and also a concept generation workshop with clients. We realized DMI needs to reposition itself as a platform for knowledge sharing and network build in. In this way, the organization can keep up-to-date and build on its strength of senior membership.The project was so successful that DMI invited our 3 people team to report to their executive team and council members in Boston, their headquarter. After the presen-tation, we write out the 3 year short plan also a execution time-line for their 2008 anniversary conference, ReMix.

Skills:

Contextual Research: Opportunity Map | Competitive Analysis | Core Competencies | Value Web | Trend Analysis

Primary Research: Telephone Interview | Collaborative Workshop | Insight Matrix

Concept Building: Concept Evaluation | Scenario Planning | Concept Changed Landscape | Road Map



Understand Business

10 Types of Innovation Trend Analysis Competitive Analysis Value Web

Define Design Principle User Insight Tool Insight Matrix Value Web Analysis Fish Bone Analysis

Create Long-term Vision Concept Evaluation Senario Planning Road Map

Outcome:

Know the core competence •and issues within the organization•Know competitive land-•scape in the industryKnow driven trends which •relate to the industry

Overview of different •perspective from stakeholderFrame research process and •protocolConduct user research•

Frame problem based on •user and industry knowledgeStructured analysis of prob-•lem Define principle targeting to •problem

Building concept based on •company’s strength and user benifitsPlanning ahead for long term •vision combining with trends and industry analysis

General Process

Identify Stakeholder

Direct Interview Secondary Study Telephone Interview



Through our research, we find the problems are:

Ineffective internal operations•Inability of reaction to change•One fits all approach of knowledge •deliveryLimited networking opportunities •

Finance Processes Offerings Delivery

Business Model

Internationalnon-profit organization

ConferenceSeminarPublication

SponsorsPartner HBR

Members,Board of directors,Advisory council Partners

Speakers at conferences and seminars

Article contributors for publications

Small-scaleconferenceAcademicpublication

Conference video online

KnowledgeInternational connectionCross-displinary networking

ConferenceSeminarWebsiteMailing

Academicsenior levelGood reputa-tion

Personal contactOneway communicationClublike

Network Enabling Processes

Core Processes

Product Performance

ProductSystem

Service Channel Brand UserExperience

Ten Types of Innovation• provides a platform for organization to think about their core competencies. Ten Types of Innovation is an overview planning tool to bring innovative solutions in entrepreneurship.

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The TED conference covers broad set of innovative and forward thinking topics.

TED created a global community around website with live streaming videos from presentation and archive of videos.

AIGA structures volunteer process which involves entry level designers and students.

AIGA builds on activism of local chapters. Businessweek created system that branches offline, online, video and audio.

DMITEDAIGABusinessweek

Finance Processess Offerings Delivery

Business Model Network Enabling Processes

Core Processes

Product Performance

ProductSystem

Service Channel Brand UserExperience

Know The Business

Design professionals

Design entry level

Academic Fun

British Design Counsel

ACM

Institute of Design

Red Dot

IxDA

IA Institute

IDSA

UPAbarcamp

Local cocktail hours/meetups

AIGA

TED

DMI

Opportunity gap

Opportunity gap

Opportunity gap

Partners

Board

Sponsors

Thought leaders

/ Content providers

Design community

Other fields of

DMI Members



The irelevance to practioners in design industry makes DMI offering acedemic heavy.• Communication channels with stakeholders are not effective and outdated• DMI’s processes are not effective• DMI doesn’t evaluate and implement new concepts & ideas• Networking leads to business deals• DMI members look for networking and personal relationship• DMI doesn’t support networking outside of conferences• The offering is not delivered effectively to members• The more involved the member is within DMI, the more networking opportunities they • have other organizations move into design business marketDMI attracts senior professionals across disciplinary is advantage in the field of design • organizationsDMI doesn’t have processes in place that make it easy for people to contribute• It’s easier to build network when members information is accessible • Content of the conference should be available in a form that members can access later• DMI’s events are not locally available to members in smaller cities• DMI’s staff are not motivated to make changes and try out new ideas.• To connect with members DMI needs to evolve at the same rate the world evolves.• DMI has a very professional and influential membership.• The more decision makers are involved the harder it is to make a decision .• DMI doesn’t react today’s changing marketplace which is moving towards a strategic • contribution of design

Identify Stakeholder

“I have been with the organization for more than 10 years. DMI is like an old uncle, we really like him. But we never take him to the party.”Darrel Rhea, CEO of Cheskin Added Value

Insights

DMI attracting senior professionals across disciplinary is an • advantage in the field of design organizations



Vision based on DMI’s advantage and user needs:

Involve and leverage highly skilled members to build a community of practice

Define Design Principle

DMIDMIDMI DMI



INVOLVEInvolving and leveraging members

Establish a network •Motivate participation•Organizational transparency•

CONNECTConnecting stakeholders

Build a community •Collaborate to learn from each other•Customize services•

EXPANDExpanding the influence of design

Bring design to other fields•Institute the value design•

Define Design Principle



near term medium term long term

Network

Strategy

Content

Experience

Cultural mentor

Active sub groups

Credit for content

Local chapters

Community beyond DMI

Different tiers of membership

Copyright of content

Solve design challenge together Design tourism / study abroad

Conference of conferences

Competition/award

DMI senior/DMI junior

Assigned contact person

Member profile & searchSupport network before & after conference

Special interest group

Publish annual report

Mentoring Referrals and invitation only

Include artistic sidePartner with design schools & students B-schools courses

DMI ambassador

Education for children

On demand content

Member of the week

Volunteering

Vote for theme & rate content

Advertising

Organization

Technology

Offerings

Road Map

The detailed concepts are framed into a strategy road map based on the user value, business value, organization strength and restraints.Further more, I participated in the DMI workshop in Boston to roll out the next 3 years execution plan and the details of their 2008 annual conference, “Remix”.

Create Long Term Vision


New Generation Insurance Product

Understanding Intangible ValueNew Generation Insurance Product

Liberty Mutual is known for their global coverage and their east-coast based insur-ance network. They purchased SafeCo as their sub brand to achieve the west-coast market for SafeCo’s agent network at west coast. The economic downturn just hap-pened after this acquisition which put a pressure on SafeCo to create innovative products. Also, as personal insurance is becoming online, Liberty Mutual needs to find their way to utilize their wide agent network as a strength while targeting the individual insurance product.SafeCo brought this broad topic as: explore people’s intangible value and find out how can insurance industry play in this area. They were expecting opportunity areas and design principles. In our final report, we provided not only key insights about how people view their intangibles, but also how to use agent as a connection to ac-cess and protect people’s intangible value. This perspective brought our opportunity area to an actionable level. Our research results became really meaningful.

Skills:

Scope Frame: Opportunity Map | Trend Analysis | Research Protocol

Primary Research: Face-to-face Interview | Guest Tour | Photo Study | Collage Activity

Analysis & SynthesisInsight Analysis | Concept Generation Workshop

Planning & ImplementationScenario Planning | Story Board | Strategic Road map



Who should we interview?

Screening people is hard when the topic is vague. Everyone has intangible values, but who has the most interesting story? How can we reach into people’s value which is really sensitive, soft, and hard to articulate? We decided to go extreme. We included several people with speciality like art praisers, jack packs, museum curators, and etc.... We also felt group of people are easy to articulate the insights about how intangible value holds the group together.

I know people think biking is really dangerous. And sometime just those old crazy white guys will bike. But I just enjoy this noisy and silent moment. You feels like speedy and also isolated. ... This is TSU-ZUKI. If I have money later, I will change it. I keep all the stuff relate to biking in one paper box. I do arrange those things frequently.

- Edy, Bike Club Member (Name and content is revised for confidential reason)

Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009



How should we interview?

Intangibles are hard to communicate. We did several rounds of interviewing people using different protocols, like field research interviews, photo studies, collage creations. The communication was better when we provide medium. We need to dig into people’s value and how they treasure their possessions. We found it is a process from expecting an intangible to lose it. Both value and processions are always formed as a system, intangibles are always built around tangibles.

Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009



2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

RevenuesIn Billions

$16.6$19.6

$21.2$23.5

$26.0

Resource:Liberty Mutual Group 2007 Annual Reporthttp://www.libertymutualgroup.com/omapps/ContentServer?pagename=LMGroup

21%

9%

8%

Private Passenger Automobile 28%Worker Compensation 21%Home Owners 9%Commercial Multi-Peril/Fire 8%International Local Business 6%Commercial Automoile 5%Liu Reinsurance 5%General Ability 4%Other 14%

28%

6%

5%

5%

4%

14%

Significant Lines of Business$22.5B Net Written Premium

We dived deep into the company’s capabilities and limitations, explored the consuming behavior relate to different product models, and summarized the trend in this insurance industry and how Liberty Mutual is playing.

With the widest coverage of insurance agent network, Liberty Mutual is covering both online and offline services, though much of the interaction is done by computer and random assistants. This leads to a communication gap and a indirect bond emotionally with their customers. How can LM benefit from their agent network in this e-com trend?

Secondary Studies + Business Analysis



Design Principles + Concepts

With the understanding of the nature of people’s intangible value, we were able to bring several opportunity areas for insurance products to step into. Both using the consumer insights and the insights about trends of insurance industry, we defined the new model of insurance products which will be target at intangible values.

Intangible assets are defined as identifiable non-monetary assets that cannot be seen, touched or physically measured, which are created through time and/or effort and that are identifiable as a separate asset. -Wikipedia



Existing Offering

Existing User

New User

NewOffering

MeasureResponse

Compensate

Existing Insurance Model

Existing Offering

Existing User

New User

NewOffering

MeasureResponse

CoachRevealProtect

ShareSupportCelebrate

Intangible Insurance Model

Through humanized agent-based insurance model, we are able to target people’s intangible value which is built through time and effort as a system.

Compensate



Scenarios + Stories

Part of my responsibility was to build the stories with different per-sonas, which will show how this new model of insurance are going to happen. Including agents as part of the stakeholder in the story helped us to deliver the new definition of agents in this new model.



Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009

When we deliver the final proposal...

We set up a museum showing “ Intangible Values” with our own treasures, like a plant from Mom, engagement ring, pho-tos, gift card etc... With the audio broadcasting of interviews, we brought the atmosphere to help our client to understand intangible values emotionally and to build a vivid connection.


Gravitytank 2011 Mobile Solution

Next Generation Mobile Communication 2011

An international mobile device company is looking for the next generation mobile solution, which will change the landscape of communication and entertaining consumer devices. I worked with a 6 people team from Gravitytank, a Chicago-based design consultancy to deliver the research understanding and opportunity analysis.

- 16 opportunity areas based on research and client capability- 4 target research locations globally covered both western and eastern culture- 45 interviews with individuals and group- immerse into different cultures in 1 month- engage with clients during whole 3 week research

SHANGHAICHICAGO PARIS

LONDON



Responsibilities & Achievement

As a Strategist

- Bring insights and inspirations in everyday briefing session - Interact with clients who are from local and headquarter- Build framework for both understanding the problem and illustrating future solutions- Craft presentation and design workshop activities for the marketing and design team of client’s side

As a Researcher

- Bring understanding of Asian culture background- Bring picture of life style in emerging markets- Responsible for research data summaries, quotes searching, video and audio editing- Lead several cultural exploration trips in Shanghai



Some Learnings

Be an insider & outsiderto be an insider for the system, and to be an outsider to bring new understandings specially from user point of view

Engage with clientsengage with clients during the whole process, sharing understandings and new findings

Be happy with what you don’t knowalways keep on learning and curious, admit what you don’t know and achieve it as opportunities

Peers Comments:“Nanqian was a great help to us - hard working, smart and flexible, she was great to have on the team.” Michael Winnick , Managing partner , Gravitytank

Thank you .

design research 2010

Documents

Transcript of design research 2010