Understanding Users

Understanding Users - Scientific and Intuitive Perspectives

Design thinking and design processes as pursued in the design disciplines (broadly categorized as - product design, information and communication design, and environmental design) incorporate user-centered and human-centered orientation. This orientation results in designs that are characterized by high-quality general aesthetics, context-driven styling, safety and ease of use, and ease of maintenance. 

In the initial stages of design profession evolution, the process of understanding users, and human interaction with the product under design consideration was mostly intuitive. This approach encouraged designers to use themselves, and those in near proximity to represent the intended user in the real environment. The scientific nature of user understanding is normally not in designers' tools, owing to their lack of formal training in applied ergonomics. As a result one saw, to cite a few examples, heavily contoured chair seats, and handles with grooves which would fit the body/hands of designers and the available volunteers. 

The diversity of user and human characteristics arises from individuals' intrinsic characteristics as well as the characteristics shaped by the context in which they live and work. With the ever-increasing competitive pressures and the necessity to reach the marketplace faster, the luxury of learning from mistakes is now not available to designers. It needs to be emphasized that designers' education should incorporate scientific knowledge, methods and practices of applied ergonomics (also known as human factors engineering) to develop designers who are equally comfortable with scientific knowledge as well as observation and experience based insights. 

Btw: the following link useful for understanding/discussing design thinking, and design management:

www.designthinking.design-management.de

(c) Copyright   Vinai Kumar

Design Thinking

Design Thinking

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust (1871-1922), A French Novelist and Critic.

A holistic perspective on what Design is:

The ecological framework of design facilitates the understanding, and strategic and material response to the nature of relationships among its components. The following are the broadly classified categories of the core components of this framework:

-       Humans (individuals, family/community, societies)

-       Business environment

-       Socio-political environment

-       Man-made environment

-       Natural environment

-       Human knowledge and skills environment

Most often the relationships among the above components turn out to be very complex in space and time. Design, therefore, has to be a dynamic and integrative activity aimed at creating man-made products and environments that would successfully meet the human needs at work, and for living. Consequently designers require practical skills and applied knowledge in diverse areas such as arts, humanities, ergonomics, science, technology and business management. More importantly, designers need to be good at creative and integrative thinking in order to produce innovative solutions that meet user and market needs effectively.  It is this quality of thinking and problem-solving that is now being noticed by the leading business organizations.

Design Thinking – a new buzzword in business management

For the past few decades, business organizations have depended on engineers for providing technological supports for activities such as manufacturing, maintenance, and product engineering. For carrying out the operations in order to run the business optimally, business managers educated in business management schools and specializing in areas such as finance, marketing and human resource management have been the choice of the business owners and shareholders. However, in the recent times, the business managers have been finding that the traditional business management education is missing out on knowledge and skills that are useful for understanding the complex environments that we live in today. A systems thinking framework is useful for understanding the human-oriented issues and for seeking appropriate solutions.  (A practical and detailed treatise on these topics is dealt with in Reference papers 2 and 3.)  It can be derived from the thoughts and recommendations presented in this paper that the emergent complex environments now demand the following new skills on part of the practicing engineers and managers:

a.     User-centered thinking, knowledge and professional skills,

b.     Integrative approach towards problem-solving, and

c.      Creative and innovative thinking and practices

Design thinking is coming up as an interesting paradigm shift in the way managers would like to address the gap in their thinking and practices to meet user and market needs. The proof lies in the way P&G, SAP, IBM, Tata’s, and many others have hopped on to the Design Thinking bandwagon.  There has been a tremendous change in the mindset of traditional business managers, and they are looking towards designers, design educators, and design schools to understand their user-centered problem-solving processes.

Characteristics of Design Thinking

Based on my experience and understanding in the field of design education and practice, I can think of the following list of characteristics that constitute design thinking:

1.     A holistic approach towards visualizing solutions and envisioning new realities

2.     Blends art and science

3.     User and user context at the centre of all design work

4.     Solution-seeking rather than problem-listing and analyzing

5.     Intuitive thinking as important as the information based reasoning

6.     Emphasis on creative and innovative thinking

7.     Not precedence-oriented

8.     Evaluation of ideas and solutions through simulation and prototypes

9.     Future-oriented

10. Multi-disciplinary

11. Eclectic

12. Interdisciplinary and cross-over ideas for solutions

Though this list is not comprehensive, I believe it covers the essential characteristics.  The first eight characteristics are strongly associated with Design Thinking.

More will follow in the next week. Meanwhile suggestions and questions from readers are welcome.

References:

1.     Kumar, V. (2008): Background notes and PowerPoint presentation for the introductory course on Design Thinking, and Design Profession and Disciplines, September 10 – 13, 2008 Wednesday - Friday  (For the First Year Students of Strategic Design Management (SDM) Post-Graduate Programme at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, India)

2.     Kumar, V. (1992): Applying Systems Thinking for Problem-Solving. FPS002, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India

3.     Kumar, V. (1990): The Role of Design in Product Development. International Seminar on Electronic Product Design, SAMEER, Chennai, India.

 Copyright (c)  Vinai Kumar