[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Greg Holderfield. In the next videos my colleague Martha Cotton and I are going to focus on how we use design research to uncover insights. And how these insights lead us to better explore a wider range of ideas. We will delve into how to visualize ideas so others can understand and interact with them and equip you to bring your ideas to life. So let's dig into design research, and how we do it. You've already learned about the importance of going into context and doing design research in the field. Instead of in front of your computer to understand real people in the context of their everyday lives. Now you may be asking is designer research different then market research? Design research relies on small sample sizes that contextualize the human experience, often bringing to light unarticulated needs. It's qualitative, not quantitative. Market research on the other hand often relies on big data aiming to isolate behavior, validate and or prove through statistical means. Due to the mounting pressures on industry to innovate, design research has gained momentum as a way of uncovering richer insights which lead to more meaningful products, services, and systems. Please understand we are not asserting that design research is better than market research. They both serve different purposes. And, in the end, work together to inform decision making. In the previous videos, you were exposed to the idea of research as an inspiration. A jumping off point for uncovering opportunities. It's important to remember that the aim of design research is understanding. It's a process of learning, not of proving or justifying. Design innovators are intent on understanding real human experience and open to learning about people and their lives. Learning and innovation go hand in hand. By enrolling in this course you are embracing this leadership characteristic. Examples of two of the techniques we use for design research are immersive observation and structured interviews. Immersive observation, which is research conducted in context where products or services are actually experienced, can be used to both identify opportunities and explore ideas. Context offers rich clues far beyond what can be seen in a more anonymous setting. Structured interviews are guided conversations that help build our understanding of a user and his or her needs. To do this, we need to make the user feel comfortable. Empowering him or her to tell their stories. It is through these methods that unmet and unarticulated needs are revealed. Giving the design innovator an empathic perspective that informs the decision-making process while helping to illuminate a future state of what could be possible. Design research teaches us never to assume that we already know what people's experiences are like before we see them for ourselves. The process of doing design research is opening yourself up to learn and to be surprised. Even if they work you're doing is about something as seemingly mundane and ordinary as studying how people purchase food. So you might be wondering, what sort of outcomes result from design research? What does the capture design research look like? Here's an example of what a design team capture by conducting design research. The project was exploring the consumer experience of ordering and pick up at a quick serve restaurant. Through immersive observation and structured interviews the team discovered variety of pain points that were both articulated and unarticulated that revealed a number of opportunities for innovation. Now let's talk about how you would prepare for design research. Design research is more than hanging out and asking questions. It needs to be thoughtfully planned, developed and rigorously executed. The first thing you need to think about is your research objectives. What do you want to learn and where do you want to learn it from? Your research objectives are best crafted when they start with verbs like understand. So let's consider the challenge of developing new product opportunities for families during the hectic breakfast occasion. A good design research objective might be understand the breakfast routines of busy families. Conversely, a not-so-good design research objective would be, why do families eat less cereal? The former objective gives you room to observe a range of family interactions, activities and environments, while the latter defines a problem that may or may not be the most meaningful problem to solve. After you have your objectives, you need to consider where you go to conduct design research. Remember, it's important to embrace that design research needs to happen outside the office. Observations coupled with in depth interviews are fundamental to the meaningful understanding of people, environments. Events, behaviors and interactions. So if your challenge is new product opportunities for families during the hectic breakfast occasion, you could consider conducting your research with the family in their home during breakfast. If that family eats in the car, you would go with them in the car. That personal immersion, as uncomfortable as that may feel at first, Is important for the design innovator to form an empathic lens from which to design. To be clear, empathy is the action of understanding and the ability to share someone else's feelings through an experience. Design innovators are not only better informed through a lived experience and development of an empathic lens, They are also inspired. To expand on this, I would recommend focusing on extreme users in order to understand unique modes of behavior, which could not only inspire new possibilities, but also debunk myths or commonly held truths about the area you are designing in. It is also important to bear in mind that for this kind of research your participants are experts and you need to treat them as such. You are the learner and a guest in their world. Your role is to be open minded, patient and respectful of how users live their lives and to never be judgmental. Once you have your objections and guide solidified you'll need to think about which design research methods you'll want to use in the field. In the next video we will explore the tools and techniques necessary to conduct effective design research. [MUSIC]
