Design thinking & the insight gap
As design thinking gains more and more popularity, one thing seems to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to designers.
The ability to articulate deep user insight.
User Insights are a keystone for executing human-centered design and gaining this deep perspective is no walk in the park.
What does it take to get a good user insight? This is where things get tricky.
After teaching Design Thinking/UX/UI courses, the hardest sessions I have to teach are about user insights. Conceptually students all seem to grasp the idea of understanding their user deeply. As well as the value in understanding a “deep truth” is necessary when solving problems. However, this is like recognizing that water is wet. The challenge comes in understanding why? Like Richard Feynman trying to describe how magnets work (see vid)
User Insights can feel as hard to grasp as physics. Few at first are able to quickly assemble a solid user insight. Many can articulate something obvious but driving beyond that becomes a challenge.
As a way to break down the problem, I have used IDEOs POV mad-lib with my students.
This exercise seems to get students started but many falter in the ability to generate anything “surprising” when it comes to their user and their research. The question is typically how much research, and how well do Designers have to understand their users to produce insight? Insights are like mining for gold sometimes you find them right on the surface with not too much effort but most of the time you have to dig deep!
Iteration is key to improving the surprising nature of the initial user insight but still being able to drive deeply into user insight is allusive.
Synthesizing research, observations, interviews, and life experience into a unique user insight is no simple task. Many hope and wish the mad-lib will magically produce a “surprising truth” but this is rarely the case. I have to constantly tell students “this is hard and you may have to iterate your initial insight 5x or even 10x before you start to get deep!” Many students never get the depth they seek.
Generating user insights is equivalent to holding your breath. In the beginning, you feel confident like “I can do this! You feel you can hold for a long time” As time passed you get more and more pressure as the oxygen leaves your breath. This creates fear and panic and eventually you take a breath in. Now with training, a human can hold their breath 22min and 22 second — the world record.
User Insights require the training to hold the breath and get deep.
Inevitably when reviewing and helping students produce insights this is where questions creep in:
1. Can anyone be a designer?
Design Thinking is not elitist and proposes a method that anyone should be able to follow. Now, this is arguably true. The process is not a secret and like IDEO / D. School, I believe everyone can benefit from understanding or at minimum going through the process.
https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking
Does learning this process deem a person a “Designer”?
This is something that I think is not discussed. Design Thinking is hard! The courses I have taught have a mix of student backgrounds with a vast difference from technical ability to educational interest.
Recently a student was doing an interaction project that was attempting to teach color theory to kids. I asked “Do you know Johannes Itten of The Itten color wheel?” and she was unaware of this pioneer. Frankly, none of my class was familiar with him or with his books. A bit disheartening but c’est la vie but it does, however, point to one glaring hole. The student although doing a project with an insight about color didn’t do enough research to inform their lack of knowledge. This kept them from applying previous knowledge but also from tying their user insights to a historical past. This could be a lack of hustle or an unwillingness to dig deep into a subject by it begs the question:
Is the role of a designer to dig below the surface and find the deep meaning? Does that extend to every nook and cranny of a users experience? Or is it just enough to get by?
The fact is:
- User Insights are stupid hard!
- Your first insights probably suck!
- A designer must find a user insight and not be given one.
- Deep insights to you may or may not be deep to your users or your clients or other designers.
- The depth of an insight does not equal success.
- User insights are elusive.
Like a slippery fish.
We have to work hard to not only track down the user insight but we want to catch, mount, and display them for all to see.
Like “the old man in the sea” a designer should be looking to catch a big user insight.
The macro goal is not about immediacy but allowing user insights to propagate throughout all of your work and be implementable across any projects and clients. User insights that are scalable, relevant, and authentic.
Of course, we want our user insights to be readily available and easily communicated to our clients but remember this is not a sure thing.
Owning your own user insights is a challenge but allows you to tap in the “cultural zeitgeist” of your subject, user or problem.
I will leave you with some useful insights I’ve picked up along the way and encourage you to leave more in the comments to share.
- Users want to participate meaningfully.
- Users are rarely going to ask for help.
- Users confuse repetition for competence.
- Users are uncomfortable with ambiguity.
- Users are prone to flee unless compelled not to.
- What users say and what users do are not the same.
- Bad habits are learned.
- Technology is not always a net positive.
- It’s harder undo what has already been done.
- Content is not a replacement for context.
Please Share your own!
Follow me @ Chris R Becker
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