Design Thinking with notes

My design thinking cheat sheet

1. Empathize: Search for rich stories and find some love
2. Define: User + Need + Insight = POV
3. Ideate: Yes! and... Yes! and... Yes! and... Yes! and... Yes! and... Yes! and... Yes! and... 
4. Prototype: Build to last learn
5. Test: Show, don't tell

Orbit Gum Logo Lineup

The logo on Orbit gum wrappers line up when viewed inside the package

Desire Paths

When pedestrians are not met with a barrier, they make a desire path.  

 http://99percentinvisible.org/article/least-resistance-desire-paths-can-lead-better-design/ 

Here is a roll of tape.

Are the arrows indicating the direction of the tape, or the direction of the pull tab?

Q's on First

The numbers on my phone have 1 at the top left, then run sequentially left-right, top-bottom.

same with the copier in the office.
same as garage door keycodes

The numbers on my calculator have the 1 at the bottom left, then run sequentially left-right, bottom-top.  Same as the onscreen calculator, same as my keyboard.  I wonder why some product arrange one way and some the other.

 What examples can you think of in your life?

You're so trendy

Trying to identify what is coming up next with enough time to design and develop it takes some skill. You have to see what was in the past (rearview mirror) while at the same time be aware of what is currently in front of you.

This past Friday, April 16, 2010 I traveled down to Cincinnati to attend the AMA luncheon.

This month the guest speaker was Brian Meyers, LPK Trends. Brian's title is "Trend Forecaster"

My notes can hardly do the presentation justice, but here they are anyway:

What are trends?
A general direction, or movement over time They rep the evolution of ideas

Socio-cultural trends
Longer lasting ideas that represent and reflect how peoples lifestyle has changed

Once we identify a trend then we can attempt to create "Future States" Since we design for the world of tomorrow you have to "look" ahead.

6 trends that could lead to new Future States

1. Simplistic of slowdown

• VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous)
• The most valuable luxury is that which cannot be replicated
  
• Purposeful accumulation
  
• Touch of the hand adds meaning and value
  
• Consumer: is no longer appropriate
• Prosumer: a combination of producer and consumer model
  
• Transumer: someone interested in "barter and share" oriented products
  
• Connoisseumer: People are well suited shoppers with refined palates who employ their expertise to evaluate value

2. Alternative Economies
People use resources differently now

• Chris Anderson - is a thought leader
• Rentalism: Why buy? Rent and/or share and collaborate on goods and services
• Example: Hilti Contractors identified that owning tools no longer had pride inmpliciy. So they started a share loan tool program - it has been very successful
• Currency limitations
• Reputation of state of account. Build on the habits of referrals, recommendations, link-throughs, retweets, etc.
• Free: Google-411 is doing phone information and they are recording voice to then build a solid voice recognition software
  

3. Maker culture
People become the own producer marketer

• Crowdsouring: Local motors sources it's design by 4000 local designers Threadless. Tshirt company that is opensource and turns into production that vote winning product.
• Desktop fabrication: Bringing rapid prototyping to people
  
• Ex - Reprap. It is a 3d printer that should hook upto the $100 laptop Electrolux molecaire. 3d printer that makes food
  

4. Robotic rivals

• Generative architecture: Software can examine the landscape and suggest an amorphous and natural shape that will match the landscape
• Shiseido makeup mirror
• Self evolving robots
  

5. Seamless online and offline reality
Digital natives are not able to answer, "how much time do you spend online or offline?"- they see it the same.

• Transmedia storytelling
• MIT scientist Henry Jenkins
  

6. Neuro printers

• Books.
• Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
• Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
• Extra sensory
• 21 senses -Electroreception; Synesthesia; Flavor tripping
  

--
Take aways:
Market or innovate with the consumer behaviors
Deconstruct communication to enable transmedia storytelling
Convert consumers into ambassadors and fans
Give consumers a platform to tell their own stories
Provide an experience for the consumer

36,001

Guess I am on my own now, goodbye warranty.

If you don't litter...

Let's review.

• A picture of a person littering.
• A large red circle with a line through it, indicating it's a no-no.
• A gavel with $500 near it.

Interpretation: If I [don't] litter, I will be fined $500 in court.

hmm.

Updog

What's updog?

As I am reaching for the shampoo bottle I think to myself, "Ok, the shampoo is on the right."

Then with my still blurry vision I double check the label. Not that it is of dire consequence if I accidentally put the conditioner on first, but a more of a minor waste of hair goo.

The main question here is about the label. Which way is up? When I am at the store and browsing the aisle for my preferred product of course the bottle is placed in optimum viewing condition. However when this product reached my bath's edge the point of view changes completely, especially as the contents goes down the drain.

Does your bathtime product stare you in the face as if were on the shelf, or should it have a secondary way to communicate?

Go left

As I was writing note cards one day I noticed the disdain that Sharpie has for those of left-handed dominance.

Well maybe its not disdain but perhaps they don't care to have their touchpoint be interpreted by those south paw consumers.

The truth is all writing utensil manufacturers show disregard for lefties (I didn't cross check paint brushes and toothbrushes).

Would it hurt to rotate the text? Often times the same logo or set of information is stamped on the piece, couldn't one of them be favorable for the occasional left hand scribe?

I don't know which cliche to end with, so you can choose.

1. A person that is right-hand dominant is said to use the left half of the brain, so does that mean those that are left hand dominant are in their "right mind"?
2. You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

butter knife

well i havent written in my blog in the longest time and for some reason i think i should again. something about learning by review, and that cant be done if my thoughts arent recorded.

my mom mentioned to me the other day that the fedex logo is amazing because it has an arrow between the E and x. astonished that i never shared this with her throughout my time in school i pondered well maybe i could write about it myself.

the shipping industry is (and has been) overcome with the obsession that moving forward and going somewhere should be explicitly demarcated on their trucks via their logos. well in the early 90s federal express was looking to retool their image and realized that their most loyal of customers were nicknaming them fedex.

after careful creation of a typeface customers would forever revel in the hidden arrow that resides between the E and the x. Do you choose FedEx now due to their designer-ly logo and catchy name or do you just have a disdain for the brown?

one further thing i would like to point out is that the other e dons a striking resemblence to the fancy flatware item also known as a butter knife.

-that's the way i see it.

"Let me feel your forehead"

How often when you were sick (or trying to seem sick) did your mom lean in and press her check or the back of her hand to your forehead? Often with me she would say, "Hmm you don't feel warm..."

Well technology has finally caught up with mom's skin sensitivity. I was at the doctor's office this past Friday for a touch of pink eye and the PA pulls out this device and lets me know that she will be taking my temperature.

A gentle swipe across my forehead and down my temple and she was done, "98.6˚ it is very accurate too," she says and she continues filling out the form.

I wonder what other sensations we have been having for all this time that would be a more accurate (and less invasive) product. Time will surely tell.

QWERTY or DVORAK

this is typed on a Dvorak

Well at least that first line was. I discovered that a Dvorak typeset can be used on any computer. Dvorak is a keyboard organization that aligns the most used letters the home row line.

That's right, there is a better configuration than QWERTY. Back in the day when typewriters were used the Dvorak was used. Then it was replaced because, get this, it was too efficient!! Typers were crawling over the keyboard so fast that the hammers would get stuck and jam on one another.

Over the years the QWERTY keyboard became the standard for typewriters and so when the transition to computers came the slowing effects of the qwerty had been somewhat overcome so people could still make quality use.

This is a great example of how technology and user studies can affect our landscape of products. What would have been if our keyboards were reassessed after the silicone revolution? Would there be less carpal tunnel cases? Would typing have a easier learning curve? Would this have changed how texting (SMS) developed?

I will be trying the Dvorak keyboard occasionally to see if there is a benefit. Read more about the alternate keyboard arrangement online.

roll up your window

As product continue to improve and change shouldn't our expressions change with it? The other day Sarah, my wife, asked me to "roll up the window."

My jumpy mind took the tangent for a ride, so I let her know that I wasn't able to "roll" it up rather I had to use a switch.

Will our expressions become modern or will it be dubbed as classic?

Another discovery I had was in MS Word. Over the years I developed the mantra "Save and save often!" If you were one of the many computer lab rats that lost hours of work simply because you didn't save after each paragraph then you know what I am talking about.

As you can see the "Save" shortcut is an icon of the old 3.5" Floppy disk. I think it has been at least three years now that they haven't been including them in the mainstream computer options.

When will it come to pass that the icon for saving will be disconnected? Will children only know the 3.5" disk because of the save shortcut, and never have seen one?

And this one if for free: "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" Back in time horses were gifts for more than spoiled children. To ensure that a horse was in good health you would inspect their teeth. Translation: Don't review the quality of a gift, especially in front of the giver.

A new set of tools for the doctors

The medical world is changing so much and with the infusion of technology it seems that it may over complicate the very tasks that they were trying to do. Just imagine the forms and papers that you are used to completeing for you job if they were made digital. Likely you would need training on where to find certain things, as well as how to operate the certain tools.

Doctors and clinicians have been going through this for a long while. Also there were multiple layouts for the information making it all the more difficult to interpret and implement action. Microsoft has been working on a solution...

During the rigorous user-centered design process, more than 100 clinical needs were identified for standardization -- from how names are displayed to the display of patient information, dosages and dates. The toolkit turns the design guide into software components that developers and health customers can deploy, at no cost, in their own existing or upcoming clinical applications, saving their customers both money and time to market.

What sorts of things could be customized in your world that would be easier? Consider the cell phone chargers you had to buy every time you got a new phone, what if that were the same - you could save money.

I reminded myself today, Don't believe everything you see (meaning: just because it has been made that way, it doesn't mean it is right or that it can't be done another(better) way.