🔍 The Trade-off: Simplicity vs. Functionality
- Example: Sony Google TV Remote vs. Apple TV Remote
- Design is about balancing simplicity and functionality.
🎯 Objective of Lecture 3
- How to generate design ideas from user needs.
- Understanding redesign and activity analysis.
📌 Needfinding Process
- Notice something → Inference → Insight → Actionable ideas
- Key takeaway: You can’t satisfy all users; instead, focus on a meaningful challenge.
"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions."
— Albert Einstein
🏷 Point of View (POV) – Problem Statement
A structured way to define a problem:
- User: Who is experiencing the issue?
- Facts: What did you observe?
- Need: What is the user’s pain point?
- Insight: What inspired challenge can we solve?
Example:
Scenario:
- User: P’Top at BBQ Plaza.
- Facts: He stayed near the entrance despite many waiting ahead.
- Need: Avoid missing his turn.
- Insight: It would be better if waiting was stress-free.
💡 Ideation (Where We Are Now)
How Might We (HMW) Questions: A method to transform problems into actionable design challenges.
Example:
- HMW allow users to wait without staying near the restaurant?
- HMW make waiting time more engaging?
- HMW provide notifications instead of verbal calls?
- HMW estimate waiting time accurately?
🧠 Brainstorming Best Practices
- No criticism – all ideas are welcome.
- Encourage wild and rough ideas – quantity over quality at this stage.
- One conversation at a time – build upon each other’s ideas.
- Use visualization – sketching ideas helps.
Constraint Brainstorming for Creativity:
- What if users only had 1 button to interact?
- What if users only had 1 minute to complete a task?
- What if the design must make people laugh?
✅ Decision-Making & Voting
-
Set Criteria:
- Frequency: Common issues.
- Popularity: Many people experience it.
- Severity: How frustrating is the issue?
- Fun Factor: Does the team like the idea?
-
Voting Process:
- 🎯 3 big circle votes → For favorite ideas.
- 🔹 Unlimited small dot votes → For ideas you like.
🏗 Creating Design Goals (Post-Brainstorming)
- Define user interactions with the product/service.
- Design should align with user tasks & expectations.
- Example: How has Apple’s design transformed how users interact with devices?
🔄 Redesign: Is Anything Truly New?
- Even "new" designs are influenced by past designs.
- Example: The first computer & telephone still influence today’s technology.
- Understanding past designs helps designers create meaningful innovations.
🔬 Activity Analysis – Making Differences Explicit
Key Questions:
- What steps do users take?
- What artifacts (objects/tools) do they interact with?
- What are the user goals?
- What are the pain points?
- How do we measure success?
Example: Automatic Door Lock System
- Steps: Touch screen → Enter password → Press # → Unlock.
- Artifacts: Number pad, lever, sound speaker.
- Goals: Secure access, keyless entry, automatic locking.
🚀 Key Takeaways
- Design is about solving problems, not just aesthetics.
- Needfinding is crucial to create valuable products.
- Brainstorming requires openness and creativity.
- Making design choices explicit improves clarity and teamwork.
- Redesign is inevitable; innovation builds on the past.