ideation + prototyping: universal methods of design, reflections

[personas] — this method of design research is so interesting to me because instead of making gross generalizations through surveys and such, personas focus on small amount of people based on the fact that you can’t design for everyone. based on information collected from real users through sound field research, they contain a name for the person, a stock photograph/sketch, and a narrative story describing in detail key aspects of their life situation, goals, and behaviors relevant to the design. the goal for personas is that they capture common behaviors among people and exclude outliers.

[fly-on-the-wall observation] — being a fly-on-the-wall would make for a good research method because of how you can see people/behaviors in their element. especially being a secret outsider, you can get information/data in an unbiased way since the behaviors of the people you’re researching aren’t knowingly being observed.

[image boards] — i really love this research method because i use it all the time. i feel like it’s also a really common method that people do nowadays. putting together a collage of a ‘mood’ can really fuel your inspiration for designing/creating something. it can also remind you and make you focused on the aesthetic that you’re trying to achieve.

[parallel prototyping] — i thought this was interesting because with this design method, you can prototype and visually look multiple ideas and can pick the prototype that receives the best feedback. pushing all of your work towards one prototype could get you stuck on that one idea and you could become attached to it. going through parallel prototyping eliminates that and allows for more breathing room and possibilities.

[think-aloud protocol] — this is a cool research method as the participate has to reflect on given tasks. concurrent think-aloud is when the participate performs the task while articulating what they’re thinking in real-time, and retrospective think-aloud is when the participant performs the tasks and then reflects afterwards. this research method puts more emphasis on what is happening instead of the why.