Our Method: Researched Based

Research-Based Conducting research before embarking on design sounds like a luxury doesn't it? Actually spending some time to get to know the workings of a particular industry, the specific niche for a given product, and the people who will use it is absolutely necessary for good design. All one has to do is look at some failed products to understand how important actual domain knowledge is. Products often failed because the technology itself was more important than the needs of the people who would use it.

On top of that, useful information about the people who will use the product being built paired with an understanding of business needs can shorten the actual design process. Decent research and a shared understanding of the results will increase productivity during the design phase.

An article in Information Week states that spending significantly more time doing research at the beginning of a project actually ends up saving money. In fact, in the case reviewed, a 36% increase in research time led to a 40% decrease in total project time and a 17% reduction in costs.

Focusing on the target audience

Software often suffers from a lack of understanding of the people who use it. As a result, software can be difficult to use and ill-suited to meet the needs of its users. User-centered design can suffer the same problems as any other type of design if every person on a team has a different idea of who the user is. One day the user is your mother who rarely uses a computer. The next day the user is your teen-aged neighbor who writes his own scripts.

Ashtary Design uses personas --fictional characters that represent segments of the target audience--to better communicate an understanding of the audience for a specific product. These personas are not averages, but archetypes. There is just enough detail in the persona descriptions to make them seem like real people and to provide key information for the design phase. It is common for clients to recognize a fictional persona as a real person they have met during the course of their work. When this happens, we know we have been successful.

A well-defined and well-understood persona set is key to honing a design and solving the problem of the "elastic user." Understanding the target audience well and specific people who make up that audience produces surprisingly effective results. This is repeated time and again in the real world. For instance, roll-away suitcases were designed specifically for flight crews, but it turns out that we all can use them. Denim jeans were designed for gold prospectors, but that does not stop us from wearing them. Moby writes songs with one specific person in mind, and his album turns into some of the highest selling albums of all time. Here is what Moby had to say about his process in the Mar 17, 2002 issue of the NYT magazine:

''It's weird, maybe, but every song I write, I imagine this specific kind of person who is listening to it alone, always alone, sitting by himself or herself,'' he said. ''I have written a song where I imagine it's being listened to by a woman who's just come home from a hard day's work and finally has a moment to herself. I've written a song where it's a student in Germany on a train, coming home from school for the holidays.''

And ''Sleep Alone''?

''A high-school girl, I think,'' he replied without a pause. ''She's in her room, just finished her homework maybe, and is about to go to bed. And by herself, she is sitting and listening for just a little while. And maybe thinking about her day and other things, before she goes to sleep.''

Knowing who will eventually use the product being designed whether it is a website, a software application, a song, or a physical product keeps teams focused and productive. A clear understanding of the target audience helps to build consensus quickly.

You can read more about personas in the Cooper Interaction Design Newsletter.