Designing Interactions / Experiences: Lecture #03

por Itamar Medeiros

@designative

http://www.linkedin.com/in/designative
Designing Interactions 2013-2:
DISCOVERY MODE

{ Designing Interactions: Interpretation “Mode” }
Youareat: Introduction » Welcome
Designing Interactions:
Welcome!
My name is Itamar Medeiros
http://designative.info/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/designative/
medeiros.itamar@gmail.com
@designative

Youareat: Introduction » Learning Objectives and Outline
Designing Interactions:
Interpretation “Mode”
Learning Outcomes
§  You will learn how to use storytelling to turn
meaningful insights into actionable
opportunities for design
Class Outline
§  Tell Stories
§  Capture your learning;
§  Share Inspiring Stories;
§  Search for Meaning;
§  Define Insights

Introduction:
Collect / Create / Relate / Donate
Collect
Learn from previous
experiences
!
Relate
Consult with peers
and mentors
"
#
$
Create
Explore, compose,
and evaluate
possible solutions
Donate
Disseminating
results
Shneiderman, B. (February 1999), Creating Creativity for Everyone: User Interfaces for
Supporting Innovation, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 7, 1 (March 2000),
114-138.
Youareat: Introduction » Collect / Create / Relate / Donate

Donate:
Disseminating Results
Let’s recap what we’ve done so far. By now,
you should have:
§  A Design Challenge
§  A Definition of Your Audience
§  An overview of what you know and what
you don’t know about your topic (mind map)
§  A questionnaire
§  Audio/Video Records of your Interviews;
§  A list of “Labeled Facts” or post-it notes
Youareat: Donate » Disseminating Results

IDEO (2011), Design Thinking Process in Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators, retrieved
September 1st , 2011 from http://www.designthinkingforeducators.com/

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation
Interpretation transforms your stories into
meaningful insights. Observations, field visits,
or just a simple conversation can be great
inspiration— but finding meaning in that and
turning it into actionable opportunities for
design is not an easy task.
Interpretation

TED Conferences, LLC, 2011, “Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change”,
in TEDGlobal 2010, retrieved on July 5th, 2011,
http://www.ted.com/talks/emily_pilloton_teaching_design_for_change.html

Youareat: Relate » Interpretation
Interpretation

Let’s review what we’ve go so far:

§  A Mind Map
§  A Questionnaire
§  Audio/Video Records of your Interviews

Search for Meaning
Create Work Models

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation » Constant Evolution
Interpretation:
Constant Evolution
Throughout the Interpretation phase, your
perspective will evolve and change. As you
gain a clearer understanding of what your
observations mean, you can relate them to
your challenge and use them as inspiration.

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation » Tell Stories
Interpretation:
Tell Stories
When you step out of an observation, it’s easy
to feel overwhelmed by the amount of
information you have taken in. Use the half
hour immediately after the session to start
capturing what you have learned.

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation » Tell Stories » Capture Your Learnings
Tell Stories:
Capture Your Learnings
1.  Find a space and
time
Plan extra time so
that you can share
your thoughts and
impressions right
after your
observation. This
may often happen
in a coffee shop or
while in transit.
2.  Focus What’s
Important
who did you meet
(profession, age,
location, etc)? what
did this participant
care about the most?
what frustrated him/
her? What was
interesting about the
way he/she interacted
with his/her
environment?
3.  Documents you
Thoughts
Capture your
observations on
Post-it Notes
(easier to
reorganize them
later). Illustrate
your thoughts
with drawings.

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation » Tell Stories » Share Inspiring Stories
Tell Stories:
Share Inspiring Stories
Share what you learned from your research as
stories, not just general statements. This will
create common knowledge that your team can
use to imagine opportunities and ideas.

Quesenbery, W., Brooks, K., (2010),
Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design,
Rosenfeld Media; 1st edition (April 15, 2010)

Tell Stories:
What storytelling does is: it can take rational
ideas that may be about numbers or math and
bring them more fully into the world by giving
them a human context to affect people.
Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design, Rosenfeld Media; 1st
edition (April 15, 2010)

Tell Stories:
So one of the best things about stories is that
they inspire other stories. Stories are a way for
people to be constantly breathing a form of
life into a very rational process.

Tell Stories:
1.  Set up a Space
Plan your storytelling
session in a room
with plenty of wall
space. Distribute
Post-it Notes and
markers. Have a flip
chart pad or large
sheets of paper
nearby, as well as
tape to attach these
sheets to the wall.
2.  Take Turns
Describe the
individuals you met and
the places you visited.
Be specific and talk
about what actually
happened. Revisit the
notes you took right
after your observation.
Print out your photos
and use them to
illustrate your stories.
3.  Tell the story of each
person following these
prompts
You may have already
used them when
capturing your first
impressions (check the
focus on what’s
important mentioned
during Capture Your
Learnings).

Kolko, J. (2008), INF385T | Information Design Studio, Lecture 4: Ethnography, Contextual
Inquiry, and Contextual Design, UT Austin: School of Information

Tell Stories:
3.  Actively Listen
While you are
listening to each
other, compare and
contrast the things
you have learned.
Explore areas where
you find different
opinions and
contradictions. Begin
to look for recurring
themes.
4.  Capture The
Information in Small
Pieces
Write down notes and
observations on Post-it
Notes while listening to a
story. Use concise and
complete sentences that
everyone can easily
understand. Capture
quotes— they are a
powerful way of
representing the voice of
a participant.
5.  Surround Yourself
with Stories
Write large enough so
that everyone can
read your notes. Put
all Post-its up on the
wall on large sheets of
paper. Use one sheet
per story, so you have
an overview of all your
experiences and the
people you have met.

Young, Indi. 2008. Contextual Inquiry notes in
Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior. New York:
Rosenfeld Media.

Austin Center for Design (2009-2011), Interpretation Session in Starting to think about
the boys on the row, retrieved September 1st , 2011 from
http://www.ac4d.com/2010/10/13/starting-to-think-about-the-boys-on-the-row/

Quesenbery, W, (2010),
Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design,
Rosenfeld Media; 1st edition (April 15, 2010)

Tell Stories:
Telling a story and making the context of that
story wider basically gives you a set of glasses
—a different sets of glasses—that allows
people to grow in different ways and,
therefore, because the world is different or
wider or bigger – whichever you prefer – the
problem takes on a different shape.

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation » Search for Meaning
Search For Meaning
After having collected and shared stories from
your fieldwork, begin to make sense of all that
information and inspiration. This part of the
process can take some time. A good first step
is to identify themes.

IDEO (2011), Design Thinking Process in Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators,
retrieved September 1st , 2011 from http://www.designthinkingforeducators.com/

Youareat: Collect » Interpretation » Search for Meaning
Search For Meaning
Every team member choose three Post-its
they find most interesting. Place each of them
on a large sheet of paper and begin to look
for more evidence of the same theme.

Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Find Themes
1.  Cluster Related
Information
What did many people
mention? Did someone
else say the opposite?
Are there behaviors
you saw repeatedly?
Which issues were
obvious? Rearrange the
Post-its into these new
buckets.
2.  Find Headlines
Name the clusters
you have defined,
e.g., “lack of space.”
Continue to sort and
rearrange the
information until you
feel you have picked
the interesting bits
out.
3.  Turn Headlines into
Sentences
Have a closer look at
your themes and the
stories that support
them, and express
them in a meaningful
way. Write a full
sentence. Use a new
Post-it and label your
cluster with that
statement.
Search For Meaning:
Find Themes

1.  Cluster Related
Information
What did many people
mention? Did someone
else say the opposite?
Are there behaviors
you saw repeatedly?
Which issues were
obvious? Rearrange the
Post-its into these new
buckets.
2.  Find Headlines
Name the clusters
you have defined,
e.g., “lack of space.”
Continue to sort and
rearrange the
information until you
feel you have picked
the interesting bits
out.
3.  Turn Headlines into
Sentences
Have a closer look at
your themes and the
stories that support
them, and express
them in a meaningful
way. Write a full
sentence. Use a new
Post-it and label your
cluster with that
statement.
Search For Meaning:
Find Themes
Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Find Themes

§  Workarounds
§  Mismatch between what people say and do
§  Offhand, under the breath comments
§  Sighs
§  Rolling of eyes
§  Confessions
§  Wants, Needs, Goals,
Motivations
§  Touch Points
§  Sequences
§  Workarounds
§  Pain / Break Points
§  Feelings

Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Making Sense of Findings
Search For Meaning:
Make Sense of Findings
Once you have created themes as an overview
of your research findings, begin to take a
closer look at what they mean. Sort and
analyze them until they help you build a clear
point of view.

Search For Meaning:
1.  Look for links
between themes
Take a closer look at
your themes and find
overlaps, patterns and
tensions as they relate
to each other. Can you
group several related
themes in larger
categories? What
contradictions do you
find? What feels
surprising and why?
2.  Dig deeper
Take a step back and
discuss what you have
discovered. Are there
themes that you have
different opinions
about? What are you
most excited about?
Can you begin to see
the relevance of your
challenge?
3.  Move Things Around
Regroup the
information and add
new versions of your
headlines until they
feel strong.

Search For Meaning:
4.  Get input from
the outside
Explain the themes to
someone who is not
part of your team.
Learn from their
feedback and try
alternative ways of
organizing the
information.
5.  Be prepared to let go
Leave behind stories
that don’t seem
important. Clean up
your space and only
keep the information
you are still using.

Ulaszek, J., Winters, B. (2013) ‘Setting Course – Design Research to Experience
Roadmap.’ Presentation at IxDA’s Interaction’13 Conference, Toronto – Canada,
28 February 2013.

Search For Meaning:
What we’re trying to do is to synthesize large
amounts of data by finding relationships
between ideas. The information is then
gradually structured from the bottom up into
meaningful groups.

PhotoDev (2013), Affinity Diagrams in Contextual Inquiry, retrieved November 26th,
2013 from http://www.adamatorres.com/gallery-project/?page_id=106

Youareat: Collect » Making Sense of Findings » Affinity Diagrams
Make Sense of Findings:
Affinity Diagrams
Affinity diagrams can be used to:
§  Draw out common themes from a large
amount of information;
§  Discover previously unseen connections
between various ideas or information
§  Brainstorm root causes and solutions to a
problem
PM Hut (2007-2011) Affinity Diagram - Kawakita Jiro or KJ Method, Retrieved June 6, 2010
from http://www.pmhut.com/affinity-diagram-kawakita-jiro-or-kj-method

Affinity Diagrams & Mental Models
Designing something requires that you
completely understand what a person wants to
get done. Empathy with a person is distinct from
studying how a person uses something. Empathy
extends to knowing what the person wants to
accomplish regardless of whether she has or is
aware of the thing you are designing.
Young, Indi. 2008. What is a Mental Model in
Rosenfeld Media.

Design Process
Nadin, M.,(1990), Interface design: Semiotics in the Individual Sciences, Vol. II
(W.A. Koch, Ed.). Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1990, pp. 418-436.

Affinity Diagrams & Mental Models
You need to know the person’s goals and what
procedure and philosophy she follows to
accomplish them. Mental models give you a deep
understanding of people’s motivations and
thought-processes, along with the emotional and
philosophical landscape in which they are
operating.
Young, Indi. 2008. What is a Mental Model in
Rosenfeld Media.

Young, Indi. 2008. Affinity Diagrams in
Rosenfeld Media.

Young, Indi. 2008. Mental model of a typical morning for people who commute to
work or school in Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior.
New York: Rosenfeld Media.

Young, Indi. 2008. Mental model with features aligned beneath it. (Features
borrowed from the product category list from Procter & Gamble’s site
www.pg.com.) in Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior.
New York: Rosenfeld Media.

Interpretation

§  Audio/Video Records of your Interviews

Interpretation

§  A Affinity Diagram

Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Define Insights
Search for Meaning:
Define Insights
Insights are a concise expression of what
you have learned from your research and
inspiration activities. They are the
unexpected information that makes you sit up
and pay attention. Insights allow you to see the
world in a new way and are a catalyst for new
ideas.

Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Define Insights
Search for Meaning:
Define Insights
1.  Select from
surprises
Look across your
buckets and themes
and choose the
information that you
find most surprising,
interesting, or worth
pursuing. What have
you learned that had
not occurred to you
before? What did you
find most inspiring?
2.  Reconnect the
learnings to your
Design Challenge
How do your findings
relate to your
challenge? Narrow
down the information
to those insights that
are relevant and find
new clusters. Try to
limit your insights to
the three to five most
important.
3.  Craft your Insights
Experiment with the
wording and structure
to best communicate
your insights. Create
short and memorable
sentences that get to
the point. Make sure
your insights convey
the sense of a new
perspective or
possibility.

Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Create Work Models
Search for Meaning:
Create Work Models
Creating a work model helps us develop:
§  A shared understanding of the user-data;
§  A shared language for the design team;
§  An easily understandable deliverable for
communication outside the design team;
§  A visual representation of the user data.
Kolko, J. (2008), INF385T | Methods of Design Synthesis, Lecture 2: Ethnography, Contextual
Inquiry, and Work Flow Modeling, UT Austin: School of Information

Beyer, H., Holtzblatt, K., (1997),
Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems, Morgan
Kaufmann; 1st edition (September 15, 1997)

Youareat: Collect » Search for Meaning » Create Work Models
Search for Meaning:
Create Work Models
Let’s look at five kinds of work models:
§  Flow: Direction of communication and coordination
§  Sequence: Detailed sequence of work steps
§  Artifact: Physical objects that support the work
§  Cultural: External influences
§  Physical: Layout of the work environment
Beyer, H., Holtzblatt, K., (1997), Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems,
Morgan Kaufmann; 1st edition (September 15, 1997)

Youareat: Collect » Create Work Models » Flow Model
Create Work Models:
Flow Model
§  Represents the coordination, communication,
interaction, roles, and responsibilities of the
people in a certain work practice
§  Includes the places where communication
happens, the artifacts used for
communication, and breakdowns in
communication that negatively impact work

Medeiros, I. (2007-2013), Swimlane Diagrams in Data Visualization,
retrieved November 27th, 2013 from
http://designative.info/project/data-visualization/#Swimlane_Diagrams

Kolko, J. (2008), Workflow Model of Getting a Tattoo in INF385T | Methods
of Design Synthesis, Lecture 2: Ethnography, Contextual Inquiry, and Work
Flow Modeling, UT Austin: School of Information

Copyright status: Unknown (pending investigation).
Retrieved November 27th 2013 from
http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/contextual_design.html

Youareat: Collect » Create Work Models » Sequence Model
Create Work Models:
Sequence Model
§  Low-level, step-by-step information on how
work is actually done:
§  Includes the intent behind the action, the
trigger that led the user to this action, and
breakdowns that create problems;
§  Captured at level of detail appropriate for
focus of the design team.

Beyer, H., Holtzblatt, K., (1997), Email Triage Sequence Diagram in
Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems, Morgan
Kaufmann; 1st edition (September 15, 1997)

Youareat: Collect » Create Work Models » Artifact Model
Create Work Models:
Artifact Model
§  Represents the documents or other physical
things that are created while working or are
used to support the work;
§  Artifacts often have a structure or styling
that could represent the user's way of
structuring the work.

Huang, K. H., & Deng, Y. S. (2008). Chinese Tradition of Tea Drinking Artifact
Model in Social interaction design in cultural context: A case study of a
traditional social activity. International Journal of Design, 2(2), 81-96.

Holtzblatt, K., (2001). Artifact Model of a Car in Beyond the Tower of Babel.,
retrieved September 21st, 2011 from
http://incontextdesign.com/articles/beyond-the-tower-of-babel/

Youareat: Collect » Create Work Models » Cultural Model
Create Work Models:
Cultural Model
§  Represents the norms, influences, and
pressures that are present in the work
environment
§  Reveals in the language used to describe
work, the tone of the place, the policies, and
the influence of the overall organization

Huang, K. H., & Deng, Y. S. (2008). Chinese Tradition of Tea Drinking Cultural
Model in Social interaction design in cultural context: A case study of a
traditional social activity. International Journal of Design, 2(2), 81-96.

Youareat: Collect » Create Work Models » Physical Model
Create Work Models:
Physical Model
§  Represents the physical environment where the
work tasks are accomplished;
§  Often, there are multiple physical models
representing, e.g., office layout, network topology,
or the layout of tools on a computer display;
§  Focuses on aspects relevant to the work / focus,
and not on complete fidelity.

Holtzblatt, K., (2001). Physical Model of a Supermarket in Beyond the Tower of Babel,
retrieved September 21st, 2011 from
http://incontextdesign.com/articles/beyond-the-tower-of-babel/

Youareat: Collect » Consolidating Work Models
Consolidating Work Models
Consolidating models across different users and
interviews allows the team to see patterns:
§  Some observations may be missed - by
consolidating several interviews, we can achieve
better coverage
§  Reduces likelihood of bias by one idiosyncratic
user or interview
§  Only done for important and/or relevant models

Youareat: Collect » Consolidating Work Models
Which ones are relevant?
§  Flow: Direction of communication and coordination
§  Sequence: Detailed sequence of work steps
§  Artifact: Physical objects that support the work
§  Cultural: External influences
§  Physical: Layout of the work environment

Youareat: Relate » Consolidating Work Models

§  An Affinity Diagram
§  A Consolidated Work Model

Youareat: Create » Interpretation » Exercise
Interpretation:
Exercise
Please continue to work throughout the week,
so that we have the following ready for our
next workshop:

§  A refined Design Challenge
§  A clear Definition of Your Audience
§  An Affinity Diagram
§  A Consolidated Work Model

Go to our KISD Space for this course and share
work-in-progress samples of your:

1.  Affinity Diagram
2.  Consolidated Work Model

Itamar Medeiros
http://designative.info/
http://twitter.com/designative
medeiros.itamar@gmail.com
Youareat: Donate » Disseminating Results
Donate:
Disseminating Results

Designing Interactions / Experiences: Lecture #03

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Designing Interactions / Experiences: Lecture #03