Innovating
for People
Handbook of Human-Centered
Design Methods
“ Everyone designs who devises
courses of action aimed at
changing existing situations
into preferred ones.”
HERB SIMON
Nobel Laureate in Economics
This is your essential resource for innovation.
It’s a collection of methods for practicing
Human-Centered Design—the discipline of
developing solutions in the service of people.
The thirty-six methods in this handbook are
organized by way of three key design skills:
Looking, Understanding, and Making.
We invite you to develop these skills in earnest and
work with others to bring new and lasting value to
the world.
Make
things
better.
®
© 2012 LUMA Institute, LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
First edition, July 2012
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission
of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
Published by LUMA Institute, LLC, Four Gateway Center,
444 Liberty Avenue, Suite 1600, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
ISBN 978-0-9857509-0-9
CONTENTS
Looking ................................................................................ 1
Methods for Observing Human Experience
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Interviewing .......................................................................................... 4
Fly-on-the-Wall Observation ................................................... 6
Contextual Inquiry .......................................................................... 8
Walk-a-Mile Immersion ............................................................. 10
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
What’s on Your Radar? ...............................................................12
Buy a Feature ......................................................................................14
Build Your Own ................................................................................16
Journaling .............................................................................................18
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
Think-Aloud Testing .................................................................... 20
Heuristic Review ............................................................................ 22
Critique .................................................................................................... 24
System Usability Scale .............................................................. 26
Understanding ................................................... 29
Methods for Analyzing Challenges & Opportunities
PEOPLE & SYSTEMS
Stakeholder Mapping ................................................................. 32
Persona Prole ................................................................................. 34
Experience Diagramming ...................................................... 36
Concept Mapping ........................................................................... 38
PATTERNS & PRIORITIES
Afnity Clustering ......................................................................... 40
Bull’s-eye Diagramming .......................................................... 42
Importance/Difculty Matrix ............................................. 44
Visualize the Vote .......................................................................... 46
PROBLEM FRAMING
Problem Tree Analysis ............................................................... 48
Statement Starters ........................................................................ 50
Abstraction Laddering ............................................................... 52
Rose, Thorn, Bud ........................................................................... 54
CONTENTS (CONTINUED)
Making ............................................................................... 57
Methods for Envisioning Future Possibilities
CONCEPT IDEATION
Thumbnail Sketching ................................................................. 60
Creative Matrix ................................................................................ 62
Round Robin ...................................................................................... 64
Alternative Worlds ........................................................................ 66
MODELING & PROTOTYPING
Storyboarding ................................................................................... 68
Schematic Diagramming ........................................................ 70
Rough & Ready Prototyping ................................................ 72
Appearance Modeling ............................................................... 74
DESIGN RATIONALE
Concept Poster .................................................................................. 76
Video Scenario ................................................................................. 78
Cover Story Mock-up .................................................................. 80
Quick Reference Guide ............................................................. 82
viii
Looking
Methods for Observing Human Experience
LOOKING
Innovation begins and
ends with people. It calls
for keen and caring
observation.
The disciplined practice
of Human-Centered
Design involves careful
investigation. It requires
curiosity, objectivity, and
empathy. You need to engage
all of your senses (looking,
listening, and so forth)
in pursuit of meaningful
ndings.
1
2
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CATEGORIES OF LOOKING
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Stepping out of your native environment to learn what
people do in the places they inhabit is a great way to
discover opportunities for innovation. The methods in
this grouping are good for studying
human behavior in its natural setting.
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
Innovators offer solutions that people don’t even know
they want. This cluster of methods allows you to en-
gage with your intended audience by equipping them
with creative ways to express themselves. If
you pay close attention you’ll discover critical and
latent needs.
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
When you look at things critically, with an eye toward
improvement, you set your course in the direction of
making things better. These methods are good for
assessing the usefulness and usability of solutions
meant to serve people in new and better ways.
• Interviewing
• Fly-on-the-Wall Observation
• Contextual Inquiry
• Walk-a-Mile Immersion
• What’s on Your Radar?
• Buy a Feature
• Build Your Own
• Journaling
• Think-Aloud Testing
• Heuristic Review
• Critique
• System Usability Scale
3
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
4
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Interviewing
A technique for gathering information through
direct dialogue
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This a good sequence of methods for making decisions
about whom to interview, then analyzing and summarizing your ndings.
UNDERSTANDING
Stakeholder
Mapping
UNDERSTANDING
Afnity
Clustering
UNDERSTANDING
Persona Prole
LOOKING
Interviewing
PEOPLE GENERALLY enjoy telling stories about their experiences.
A good interview helps you take advantage of this natural inclina-
tion in order to gather valuable information. Interviewing gives you
an opportunity to speak directly with the people who can help you
make informed decisions. Through these interviews you gain a better
sense of people and their views of the world by subtly eliciting their
true feelings, desires, struggles, and opinions through a few carefully
crafted questions. An additional sensitivity to the unplanned and
unscripted aspects of an interview can allow for equally illuminating
discoveries.
A good interviewer needs to be attuned to the interviewee to know
when to probe for more information, when to redirect the conver-
sation, and how to parse what is meant from what is said. In other
words, one must, as journalist Lawrence Grobel said, “converse like a
talk show host, think like a writer, understand subtext like a psychia-
trist, [and] have an ear like a musician.”
5
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a topic for investigation.
• Prepare your questions and recording equipment.
• Determine your criteria for selecting interviewees.
• Identify the people you will interview.
• Set a time and place to meet them.
• Introduce yourself and the purpose. Obtain consent.
• Start with easy questions, then draw out specics.
• Listen carefully and take good notes.
• Thank each participant.
• Try to choose a location with minimal distractions.
• Don’t put words into the interviewee’s mouth.
• Resist the urge to conduct an analysis at this stage.
Here’s an example
of an interviewer
asking a com-
muter about her
use of public
transportation.
She learned that
the commuter was
highly motivated
by environmental
concerns.
• Helps you gain information directly
• Challenges your preconceptions
• Deepens your empathy for others
• Builds credibility with stakeholders
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
6
Fly-on-the-Wall Observation
An approach to conducting eld research in an
unobtrusive manner
MINIMIZING YOUR impact can be a great way to maximize your
discoveries. In situations where you cannot speak directly with people,
or do not want to interrupt the ow of their activities, being a y on
the wall has its advantages.
You’ll come to nd that careful, unobtrusive observation provides
valuable insight you cannot otherwise obtain. When left to their own
devices, people are likely to say or do things that they’re not aware of
and would not be able to articulate, even if prompted. If you can watch
and listen without interfering, you have a chance to capture people’s
natural behavior. Remember to pay careful attention to people’s tasks
and workow, taking note of the information, tools, and people they
rely upon to do what they do. Also be mindful of the surrounding
environment, understanding that peripheral objects, sounds, and
people may affect outcomes.
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for using observations
to inform the way you frame a problem. It also helps you get the right people involved in
subsequent ideation activities.
UNDERSTANDING
Abstraction
Laddering
UNDERSTANDING
Stakeholder
Mapping
LOOKING
Fly-on-the-Wall
Observation
MAKING
Round Robin
7
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a subject area to study.
• Develop a plan to guide your investigation.
• Consider which people and activities to watch.
• Choose a location to visit.
• Obtain the necessary access and permission(s).
• Prepare materials for capturing what you see.
• Go out and observe.
• Record your ndings in videos, photos, and notes.
• Make every effort to blend in to the background.
• Take on the role of an objective bystander.
• Look at the situation from several vantage points.
In this project, a
team spent time at
a large conference
center. They noted
how the attendees
invented their own
ways of congregat-
ing and conducting
work.
• Diminishes your presence as a researcher
• Deepens your empathy for others
• Challenges your assumptions
• Informs subsequent research activities
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
8
Contextual Inquiry
An approach to interviewing and observing
people in their own environment
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
“WHAT PEOPLE SAY, what people do, and what they say they do
are entirely different things,” observed inuential anthropologist
Margaret Mead. Following this wisdom, it is crucial that we pay
attention to what people say and what people do in order to get a clear
picture of what really happens. A Contextual Inquiry places you in the
midst of a person’s environment where you can inquire about his or
her experiences in context as they are happening. Consequently, input
comes directly from the people who have the most knowledge, saving
you from making assumptions about how and why things are done.
Even when you do have some background knowledge of a person’s
role or situation, it helps to approach as a novice or to think of yourself
as an apprentice. At the same time, bear in mind that you are trying
to gather useful information for a specic purpose, so keep the design
challenge in view as you interact with participants.
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for conducting
research in the eld, visualizing your discoveries, and determining a direction for ideation.
UNDERSTANDING
Experience
Diagramming
UNDERSTANDING
Rose, Thorn,
Bud
LOOKING
Contextual
Inquiry
9
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
This example shows
an observer watch-
ing a technician
install a computer
network. He noted
that the installer
skipped over many
steps in the recom-
mended process.
• Identify a location and the people to be involved.
• Prepare your questions and recording equipment.
• Go to the site.
• Introduce yourself and the purpose. Obtain consent.
• Ask the participants to do tasks in a normal way.
• Observe their actions in an unobtrusive manner.
• Interject questions at opportune moments.
• Record your ndings in videos, photos, and notes.
• Thank each participant.
• Ask people to do activities, not just give you a tour.
• Use more than one researcher to get multiple views.
• Stay focused on your goals, yet open to discovery.
• Reveals what people actually do and say
• Deepens your empathy for others
• Challenges your assumptions
• Builds credibility with stakeholders
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
10
Walk-a-Mile Immersion
A way of building empathy for people through
rsthand experience
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
AS ATTICUS FINCH teaches us in To Kill a Mockingbird, “You never
really understand a person until you consider things from his point
of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” While
any research method can help you better understand people and their
needs, Walk-a-Mile forces you to take a person’s journey and experi-
ence their joys, conicts, and weariness. In other words, you must not
only see, but also feel what it is like to live in the world as someone
else.
Practically speaking, this could mean any number of things: don-
ning the equipment someone uses and performing a task, articially
altering one or more of your senses, foregoing (or perhaps experienc-
ing) some of life’s luxuries, or even living among people of a differ-
ent society. Whatever the extent, the idea is to deepen your empathy
for others, and to use that experience to better inform your decision
making. If you can begin to understand people’s motivations, you will
better understand their needs.
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for identifying whose
experience you want to replicate, conducting an immersion, and setting a direction for
problem solving.
UNDERSTANDING
Persona
Prole
UNDERSTANDING
Statement
Starters
LOOKING
Walk-a-Mile
Immersion
11
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify whose experience you want to replicate.
• Choose the tasks and activities you will perform.
• Assemble what is needed to run a simulation.
• Determine the best location.
• Obtain the necessary access and permission(s).
• Conduct the targeted tasks.
• Do each activity as realistically as possible.
• Note your ndings along the way.
• Commit to the activity fully. Don’t give up early.
• Ask another observer to help you capture ndings.
• Use an Empathy Suit to simulate human conditions.
Here’s an example of
a young researcher
using special eye-
glasses and a glove
to simulate physical
impairments. This
activity informed his
designs for elderly
consumers.
• Helps you gain rsthand knowledge
• Fosters an attitude of humility
• Deepens your empathy for others
• Informs subsequent research activities
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
12
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
What’s on Your Radar?
An exercise in which people plot items according
to personal signicance
FOR AN AIR trafc controller, bright spots on a radar screen often
indicate the need for decisive action. It is the controller’s job to closely
monitor everything within his scope to ensure successful outcomes.
Using a radar diagram as a method for discovery in design can work
in much the same way. This method provides a template where people
can organize items within a given scope based on how important or
relevant they consider them to be. So, whether you are dealing with
concrete items or abstract concepts, the diagram is a useful way for
people to assign rank.
Reading the diagram is straightforward: the things people assign to
the center circle (which is deliberately small) are most signicant,
while those in successive circles are less so, and those outside
the diagram are not even blips on their radar. The format forces
participants to express clear distinctions between what is primary,
what is secondary, and what is tertiary.
UNDERSTANDING
Stakeholder
Mapping
LOOKING
What’s on
Your Radar?
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for deciding whom to
invite to a participatory design session, then using the insights from the exercise to fuel the
development of new ideas.
MAKING
Concept Poster
MAKING
Thumbnail
Sketching
13
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a topic for consideration.
• Make a large poster that looks like a radar screen.
• Include 3 concentric circles and 4-6 segments.
• Label the circles: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary.
• Label the segments as subcategories of the topic.
• Invite a group of stakeholders to be participants.
• Give each person a poster, a pen, and sticky notes.
• Instruct them to plot their personal considerations.
• Ask the participants to describe their rankings.
• Limit the time for plotting items to 15 minutes.
• Allow participants to write in some segment labels.
• Listen closely when people describe what they did.
In this example, a
student was invited
to plot his personal
health habits. His
responses were
combined with
others and used to
inform the design
of a new wellness
program.
• Reveals what people are thinking
• Shows how people prioritize
• Challenges your preconceptions
• Yields documents that inform ensuing work
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
14
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
Buy a Feature
A game in which people use articial money
to express trade-off decisions
OFTEN WHEN WE talk about price what we’re really measuring is
value. In real estate you’ll often hear that a property is only worth
what someone is willing to pay for it. This is the idea behind Buy a
Feature. The game is designed to help elicit the truth about what
people value, not just what they say they value.
This method is based on a system of constraints that create tension by
offering choices that exceed available resources. It aims to simulate
the conditions that exist when people have to budget their resources
to get what they truly desire. Because you provide people with a
limited amount of currency with which to buy items, participants must
pick and choose which are most important. The resulting decisions
are valuable in assessing what features or concepts should be present
in the nal design. Additionally, you can monitor the decision-making
process, asking questions about why participants make certain
choices. Those answers may be just as meaningful as their purchases.
LOOKING
Buy a Feature
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for discovering the
value people place on various features, then forming suggestions for improvement.
MAKING
Schematic
Diagramming
MAKING
Rough & Ready
Prototyping
15
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a product, service, or policy to focus on.
• Generate a list of potential features.
• Make playing cards for the various features.
• Include a price for each feature.
• Invite a group of stakeholders to play the game.
• Give each player a set of cards with price tags.
• Give them a limited amount of articial money.
• Ask them to purchase features within the budget.
• Encourage them to articulate their deliberations.
• Pricing can be based on the actual cost of execution.
• Listen for evidence of motivations and priorities.
• Have participants make buying decisions in pairs.
Here’s an example
of an educator
considering a new
feature for an online
tool. The design
team noted the
value he placed on
making new policies
for education.
• Reveals what people value
• Shows how people deliberate
• Uncovers latent and unmet needs
• Yields documents that inform ensuing work
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
16
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
Build Your Own
An activity in which people express ideal
solutions using symbolic elements
BUILD YOUR OWN is a method that helps people express their “what
ifs” by putting tools for creativity and communication literally in
their hands. It equips them with a kit of tangible symbolic elements
that makes it quick and easy to create a physical representation of an
idea. What you end up with are illuminating artifacts that provide
a reference for what they desire or expect of your team’s ultimate
solution.
A well-planned, easy to use kit of parts makes it possible for people
to build what they imagine. The components you provide need to
be simple and relatively nondescript, but should be appropriate to
the type of solution you desire. For instance, a toolkit comprised of
building blocks and gurines could work for urban residents invited to
imagine their ideal use of pubic spaces. However, a toolkit consisting
of pre-drawn user-interface elements and a sheet of paper would work
better for IT professionals imagining their ideal network-monitoring
interface.
UNDERSTANDING
Bull’s-eye Dia-
gramming
UNDERSTANDING
Visualize the
Vote
LOOKING
Build Your
Own
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for prioritizing which
items to include in a participatory design exercise. It also helps you engage participants
in analysis.
LOOKING
Critique
17
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a product, service, or policy to focus on.
• Make a kit of representational building blocks.
• Include a variety of basic shapes and symbols.
• Invite a group of primary stakeholders to participate.
• Divide the group into teams of two people.
• Give each team a construction kit.
• Ask them to build an expression of an ideal solution.
• Encourage them to “think aloud” as they construct.
• Ask each team to present their nal model.
• Make units easy to build with magnets or Velcro.
• Limit the amount of time for building (15-30 min).
• Listen carefully as teams express wants and needs.
This example shows
a photographer
using a kit of generic
parts to express his
desires for a new
video camera. The
design team noted
his interest in a han-
dle for steadiness.
• Shows what people want and desire
• Uncovers latent and unmet needs
• Challenges your assumptions
• Yields models to inform subsequent work
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
18
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
Journaling
An activity that invites people to record personal
experiences in words and pictures
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN putting pen to paper in daily diaries for
centuries as an act of reection, confession, or documentation. As
a research method, Journaling is a powerful way to learn about the
inner workings of people as they document their personal experiences
with a particular product or issue. In contrast to activities that require
face-to-face interaction, journaling is done privately, typically over the
course of days or weeks. This allows time for deliberative reection
that other methods may not. Often people will share greater detail
about their feelings and opinions when they do not have to do it in
person, yielding very thoughtful and thought-provoking responses.
But don’t think that a journal is just a blank book. In fact, a journal
doesn’t have to be a book at all! A journaling activity could ask
participants to take photographs of their interactions and describe
them, narrate a series of short videos, or provide written responses to
open-ended prompts. Whatever the chosen tools, craft them carefully
to facilitate good ndings.
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for collecting data from
key stakeholders, then using the research to inform a search for new ideas.
UNDERSTANDING
Rose, Thorn,
Bud
UNDERSTANDING
Statement
Starters
LOOKING
Journaling
MAKING
Creative Matrix
19
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a subject area to study.
• Make a kit of materials for record keeping.
• Include a paper diary and/or access to a blog.
• Invite a group of primary stakeholders to participate.
• Explain the purpose and duration of the study.
• Distribute the kits with simple instructions.
• Include a guide for capturing pictures and video.
• Ask them to ll the journal and send it back to you.
• Perform an exit interview with each participant.
• Take advantage of the devices people already carry.
• Send periodic reminders to create journal entries.
• Provide the postage needed for returning the kits.
Here’s an example
of a homeowner
recording concerns
about the status of
her house when she
is away. This input
informed the design
of a new home
security system.
• Accumulates research from remote regions
• Gains information over time
• Reveals what people think and feel
• Deepens your empathy for others
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
20
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
Think-Aloud Testing
A testing format where people narrate their
experience while performing a given task
THIS STYLE OF evaluation doesn’t just ask for a play-by-play, but
rather a thought-by-thought account of an experience. People’s
articulation of a typically unspoken thought process not only helps the
team pinpoint where the success and failure points are in their system,
but it also diagnoses the causes. When successful, a Think-Aloud Test
reveals important insights and inferences that would otherwise be
unknown to a design team.
Effective sessions—those in which comfortable reviewers offer lots
of clear information—require the sensitive moderation of a well-
prepared testing team. You will come to appreciate the mindset,
intentions, and expectations of people, which will in turn help you
decipher what specic attributes of your design are causing certain
reactions—and how to address them. Fortunately just six to nine of
these tests will usually reveal 80% of the issues with a design, so it
is a low-investment opportunity to make a signicant impact on the
efciency, effectiveness, and satisfaction of a solution.
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for rapid iteration.
It helps you develop and test new ideas quickly, then use what you’ve learned to rene
and test again.
MAKING
Schematic
Diagramming
LOOKING
Think-Aloud
Testing
MAKING
Rough & Ready
Prototyping
UNDERSTANDING
Bull’s-eye Dia-
gramming
21
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify what you will be testing and a few key tasks.
• Invite 6-9 different people to be the respondents.
• Schedule a testing session with each person.
• Introduce yourself and the purpose. Obtain consent.
• Remind each respondent, “We are NOT testing you.”
• Instruct them to conduct each task one at a time.
• Ask them to think aloud.
• Keep quiet, listen carefully, and take good notes.
• Thank each participant.
• Defer any direct questions until the end of the test.
• Avoid the temptation to conduct a demonstration.
• Mimic functionality if the design is still in progress.
In this project, a
driver used a rough
prototype of an
in-car entertainment
system. The design
team noted her
inability to nd and
play a prerecorded
program.
• Reveals what people are thinking
• Deepens your empathy for others
• Uncovers opportunities for improvement
• Lowers development costs through early discovery
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
22
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
Heuristic Review
An auditing procedure based on ten rules of
thumb for good design
A HEURISTIC is also known as a rule of thumb—a generally accurate
guideline based on the experiential knowledge of how something
works best. We use countless heuristics day-to-day to help simplify our
lives and avoid complications. Rules like these provide a quick safety
check in our daily activities.
In much the same way, designers use heuristics as a way to formulate
and evaluate solutions. Drawing from experience, experts have
learned that a design’s failure or success can often be predicted by
how well it addresses the following principles of good design:
1) Match mental model; 2) Minimize perceived complexity; 3) Use
consistent form, words, and actions; 4) Provide a sense of place;
5) Account for user and environmental constraints; 6) Anticipate
needs; 7) Use clear and concise language; 8) Give feedback about
actions and status; 9) Prevent errors and provide graceful recovery;
10) Strive for appropriate and minimal aesthetics.
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for conducting an
evaluation of an existing system. It helps you analyze the ndings and prioritize your plans
for improvement.
UNDERSTANDING
Afnity
Clustering
UNDERSTANDING
Importance/
Difculty Matrix
LOOKING
Heuristic
Review
23
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify the subject of your review.
• Form a team of reviewers with multiple perspectives.
• Get everyone familiar with the ten heuristics.
• Select a small number of key tasks.
• Instruct each reviewer to conduct each task.
• Remind them to keep the heuristics in mind.
• Give each reviewer a pen and a sticky note pad.
• Ask them to note all of the issues they discover.
• Tell them to cite one heuristic for each issue.
• Ask the reviewers to add their initials to the notes.
• Encourage them to describe each issue clearly.
• Discourage the inclusion of solutions at this stage.
Here’s an example
of an evaluator
operating a piece of
industrial equipment.
He discovered many
occasions where the
rules of thumb for
good design were
broken.
• Leverages proven principles of good design
• Helps you identify problems quickly
• Yields data in the absence of test participants
• Shows opportunities for improvement
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
24
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
Critique
A forum for people to give and receive
constructive feedback
EVERYONE’S A CRITIC these days, but not everyone truly knows how
to critique. There’s more to the practice than simply sharing opinions.
According to Dave Frances and Don Young, authors of the book
Improving Work Groups, “Critical feedback is most effective when it is
audible, credible, and actionable.” Critiques, therefore, should follow
a structure that encourages efcient, productive discussion, thus
spurring collaboration and objectivity and advancing improvements
more quickly.
As opposed to casual conversation about a project, a Critique allows
the designers to present their current solution and then express
concerns or ask specic questions about it. Reviewers are invited to
respond in a clear way that addresses the designers’ needs. In the
context of a structured Critique—which allows for both positive and
negative feedback—people are more likely to share suggestions for
improvement, since the design team has formally solicited them.
A good Critique can be both eye opening and inspiring.
LOOKING
Critique
MAKING
Storyboarding
MAKING
Concept Poster
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for developing an
initial concept and inviting feedback from others. It also helps you advance the concept
in more detail.
UNDERSTANDING
Rose, Thorn,
Bud
25
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify a project and a group of reviewers.
• Pick a time and place for the session.
• Presenter: Describe what has been done and why.
• Reviewers: Ask questions.
• Presenter: Provide clarication.
• Reviewers: Start with warm feedback (positive).
• Reviewers: End with cool feedback (negative).
• Presenter: Invite suggestions from reviewers.
• Presenter: Thank everyone for participating.
• Invite reviews from people who didn’t do the work.
• Don’t wait for completeness to invite critique.
• Get in the habit of asking for feedback often.
This example
shows a team giving
feedback on plans
for a new oce
environment. The
designer noted the
comments and then
recongured the
seating arrange-
ments.
• Facilitates constructive discussion
• Reveals blind spots in your design activities
• Shows opportunities for improvement
• Builds organizational alignment
LOOKING: Methods for Observing Human Experience
26
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
System Usability Scale
A short survey for quantifying feedback from
subjective assessments of usability
THE WAY PEOPLE feel when using something is just as important as
how they use it. In order to effectively evaluate a design, then, you
may need to measure people’s subjective and objective feedback of
an experience. To ensure reliability, the System Usability Scale (SUS)
provides a good option. It is a freely available questionnaire originally
developed by John Brooke for Digital Equipment Corporation. The
SUS uses the Likert Scale, which asks participants to evaluate each
question by choosing between ve attitude responses, ranging from
“Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” This is a particularly effective
way of benchmarking a given design against later iterations, and is
highly versatile across many product and service realms.
To score the SUS, rst subtract one point from the user response for
each odd-numbered item. Then, for even-numbered items, subtract
the user response from ve. This scales all values from zero to four,
with a four being the most positive response. Finally, add up the con-
verted responses and multiply the total by 2.5. Any score above 68 is
considered above average.
LOOKING
System
Usability Scale
MAKING
Schematic
Diagramming
A SAMPLE COMBINATION: This is a good sequence of methods for benchmarking
the usability of a current design. It also helps you envision improvements.
LOOKING
Think-Aloud
Testing
UNDERSTANDING
Afnity
Clustering
27
BENEFITS
QUICK GUIDE
HELPFUL HINTS
• Identify what you will be testing and a few key tasks.
• Invite a group of participants.
• Conduct a task-based usability test.
• Administer the SUS questionnaire after the test.
• Instruct the respondents to answer every question.
• Ask them to record their rst response to each item.
• Calculate the total score for each questionnaire.
• Average all of the scores to obtain the overall value.
• Give the participants a printed or an online form.
• Tell them to mark the center point if undecided.
• Don’t allow them to think about each item too long.
In this project,
online shoppers
were asked to ll
out a question-
naire after using an
e-commerce site.
The scores were
combined to form
a baseline for
improvement.
• Leverages a proven measure of usability
• Standardizes your evaluations
• Provides a manageable numeric score
• Helps you make quick assessments