Design research is a customer-focused framework of research methods that allows you to uncover who your users are, the problems they’re facing and the way in which they’ll be using your product. It inspires imagination and informs intuition through a variety of methods such as to find patterns in people’s behaviours and experiences, to explore reactions to probes and prototypes and discover new ideas through iterative hypothesis and experiment. By using design research we can begin to learn consumer behaviours and uncover actionable insights.
A good example of when design research is used well is Peek, a calendar app reimagined. It took the boring standard calendar and made it more content focused and functional, supplying the user with only the information they need in a form of a snapshot of their day.
Creating it around the question “What do people really value when it comes to managing time on the go?” and taking into consideration the mental model of people using calendar apps. Through their user research, they were able to learn that what people valued most was that they wanted to manage time on the go with no extra or unnecessary features.
So Peek was designed to be a more aesthetic experience that understood the needs of people and present them with information so they can use calendar when they need it, but not be consumed by its entirety.
The failure of the Segway was all down to poor design research and not understanding what the users really needed. The Segway is a two-wheeled, self balancing electric vehicle launched in 2001 however it failed to gain significant market acceptance despite the company having large funding and it being a pretty cool product. This is probably because Segway did not know their target audience or understand their intended users and due to this set their expectations extremely high. They had a solution without a problem to solve as the Segway was a product, not a solution to an ongoing problem so why would anyone want or need it?
The Segway really highlights the importance of researching as it builds a solid foundation and allows you to make critical decisions in the design process so it will be as effective for your intended users. Segway failed to understand their users and their product wasn’t even tailored to anyone in particular, the price was too expensive and people had other easier and cheaper options.
<aside> 💭 These examples demonstrate the importance of design research and how crucial for creating effective user-centred solutions. It places emphasis on understanding user needs, behaviours and experiences as well as creating empathy and informed decision-making. In essence, design research is instrumental in developing designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional, meaningful, and responsive to user requirements.
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By embracing a human-centred perspective, we become more caring listeners and keener observers.
Desk research is and should always be the starting point of a research process. This helps us to define research question or topic, identify and evaluate reliable sources and summarise the content. To conduct this research we can use sources such as news sites or news papers, social media posts, Government policies or Academic research.