MDM565: Design Research

Process, Documentation, and Evaluation

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming

A key component of this month’s course was the need to develop empathy with the target audience in regard to our chosen brand location. An Empathy Map was created as a result of information gathered throughout week two. This required research as to effective ways that needs, concerns, and feelings of our users could be discovered.

1. The video course “Designing with Empathy” by Daniel Nordin and Jonathan Dalton’s article on empathy and customer closeness provided valuable insight as well as suggestions to glean pertinent information from the target audience.

2. Nordin strongly suggests that a designer attempting to create empathy through the interview process should avoid questions requesting extremely specific answers (Nordin, 2015). Comfortability in regard to interview setting was alluded to by Dalton as a successful strategy when doing this type of research. Placing the interviewee in their most natural setting is advised, as it will serve to generate more genuine answers as to how and why our customers behave the way that they do (Dalton, 2016).

3. Dalton and Nordin are in agreement in regard to the need for a familiar environment and a free-flowing interview style that doesn’t demand specific answers. They both communicate the importance of avoiding any preconceived notions we may have as designers when developing interview questions, as this could certainly bias the wording of said questions in a way that would seem we are expecting the interviewee to answer a certain way.

4. The development of an empathy map was required for week 2 of the course and synthesis of the aforementioned research was needed to do this successfully. It was clear from the research that, especially considering the current Covid-19 regulations, phone interviews would be the most appropriate way to keep interviewees comfortable. This presented challenges in regard to variables such as conducting interviews with business owners during open hours, as it wasn’t immediately clear if interference of their “natural environment” would have an effect on their answers. Ultimately, I chose to use a mixture of business owners and a local resident so that I could employ the suggestion keeping interviewees in their natural settings while allowing for completely different perspectives (business vs. home life). This approach would offer a greater chance at developing empathy through multiple viewpoints.

5. I developed a questionnaire with a multitude of questions in regard to my chosen location of Main Avenue. Some of these questions trended more toward the business aspects of the district, while a large portion of them focused on the interviewee’s internal thoughts, motivations, and feelings. As suggested in the research materials, I left many of the questions open-ended, in hopes of uncovering some hidden nuggets of useful information and insight into each subject without directing the conversation too aggressively. This proved to have varied levels of success. The business owners were radically different in regard to their level of sociability, which led to one very useful interview and one which gleaned very little in the way of important insight. This could have been affected by the level of traffic each business was experiencing at the time of the interview as well as simply being attributed to personality differences in the two interviewees, which was also noted when developing the empathy map. As expected, the local resident who was interviewed in their home setting offered far greater insight into the emotional needs and desires of the community, while the business owners generally alluded to the value that the district’s amenities have to offer residents. Ultimately the open-endedness of the questions, familiar atmosphere, and the use of phone-interviews proved to be the correct approach, as enough pertinent information was gathered to successfully create empathy with the community.

PROBLEM SOLVING

1. The main design problem for this month revealed itself as finding Main Avenue’s true differentiation from similar districts in the surrounding area. The issue was deciding how to maintain the community’s affinity with the area’s history while simultaneously demonstrating its current unique offering’s that set it apart.

2. An “onlyness statement” required development for week three of the course, which would reveal the true differentiating factors Main Avenue has over its competitors. In order to create this statement, a competitive analysis between Main Avenue and two surrounding districts of very similar make-ups was executed. Initial impressions of Main Avenue suggested that its preservation of the area’s historical aspects would be the best approach to differentiate it from competition. However, research into the competing districts revealed they also place a level of importance on their history, indicating that this approach alone would not be enough to differentiate Main Avenue. However, comparative analysis revealed that Main Avenue was the ONLY one of the three locations that has maintained strictly locally owned businesses entities. This proved to be a perfect angle to approach Main Avenue’s advantage over its competition.

3. Ultimately, the decision was made to combine the community’s expressed affiliation with the area’s history and its unique local offerings as the true differentiating element. This was the superior solution as it serves to appeal to both local resident’s needs while also communicating noteworthy traits to those passing through who may be debating between competing areas to stop at.

INNOVATIVE THINKING

1. Assignments completed this month including secondary research, primary research, empathy maps, and comparative analysis are all in line with standard practices in the design industry.

2. Course materials were utilized as references in regard to how to properly conduct the required research and direct the development of empathy maps and comparative analysis. This process did not involve anything particularly innovative initially. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, some level of ingenuity was required during the photographing of my location. With limited access to specific areas, certain photographs were taken in an attempt to capture and communicate the historical essence and desired portrayal of the community’s personality. Though not particularly innovative, a certain level of altered thinking was certainly necessary due to the pandemic.

3. In retrospect, the area that revealed itself for the opportunity of more innovation this month is a more dynamic approach to interview questions. In the future, it may be helpful to have a secondary set of questions prepared in the case that one of the subjects doesn’t seem to be responding appropriately to initial inquiries. Taking various personality types into account before diving into the interview process would serve to give multiple chances to gain pertinent information from interviewees. Admittedly, more attention will need to be paid to potential areas of innovation at the forefront of each assignment going forward.

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Acquiring Competencies

1. Place Branding Development – Best practices place emphasis on local community experience as opposed to solely geographical features of an area. (Occupational/Conceptual)

2. Brand Equity – Without grasping a brand’s current positive/negative equity, one cannot properly apply appropriate visual design solutions. (Occupational/Conceptual)

3. Benefits of Design Research – Appropriate design solutions cannot be achieved without employing BOTH primary and secondary research. (Occupational/Technical)

4. Developing Empathy – One must identify important lifestyle factors, attitudes, needs, and behaviors of a target audience to ensure the most effective communication takes place through design solutions. (Occupational/Conceptual)

5. Color Theory Variance – A target audience’s background and experiences must be considered when applying color choices. Assumptions in regard to color meaning should be avoided. (Occupational/Conceptual)

6. Primary Research – Primary research is superior to secondary research in regard to gaining insight into a target audience’s motivation, emotion, needs, and behaviors. (Academic/Technical)

7. Brand Differentiation – Discovering a brand’s true differentiating factors will serve to help a brand become the most distinct, engaged, and successful version of itself. (Occupational/Technical)

8. Parity in Branding – Parity is not necessarily a negative quality as it is often perceived. If approached intelligently, a brand can spin its parity in a way that it works to their advantage. (Occupational/Conceptual)

9. Name Choice in Branding – Name connotations exist in branding and have a strong ability to influence the perceived value and esteem of a brand. (Occupational/Conceptual)

10. Innovation – Innovation must be applied not only to aesthetics, but also to pertinent aspects of business as well. (Academic/Conceptual)

11. Synthesis – Designer’s need a firm grasp on how to properly synthesize information to communicate solutions with confidence and true understanding. (Academic/Occupational/Conceptual)

12. Juxtaposition – Juxtaposition serves as a strong tool when unique solutions are necessary for the demonstration of contrast or similarity. (Occupational/Technical/Conceptual)