Remote feedback methods

To remotely get feedback on potential amenities and/or design features.

Image caption and source.

DESIGN PHASE:

Vision and goals
Site exploration
Program development
Co-design
Design evaluation
Implementation

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Printed copies of plans and pens
Community volunteer

TIME REQUIRED:

Asynchronous for design team, synchronus for volunteer. Activity could take 1-2 hours depending on detail of plans.

SUGGESTIONS:

Works best with a small group of stakeholders or focus groups.
Make sure to use common language in your design concepts and labels. Not everyone understands designer-speak!

This method employs the use of a volunteer within the community to collect feedback from stakeholders when the design team cannot be present. The volunteer focuses the feedback on labeled items on the plan, giving the design team the power to highlight certain features of the designs. This method is really helpful in getting specific feedback about multiple different design concepts.

HOw-TO

Steps

The design team prepares drawings/plans labeled with the items they want feedback on and any major features of the design concept.
The design team presents the concepts via video (either live or recorded) and supplies the community with copies of the designs.
A community volunteer sits down with the stakeholder group and talks through each labeled item in each concept one by one, marking down which ones worked and which ones needed improvement or change.
This volunteer reports back to the design team with the stakeholder feedback to incorporate into the next iteration.
Method can be repeated as many times as necessary.

Case Example

We used this method to get feedback on our design alternatives for the Evans County Community Center. After visiting the site and doing engagement activities with the community, our team prepared three alternatives with different features, forms, and focal points. Each of these plans were labeled in detail, pointing out the items that made them unique from each other.

Initially, we planned to present our concepts and give our client an online survey to get feedback on the designs. After our presentation (done via Zoom for time/travel constraints), we did not receive as much feedback as we hoped. Our incredible UGA Extension agent, Ross, rightfully noted that perhaps our stakeholders weren’t as comfortable with technology as we were, and suggested that he meet with them and walk through the concepts. He was able to collect their feedback by having them focus on the labeled items on the plan, which he then relayed to us.

The feedback we received was overall very helpful. There were features from each of the concepts that the stakeholders really wanted, and others that they did not feel were as necessary. We were lucky in that most of their wants from the different concepts were able to be combined into our final design. It would have been harder, although not impossible, had some of their wants from the different concepts been in the same location and unable to move. Overall though, this method pushed us further in the right direction and we were able to come up with a great final concept.

The main thing we could have done differently was to plan for this type of feedback a little better. We could have gone into slightly more detail with our labels or done them more deliberately had we known from the start that the bulk of the feedback would come from examining those. For non-designers, looking at a plan and identifying the form language might not come easily, but if the labels point out “rectilinear pathways” or whatever the form is, it is easier to get feedback on. Labeling the plans with less designer-y language and giving detail/examples within those labels probably would have gotten us better feedback.

Lessons Learned

Some thoughts on using this method again:

Definitely useful for non-tech-savvy clients, especially if the design team is remote. Having the ability to hold a drawing and use the labels as a guide to work through was a really helpful way to get feedback.
Needs a strong community volunteer to work best. Someone who can translate between the drawings and the stakeholders.
Don’t expect feedback in your initial presentation! This method could work with the design team going down in person, but I would definitely recommend doing it as a secondary meeting if that’s the case.
Use as much non-designer language as you can. Keep it simple for your clients and let them ask questions if they need clarification.

Sources:

IDEO (Firm). 2015. The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design: Design Kit. IDEO. https://www.designkit.org/resources/1.

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