DISCOVER: APPLY PRIMARY, SECONDARY, AND TERTIARY RESEARCH
DISCOVER: APPLY PRIMARY, SECONDARY, AND TERTIARY RESEARCH
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The discover stage is about wide & varied exploration where a designer immerses themself in understanding the problem at hand. This phase involves research, gathering insights, and exploring different perspectives.
Activities:
Problem Exploration: Investigate the root cause of the problem or the target project. Understand the context, stakeholders, and challenges.
Field Research: Conduct interviews, observations, and surveys to gain deep insights into the prob
lem space.
User-Centered Approach: Place user needs at the heart of the design process. Qualitative data informs decision-making.
Uncertainty Acknowledgment: Recognize that every design task starts with uncertainty. Ideation involves exploring diverse ideas.
Iterative Thinking: Embrace iteration and testing. Sketch, experiment, observe, explore.
Outcome: The discovery stage should give a designer a rich understanding of the problem, and provide insights into many potential directions for the design work to make. laying the groundwork for creative solutions and innovative ideas.
Conduct user research
Interview potential users and target audience members, gathering information about their needs, what they appreciate, what could be improved, etc. For instance, a student may ask 10 people of various age ranges and demographics to use a particular product for a week, before preparing a series of questions with a variety of answer types (agreement scales, yes / no, comments, etc.) and survey them on the successes and shortcomings of the product.Analyse competitors
Students may trial, using existing products and services already existing on the market, to draw their own conclusions on what works and what doesn’t. For example, they may download five different fitness apps and over the course of a fortnight they might track their exercise movements using each app and then summarise their findings in their folio. The folio may contain accompanying screenshots of the user interface for each app, summaries and rating scales of how ‘user friendly’ the applications were, how they could be improved, unique features of each, etc.Ethical research practices
Teachers use a range of common research scenarios and pose questions to the class on how they would respond. Students discuss the ethical dilemmas that designers are faced with when conducting research, and how they can overcome these situations.Create personas
Develop fictional characters that represent the target audience to help guide the design process. Complete a user profile for each persona and explain how they might have a need for a particular design. For example, it might be creating personas for refugees and asylum seekers new to Australia, and documenting their needs for housing, transport, food, education, jobs, etc. This may lead to ideas around ways in which design could help accommodate migrants to Australia through architecture, government applications and services, or products.Information and imagery
Students gather information and imagery from a range of sources (books, Internet, physical artefacts). They use written annotations to discuss and evaluate the use of design elements and principles and how they are used effectively to communicate messages to the audience. They can also comment on the use of different materials, methods and media used by the designer, explaining possible decisions based on these aspects.Empathise with users
Students put themselves in the shoes of the target user and then create a journey map of their experience, considering what type of design might assist this target audience in their daily life.Observations
Students pay attention to daily experiences and identify areas of inefficiency. They can document these through a combination of word lists, journal entries, drawings and photographs.Brainstorming
As a class or in small groups, work in teams to brainstorm a range of issues or problems that could be solved through design. Students may start with broad areas of focus, such as global issues / current affairs, health, education, crime, transport, etc., before narrowing down on more specific concerns around each area that could be improved by design.Researching current events
To stay informed about current events and new developments, students take a newspaper or magazine, cut out different articles and place them in their folios, identifying ways in which they could address these issues through design.
Identifying Design Problems
Potential Tasks
Personal Interest Mapping
Personal Interest Mapping
Visual Mind Maps: Have students create visual mind maps of their interests, skills, and causes they care about. This helps them identify areas they're passionate about exploring.
Interest Board: Students could create a digital or physical board collecting images, articles, and notes about topics they find engaging or problematic in their daily lives.
Human-Centered Research Methods
Human-Centered Research Methods
Observation Sessions: Students observe people interacting with environments, products, or communication materials, taking notes on pain points or areas for improvement.
Contextual Inquiry: Students can shadow potential users/stakeholders in real-world settings to understand their needs firsthand.
Interview Practice: Teach students how to craft effective, ethical interview questions and conduct practice interviews with peers or family members about potential problem areas.
Survey Development: Guide students in creating short surveys to gather broader insights about potential problems.
Problem-Finding Exercises
Problem-Finding Exercises
"A Day in the Life": Students document their daily activities, noting friction points or communication challenges they encounter.
Community Walk: Organize a walk around the school or local area where students photograph and note communication problems or opportunities for design intervention.
Media Analysis: Students analyze news articles, social media discussions, or community bulletins to identify emerging issues or needs.
Empathy-Building Activities
Empathy-Building Activities
Persona Development: Students create preliminary personas of potential stakeholders affected by design problems they're considering.
Empathy Mapping: Guide students in creating empathy maps (what users think, feel, say, and do) related to potential design problems.
Role Play: Students take on the perspective of different stakeholders to better understand diverse needs and viewpoints.
Design Problem Framing
Design Problem Framing
"How Might We" Statements: Teach students to frame potential problems as opportunities using "How might we..." statements.
Problem Tree Analysis: Students identify a core problem and map its causes and effects visually.
Reframing Workshop: Students practice taking an initial problem statement and reframing it from different perspectives.
Research Documentation Methods
Research Documentation Methods
Visual Research Journals: Guide students in maintaining visual research journals where they collect insights, observations, and preliminary ideas.
Digital Documentation: Teach methods for organizing digital research assets (photos, interviews, articles) to inform their process.
Research Visualization: Students create visual ways to represent their research findings (infographics, diagrams, etc.).
Contextual Analysis
Contextual Analysis
PESTEL Analysis: Students analyze Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors that might influence their design problem.
Competitor/Similar Solution Analysis: Students research how others have addressed similar problems, what worked and what didn't.
Collaborative Ideation Sessions
Collaborative Ideation Sessions
Group Brainstorming: Facilitate sessions where students can share potential problems and get feedback.
Cross-Pollination Activities: Students present preliminary research findings to peers from other groups to gain fresh perspectives.
Resources - Discover people who are solving problems with design
Design Emergency Podcast - Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn interview designers solving urgent problems https://design-emergency.com/
Design Matters with Debbie Millman - In-depth interviews with designers about their processes and problem-solving approaches https://www.designmattersmedia.com/
The Circular Design Podcast - Focuses on sustainable design solutions and circular economy https://www.circulardesignpodcast.com/
99% Invisible - Explores the invisible design decisions that shape our world https://99percentinvisible.org/
TED Talks: Design Collection - Curated talks by leading designers addressing global challenges https://www.ted.com/topics/design
Objectified (Documentary) - Available on streaming platforms, examines industrial design's impact
Adobe Live - Watch professional designers work through real design challenges https://www.behance.net/live
The Futur - YouTube channel with practical design thinking content https://www.youtube.com/c/thefuturishere
Design for Good - AIGA's platform showcasing social impact design projects https://www.aiga.org/resources/design-for-good
What Design Can Do - Platform for design-driven social innovation https://www.whatdesigncando.com/
Core77 - Design case studies and problem-solving examples https://www.core77.com/
Behance - Filter for social impact or problem-solving projects https://www.behance.net/
DesignBetter.Co - Case studies from InVision highlighting design problem-solving https://www.designbetter.co/
Australian Design Alliance - Showcases Australian design solving local challenges https://australiandesignalliance.com/
Australian Good Design Awards - Examples of award-winning design solutions https://good-design.org/
Victorian Government Design Review Panel - Real design problems tackled through government initiatives https://www.ovga.vic.gov.au/design-review
Australian Design Centre - Features exhibitions and case studies https://australiandesigncentre.com/
IDEO Case Studies - Examples of human-centered design process https://www.ideo.com/case-studies
Stanford d.school Resources - Design thinking methodologies and examples https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources
Design Council UK - Research and case studies using the Double Diamond process https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/resources/
UX Collective - Case studies of interaction and user experience design https://uxdesign.cc/
Design Indaba - African design solutions to global problems https://www.designindaba.com/
This Is Design School - Podcast with educational focus on design challenges https://thisisdesignschool.com/
Circular Design Guide - From Ellen MacArthur Foundation, focuses on sustainable design https://www.circulardesignguide.com/
Design Justice Network - Examples of community-led design addressing inequality https://designjustice.org/
Designercise - Interactive design thinking exercises https://www.designercise.com/
IDEO.org's Design Kit - Methods for human-centered design https://www.designkit.org/
Interaction Design Foundation - Case studies and methods https://www.interaction-design.org/literature
Task 1: Personal Design Interests & Problem Finding
Task 1: Personal Design Interests & Problem Finding
Objective: Identify your personal interests and potential design problems.
Activities:
Create a visual mind map of your interests, skills, and causes you care about.
Identify 3-5 areas where you notice design problems or opportunities for improvement.
For each area, write a "How might we..." statement that frames the problem as an opportunity.
Select the two most compelling problem areas to explore further.
Document your thinking process with photographs, sketches, or notes.
Task 2: Contextual Research & Exploration
Task 2: Contextual Research & Exploration
Objective: Gather initial insights about your chosen design problem areas.
Activities:
Conduct preliminary research on your two problem areas - find 3-4 examples of existing solutions.
Analyze the contexts in which these problems exist (physical, social, cultural environments).
Document 5+ images/examples related to each problem area.
Create a "Context Board" for each problem that visualizes where and when the problem occurs.
Write a paragraph explaining why these problems matter and who they affect.
Task 3: Human-Centered Research Planning
Task 3: Human-Centered Research Planning
Objective: Develop ethical research strategies to understand stakeholder perspectives.
Activities:
Identify key stakeholders for each of your problem areas.
Create a stakeholder map showing connections between different groups.
Develop 5-7 ethical interview questions for primary stakeholders.
Design a short observation protocol (what to watch for, how to document findings).
Plan your research timeline and approach for gathering insights.
Consider potential ethical issues and how you'll address them.
Task 4: Field Research & Data Collection
Task 4: Field Research & Data Collection
Objective: Gather firsthand insights about your design problems.
Conduct at least two interviews with relevant stakeholders.
Spend 20 minutes observing the context where your design problem exists.
Take photographs (with permission) or create sketches documenting the problem.
Collect any relevant materials, publications, or examples.
Record your findings in a structured format (notes, recordings, photographs).
Task 5: Insights Analysis & Synthesis
Task 5: Insights Analysis & Synthesis
Objective: Transform research data into meaningful insights.
Activities:
Review all collected research materials and organize them visually.
Create an affinity diagram grouping similar findings and identifying patterns.
Develop an empathy map for a key stakeholder (what they think, feel, say, and do).
Identify 3-5 key insights that emerged from your research.
Create a "Problem Statement Board" that clearly articulates the core design problems.
Begin identifying potential communication needs related to each problem.
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