Being inspired by the user

Sholom Sandalow, Sunday, October 1, 2006 @ 4:26 pm

As a Designer, one of the toughest challenges I face is finding inspiration on a deadline.  There are many ways to deal with this problem; every designer has his or her own method of sparking the creative impulse that gets a project started.  For me, one of the most reliable sources of inspiration comes from empathy with the end user.  By being aware of the user during the design process, I can connect to him and channel his wants  and needs for creative energy.

To do that, I like to get a detailed and accurate description of the user’s environment, capabilities, and mind-set.  During the research phase of a project, our team will usually perform a number of interviews/observations/user tests.  I try to draw on this research as much as possible when beginning the visual design phase.

Since we primarily design business applications, understanding the user’s environment is most often simply a matter of visiting his place of work.  When this is not an option, such as in cases where user demographics prohibit such techniques, interviews are arranged were we gather as much detailed information as we can. We build a picture of the user’s capabilities in much the same way, through, filed studies, questionnaires, and interviews.  Gaining insight into the user’s mind-set involves culling data from a lot of the above.  It also frequently involves brainstorming sessions, where ideas can be thrown at each other in quick succession.  Common sense and a little psychological awareness are helpful as well.

I usually immerse myself in the data that’s been gathered to build an in depth picture of the user.  I begin to understand what he needs out of the application, and what would make him frustrated. I come to recognize his technical capabilities, as well as his limitations.  I get a clearer picture of where he wants speed and where he needs the app to hold his hand and walk slowly.  I gain insight into his surroundings, and how it affects him, as well as how it would affect the way he interfaces with the application.  This leads to insight and empathy for him, which leads in turn, to that creative spark I am looking for.

Related posts:

1. Unanswered Questions of User Research
2. Ideas for User Research
3. User Research: Been There, Done That? Maybe Not. . .
4. The new market research is the old user research
5. User Task Flows Help Developers:

Comments (0)

User Experience Design

Comments

• Leave a comment
• Comment feed for this post
• TrackBack URL

None so far.

Leave a comment