Hey
met lots of people who think research is
boring they just want to take a brief
and jump straight into sketching ideas
but in product design gaining insight
into how people use products helps you
have value to your designs which makes
your designs better your portfolio
better and increases your chances of
getting a job in design so this episode
is all about research research is a
massive subject you can go really deep
with it much deeper than I can fit into
a short YouTube video so this is just a
jumping-off point I've also put good
links in the description for you to
investigate why research well we
researched we don't always end up
designing things for ourselves once you
pass the brief everything in product
design becomes about stories listening
to people's stories interpreting their
stories and telling your own story and a
version of theirs through the products
that you design it's all about stories
and people like telling you their
stories if you ask and they're not
getting on with the product they're
usually only too happy to tell you about
it the design process is often split in
two phases in university this is so that
you can be evaluated in schools on how
well you complete each phase and when
employed as a designer it's so that a
job can be more accurately costed by
apportioning time to each stage what can
happen is that the company employing you
to deliver the project has an immovable
deadline for product launch because of a
big trade show that they must be at with
their new product otherwise their
competitors will get all their orders
and it would be a disaster as a designer
you build up a pretty good idea of how
long things will take depending on the
complexity of the product the
manufacturers have told you how long
they will need to create the tool you
know how much time you need for CAD and
how long the prototypes will take to
test so working backwards with an
aggressive time scale it's hard to
reduce the end things like to
manufacture it's usually the front end
step light research that gets the
squeeze which is a real shame because
what happens at the start of a project
affects the outcome
preparing a Gantt chart like this for
every project helps you to not miss a
deadline that's easy to fall into the
trap of thinking that research as a
phase that happens at the start of a
project and ends as soon as you start
sketching concepts this isn't true
rather than look like this your project
actually looks a bit like this
the main concentration of research
effort is that start of the project but
you're constantly doing research and
testing throughout the project to move
you forward from beginning to production
at the start of the project research
concentrates on identifying problems
confirming or dismissing assumptions and
then investigating theories then later
on research becomes more focused on
problem solving researching mechanisms
proving ideas investigating materials
and manufacturing methods you often see
queries on design forums like or 77
asking what is the most important skill
that designers should have and lots of
people will answer sketching or CAD
which are really important skills but
for me top of the list would be
listening observing and interpreting
with each project once you've identified
your target audience you have to try and
understand to walk a mile in their shoes
and as fast as time as possible not just
their struggles but their motivations
their desires and their preferences many
years ago lots of research was put into
making aids to help people experience
what life was like for an athlete's
person or someone overweight people made
suits that were heavy or restricted you
movement glasses that limited your
vision and gloves that weakened your
grip strength it's easy to mimic many of
these aids with a few simple household
items and bits and pieces but whilst
these aids may help you get an insight
into what life is like they don't convey
pain or what it's like to struggle every
day of every week if you just researched
with these aids you've miss out on so
many elements that you can only discover
simply by listening and observing and
making and repeating with your design
this is what's missing from so many
student projects get out with a camera
and click first source data to inform
your design but then go the extra mile
put prototypes that you've made into
people's hands and watch how they use
them then make further improvements and
repeat over and over really push it as
far as you can in the time
I'm as guilty of not doing this as
everyone else but I see lots of student
work that I know wouldn't work well if
at all even if it is a beautiful CAD
rendering I can tell they haven't
researched and made and tested a
physical model designs tell stories and
their purpose is to become real products
that people use with the pressures of
making your portfolio look good the risk
is you jump to the beautiful CAD
rendering without doing the hard yards
to the general public most of them won't
be able to tell the difference but to
product designers people who might
employ you this stuff stands out a mile
you can tell who has really thought
about the products use and who hasn't
what is impossible to manufacture what
would be uncomfortable to hold what
wouldn't work no one wants their
products to tell this sort of story so
putting beautiful renderings of and made
an end tested work in your portfolio
demonstrates you can use CAD but not
much more so get out and talk to people
starting with family and friends a
simple example of this is my nan in her
kitchen one statement that she couldn't
stand for any length of time so could no
longer suit cook safely totally change
the way I looked at kitchens and led me
to a new kitchen design that adapts to
its user and is designed to be safer
recently I was talking to her about her
TV remote control when I was 80 I broke
my wrist I fell in meda hovel and broke
my wrist which add in plaster for a
while but they didn't get the plaster on
writer good at the time and so I got
pins and needles in my fingers badly and
so they had to take the plaster off
early consequently I can't grip anything
so when I'm wanting to do anything like
that
this hand really is for very little use
where you need to pound with
the battery thing to go in that hand to
hold it and then if I'm shaking a bit
you need to pull there the topic cover
lookup battery cover off the older we
get the more problems we encounter with
a whole range of things a TV can be
someone's main entertainment it's their
window on the world so to not consider
all its aspects of use means the
designer unwittingly builds in barriers
to its use this is crazy you can't just
focus on one element or the main purpose
of the design your approach and research
to identify areas to improve has to be
holistic a TV remote that the user can't
change the batteries on becomes a
negative experience and loss of
Independence as you then have to rely on
someone else's help in the past I've
been involved in focus groups to find
out how people struggle with products
running focus groups and keeping
conversations focused on the product in
the right way is a skill and focus
groups are a great way to identify
problems and avenues to explore but just
remember if you're sat around a table
discussing a product without observing
how it's used in its typical setting you
are missing out on half the story where
people store it and how they clean it
it's like taking a train ride and only
looking at one window you're only going
to see half the world so I think the key
is observing people using a product in
that products familiar environment
what's getting much more depth by asking
questions open questions are the who
what where types of questions what do
you find hard about using this product
closed questions are when you want a
specific answer how often do you need to
replace the batteries there is an art to
asking questions there are many ways to
ask the same question and how you ask
can affect the answer you get I used to
work in a college and teenagers were
forever coming into the office because
they'd lost their timetable all they'd
say was I don't know where I need to go
the question forces the person dealing
with them me too after ask them more
questions to be able to help
what they should have said was something
like my name is product Hank
I've lost my timetable please would you
tell me where Mr D sign is teaching
there this is giving helpful pieces of
information first before asking for the
answer you want imagine if you are
asking for a job you wouldn't just say
give me a job you'd say hi I'm a product
design student I'm good at sketching
ideas I don't mind helping around the
office and I make a great cup of tea
please get AI intern with you so in one
sentence you have shown benefit shown
benefit and ask your question or give
give ask but with research give give us
can easily be a leading or loaded
question it's important that they tell
you not you tell them the benefits and
ask if they agree I've heard most people
struggle to change the batteries in this
device don't you agree
is leading have you ever changed the
batteries can you show me how did you
find that will elicit a much more honest
response so don't wing it prepare your
questions put the product in their hands
watch them using it and then ask
questions based on what you see give
people enough space and time to tell you
their story
still pretty nimble-fingered well ham to
nut my left hand to nuisance cuz it
won't hold anything for many of the
problems that your search throws up you
may find yourself in countering what you
feel are the same two solutions to
problems over and over again option one
a solution to the problem already exists
just the person doesn't know about it
for example someone I know we're
struggling to use their tin opener and
they didn't realize they could buy an
electric hands-free one option to the
solution is more service-based a family
friend struggles to chop vegetables but
rather than design a clever mechanism
that makes chopping vegetables easier
she can just buy packets of pre-cut
vegetables it would be easy if you come
across these problems to think that
there's nothing you can do that's not
true we are the most adaptable species
on the planet but we're not going to
evolve new appendages anytime soon
so what we've become amazingly adept at
is creating tools and often when a tool
creates a problem we design another tool
solution we create a tool to help us
solve the problem created by another
tool for the person struggling with
their tin opener buying an electric
version is certainly the best short-term
answer but rather than what our first
glances are closed-off avenue of
research the tin opener problem has
opened up three avenues improving the
standard tin opener improving the
electric one instead these batteries and
trying to redesign the tin or some form
and packaging
a few pointers make time to get out
there and talk to people it's one of the
things all designers don't do enough
don't design an isolation by just taking
the brief and starting to sketch ideas
use the insight people give you to add
value to your designs it will improve
the design which in university should
get you higher marks and make your
portfolio better so increase the chances
of you getting a job prepare so that you
can get the answers you need not the
answers you want or have assumed before
your research know when and why you're
asking open and close questions and
avoid leading or loaded questions if you
observe power products is used outside
of its typical setting you are missing
out on half the story
nothing beats watching and questioning
your target audience in person in a
setting they are comfortable with and a
setting where the product you are
redesigning is commonly used be prepared
to change your mind as designers never
assume other people think like you the
older I get the more I discover people
don't think like me at all finally don't
waste your research sometimes I use my
knowledge of the people I have
researched to add a twist to a project
they are not the target market for as an
example this is Colin Collins an ex
rugby player who likes ordering things
online
he doesn't like walking around the shops
because of his hips and he will rarely
answer the door
say I'm designing a coffee table and I'm
looking for inspiration I'll use Colin
or Maxine or Shirley or my nan and try
and create one to their needs to see
what new ideas this method could bring
so a mail-order coffee table can be
posted through a letter box to save
Colin answering the door and construct
it with no tools and limited dexterity
with a leopard skin print option it's an
interesting design challenge or say I'm
designing a vacuum cleaner now as you
know my nan counts down for any length
time and has bad balance so can no
longer do the vacuuming about Oh option
one alert why not just get her a robot
vacuum cleaner well I could but it's big
getting crumbs off the sofa and just
like here I can't manage the stairs it's
time to get my thinking cap on this may
or may not help you but hopefully it's
food for thought I hope you enjoyed this
episode in the next episode I'm looking
at sketching thanks for watching