Experiments In Design - the meet up combining product development and lean experimentation - went on tour to Brighton and took part in the excellent DOTS Conference 2016 hosted by Brilliant Noise

1. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
WHAT IS #EXPID?
• Experiments in Design is a fast-growing meetup for anyone
who wants to combine product development with lean
experiments.
• We're a community of designers, behavioural scientists and
developers interested in using experiments to develop
creative solutions that actually work.
• We believe that the quickest way to make something that
works is to test it. Come and learn the tricks of the trade.
• At each event there is a short, sharp presentation and then
you'll be rolling your sleeves up and running a live
experiment.

2. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
#EXPID AT #DOTSCONF
• We love DOTS, so we collaborated to run
our biggest experiment yet, at DOTS
2016.
• We conducted a Mindfulness experiment
inspired by Caroline Webb’s book “How to
have a good day” in order to show how
easy it can be to do an experiment.
• We believe that doing something is better
than being perfect. You definitely don’t
learn anything if you don’t do anything!

3. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
WHAT WAS OUR HYPOTHESIS?
“THE DOTS AUDIENCE IS SO PASSIONATE ABOUT
EXPERIENCE AND DESIGN RESEARCH THAT THEY
WILL SPEND THEIR TIME DOING OUR EXPERIMENT.”
(WE DIDN’T TELL ANYONE THIS)

4. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
METHOD
The Control – it’s pretty hard to create an actual control, so we
picked an activity that many people would do anyway!
Remember, our primary learning goal is participation, so we just
couldn’t make this too precise and scientific – but we did want to see
what else we could learn!

5. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
THE RESULTS
DOTS
AUDIENCE
INSURANCE
INNOVATION EVENT
OF ATTENDEES TOOK PART IN THE
EXPERIMENT

6. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
THE DATA
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
1 2 3
Notice 3 Good
Things
CONTROL
(check messages)
Notice 3 Breaths
Visualise Someone
Important to you

7. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
THE DATA
Intervention 1 Intervention 2 Intervention 3
ACTIVITY
AVERAGE
SCORE
VARIANCE TO
CONTROL
AVERAGE
SCORE
VARIANCE TO
CONTROL
AVERAGE
SCORE
VARIANCE TO
CONTROL
Catch-up on your messages
(20 responses)
2.90 - 3.30 - 3.50 -
Notice 3 Breaths
(20 responses)
3.38 17% 3.14 -5% 3.71 6%
Visualise Someone
Important
(23 responses)
4.13 42% 4.35 32% 4.48 28%
Notice 3 Good Things
(20 responses)
3.91 35% 4.05 23% 4.18 19%

8. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
INTERESTINGLY…
All of the interventions outperformed
the control in the majority of samples
So either the interventions work, or checking messages
is very depressing

9. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
BUT WHAT ELSE WE LEARNED WAS
TRULY, TRULY FASCINATING

10. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
EMOJIS GET
EVERYWHERE

11. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO TOLD US “WHY” WERE THE
ONES WHO HAD THIS SPECIFIC ACTIVITY COULD IT
HAVE MADE THEM MORE EMOTIONALLY OPEN?

12. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
CAN YOU
INCORPORATE
HOW THIS PERSON
REACTED INTO
HOW YOU DO THIS
NEXT TIME?
(IT LOOKS LIKE THEY
DREW THEIR IMPORTANT
PEOPLE)

13. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
“CHECK YOUR MESSAGES” WAS
OUR CONTROL ACTIVITY AS IT IS
WHAT WE’VE OBSERVED 80% OF
PEOPLE DO WHEN GIVEN A
PAUSE IN PROCEEDINGS
BUT NOT EVERYONE
CONFORMS TO OUR IDEA
OF A ‘CONTROL’

14. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
PEOPLE WILL CREATE
& SUBVERT LET THEM
AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS

15. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
IT SEEMS PEOPLE HAD
A GREAT DAY AND
WANT TO GIVE
FEEDBACK!

16. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
FINALLY
If you want to
make yourself just
a little happier,
our experiment
results say…

17. http://fluxx.uk.com/Experiments-in-Design#ExpID
WHAT DID WE REALLY
LEARN AT DOTS 2016?
• Quantitative data is no good without knowing WHY
• A fast experiment is a co-creation activity – your
‘customers’ show you how to make it better, and
it’s better to get have done something than nothing
• Creativity will flourish in the oddest places
• We should have put dogs on our cards,
and emojis are everywhere
• Mindful interventions do work!
Chris TT
Martin
Gill
Dan
Shute
Carolin
e Webb
Lydia
Nichola
s
Nothing like
joining a few
dots is there?Vyv
Evans