2. WHEN NEEDED RATIONALE
WILD SAFARI
Gives surprise insights from first-hand
observation, complementary to desk
research
Sees what users actually do or not do
to develop a deep understanding of
users’ habits, quirks, rituals and goals
Is not filtered or interpreted by what
others say about users or what users
self-report (such as market research,
focus groups)
Gives inspiration through memorable
images
I need to learn
about the actual
user experience
still unknown to
me
I need to break
away from many
2nd party
points-of-view
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3. ESSENCE POINTERS
WILD SAFARI
Conduct first-
hand user
observations in
their own habitat
to uncover user
needs
Be where your users live, work and play
E.g. on an education topic, visit a school and also
check out the student’s favorite hang-out
Indulge your curiosity, observe with a child’s
eye. Do not judge. Do not interpret what you
observe
Get a sense for what is the norm and the
trend vs. the outlier and the weak signal.
Zoom in on the latter
Develop empathy for your user (you can only
truly appreciate and understand the user if
you see through his eyes, feel with her
heart). This is different from sympathy
Bring back photos to bring your observations
to life
Reflect on your observations, discover andSources of Inspiration: IDEO method cards; Stanford d-school
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4. MASTERING
WILD SAFARI
Conduct first-
hand users
observation in
their own habitat
to gain empathy
and become
aware of user
needs
Opposites: also observe the exact opposite of what you are
studying: e.g. when solving the problem of excess vacant office
space, look also at a highly successful office building with full
occupancy in a thriving business district and observe what the
factors of success seem to be
Eyes of a child: especially if you are familiar with a topic, form a
pair and have the other person tell you out loud anything they
observe – different people will notice different things. A observes
for B, B writes down A’s observations as told and vice versa.
Extreme users: ask observers to focus on ‘extreme users’ –
people who are really experienced or completely novice in doing
this activity and observe and note how they behave differently
from regular users. E.g. at a the airport, observe both frequent
flyers and first time travelers– how they move through space,
interact with flight attendants, how they check-in. What routines
did they develop? What shortcuts do they take? What do they
struggle with?
Workarounds: observe and look for short cuts and workarounds
that users have adopted to get something done that is otherwise
difficult or inconvenient. This contains valuable clues for
innovation – sometimes users have created a new way of doing
things that points towards a clear need or a crude version of a
possible innovative idea. E.g. a daughter checked with her (60+)
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