Nicky, a Thai graphic designer in her mid-20s with no product design experience, is brainstorming concepts for an eco-friendly drinking bottle. She begins by listing concepts, terms, and characteristics related to the product and its target group. Nicky maps this information conceptually to connect ideas and understand them within the framework of Activity, Environment, Interactions, Objects, and User (AEIOU). Her process focuses on the economic benefits of the bottle and branding rather than defining what makes a product truly eco-friendly or considering the user experience. The observer notes Nicky could benefit from gathering more information on production methods, putting the product in broader context, and thinking beyond her usual graphic design specialties.

1. -OBSERVATION-
Nicky’s Thinking Process:
“Design of an eco-friendly drinking bottle”
User Profile
Observer
•Name: Nicky
•Nationality: Thai
•Age: mid 20’s
•Profession: Graphic Designer
•Product Design Experience: None
•Track of studies: Communication Design
•Interested in: Good Food and Cakes,
Typography, Photography, Music, Fashion and
Film.
• Other: loves design but doesn’t consider
herself good in Computer Graphics.
•Tools: paper mapping & notes
•Method: Description (look & Ask)
•Framework: AEIOU

2. Her Process
•List of concepts related to the topic.
•List of terms related to the product.
•List of characteristics of the product.
•Target group (Niche, Branding, Marketing)
•Think about ways to promote the advantages
of the eco friendly bottle.
•Putting the information in a conceptual map.
•Connect concepts in the map.
AEIOU
Activity Environment Interactions Object User
Thinking Classroom Brain Activity EcoF drinking
bottle
Nicky
(Graph.Designer)
Writing Classroom Mapping info. Paper Nicky
Understanding Classroom/Brain
/Paper
looking Whiteboard Nicky
Understanding Classroom Questioning Exercise Nicky

3. Four Why’s
Observer User
What is the
purpose of your
Ecofriendly
bottle?
Why do you want
them to use eco
friendly products?
Why do you want
them to see this
effects?
Why do you want to
generate this
awareness?
To make people
use eco friendly
products
So they can see
the effects in
terms of energy
conservation
To generate
awareness of reuse
and reduce
So users and
companies can save
money

4. Findings Needs
She is trying to understand better the
exercise.
To define better the scope and goal of
the project
She was focusing more on the economic
value of the product.
To define the value and meaning of “Eco-
friendly”
She was unsure about the users or forgot
about them.
To define a user as one of the first steps
of the process
She has no product design background. To gather some information about
production methods and product design
concepts.
She is not defining the context. To put the product in a “Bigger Picture”,
to narrow down and to give a more
manageable size to the project.
She is guiding the project towards her
field of expertise (Graphic, Branding,
etc..)
To take risks and step out of her comfort
zone (Propose crazy solutions).