One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We've long heard the lament "Well, we got this report and it just sat there. We didn't know what to do with it." But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative. That means that designers are increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work. Ongoing acceptance of design research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting user research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn't immediately seem actionable. This workshop gives people the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation themselves by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
Insight Inspired Innovation: How to use research as creative fuel. Presented at the Expert Forum of CPSI (Creative Problem Solving Institute) 2012 in Atlanta, GA.
Unfinished Business Lecture: Culture, User Research & DesignSteve Portigal
Culture is everywhere we look, and (perhaps more importantly) everywhere we don’t look. It informs our work, our purchases, our usage, our expectations, our comfort, and our communications. In this presentation, Steve will explore the ways we can experience, observe, and understand diverse cultures to foster successful collaborations, usable products, and desirable experiences.
EuroIA14 - Well, We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament “Well, we got this report and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.” But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative. That means that designers are increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work.
Ongoing acceptance of design research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting user research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This workshop gives people the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation themselves by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
Some of the most effective ways of understanding what customers want or need – going out and talking to them – are surprisingly indirect. Insights produced by these methods impact two facets of innovation: first as information that informs the development of new products and services, and second as catalysts for internal change. Steve discusses methods for exploring both solutions and needs and explores how an understanding of culture (yours and your customers) can drive design and innovation.
Well, We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
From Bolt|Peters' User Research Friday, November 2010. Steve Portigal and Julie Norvaisas, show you how designers and researchers can work with user research data to create action for businesses. One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers increasingly become involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design.
The emphasis in this workshop (including a pre-work exercise in the days and weeks leading up to User Research Friday) will be on strengthening the creative link between "data" and "action." By the end, participants will have developed a range of high-level concepts that respond to a business problem and integrate a fresh, contextual understanding of that problem.
Championing Contextual Research in Your OrganizationSteve Portigal
More and more design organizations actively embrace a range of user-centered methods, including ways of getting input from users: surveys, A-B testing, focus groups, usability testing. But for many teams, when it comes to leaving the office environment and going out to meet and observe customers, there is significant resistance.
In this talk, Steve Portigal draws from his 17 years of selling contextual research into organizations, as well as primary research he's conducted with internal champions and change agents to break down the cultural, resource, and other factors that inform this resistance.
Steve will suggest ways to address these challenges and look at how you can maximize the result of every small victory, turning every fieldwork experience into an opportunity to do more!
In this interactive session, we'll work together on identifying and developing the interpersonal, creative, and cognitive skill sets that are essential in innovative work cultures.
Insight Inspired Innovation: How to use research as creative fuel. Presented at the Expert Forum of CPSI (Creative Problem Solving Institute) 2012 in Atlanta, GA.
Unfinished Business Lecture: Culture, User Research & DesignSteve Portigal
Culture is everywhere we look, and (perhaps more importantly) everywhere we don’t look. It informs our work, our purchases, our usage, our expectations, our comfort, and our communications. In this presentation, Steve will explore the ways we can experience, observe, and understand diverse cultures to foster successful collaborations, usable products, and desirable experiences.
EuroIA14 - Well, We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament “Well, we got this report and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.” But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative. That means that designers are increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work.
Ongoing acceptance of design research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting user research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This workshop gives people the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation themselves by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
Some of the most effective ways of understanding what customers want or need – going out and talking to them – are surprisingly indirect. Insights produced by these methods impact two facets of innovation: first as information that informs the development of new products and services, and second as catalysts for internal change. Steve discusses methods for exploring both solutions and needs and explores how an understanding of culture (yours and your customers) can drive design and innovation.
Well, We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
From Bolt|Peters' User Research Friday, November 2010. Steve Portigal and Julie Norvaisas, show you how designers and researchers can work with user research data to create action for businesses. One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers increasingly become involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design.
The emphasis in this workshop (including a pre-work exercise in the days and weeks leading up to User Research Friday) will be on strengthening the creative link between "data" and "action." By the end, participants will have developed a range of high-level concepts that respond to a business problem and integrate a fresh, contextual understanding of that problem.
Championing Contextual Research in Your OrganizationSteve Portigal
More and more design organizations actively embrace a range of user-centered methods, including ways of getting input from users: surveys, A-B testing, focus groups, usability testing. But for many teams, when it comes to leaving the office environment and going out to meet and observe customers, there is significant resistance.
In this talk, Steve Portigal draws from his 17 years of selling contextual research into organizations, as well as primary research he's conducted with internal champions and change agents to break down the cultural, resource, and other factors that inform this resistance.
Steve will suggest ways to address these challenges and look at how you can maximize the result of every small victory, turning every fieldwork experience into an opportunity to do more!
In this interactive session, we'll work together on identifying and developing the interpersonal, creative, and cognitive skill sets that are essential in innovative work cultures.
[Slides and the accompanying audio posted at http://www.portigal.com/blog/designing-the-problem-my-keynote-from-isa14]
Too often we assume that doing research with users means checking in with them to get feedback on the solution we've already outlined. But the biggest value from research is in uncovering the crucial details of the problem that people have; the problem that we should be solving.
As the design practices mature within companies, they need to play an active role in driving the creation of new and innovative solutions to the real unmet needs that people have. In part, driving towards this maturity means looking at one's own culture and realizing the value of being open-minded and curious, not simply confident. This is a challenge to each of us personally and as leaders within our teams and communities.
I will speak about the importance of this evolution and offer some tips to help guide the changes.
Interviewing users is undeniably one of the most valuable user research tools. Yet, sometimes we forget that it's a skill we need to learn, because:
* It's based on skills we think we have (talking or even listening)
* It's not taught or reflected on
People tend to 'wing it' rather than develop their skills. Without good interviewing skills, insights may be inaccurate or reveal nothing new, suggest the wrong design or business responses, or miss the crucial nuance that points to opportunities for breakthrough innovation.
This talk will cover:
* Framing the research problem to have the most impact on the business
* What type of participants to recruit and how to find them
* Different methods for learning from interviewees
* Asking questions
* Listening and building rapport
* Analysing data from the field
[Slides and the accompanying audio posted at http://www.portigal.com/blog/designing-for-unmet-needs-my-presentation-from-warm-gun]
Don’t be surprised if Steve Portigal, author of Interviewing Users, invites himself to your family breakfast or follows hotel maintenance staff to the boiler room. For more than 15 years, he’s led hundreds of interviews that help clients understand customers and turn insights into design opportunities.
Steve knows that our success depends on letting the unmet needs of our audience shape our designs. Okay—but how do we hit a target we can’t see? How do we design for people who aren’t us? How do we solve for the complexity of those people?
Dig into the details, ditch the guesswork, and join Steve to engage deliberately with the people we’re designing for. Look at ways to acknowledge the complexity of your users. Offer solutions rooted in the connections you make with people. Get unstuck and discover opportunities for design that adds value.
My presentation from User Research Friday looks at the relationship between design and research in the world of design research. See video at http://vimeo.com/2235220 and find audio at http://www.portigal.com/blog/user-research-friday-research-and-design-ships-in-the-night/
Interviewing Users: Spinning Data Into GoldSteve Portigal
Interviewing is undeniably one of the most valuable and commonly used user research tools. Yet it's often not used well, because
* It’s based on skills we think we have (talking or even listening)
* It's not taught or reflected on, and
* People tend to "wing it" rather than develop their skills.
Results may be inaccurate or reveal nothing new, suggesting the wrong design or business responses, or they may miss the crucial nuance that points to innovative breakthrough opportunities.
In this day-long session, we'll focus on the importance of rapport-building and listening and look at techniques for both. We will review different types of questions, and why you need to have a range of question types. This session will explore other contextual research methods that can be built on top of interviewing in a seamless way. We'll also suggest practice exercises for improving your own interviewing skills and how to engage others in your organization successfully in the interviewing experience.
Keynote from Interact 15, London.
Therapists, as part of their education, must go through therapy themselves. They are expected to achieve a certain level of insight about themselves – their biases, their discomforts, and so on. While we are not therapists, we go out and study people without that level of self-insight! A lack of self-insight sometimes manifests itself as passion, commitment, or being driven by a mission. While those have their place, it’s easy to become blinded by what we can’t let ourselves see. Sometimes this shows up as discomfort at the micro level, when we react to something a user might tell us about themselves; sometimes it’s a macro issue, when we’re uncomfortable with people who hold different values, preferences, or beliefs than ourselves. And it crescendos as know-it-all douchebaggery, when we think our job is to tell other people what’s best for them – when phrases like “frictionless sharing” fall from our lips as naturally as “what time is dinner?”
In this interactive talk we will delve into the concepts of presence and mindfulness and develop an understanding of how this informs how you engage with the world around you, as a designer, a professional, and a person.
How can you broaden your sphere of influence within the field of human-computer interaction? You can start by building your muscles! Steve will take a look at some fundamental skills that underlie the creation and launch of innovative goods and services. He will discuss the personal skills that he considers to be “the muscles of innovators” and the ways you can build these important muscles, including noticing, understanding cultural context, maintaining exposure to pop culture, synthesizing, drawing, wordsmithing, listening, and prototyping. Along the way, he will demonstrate how improving these powerful skills will equip you to lead positive change.
User research: Uncovering compelling insights through interviewsSteve Portigal
Interviewing users is undeniably one of the most valuable and commonly used user research tools. Yet sometimes we forget that it’s a skill we need to learn, because it’s based on skills we think we have (talking or even listening) and it’s not taught or reflected on.
In this workshop, we’ll consider how to frame the problem, when to use research in the design process, and the tactics for setting up a successful study. We will focus in detail on the interview itself, reviewing detailed techniques for listening and asking questions, then conclude with an engaging exercise to bring these best practices to life.
This workshop will show you how to:
Integrate mixed methods of research into solving a problem.
Develop increased empathy, a critical facet to meaningful interviews.
Derive useful results from interviews once you get participants to open up.
Soft Skills Are Hard: A Journey To Healthier WorkSteve Portigal
From IxDA Seattle, part of a series of presentations and workshops done in collaboration with Dan Szuc. Steve speaks about the interpersonal, creative, and cognitive skill sets that are essential in innovative work cultures. Moving beyond tactical skills and overarching processes, the UX community is increasingly focusing on the role of the whole person in design and innovation. Steve describes the "muscles of innovation" that are needed for growth and success.
I gave this presentation to an undergraduate Design Research class at the University of Kansas, taught by Julia Eschman and Tamara Christensen, in March 2011. It focuses on the importance of finding the right people to drive insights for ethnographic/design research, and addresses tactics for doing so.
Recruiting is a key part of the design research process that often does not get the attention it deserves, to the detriment of project outcomes. I invite you to share your experiences and questions, to build a dialogue about this topic!
Culture is everywhere we look, and (perhaps more importantly) everywhere we don’t look. It informs our work, our purchases, our usage, our expectations, our comfort, and our communications (indeed, if you aren’t familiar with a specific geographic and historical set of experiences, the presumably clever title for this talk will instead be perhaps bland). In this presentation, Steve will explore the ways we can experience, observe, and understand diverse cultures to foster successful collaborations, usable products, and desirable experiences.
Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha: Improv, Creativity and CollaborationSteve Portigal
Improv is not "stand-up comedy." It's a series of games with rules that offer huge degrees of freedom within a set of constraints. In these games we bring out a lot of basic, quickly understood and communicated rules of culture that are implicit, not explicit. The activities of design (collaboration, creativity, and design research, for starters) have interesting similarities with improv: All have in-the-moment aspects; we learn upon reflection; there's enormous unspoken interaction and there is often an "aha" moment. Design and improv also have important similarities: the need to collaborate and brainstorm, the importance of breakthrough thinking, the balance between process, structure, and unfettered creativity.
Playing with improv can make us more mindful of the power of listening, and can be harnessed to create a more collaborative work culture, as a way to develop one's own creativity, or to help warm up teammates and clients in workshops and design sessions. In this interactive presentation you will learn more about improv, listening, creativity, and how they all connect together to support one another. No iguanas will be harmed.
UXNZ 2015 Workshop - Steve Portigal
Projects often end with a catalogue of findings and implications, rather than a clear set of opportunities that directly enable the findings. This is one of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business today.
We’ve long heard the lament “Well, we got this report and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.” But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative, and so designers are increasingly using contextual research to inform their design work.
Ongoing acceptance of design research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting user research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable (more out of frustration than anything malicious).
This workshop will give participants the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
Participants in this workshop will:
collaborate in teams to experience an effective framework for synthesizing raw field data
learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities
learn techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns
develop a range of high-level concepts for responding to business problems with a fresh, contextual understanding.
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a catalog of findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament, “Well, we got this report, and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.”
Ongoing acceptance of (and demand for) user research has increased the ranks of practitioners of all stripes who feel comfortable conducting research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This session describes a process to take control over synthesis and ideation by breaking it down into a manageable framework.
In this session, you'll:
Learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities.
Get techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns.
Explore how to prioritize findings and create new opportunities.
Steve Portigal: Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha: Improv, Creativity and DesignSteve Portigal
Improv is not "stand-up comedy." It is often presented series of games with rules that offer huge degrees of freedom within a set of constraints. In these games we bring out quickly-understood-and-communicated rules of culture that are implicit, not explicit. The activities of design (collaboration, creativity, and design research, for starters) have interesting similarities with improv: All have in-the-moment aspects; we learn upon reflection; there’s enormous unspoken interaction and there is often an "aha" moment. Design and improv also have important similarities: the need to collaborate and brainstorm, the importance of breakthrough thinking, the balance between process, structure, and unfettered creativity. Playing with improv can make us more mindful of the power of listening, and can be harnessed to create a more collaborative work culture, as a way to develop one’s own creativity, or to help warm up teammates and clients in workshops and design sessions. In this interactive presentation you will learn more about improv, listening, creativity, and how they all connect together to support one another. No iguanas will be harmed.
Unfinished Business Workshop: Working with user research dataSteve Portigal
In this workshop, Steve will show you how producers of "stuff" (products, services, and beyond) - can work with user research data to identify new businesses opportunities. One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers (in the broadest sense of the word) increasingly become involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design.
The emphasis in this workshop (including an exercise in the days and weeks beforehand) will be on strengthening the creative link between "data" and "action." By the end, participants will have developed a range of high-level concepts that respond to a business problem and integrate a fresh, contextual understanding of that problem.
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a catalog of findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament, “Well, we got this report, and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.”
But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative. That means that designers are increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work.
Ongoing acceptance of user research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This workshop gives people the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation themselves by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
In this session, you'll:
Collaborate in teams to experience an effective framework for synthesizing raw field data.
Gain perspective on the difference between surface observations and deeper, interpreted insights.
Learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities.
Get techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns.
Focus on individual and group analysis to create a top-line report.
Brainstorm on patterns, cluster analysis, and diagrams to rethink problems.
Prioritize findings and create new opportunities.
UX Hong Kong - We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers increasingly become involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design. How can designers and researchers work with user research data to create new things for business to do?
Participants will:
* Collaborate in teams to experience an effective framework for synthesizing raw field data
* Learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities
* Experience techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns
* Develop a range of high-level concepts that respond to a business problem and integrate a fresh, contextual understanding of that problem
The title of this workshop is a reference to The Artist Is Present, a performance art piece by Marina Abramovic. Marina spent months at MOMA sitting silently across from a nearly endless series of museum visitors, some of whom broke into tears.
The notion of presence is a critical idea for those of us in user experience. At the risk of sounding like Yoda, presence is tied to self-knowing. During ten years of writing, lecturing and coaching on “interviewing users”, many of the questions that Steve Portigal receives are about controlling or influencing another person’s behavior. Yet these interactions with others are really about ourselves, what’s inside us, who we are.
Therapists, as part of their education, must go through therapy themselves. They are expected to achieve a certain level of insight about themselves — their biases, their discomforts, and so on. While we are not therapists, we go out and study people without that level of self-insight!
A lack of self-insight sometimes manifests itself as passion, commitment, or being driven by a mission. While those have their place, it’s easy to become blinded by what we can’t let ourselves see. Sometimes this shows up as discomfort at the micro level, when we react to something a user might tell us about themselves; sometimes it’s a macro issue, when we’re uncomfortable with people who hold different values, preferences, or beliefs than ourselves. And it crescendos as know-it-all douchebaggery, when we think our job is to tell other people what’s best for them — when phrases like “frictionless sharing” fall from our lips as naturally as “what time is dinner?”
In this workshop, you’ll tap into a new level of personal authenticity to unlock a powerful boon. Together, we’ll explore this point of view and participate in a range of exercises to learn more about these ideas — and about ourselves.
[Slides and the accompanying audio posted at http://www.portigal.com/blog/designing-the-problem-my-keynote-from-isa14]
Too often we assume that doing research with users means checking in with them to get feedback on the solution we've already outlined. But the biggest value from research is in uncovering the crucial details of the problem that people have; the problem that we should be solving.
As the design practices mature within companies, they need to play an active role in driving the creation of new and innovative solutions to the real unmet needs that people have. In part, driving towards this maturity means looking at one's own culture and realizing the value of being open-minded and curious, not simply confident. This is a challenge to each of us personally and as leaders within our teams and communities.
I will speak about the importance of this evolution and offer some tips to help guide the changes.
Interviewing users is undeniably one of the most valuable user research tools. Yet, sometimes we forget that it's a skill we need to learn, because:
* It's based on skills we think we have (talking or even listening)
* It's not taught or reflected on
People tend to 'wing it' rather than develop their skills. Without good interviewing skills, insights may be inaccurate or reveal nothing new, suggest the wrong design or business responses, or miss the crucial nuance that points to opportunities for breakthrough innovation.
This talk will cover:
* Framing the research problem to have the most impact on the business
* What type of participants to recruit and how to find them
* Different methods for learning from interviewees
* Asking questions
* Listening and building rapport
* Analysing data from the field
[Slides and the accompanying audio posted at http://www.portigal.com/blog/designing-for-unmet-needs-my-presentation-from-warm-gun]
Don’t be surprised if Steve Portigal, author of Interviewing Users, invites himself to your family breakfast or follows hotel maintenance staff to the boiler room. For more than 15 years, he’s led hundreds of interviews that help clients understand customers and turn insights into design opportunities.
Steve knows that our success depends on letting the unmet needs of our audience shape our designs. Okay—but how do we hit a target we can’t see? How do we design for people who aren’t us? How do we solve for the complexity of those people?
Dig into the details, ditch the guesswork, and join Steve to engage deliberately with the people we’re designing for. Look at ways to acknowledge the complexity of your users. Offer solutions rooted in the connections you make with people. Get unstuck and discover opportunities for design that adds value.
My presentation from User Research Friday looks at the relationship between design and research in the world of design research. See video at http://vimeo.com/2235220 and find audio at http://www.portigal.com/blog/user-research-friday-research-and-design-ships-in-the-night/
Interviewing Users: Spinning Data Into GoldSteve Portigal
Interviewing is undeniably one of the most valuable and commonly used user research tools. Yet it's often not used well, because
* It’s based on skills we think we have (talking or even listening)
* It's not taught or reflected on, and
* People tend to "wing it" rather than develop their skills.
Results may be inaccurate or reveal nothing new, suggesting the wrong design or business responses, or they may miss the crucial nuance that points to innovative breakthrough opportunities.
In this day-long session, we'll focus on the importance of rapport-building and listening and look at techniques for both. We will review different types of questions, and why you need to have a range of question types. This session will explore other contextual research methods that can be built on top of interviewing in a seamless way. We'll also suggest practice exercises for improving your own interviewing skills and how to engage others in your organization successfully in the interviewing experience.
Keynote from Interact 15, London.
Therapists, as part of their education, must go through therapy themselves. They are expected to achieve a certain level of insight about themselves – their biases, their discomforts, and so on. While we are not therapists, we go out and study people without that level of self-insight! A lack of self-insight sometimes manifests itself as passion, commitment, or being driven by a mission. While those have their place, it’s easy to become blinded by what we can’t let ourselves see. Sometimes this shows up as discomfort at the micro level, when we react to something a user might tell us about themselves; sometimes it’s a macro issue, when we’re uncomfortable with people who hold different values, preferences, or beliefs than ourselves. And it crescendos as know-it-all douchebaggery, when we think our job is to tell other people what’s best for them – when phrases like “frictionless sharing” fall from our lips as naturally as “what time is dinner?”
In this interactive talk we will delve into the concepts of presence and mindfulness and develop an understanding of how this informs how you engage with the world around you, as a designer, a professional, and a person.
How can you broaden your sphere of influence within the field of human-computer interaction? You can start by building your muscles! Steve will take a look at some fundamental skills that underlie the creation and launch of innovative goods and services. He will discuss the personal skills that he considers to be “the muscles of innovators” and the ways you can build these important muscles, including noticing, understanding cultural context, maintaining exposure to pop culture, synthesizing, drawing, wordsmithing, listening, and prototyping. Along the way, he will demonstrate how improving these powerful skills will equip you to lead positive change.
User research: Uncovering compelling insights through interviewsSteve Portigal
Interviewing users is undeniably one of the most valuable and commonly used user research tools. Yet sometimes we forget that it’s a skill we need to learn, because it’s based on skills we think we have (talking or even listening) and it’s not taught or reflected on.
In this workshop, we’ll consider how to frame the problem, when to use research in the design process, and the tactics for setting up a successful study. We will focus in detail on the interview itself, reviewing detailed techniques for listening and asking questions, then conclude with an engaging exercise to bring these best practices to life.
This workshop will show you how to:
Integrate mixed methods of research into solving a problem.
Develop increased empathy, a critical facet to meaningful interviews.
Derive useful results from interviews once you get participants to open up.
Soft Skills Are Hard: A Journey To Healthier WorkSteve Portigal
From IxDA Seattle, part of a series of presentations and workshops done in collaboration with Dan Szuc. Steve speaks about the interpersonal, creative, and cognitive skill sets that are essential in innovative work cultures. Moving beyond tactical skills and overarching processes, the UX community is increasingly focusing on the role of the whole person in design and innovation. Steve describes the "muscles of innovation" that are needed for growth and success.
I gave this presentation to an undergraduate Design Research class at the University of Kansas, taught by Julia Eschman and Tamara Christensen, in March 2011. It focuses on the importance of finding the right people to drive insights for ethnographic/design research, and addresses tactics for doing so.
Recruiting is a key part of the design research process that often does not get the attention it deserves, to the detriment of project outcomes. I invite you to share your experiences and questions, to build a dialogue about this topic!
Culture is everywhere we look, and (perhaps more importantly) everywhere we don’t look. It informs our work, our purchases, our usage, our expectations, our comfort, and our communications (indeed, if you aren’t familiar with a specific geographic and historical set of experiences, the presumably clever title for this talk will instead be perhaps bland). In this presentation, Steve will explore the ways we can experience, observe, and understand diverse cultures to foster successful collaborations, usable products, and desirable experiences.
Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha: Improv, Creativity and CollaborationSteve Portigal
Improv is not "stand-up comedy." It's a series of games with rules that offer huge degrees of freedom within a set of constraints. In these games we bring out a lot of basic, quickly understood and communicated rules of culture that are implicit, not explicit. The activities of design (collaboration, creativity, and design research, for starters) have interesting similarities with improv: All have in-the-moment aspects; we learn upon reflection; there's enormous unspoken interaction and there is often an "aha" moment. Design and improv also have important similarities: the need to collaborate and brainstorm, the importance of breakthrough thinking, the balance between process, structure, and unfettered creativity.
Playing with improv can make us more mindful of the power of listening, and can be harnessed to create a more collaborative work culture, as a way to develop one's own creativity, or to help warm up teammates and clients in workshops and design sessions. In this interactive presentation you will learn more about improv, listening, creativity, and how they all connect together to support one another. No iguanas will be harmed.
UXNZ 2015 Workshop - Steve Portigal
Projects often end with a catalogue of findings and implications, rather than a clear set of opportunities that directly enable the findings. This is one of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business today.
We’ve long heard the lament “Well, we got this report and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.” But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative, and so designers are increasingly using contextual research to inform their design work.
Ongoing acceptance of design research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting user research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable (more out of frustration than anything malicious).
This workshop will give participants the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
Participants in this workshop will:
collaborate in teams to experience an effective framework for synthesizing raw field data
learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities
learn techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns
develop a range of high-level concepts for responding to business problems with a fresh, contextual understanding.
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a catalog of findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament, “Well, we got this report, and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.”
Ongoing acceptance of (and demand for) user research has increased the ranks of practitioners of all stripes who feel comfortable conducting research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This session describes a process to take control over synthesis and ideation by breaking it down into a manageable framework.
In this session, you'll:
Learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities.
Get techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns.
Explore how to prioritize findings and create new opportunities.
Steve Portigal: Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha: Improv, Creativity and DesignSteve Portigal
Improv is not "stand-up comedy." It is often presented series of games with rules that offer huge degrees of freedom within a set of constraints. In these games we bring out quickly-understood-and-communicated rules of culture that are implicit, not explicit. The activities of design (collaboration, creativity, and design research, for starters) have interesting similarities with improv: All have in-the-moment aspects; we learn upon reflection; there’s enormous unspoken interaction and there is often an "aha" moment. Design and improv also have important similarities: the need to collaborate and brainstorm, the importance of breakthrough thinking, the balance between process, structure, and unfettered creativity. Playing with improv can make us more mindful of the power of listening, and can be harnessed to create a more collaborative work culture, as a way to develop one’s own creativity, or to help warm up teammates and clients in workshops and design sessions. In this interactive presentation you will learn more about improv, listening, creativity, and how they all connect together to support one another. No iguanas will be harmed.
Unfinished Business Workshop: Working with user research dataSteve Portigal
In this workshop, Steve will show you how producers of "stuff" (products, services, and beyond) - can work with user research data to identify new businesses opportunities. One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers (in the broadest sense of the word) increasingly become involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design.
The emphasis in this workshop (including an exercise in the days and weeks beforehand) will be on strengthening the creative link between "data" and "action." By the end, participants will have developed a range of high-level concepts that respond to a business problem and integrate a fresh, contextual understanding of that problem.
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a catalog of findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament, “Well, we got this report, and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.”
But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative. That means that designers are increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work.
Ongoing acceptance of user research has increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This workshop gives people the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation themselves by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
In this session, you'll:
Collaborate in teams to experience an effective framework for synthesizing raw field data.
Gain perspective on the difference between surface observations and deeper, interpreted insights.
Learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities.
Get techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns.
Focus on individual and group analysis to create a top-line report.
Brainstorm on patterns, cluster analysis, and diagrams to rethink problems.
Prioritize findings and create new opportunities.
UX Hong Kong - We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. As designers increasingly become involved in using contextual research to inform their design work, they may find themselves holding onto a trove of raw data but with little awareness of how to turn it into design. How can designers and researchers work with user research data to create new things for business to do?
Participants will:
* Collaborate in teams to experience an effective framework for synthesizing raw field data
* Learn how to move from data to insights to opportunities
* Experience techniques for generating ideas and strategies across a broad scope of business and design concerns
* Develop a range of high-level concepts that respond to a business problem and integrate a fresh, contextual understanding of that problem
The title of this workshop is a reference to The Artist Is Present, a performance art piece by Marina Abramovic. Marina spent months at MOMA sitting silently across from a nearly endless series of museum visitors, some of whom broke into tears.
The notion of presence is a critical idea for those of us in user experience. At the risk of sounding like Yoda, presence is tied to self-knowing. During ten years of writing, lecturing and coaching on “interviewing users”, many of the questions that Steve Portigal receives are about controlling or influencing another person’s behavior. Yet these interactions with others are really about ourselves, what’s inside us, who we are.
Therapists, as part of their education, must go through therapy themselves. They are expected to achieve a certain level of insight about themselves — their biases, their discomforts, and so on. While we are not therapists, we go out and study people without that level of self-insight!
A lack of self-insight sometimes manifests itself as passion, commitment, or being driven by a mission. While those have their place, it’s easy to become blinded by what we can’t let ourselves see. Sometimes this shows up as discomfort at the micro level, when we react to something a user might tell us about themselves; sometimes it’s a macro issue, when we’re uncomfortable with people who hold different values, preferences, or beliefs than ourselves. And it crescendos as know-it-all douchebaggery, when we think our job is to tell other people what’s best for them — when phrases like “frictionless sharing” fall from our lips as naturally as “what time is dinner?”
In this workshop, you’ll tap into a new level of personal authenticity to unlock a powerful boon. Together, we’ll explore this point of view and participate in a range of exercises to learn more about these ideas — and about ourselves.
IxDA and Thomson Reuters Student Challenge: Design the Future of News.
7 min pitch presented at the Interaction12 conference in Dublin, Feb 2. In this pitch, I proposed using physical space in different ways to access, share and understand news in a more intelligent way.
Yes, My Tuatara Loves to Cha-Cha Improv, Creativity and DesignSteve Portigal
From UX New Zealand 2015 - Improv is not ‘stand-up comedy’ but a series of games that offer huge degrees of freedom within a set of constraints. During improv, we bring out quickly-understood-and-communicated rules of culture that are implicit, not explicit.
Design and improv have important similarities. Both practices involve collaboration and brainstorming; an emphasis on breakthrough thinking; in-the-moment aspects and ‘Aha!’ moments; a balance of process, structure, and unfettered creativity; an enormous unspoken interaction; and the need to learn upon reflection.
Playing with improv can help us to be more mindful of the power of listening, to create a more collaborative work culture, to develop our own creativity, and to warm up teammates and clients in workshops and design sessions.
In this interactive presentation, you’ll learn about improv, listening, and creativity, and how each supports the others. No tuataras will be harmed.
My submission for Interaction 12's Student Design Competition on the theme of The Future of News. My idea talks about an "actionable" form of news, in which news consumers are empowered to actually take action on the events from the news.
When NOT to Follow User-Centered Design TechniquesSteve Portigal
This invited panel brings together several high-profile members of the HCI community for an exciting, if not controversial, discussion and debate. Each is well versed in the principles and best practices of user-centered design, user experience research, and design innovation. How do they respond to the emerging topic of when NOT to use conventional user-centered design techniques? Speakers: Anthony Andre, Interface Analysis Associates; Jay Elkerton, Emerson Process Management; Steve Portigal, Portigal Consulting; Cordell Ratzlaff, Cisco; Dan Saffer, Kicker Studio; Dan Rosenberg, SAP
SXSW - Diving Deep: Best Practices For Interviewing UsersSteve Portigal
While we know, from a very young age, how to ask questions, the skill of getting the right information from users is surprisingly complex and nuanced. This session will focus on getting past the obvious shallow information into the deeper, more subtle, yet crucial, insights. If you are going to the effort to meet with users in order to improve your designs, it's essential that you know how to get the best information and not leave insights behind. Being great in "field work" involves understanding and accepting your interviewee's world view, and being open to what they need to tell you (in addition to what you already know you want to learn). We'll focus on the importance of rapport-building and listening and look at techniques for both. We will review different types of questions, and why you need to have a range of question types. This session will explore other contextual research methods that can be built on top of interviewing in a seamless way. We'll also suggest practice exercises for improving your own interviewing skills and how to engage others in your organization successfully in the interviewing experience.
UX Process Improved: Integrating User InsightSteve Portigal
Finding detailed specifications for implementing user research methods is easy - but matching specific methods to your particular needs can be a challenge. We'll outline an underlying framework for research approaches so you'll understand why each method works as well as when to use it.
CHI2011 - We've Done All This Research, Now What?Steve Portigal
One of the most persistent factors limiting the impact of user research in business is that projects often stop with a cataloging findings and implications rather than generating opportunities that directly enable the findings. We’ve long heard the lament “Well, we got this report and it just sat there. We didn’t know what to do with it.” But design research (or ethnography, or user research, or whatever the term du jour may be) has also become standard practice, as opposed to something exceptional or innovative. That means that designers are increasingly involved in using contextual research to inform their design work. Courses at CHI and elsewhere have increased the ranks of designers and others who feel comfortable conducting user research. But analysis and synthesis is a more slippery skill set, and we see how easy it is for teams to ignore (more out of frustration than anything malicious) data that doesn’t immediately seem actionable. This course gives people the tools to take control over synthesis and ideation themselves by breaking it down into a manageable framework and process.
Design tenets: One Step closer to a pixel perfect experiencePetr Stedry
This presentation will tell you:
- what design tenets are
- when and why use them
- how co create your own tenets
This version was user on the UX Camp Europe 2011 in Berlin at June 11.
TlS: Theory Of Cosntraints & Lean Six SigmaBusiness901
Mark Woeppel, the President of Pinnacle Strategies was my guest on the Business901 podcast and this is the transcript of our discussion about the integration of TOC and LSS.
Welcome to Innovation Territory - ProductCamp Vancouver 2013Cynthia DuVal
Cynthia DuVal along with colleagues Stewart Rogers and Elizabeth Yeung describe a design ethnography and innovation discovery project we did for a software company that resulted in a 5-year innovation roadmap.
neuro-linguistic programming - covers neuro (your brain),
linguistics (your language), and programming (your internal
models of the world which you think of as reality)
Presented to the internal creative group at frog design in SF as a way to inform and inspire the team. This deck presents a new way to think about contextual inquiry, participatory design and the future of design research. For, With, and Through Design is a new lens from which to understand the design work that is being conducted at frog and elsewhere.
Rapid Prototyping Learning Launch
Visualization Journey Mapping Value Chain Analysis
Customer Co-Creation
Assumption TestingConcept DevelopmentBrainstormingMind Mapping
8
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Rotman Magazine Fall 2011 / 17
WHEN DESIGNER HUGH DUBBERLY asked Tim Brennan of Apple’s
CreativeServicesgrouptodefinedesign forhisbook, How Do You
Design?,Brennandrewthe followingpicture:
While many business people appreciate the power of design,
a formal process for its practice has been elusive; until now.
by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie
Designing for Growth:
A Tool Kit For Managers
? $
Design, this drawing asserts, is simply magic – a mysterious
no-man’s land where only the brave dare tread. Such a definition
mocksthe ideathata formalprocesscouldpossiblyexist fornavi-
gating itsmanyhairpin turns.
Our advice: don’t be put off by Brennan’s view of design.
Design has many different meanings, and the approach we will
describe here is more akin to Dorothy’s ruby slippers than to a
magicwand:you’vealreadygotthepower;you justneedtofigure
outhowtouse it.Can the averagemanagerbe transformed into
the next Jonathan Ive? No more than your local golf pro can
turn you into Tiger Woods. But can you improve your game?
Without adoubt.
If Managers Thought Like Designers
Whatwouldbedifferentifmanagersthoughtmorelikedesigners?
Wehave threewords foryou: empathy, inventionand iteration.
4640 16_21.qxp:Layout 1 7/26/11 1:00 PM Page 17
Designalwaysbeginswithempathy–establishingadeepunder-
standing of those for whom you are designing. Managers who
thought likedesignerswould consistentlyput themselves in their
customers’ shoes. We all know we’re supposed to be ‘customer-
centered’, but what we’re talking about is deeper and more
personal than that: trueempathyentailsknowingyourcustomers
asrealpeoplewithrealproblems,ratherthanastargetsforsalesor
as a set of demographic statistics around age or income level. It
involvesdevelopinganunderstandingofboththeiremotionaland
their ‘rational’ needsandwants.
In addition,managerswho thought likedesignerswould view
themselvesas creators.Forallourtalkaboutthe ‘artandscience’of
management, we have mostly paid attention to the science part.
Taking design seriously means acknowledging the difference
betweenwhat scientistsdoandwhatdesignersdo:whereas scien-
tists investigate today to discover explanations for what already
is, designers invent tomorrow to create something that isn’t.
Powerfulfuturesarerarelydiscoveredprimarilythroughanalytics.
Theyare,asWalt Disneyoncesaid,“Createdfirst inthemindand
next in theactivity.”
Finally, design insists that we prepare ourselves to iterate our
way to a solution, somanagerswho thought like designerswould
view themselves as learners. Most managers are taught a linear
problem-solving methodology: define the problem, identify vari-
ous solutions, analyze each, and choose the best one. Designers
aren’t nearly so impatient – or optimistic; they understand ...
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl4QTr8YkhE
This talk takes you on a journey to understand what a 'discovery' period in your design and tech project currently looks like, through to what it could be.
Spoiler: It can be so much more, but you need to be prescriptive in the way you put together your team, and let go when you're going through the process. Oh and make specific time for non-specific things to happen.
Transforming a business is so much more than just coming up with new products and services. One of the many lessons I've learned as I reinvent a company to remain relevant today and in the future.
A 101 guide to World Domination. Some things I learned at Trendwolves, Boondo...Polle de Maagt
Some things I learned in the last couple of years.
Nothing changed and everything changed.
The more direct contact brands have with consumers,
the more they need a coherent core identity.
One that translates both into tweets and invoices
in campaigns, and more important, a permanent dialogue.
Because people’s expectations have shifted.
Towards new client service normals.
From ads to acts.
Changing companies towards more consumer centricity isn’t easy.
That requires proving you’re on the right track every single day.
Showing progress.
Building upon your companies’ unused potential.
Similar to Well, We've Done All This Research, Now What? (20)
Therapists, as part of their education, must go through therapy themselves. They are expected to achieve a certain level of insight about themselves – their biases, their discomforts, and so on. While we are not therapists, we go out and study people without that level of self-insight! A lack of self-insight sometimes manifests itself as passion, commitment, or being driven by a mission. While those have their place, it’s easy to become blinded by what we can’t let ourselves see. Sometimes this shows up as discomfort at the micro level, when we react to something a user might tell us about themselves; sometimes it’s a macro issue, when we’re uncomfortable with people who hold different values, preferences, or beliefs than ourselves. And it crescendos as know-it-all douchebaggery, when we think our job is to tell other people what’s best for them – when phrases like “frictionless sharing” fall from our lips as naturally as “what time is dinner?”
In this interactive talk we will delve into the concepts of presence and mindfulness and develop an understanding of how this informs how you engage with the world around you, as a designer, a professional, and a person.
The old maxim says we should “Find a need and fill it;” while at a one level that is certainly true, even in this era of fetishized disruption, organizations seem to easily fall in love with the idea of being in the problem solving business. Steve will review a number of different mindsets for creating products and services, consider their benefits and risks, and challenge you to go beyond a fixing mentality.
Stories make the world go round. As researchers, we love stories, and essentially it's our job to gather stories and to retell them. War Stories are stories about contextual user research and the inevitable mishaps that ensue are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic, and generally astonishing.
Steve will share some of the best stories from his book Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries, examining the patterns and lessons they reveal. For a practice that isn’t always well understood or trusted, there’s pressure to only speak to the successes. But examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community. Steve’s collection of stories fills a longstanding need for the design and research community—sharing what can go wrong in the real world.
Stories make the world go round. As people who do user research, we love stories. At its simplest, our job is to gather stories and to retell them. War Stories are stories about contextual user research (research out in the field) and the inevitable mishaps that ensue. These stories are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic and generally astonishing.
In this presentation, drawn from years of gathering war stories and his book “Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries”, Steve will share some of the best stories, examine the patterns revealed by the stories, and articulate the different lessons revealed by this large collection of stories. Steve’s collection of stories fills a longstanding need for the design and research community; to share what can go wrong, because that’s the reality. For a practice that is not always well-understood or trusted, there’s pressure for us to only speak to the successes, but examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community.
Stories make the world go round. As people who do user research, we love stories. At its simplest, our job is to gather stories and to retell them. War stories about contextual user research and the inevitable mishaps that ensue are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic, and generally astonishing.
Drawing from years spent gathering war stories and his book Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries, Steve Portigal shares some of the best stories he’s collected, examining the patterns and lessons they reveal.
Steve’s collection of stories fills a longstanding need for the design and research community: sharing what can go wrong in the real world. For a practice that is not always well understood or trusted, there’s pressure to only speak to the successes, but examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community.
Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War StoriesSteve Portigal
Stories make the world go round. As people who do user research, we love stories. At its simplest, our job is to gather stories and to retell them. War Stories are stories about contextual user research (research out in the field) and the inevitable mishaps that ensue. These stories are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic and generally astonishing.
Steve’s collection of stories fills a longstanding need for the design and research community; to share what can go wrong, because that’s the reality. For a practice that is not always well-understood or trusted, there’s pressure for us to only speak to the successes, but examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community.
In this presentation, drawn from years of gathering war stories and his book “Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries”, Steve will share some of the best stories, examine the patterns revealed by the stories, and articulate the different lessons revealed by this large collection of stories.
Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries (Amuse 2016)Steve Portigal
Stories make the world go round. As user researchers, we love stories. At its simplest, our job is to gather stories and to retell them. War Stories are stories about contextual user research (research out in the field) and the inevitable mishaps that ensue. These stories are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic and generally astonishing.
Steve's collection of stories fills a longstanding need for the design and research community; to share what can go wrong, because that’s the reality. For a practice that is not always well-understood or trusted, there’s pressure for us to only speak to the successes, but examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community.
In this presentation, Steve will share some of the best stories, examine the patterns revealed by the stories, and articulate the different lessons revealed by this large collection of stories.
(from an event at IxDA SF with Dan Szuc and Jo Wong) Driving change is not as easy it sounds. Change is about people and is thus inherently messy. Coping with the mess means we must relate to, engage with and encourage people's thinking, feeling and acting as well as their actions. We already spend a reasonable proportion of our time influencing people we call collaborators, clients, stakeholders, bosses, customers (to name a few), although we may not always be aware we are doing it.
Together we will look at influence in work, question the language used during change and reflect on the various elements of influence that we too often fail to consider in our own aspirations. We will also look at frustrations and barriers that get in the way of the work we would prefer to be doing. Steve, Jo and Dan will lead a small exercise to help make the principles of influence more personally actionable.
Therapists, as part of their education, must go through therapy themselves. They are expected to achieve a certain level of insight about themselves – their biases, their discomforts, and so on. While we are not therapists, we go out and study people without that level of self-insight! A lack of self-insight sometimes manifests itself as passion, commitment, or being driven by a mission. While those have their place, it’s easy to become blinded by what we can’t let ourselves see. Sometimes this shows up as discomfort at the micro level, when we react to something a user might tell us about themselves; sometimes it’s a macro issue, when we’re uncomfortable with people who hold different values, preferences, or beliefs than ourselves. And it crescendos as know-it-all douchebaggery, when we think our job is to tell other people what’s best for them – when phrases like “frictionless sharing” fall from our lips as naturally as “what time is dinner?”
In this workshop we will delve into the concepts of presence and mindfulness and develop an understanding of how this informs how you engage with the world around you, as a designer and a professional and as a person.
In business and in life, we pursue the good stuff and champion people who are known for their good ideas. But when we place too strong an emphasis on just the good, we may neglect to consider the bad ones. In design and in brainstorming, deliberately seeking out bad ideas is a powerful way to unlock creativity. Generating bad ideas can reveal our assumptions about the difference between bad and good, and often seemingly bad ideas turn out to be good ones. Jotly and Cow Clicker were jokes or parodies—that is, not good ideas—that have been surprisingly successful. Neil Young and Crazy Horse have covered folk songs. An action blockbuster features a US president swinging a silver axe against vampires. In this talk, Steve will explore how opening up the bad idea valve can lead unexpectedly to the kind of success we aim for with our good ideas.
Interviewing users is undeniably one of the most valuable and commonly used user research tools. Yet sometimes we forget that it's a skill we need to learn, because:
● It's based on skills we think we have
● It's not taught or reflected on
People tend to 'wing it' rather than develop their skills. Without good interviewing skills, insights may be inaccurate or reveal nothing new, suggesting the wrong design or business responses, or they may miss the crucial nuance that points to innovative opportunities. Steve will share best practices for asking questions and listening and then lead a “safe” interviewing exercise.
In business and in life, we pursue the good stuff and champion people who are known for their good ideas. But when we place too strong an emphasis on just the good, we may neglect to consider the bad ones. In design and in brainstorming, deliberately seeking out bad ideas is a powerful way to unlock creativity. Generating bad ideas can reveal our assumptions about the difference between bad and good, and often seemingly bad ideas turn out to be good ones. Jotly and Cow Clicker were jokes/parodies (e.g., not good ideas) that have been surprisingly successful. Neil Young and Crazy Horse have covered folk songs. An action blockbuster features a US president swinging a silver axe against vampires. In this talk, I explore how opening up the bad idea valve can lead unexpectedly to the kind of success we aim for with our good ideas.
Hello everyone! I am thrilled to present my latest portfolio on LinkedIn, marking the culmination of my architectural journey thus far. Over the span of five years, I've been fortunate to acquire a wealth of knowledge under the guidance of esteemed professors and industry mentors. From rigorous academic pursuits to practical engagements, each experience has contributed to my growth and refinement as an architecture student. This portfolio not only showcases my projects but also underscores my attention to detail and to innovative architecture as a profession.
Dive into the innovative world of smart garages with our insightful presentation, "Exploring the Future of Smart Garages." This comprehensive guide covers the latest advancements in garage technology, including automated systems, smart security features, energy efficiency solutions, and seamless integration with smart home ecosystems. Learn how these technologies are transforming traditional garages into high-tech, efficient spaces that enhance convenience, safety, and sustainability.
Ideal for homeowners, tech enthusiasts, and industry professionals, this presentation provides valuable insights into the trends, benefits, and future developments in smart garage technology. Stay ahead of the curve with our expert analysis and practical tips on implementing smart garage solutions.
Between Filth and Fortune- Urban Cattle Foraging Realities by Devi S Nair, An...Mansi Shah
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White wonder, Work developed by Eva TschoppMansi Shah
White Wonder by Eva Tschopp
A tale about our culture around the use of fertilizers and pesticides visiting small farms around Ahmedabad in Matar and Shilaj.
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Get the perfect modular kitchen in Gurgaon at Finzo! We offer high-quality, custom-designed kitchens at the best prices. Wardrobes and home & office furniture are also available. Free consultation! Best Quality Luxury Modular kitchen in Gurgaon available at best price. All types of Modular Kitchens are available U Shaped Modular kitchens, L Shaped Modular Kitchen, G Shaped Modular Kitchens, Inline Modular Kitchens and Italian Modular Kitchen.
Transforming Brand Perception and Boosting Profitabilityaaryangarg12
In today's digital era, the dynamics of brand perception, consumer behavior, and profitability have been profoundly reshaped by the synergy of branding, social media, and website design. This research paper investigates the transformative power of these elements in influencing how individuals perceive brands and products and how this transformation can be harnessed to drive sales and profitability for businesses.
Through an exploration of brand psychology and consumer behavior, this study sheds light on the intricate ways in which effective branding strategies, strategic social media engagement, and user-centric website design contribute to altering consumers' perceptions. We delve into the principles that underlie successful brand transformations, examining how visual identity, messaging, and storytelling can captivate and resonate with target audiences.
Methodologically, this research employs a comprehensive approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses. Real-world case studies illustrate the impact of branding, social media campaigns, and website redesigns on consumer perception, sales figures, and profitability. We assess the various metrics, including brand awareness, customer engagement, conversion rates, and revenue growth, to measure the effectiveness of these strategies.
The results underscore the pivotal role of cohesive branding, social media influence, and website usability in shaping positive brand perceptions, influencing consumer decisions, and ultimately bolstering sales and profitability. This paper provides actionable insights and strategic recommendations for businesses seeking to leverage branding, social media, and website design as potent tools to enhance their market position and financial success.
1. Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What?
Steve Portigal
1 @steveportigal
2. Click to edit Master title style
Introduction
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 2 Portigal
3. Today
Click to edit Master title style
Introduction 15:00 – 15:10
Observation Exercise 15:10 – 15:40
Synthesis 15:40 – 16:30
Break 16:30 – 17:00
Synthesis 17:00 – 17:10
Ideation 17:10 – 17:50
Share 17:50 – 18:15
Prioritization time permitting 18:15 – 18:20
Q&A + Wrap-up 18:20 – 18:30
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 3 Portigal
4. Click to edit Master title style
Portigal
We help companies discover and
act on new insights about their
customers and themselves
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 4 Portigal
5. Use to edit Master title style
Clickfieldwork throughout the development cycle
Take a fresh
look at people Use existing ideas
as hypotheses
What to Refine &
Launch
make or do prototype
Iterate & improve
Explore new
ideas
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 5 Portigal
6. Synthesis & ideation process
Click to edit Master title style
Fieldwork
Synthesis
Ideation
Development
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 6 Portigal
7. Click to edit Master title style
Homework/Observation Exercise
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 7 Portigal
8. Homework Master title style
Click to editCheck-in
Your mission: Dedicate at least half an hour to walking around and
observing people in your neighborhood
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 8 Portigal
9. Homework Master title style
Click to editCheck-in
Who was able to do the assignment?
Was this anyone’s first experience doing observational
fieldwork?
Is there anyone who has not done user or observational research
in the field?
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 9 Portigal
10. Observing
Click to edit Master title style
Notice what… people,
places
Notice how… processes,
sequences, interactions
Suspend your point of view
Avoid conclusions
Allow confusion
Steve, practicing his “noticing.” You can tell
Do it “out loud” because he looks like he may be a little
confused.
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11. Cultural context
Click to edit Master title style
You’re observing people within
their culture. Notice how cultural
artifacts reflect and define the
environment; and reveal what is
“normal”
Normal isn’t “right or wrong” – it’s
the set of background rules that
define much of what people
choose or ignore
What are they selling?
Media
Products
Advertisements
Street Culture
Trends/ Fads
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12. Cultural context
Click to edit Master title style
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13. Cultural context
Click to edit Master title style
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14. Cultural context
Click to edit Master title style
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15. Exercise: Explore!
Click to edit Master title style
Your mission: Imagine you are
working on a project for
Gentrific8, looking for inspiration
for neighborhood redevelopment
from the Lisbon Eastern
Business District.
Form groups of 2 – 3. Mix it up
• Wander and observe people,
interactions and environments
• Do it out loud!
• Capture (photos, notes)
• What, who, where, when?
• Why, how?
This is not a design audit of
signage or merchandise displays
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19. Exercise: Explore!
Click to edit Master title style
We resume
at 15:40!
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20. Click to edit Master title style
Synthesis: From data to insights
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21. Synthesis & ideation process
Click to edit Master title style
Analysis
Synthesis
Insights Opportunities
Ideation
Strategies Solutions
Detailed
solutions
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22. Why to edit Master title style
Click a process?
Fieldwork
Synthesis
Ideation
Development
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23. Avoid jumping to conclusions
Click to edit Master title style
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24. DTDT: edit Master title style
Click toAnalysis vs. Synthesis
Analysis
Break large piece(s) into smaller
ones in order to make sense
e.g., interviews, transcripts into anecdotes, stories
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 24 Portigal
25. DTDT: edit Master title style
Click toAnalysis vs. Synthesis
Combining multiple pieces into something new
e.g., developing themes, implications, opportunities
Synthesis
Analysis
Break large piece(s) into smaller
ones in order to make sense
e.g., interviews, transcripts into anecdotes, stories
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26. DTDT: edit Master title style
Click toAnalysis vs. Synthesis
The process gradually moves from one to the other
Combining multiple pieces into something new
e.g., developing themes, implications, opportunities
Synthesis
Analysis
Break large piece(s) into smaller
ones in order to make sense
e.g., interviews, transcripts into anecdotes, stories
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 26 Portigal
27. Analthesis????
Click to edit Master title style
Combining multiple pieces into something new
e.g., developing themes, implications, opportunities
Synthesis
Analysis
Break large piece(s) into smaller
ones in order to make sense
e.g., interviews, transcripts into anecdotes, stories
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 27 Portigal
28. More narratively, what is synthesis?
Click to edit Master title style
Sense-making through an iterative
process of refining gathered data
Early, Informal data in your head
First, process the experience you
had collecting data
• Refer to debriefs and conversations
• Articulate and identify themes
• Outcome: Topline Report
Process-based, Formal heavy lifting
Review, Refine, Rinse, Repeat
Then, process the data itself
• Individual and group analysis
• Pattern-identification, clustering,
models, frameworks
• Outcome: Opportunities
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29. In-field edit Master
Click todebriefing title style
Synthesis naturally begins in
the field
• Resist meaning (for now)
• Focus on observations
• Get the detail
Create time to talk after each
fieldwork experience
• Worksheet to facilitate the
debrief
Write up real-time summaries for Fieldwork highlights captured in the wild.
the team, ASAP
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 29 Portigal
30. Early, informal synthesis (data
Click to edit Master title style in your head)
After fieldwork, collate reflections
and quickly externalize a starter set
of 5 to 10 thematic areas based on
• Pre-identified areas of inquiry
• Refer to debriefs and
conversations from the field
• New patterns that we observed
Identify interesting areas;
acknowledge that you don’t
understand details yet, identify
questions
Outcome: Topline Report
All right researchers… what did you see?
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31. The to edit Report
ClickTopline Master title style
This sheds light on what excites the team and the stakeholders and
brings focus to the next stage of synthesis
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32. Process-based, formal style
Click to edit Master titlesynthesis (heavy lifting)
Go back through your raw data
very closely to move beyond the
Topline Report
Individually (heads-down) and
collaboratively (heads-up)
i.e.: What did other public announcements in
the study look like? What are the layers of
information and cultural context? What form
factors are favored? Why?
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33. Individual analysis title style
Click to edit Master(not today)
Heads down!
• Video
• Photos, field artifacts
• Transcripts
• DV→MP3→FTP→.docx
Transcript analysis
• Make marginal notes on
patterns, quotes, or what
seems interesting
• Ask yourself questions; give
labels; propose solutions
• Don’t worry about
implications, be descriptive
and reactive
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34. Individual analysis title style
Click to edit Master(not today)
If you can’t get transcripts, watch
video/listen to audio (even sped-
up) and in near real-time jot
down the rough narrative of the
session
• When you make an observation
in your own voice, do something
typographic to call it out (ALL
CAPS, highlight, etc.)
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35. Collaborative analysis
Click to edit Master title style
Heads up!
Present each interview (etc.) as
a case study. Introduce each,
and pick out the provocative
highlights.
Voice and document reactions,
a-has, support and questions
• Clustering with stickies
• White-board notes
Develop a new shared point-of-
view, beyond “findings”
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36. More individual analysis (not
Click to edit Master title style today)
Spreadsheet analysis enables immersive refinement of data
Play with data by generating alternate views of the dataset
• Rewrite each sticky in a cell (adding commentary, explanation, context, quote)
• Processing each entry allows further synthesis and thought
Tag each comment with Categories of Comment
person, segment, market etc. columns will comes from
to allow you to manipulate data vary by project rewritten sticky
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37. Developing Master title style
Click to edit opportunities
Opportunities are not
• A reporting of “interesting findings”
• A list of solutions Keep the human touch in
communication
Allow people to move
Opportunities are seamlessly between places
Allow people to integrate
• Change we can envision based on seamlessly across different
what we heard and observed devices and systems
• About people
• In the context of, but reframing the What should we do?
business questions
• Generative, inviting many
solutions
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 37 Portigal
38. Summary of analthesis style
Click to edit Master title activities
Topline Individual Collaborative Individual Opportunities
Analysis Analysis Analysis
Keep the human touch in
communication
Allow people to move
seamlessly between places
Allow people to integrate
seamlessly across different
devices and systems
Externalize the data The heavy lifting Play with individual Play with the entire Determine generative
in your head data elements data set directions
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 38 Portigal
39. Exercise: Develop topline (10
Click to edit Masteratitle style minutes)
Get in groups of 4
Quickly review what happened (today
and from your homework) and what
you saw. Collate reflections. Resist the
urge to move too far towards
conclusions
• Don’t refer to notes or photos yet
• Keep your own experiences, existing
hypotheses, cultural clichés, etc. in the
background
Develop 3 - 5 themes as a “Topline
Report” sketching out the big
takeaways, leading into further
synthesis
• Don’t fuss over exact wording All right researchers… what did you see?
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 39 Portigal
40. Exercise: Develop title style
Click to edit Masterfindings (10 minutes)
Evolve your “Topline Report;” flesh out
and enrich themes
• Write your themes and put them up
• Leave space for new ones
• Now (!) tell stories from the field
(from your neighborhood and today),
using photos, notes and memory
Rethink the relationships between the
themes, pick your strongest themes
and write a sentence with a point of
view
• Go from “Graffiti everywhere” and
“Teen gangs hanging out” to “Public
spaces in the neighborhood are used to
communicate identity and
belongingness”
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41. Break!
Click to edit Master title style
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42. Exercise: Identify opportunities
Click to edit Master title style (10 minutes)
Build on your findings
• Start each opportunity with a verb
Keep the human touch in
communication
Opportunities are not Allow people to move
• A reporting of “interesting findings” seamlessly between places
• A list of solutions Allow people to integrate
seamlessly across different
devices and systems
Opportunities are
• Change we can envision based on what What should we do?
we heard and observe
• About people
• In the context of but reframing the
business questions
• Generative, inviting many solutions
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 42 Portigal
43. Click to edit Master title style
Ideation: From insights to solutions
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 43 Portigal
44. Ideation questions
Click to edit Master title style
A simple step moves you from
Opportunities to Ideation
Questions, reframing them How can we keep the human touch in
into actionable language communication
How can we allow people to move
seamlessly between places
How can we allow people to integrate
seamlessly across different
devices and systems
Ideate!
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 44 Portigal
45. Scope edit Master
Click toof solutions title style
Solutions exist across many
different business areas
Functionality
Visual design
Marketing
Architecture
Public Services
Partnerships
Events
Software
Form factor
Packaging
Policy
Retail design
Even if you are unlikely to impact
How many business and civic areas to impact
certain business areas, it’s crucial can you spot in this picture?
that you set that constraint aside
for ideation
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 45 Portigal
46. Developing Master title
Click to edit strategies style
Responses to any ideation question can lead in different strategic directions
Finding: Students have to smoke outside, but they get cold and wet
Opportunity: Improve the experience of students who smoke
Ideation Question: How can we improve the experience of students
who smoke?
Support underlying needs Question needs and
and behavior by embracing behavior, seek change by
the finding challenging the finding
Create a protected Eliminate smoking
environment for smoking
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47. Strategies can inspire solutions
Click to edit Master title style
Finding: Students have to smoke outside, but they get cold and wet
Opportunity: Improve the experience of students who smoke
Ideation Question: How can we improve the experience of students who
smoke?
Strategies
Create a protected
Eliminate smoking
environment for smoking
Solutions
Facilities Admin Partners Online Admin Partners
Build a Allocate Align with Smoking Ban Stop
pavilion interior nearby cessation smoking smoking
room cafe games coaches
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48. Solutions can suggest strategies
Click to edit Master title style
Finding: Students have to smoke outside, but they get cold and wet
Opportunity: Improve the experience of students who smoke
Ideation Question: How can we improve the experience of students who
smoke?
Strategies
Create a protected
Eliminate smoking
environment for smoking
Solutions
Admin Admin
Allocate Ban
interior smoking
room
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49. Collaborative generation
Click to edit Master title style
This is a collective, out-loud activity!
Talk, listen, build on each other’s
ideas
• Don’t worry about a “bad” idea… it
may lead to a “good” idea
Don’t correct; generate alternatives
• “Yes, and…”
This is a visual activity! Sketch,
draw…
• Quantity over quality; go quickly
Individual ideas matter less than
How can a sour lemon help keep things working
what the collective produces overall smoothly?
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50. Stuck?
Click to edit Master title style
Come up with bad ideas
• Immoral
• Dangerous
• Bad for business
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51. Don’t forget your second wind
Click to edit Master title style
Pace of idea
generation
Obvious but
necessary,
problem-solving,
need-filling, low-
hanging fruit
Time
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 51 Portigal
52. Don’t forget your second wind
Click to edit Master title style
Pace of idea
generation
Obvious but Wacky,
necessary, transgressive,
problem-solving, innovative,
need-filling, low- breakthrough,
hanging fruit weird
Time
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 52 Portigal
53. Summary of ideation exercises
Click to edit Master title style
Questions Business Areas Ideation and Sharing
How can we keep the human touch
in communication
How can we allow people to move
seamlessly between
places
How can we allow people to
integrate seamlessly
across different devices
and systems
Ideate!
Shift to “How can Figure out where Remember, “Yes, and…”
we…?” we can play
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 53 Portigal
54. Exercise: Ideation questions
Click to edit Master title style (2 minutes)
Apply How can we…?
to each of your Opportunities
How can we keep the human touch in
communication
How can we allow people to move
seamlessly between places
How can we allow people to integrate
seamlessly across different
devices and systems
Ideate!
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 54 Portigal
55. Exercise: Business title style
Click to edit Master areas (3 minutes)
Let’s collectively list possible
business areas to design for
• Think about whatever Gentrific8 could do
or affect
Use this list as a starting point
Functionality
Visual design
Marketing
Architecture
Public Services
Partnerships
Events
Software
Form factor
Packaging
Policy
How many business and civic areas to impact
Retail design can you spot in this picture?
Incentives
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56. Exercise: Ideation (35 minutes)
Click to edit Master title style
Use your ideation questions to
generate strategies and solutions
• Out loud
• Visual
• Collaborative
Consider the range of possible
business areas
Apply lemon as needed.
Bounce back and forth between
generating strategies and
solutions
Most ideas will not turn out to be
winners; the goal is to practice
Don’t forget your second wind
connecting research data to
solutions
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57. Exercise: Share (25 minutes)
Click to edit Master title style
Quickly align on your team’s best
ideas and message
Choose a messenger
The wise team will choose a bold, expressive
spokesperson
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 57 Portigal
59. Big group voting
Click to edit Master title style
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60. Small group ranking…and reconciliation
Click to edit Master title style
Color indicates voting winner Ranking factors may even
include how clear the idea is
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61. Click to edit Master title style
Wrap Up
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62. How to edit use frameworks
Click expertsMaster title style
Fieldwork
Synthesis
Ideation
Development
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63. Coming up!
Click to edit Master title style
A book by Steve Portigal
The Art and Craft of User Research Interviewing
http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/user-interviews/
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64. Click to edit Master title style
I’ve got a tip
(that you
didn’t cover)
that works Yeah, I’ve
well for me… got a
question
for ya…
One new
thing I
learned
today is…
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 64 Portigal
65. Click to edit Master title style
Thank you!
Portigal Consulting @steveportigal
www.portigal.com steve@portigal.com
Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? 65 +1-415-894-2001
Portigal