The document provides guidance for participants in a design competition with both a research and design component. It outlines that the research portion involves finding an insight, and provides an example of a breakthrough insight about laundry being a chore versus dirt showing kids enjoyment. It then discusses various research methods like interviews, observation, and ethnography that can be used to discover insights. For the design portion, it advises thinking about the brand's marketing mix, visual language, and how the design fits with trends and the brand's context. The goal is to reimagine a product package and one additional touchpoint while grounded in consumer research.

1. DESIGN IN SIGHT
workshop
R

2. The research bit
The design bit
As hopefully you all know by now, there’s two halves to this competition:
1. research bit
2. design bit

3. The research bit

4. In the research bit, you’re looking for an insight
Insights are like fairies: they can take many forms and they’re notoriously elusive
(But insights are non-fictional)

5. Here’s an example of a stellar insight…
The traditional view of laundry is that it’s a chore
This is a functional view of the category

6. Which leads to adverts like this …
The Daz doorstep challenge, about getting whites whiter - the function of the product

7. Unilever, owners of detergent brands like Persil – conducted research with mums who washed their families’ clothes.
The mums talked emotionally about seeing their kids come back with filthy clothes after being out playing.
But – they didn’t talk about it in the negative way you might expect. Sure it was another wash that needed doing, but the dirty clothes showed that their kids were happy, that they were
enjoying life, and that was something to be celebrated.

8. Dirt isn’t bad
It’s good!
The insight - dirt isn’t bad, it’s good!

9. This insight opened up a paradigm shift in marketing which led to Unilever’s ‘dirt is good’ campaign…

10. … which still supports the success of Unilever’s detergent brands to this day, and is the inspiration behind the design for its packs.

11. Our guide to
insight hunting

12. What’s the right method?
Focus groups
& interviews
Creative
workshops
Observation
Ethnography
Online
So how do you get these insights?
!
Start with choosing a method. You’re looking for something that will uncover what you need to know, but is also practical to do

13. What’s the right method?
Focus
groups &
interviews
Focus groups is essentially gathering people with similar habits, ages, views etc. and talking to them for an extended period about one topic!
!
It is used to test or explore an idea by putting it under the microscope (e.g. new designs) - or understand their views on something (e.g. attitudes towards online banking)!
!
This is an age-old method for qual research - its weakness is that it encourage over-rational thought about things that consumers don’t think about rationally!
But, it is good for getting deep into topics - you’d be amazed how deep you can get into topics like laundry, or nasal congestion!!
!
You could gather your friends who use your brand (or its competitors) to understand the issues in the category, and how your brand is perceived…

14. What’s the right method?
Creative
workshops
Creative workshops are essentially the same idea, but tend to be used for what’s called ‘co-creation’ - using them to generate ideas!
You could gather your fellow students to brainstorm ideas…

15. What’s the right method?
Observation
This is more about watching than asking
You get a truer ‘read’ here, because you’re seeing what actually happens than rather than asking them, which they gets explain or remember accurately
You could go to a supermarket to see how shoppers act in the aisle…

16. What’s the right method?
Ethnography
‘True’ ethnography is about living with and truly integrating with people in order to understand their lives
But most of the time, it means going to joining them as they shop, see inside their homes and fridges, and see how they really use the products
You could go to the home of someone who uses your brand to see how they use and store it in reality…

17. What’s the right method?
Online
Not a different style of approach per se, but a different medium.
We use online to set homework tasks to respondents, e.g. ‘show us a night out’, or ‘describe how you use baby bottles’
You could use Skype to call someone abroad to see how they perceive your brand over there…

18. What’s the right sample?
Users
Who to talk to?
!
People who buy your brand if you want to understand what people love about it…
… or people who don’t, to understand what might expand its share?
&
Non-users

19. Prepare a guide
Prepare a guide and stick to it
A typical group lasts 1-1.5 hours
You’ll be surprised how long people can talk!

20. e.g. this for a recent soft drinks project
!
Here’s we’re understand usage and attitudes:
When / where they drink soft drinks
What they want out of them
We’ve also predict what they might say so we know to dig a little deeper
All of this in 10 minutes!

21. Go in with an open mind
This is hard as a designer
The temptation will be to have a solution and work backwards. We’ll spot that!
Instead, approach the research open-mindedly, and let the problem and insight come out naturally

22. Avoid closed questions
Do you think it looks tasty?
How tasty does it look?
If they can answer it with a yes or no, it’s closed

23. Brave the silence
Your ‘respondents’ will fill silences eventually - and sometimes it can be gold

24. Avoid like and dislike
… instead focus on what designs are communicating

25. Listen, don’t lead.
Listen, don’t prompt. Don’t put words in their mouths, let them do the talking.

26. Ladder
Moderator, “What do you like best about your phone?”
Respondent, “Getting real-time sports scores” [feature]
Moderator, “What is important about that?”
Respondent, “I know what’s happening right away.” [functional
benefit]
Moderator, “What does that do for you?”
Respondent, “I can tell my friends, as soon as I know.” [higher
benefit]
Moderator, “What does telling your friends right away do for
you?”
Respondent, “I am the go-to guy for sports. My friends expect
me to know. It is what we talk about.” [emotional benefit]
An example of laddering. A simple way of doing this - just keep asking ‘why?’

27. Watch!
Most communication is non-verbal
How do they act? Uncomfortable? Passionate? What aren’t they saying?
A lot of the brands are those which people aren’t necessarily engaged with - but there’s areas for all of them that they are engaged with…
e.g. Calgon - rationally, maintaining a washing machine is about avoiding the cost of it replacing it when it breaks.
But emotionally, it also might be about caring for your home, the sense of unseen cleanliness. That’s not something they’ll easily tell you.

28. The design bit
This is more over to you
Our work handles the research that guides the design process
That said - a few thoughts you might want to consider

29. Think about the
marketing mix
We’ve asked you to reimagine pack + at least one touchpoint.
Think about the role in the marketing mix

30. Axe’s pack is about:
Gravitas, potency & efficacy
Axe has a complementary mix - pack & ATL say different, but complementary messages
Its ATL is different, but complementary:
Irreverence & sexual confidence

31. Ben & Jerry’s replicatory mix means both pack & ATL for Ben & Jerry’s is about:
Levity, approachability, taste
Ben & Jerrys have a replicatory mix - the same message on both

32. Think about the context
What environment does your brand operate in?
Think about the trends that might affect it, e.g in design (e.g. quiet branding), consumer (e.g. shift to snacking in cereal), social (connectedness), economic (recession), business (copycat
brands), technological (Google Glass), environmental (limited resources)

33. Think about your
Visual Brand Language

34. Name that brand?

35. Dyson - you can tell through colour, shape…

36. Name that brand?

37. BMW
You can tell these brands because they’ve build up what we call visual equities - so you can recognise them by more than their logo
Strong brands have a rich pool of equites to draw on - weak ones don’t

38. Also true of bands!
Take Coldplay for instance. Love them or hate them, their publicity drive for Mylo Xyloto has been a fantastically joined up campaign. Like most bands, they have a consistent visual
theme across their albums and singles…

39. … and also their website …

40. … but this also extends to their music videos …

41. … and even their costumes, lightshow and stage decor in their live performances

42. Heinz and Marmite are two brands that have their Visual Brand Language well established - hence why you can recognise them easily here

43. Good luck
If you need help, drop us a line at hello@designinsightcompetition.co.uk