Bring Your A Game

Clients will gain a deeper respect for the designing process because they know that you are more concerned with the needs of their business and less with creating a pretty (yet strategically shallow) solution. Though much of this material is familiar, and the list is far from complete, we thought you’d find some of the specifics helpful in developing your own means of interacting with clients and team members during a project.

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1- DEFINING THE PROBLEM

Successful teams first define the problem they are trying to Solve — they articulate it, they give it boundaries (what’s part of the problem, what’s outside our control). They call upon designers to help cull, visualize, and express that problem in human terms — looking at it from many different views.
What specific problem are we solving?
+ What aspect of the business does this problem affect?
+ What parts of the problem are out of our control?
+ What parts can we control?
Are we defining it correctly?
+ Are we expressing it in a way that is easy to understand?
How does it look from all perspectives?
+ Which of your client’s audiences will be affected by the problem? Customers? Employees? Shareholders
+ How does it look from the branding perspective? Marketing? Product/service design?
Why solve this problem now?
+ Has there been a shift in the industry? A disrupting technology?
+ New federal/state involvement?
Is the client responding to a change in the marketplace?
+ A move by a competitor? A merger or acquisition? A new product or service?
+ A new marketing campaign?
Has there been a change in the status of a client’s business?
+ A crisis? A new development? Weak messaging? Loss of credibility? An older version of this project is expiring? an insufficient design?
Is there a sense of urgency because of one of these factors?
Is there any background information that can help define the problem?
What are the current limitations of the situation?
+ What areas could be improved (design)?
+ Can current data, metrics or comments from customers, users, stakeholders, etc. help to better understand the situation?
+ What is working well?
+ How did you get here?
+ What strategies have you tried before?
Who is the target audience?
+ Who is the primary audience in a broad sense? Students? Families?
+ Who is the primary audience specifically? Create personas. Consider age, gender, job, title, expertise, social, economic and education background.
+ Where do they live?
+ What consumer brands does your audience associate with?
+ Some good industries to start with: automobile, airline travel, computer hardware/software, clothing, food (any kind of restaurant, coffee shop, or grocery item)
+ What television shows does your audience watch?
+ What books and magazines does your audience read?
+ What kind of music does your audience listen to?
+ What kind of movies does your audience enjoy?
+ What kind of Web sites do they visit?
+ What kind of education does your audience have?
+ What other interests or hobbies does your audience have?
+ Are there secondary or tertiary audiences we should consider?
Why do these audiences care about the situation?

2- ENVISIONING THE DESIRED END STATE (KNOWING WHAT VICTORY LOOKS LIKE)

If you’ve ever been part of a team that seemed lost, it’s likely they skipped this step. Knowing what victory looks like becomes vital as you embark on the journey of solving the problem. As designers, we can help prototype the end state (through scenarios, models, journey maps, etc.)

What are the client’s goals and objectives for the project?
+ What are the business goals? Marketing goals? Branding goals?
+ Are there certain goals that are more important than others?
What are the metrics for success?
+ Is the goal to sell more products? Build awareness? Desire? Action? Improve profit margins? Add people?
What behaviors or actions are desirable?
+ What do you want your client’s audience to do?
What are the critical success factors?

3- DEFINING THE APPROACH BY WHICH VICTORY CAN BE ACHIEVED

Once you know where you want to go (as defined in #2), you need to create a map to get there. that map must be imprinted in the minds of every participant along the way. Designers can literally make the map real.

What are the phases? Benchmarks? Milestones? What will your process be?
+ Develop communication strategies, protocols and expectations to create the right deliverables.
+ Prioritize the list of features/functions/content based on desirability and cost of implementation.
+ Prioritize and rank issues of budget, time, and desired outcome (cost, speed, quality — pick any two).
Discuss timelines and budget constraints.
Who will your team be?
What team members work on which parts?
+ How will work flow between them?
+ Who will be required for each phase of work?

4- INCITING SUPPORT AND THEN ACTION

In some cases, not everyone will want to make the journey with you. They’ll need to be inspired. Convinced. Cajoled. Educated. As designers, we call on our skills as communicators to help them see why they should come along.

Who are the primary stakeholders?
Who are the decision makers?
Who is the ultimate/final decision maker?
Who are the enablers/inhibitors of project?
+ To convert the inhibitors ...what story do we tell? Appeal to emotion.
How do you ensure that stakeholders feel ownership within the project?

5- SEEKING INSIGHT TO INFORM THE PROTOTYPING OF THE SOLUTION

Once a band of gypsies, so to speak, is assembled, the next task is to look at the work ahead and be smart about it. Often it pays to take pause and seek insight that will enable the team to prototype a solution. that means research. Designers can help structure that research, and especially report its findings.

What general information do we need?
+ Are there any holes in the existing research?
+ What are the main barriers to each goal and objective?
+ What does your client’s client need?
+ Are there any mandatories?
Business information?
+ What is your client’s business in one or two words?
+ When did your client open his or her doors?
+ What position does your client’s company occupy in the marketplace?
+ What specific industry is the product/service in?
+ Are there any industry trends your client should be aware of?
+ How does the vision of your client’s company compare to its competitors?
+ What are the core values of the company?
+ How should you portray your client’s company in comparison to its competitors?
+ Who are your client’s top competitors?
+ What are your client’s competitors doing well?
+ What are your client’s competitors not doing well?
+ How does your client compare?
+ How are your client’s competitors using design as a competitive advantage?
+ Are there major components/communication points of this project that need to be accessed globally? Brand/marketing?
+ Does your client’s company have a unique story to tell?
+ Are there any positive or negative perceptions that the project will support or correct?
+ What is the single most important message your project should communicate?
+ What will your client’s target audience walk away with?
+ What should their emotional response be?
+ Is the current tone and voice of the writing style appropriate?
+ Can your client provide examples of visual styles that best represent the targeted aesthetic?

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

+ Download IDEO Questionare PDF
+ Download Frog Design Questionare PDF
+ Download Grant Design Collaborative Questionare PDF

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An unofficial extension of
the Why Do You Design?
little red book.

inspiration + research came from:
processes shared by:
Neil Everette Frog Design
Danny Stillion IDEO
Bill Grant Grant Design Collaborative

Creating the Perfect Design Brief: How to Manage Design for Strategic Advantage
by Peter L. Phillips

Why Do You Design? book and site
aiga.org /content.cfm /why_design
and personal experience

special thanks to:
Eva Roberts for research and thoughts,
Jennifer Powell for editing and advice,
Neil Everette
Danny Stillion,
Bill Grant

design:
Matthew Muñoz DesignHeals