There is a saying that a blank piece of paper is an artist's worst friend. When the possibilities are endless, nothing gets started, created, or finished. The same is similar in design when we get a challenge that is broad or vague. Do you go this way or that way etc, etc?
When there are too many possibilities, I remind myself that I probably feel this way because I don't have a grasp of all the boundaries. If I don't know what the boundaries are, I'm probably going to come up with a solution that isn't fit for purpose.
To design a good product, system, or service it's essential to know where to play. These are three areas to explore in any problem space that will help us address this, and find the boundaries in which we can explore solutions. Boundaries lead to innovation.
When there are too many possibilities, I remind myself that I probably feel this way because I don't have a grasp of all the boundaries. If I don't know what the boundaries are, I'm probably going to come up with a solution that isn't fit for purpose.
To design a good product, system, or service it's essential to know where to play. These are three areas to explore in any problem space that will help us address this, and find the boundaries in which we can explore solutions. Boundaries lead to innovation.
- Viability: What is the business issue we are solving
- Feasibility: Is it possible to make
- Desirability: Will the customer want it?
- Conventions: What is expected
Viability is when the design choice you generate helps achieve a positive business outcome. The designer can silo their thinking to just cater to their customer very easily. This can be a good starting point. But as designers, we also have to understand how a business will make money from our ideas or even set up processes to implement them. This is why we need to understand the business we work for, the goals of the business, and how it operates.
- Map out who the stakeholders of the project are.
- Understand how the problem you are solving influences their world.
- Understand the goals of the stakeholder.
Feasibility is how your design choices will be built. Technology has been around for a number of decades now, There has been a lot of evolution of ideas, technology, and processes. As a result, there is usually a tonne of technical debt. Talking with your tech team will help you understand the limitations of the technology you are working with. Usually, this gives some amazing constraints which lead to really cool out-of-the-box thinking. The best way to overcome and thrive in this space is to get really close with the developers, QA, and tech lead on your team.
- Informal quick session after stand up
- Rose, Bud, Torn your ideas, or early mocks
- Get Tech spikes on the backlog
Desirability is understanding if your customer wants the design choices you are proposing. Arguably the most important aspect of customer-facing design, Dersierability is supported by feasibility and Viability. As designers, we need to think about all three aspects as a whole. To understand desirability, we need to get out of the building and talk with customers, learn about them and their goals.
- Dept Interviews are a great way to dive deep into a user's goals and behaviors. This rich insight will help you uncover user needs better than any other research method.
- Analyze data, and understand the Jobs to be done.
- Write job stories.
When we understand each of these things, It will give us the insight to build great things upon them. We can be truly innovative and think outside the box.