Companies claim that adopting user experience research as part of their process to achieve innovation puts consumers in the heart of the process, yet many of them fail to achieve this goal and end up with a product full of unused or even frustrating features. While user experience research tends to implement both quantitative and […]
Using Mind Maps to Track User Experience
When it comes to building a user-centered design, the core target is to have a solid understanding of the user experience and how users navigate through different design layout elements. Achieving this target requires clearly defined goals, which are supported with deep understanding of the end user through building a persona empathy maps and scenarios for […]
The Decision-Making Process Designers Should Use Daily
“How do I make a proper decision?” It seems to be an easy question to answer, especially by a professional, skillful designer. However, the decision-making process can turn to be complicated during times or crisis or when there is uncertainty about the right direction to follow. Many designers spontaneously depend on their previous experience or […]
CATWOE: Building a Problem-Solving Checklist
Problem solving is the main target of design thinking methods, and the previously discussed design thinking methods that are used in solving problems tend to work through a number of steps in order to reach a final solution for the problem. However, in particular situations, solving the problem isn’t the main target of meetings or […]
If You Believe that Design Thinking is a Waste of Time, You’re Doing It Wrong
Design thinking tools and methods tend to explore innovative ideas and creative solutions for organization problems by shifting the way we think from ordinary methods to new techniques that explore undiscovered creative potentials. Implementing design thinking as part of the strategic planning of the organization is known to achieve success; companies such as IKEA, Lego, […]
Why Design Thinking Can Contribute to a Growing Business
Design thinking is defined by Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, as “a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.” Design thinking aims to achieve innovation and solve problems while putting the […]
Exploring Human-Centered Innovation: NEST CASE STUDY
As RIBA’s policy officer, Emillia Plotka stated, "Access to energy consumption data at a larger scale could help identify energy-use hotspots and point to areas that could benefit from community energy or retrofitting schemes.”, a more need to innovation and creativity to build smarter homes and intelligent devices that can contribute to sustainability. Founded in 2010 […]
Five Product Designs Against Crime
Crime has a significant negative impact of economy and society, both from physical and physiological approaches. Prison population has increased in the UK from 44,000 to 83,000 between 1993 and 2007, which loaded the UK government with an extra GBP 3.8 billion to build 20,000 more prison places. Costs average around GBP 10,407 per unit […]
Common Types of Mind Maps and How to Use Them
Mind maps are widely used by both designers and non-designers as a method for brainstorming in the early stages of projects in order to explore ideas or solve project problems. In a previous article, we explored the concept of mind maps and how to use them by starting with a core idea and expanding it […]
8 Tips to Finance Your Design Business
One of the major challenges facing designers and creative people seeking to start their own business—or moving their creative idea from their art studio labs to the market as a manufactured project—is finding the proper method to finance their business. While designers get the chance to learn creative courses and how to develop their ideas […]
Tracing the Open Design Practice
The term “open” is added to different fields such as design, innovation, and software in order to reflect co-creation principles with users contributing to the final design, either by assembling the product, customizing it, or adding more functions to it. A good example of open design is IKEA’s products that can be bought in separate […]
How Designers Can Use Rolestorming to Understand Consumers
Brainstorming techniques are used to achieve different goals, including finding creative ideas, solving problems, and understanding the target consumer during the ideation phase of the design process. However, brainstorming team members are affected by their own voices and personalities, which may affect their ideas that should reflect the consumer characteristics and needs instead. This can […]
Using Value Stream Maps to Improve User Experience
Designing in its holistic approach is a method for solving problems through creativity and innovation by designing a better product or service experience. In-depth research and exploration for the end user should be conducted at an early stage of the design process in order to understand how consumers use the product or service and what […]
Design Drivers in the Middle East
Design has been agreed as a driver for success among design scholars and practitioners. However, outside the creative and innovation community, an uncertain vision about design can be identified – especially in developed countries – which leads to the questions, what are the design drivers in developed counters and how can these drivers be adapted […]
Five Reasons Behind a Failed UX Design Process
Many products in the market can be beautiful or full of functions and features, but are hard to use. These products reveal the importance of the user experience process, which tends to bridge the gap between products and end users by directing the whole production process towards a human-centered design approach. Many companies agree that the […]
Building a Solid User-Centered Design Process
Many companies claim they are designing with the end user in mind; yet too many products fail to achieve this goal. This occurs because of a variety of factors, like needing to adapt to different targets or using tools that do not achieve the target’s needs. The user-centered design process ensures that the user is […]
80/20 Rule: From Economics to Design
Observing consumer behavior can teach us a lot of information about the features implied within the design and how users will interact with those features. An interesting observation indicated by research is that users do not interact equally with all features offered in a design. When visiting a Facebook profile, only a limited number of […]
How New Google Logo Will Change Old Design Rules
Two days ago, Google surprised the world with its new logo design after 17 years of using the same logo for their branding. The previous logo featured minor alterations from time to time, but nothing that could be called a real change. As expected, debates about loving and hating the new logo stormed the […]
How Designers Can Achieve Disruptive Innovation
As people who continuously pursue creative change, designers need to understand the type of change that they are pursuing as well as how to achieve it. Change can be achieved through two types of innovation processes: Sustaining innovation and disruptive innovation. Sustaining innovation change is unlikely to create new markets or values, such as evolution […]
Vroom-Yetton-Jago: Deciding How to Decide
Summary: The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model is a management tool that provides guidance in choosing the best decision based on quality requirements, the need for team input, and time constraints. It outlines five leadership styles and introduces a decision tree with seven key questions to select the most suitable approach. The model's advantages are its flexibility and structured […]