Design thinking and UX
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After this lesson, you will be able to:
- Define the elements of user experience design
- Develop basic skills in creative problem solving, innovation, and human-centered design through a fast-paced design thinking activity
- Sketch out potential design solutions to the problem you have defined
STUDENT PRE-WORK
Before this lesson, you should already be able to:
- Be familiar with clickable prototype tools
INSTRUCTOR PREP
Before this lesson, instructors will need to:
- Download and print copies of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet for all students in the class
- Gather pens/pencils to be distributed
Note: Structure and language for this lesson has been taken directly from and adapted from Stanford's DSchool and their online documented activity
Opening: What is UX? (5 mins)
Check: What is UX? Instructor will take answers from the class, and write them on the board.
User Experience (UX) is “the design of anything independent of medium or across media, with human experience as an explicit outcome and human engagement as an explicit goal.” - Jesse James Garret @jjg
This means that anything a user interacts with exists within the domain of UX, including the user interface (UI).
The UI is the end result of that UX process, but UX can also result in services, processes, physical objects, etc, not just UIs on screens.
If a person is not interacting with it, or it doesn’t affect their experience, it’s not UX. (e.g. Code is not UX... unless, say, it impacts the speed of the page load, in which case it is.)
UX is also known as user-centered design. It’s a process for building things that work for people, instead of dictating what they have to do.
Check: Identify parts of an Android app that involve and don't involve UX.
Demo: Intro to Design Thinking (5 mins)
Design thinking is the foundation of the modern UX design process. Instead of telling you about it, we’re just going to jump right in so you can experience it firsthand. This activity will extend through the next two days.
First, make sure you have a copy of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet.
Think about a traditional wallet. Now, individually, take 3 minutes to come up with some ideas for what your ‘ideal’ wallet looks like - go ahead and draw an idea for a better wallet.
Instructor note: Given students 3 minutes to work.
How did that feel? Probably rushed and overall, not great.
That was a typical problem-solving approach: taking on a given problem, working using your own opinions and experience to guide you, and with a solution in mind to be designed.
Let’s try something else, a human-centered design thinking approach that involves:
- Empathizing wit your users
- Creating a problem statement
- Ideation
- Prototyping
- Testing
Guided Practice: Empathize (15 mins)
Instructor Note: Set the stage. Students are not necessarily building an app or a website in this activity. This is about user behaviors in the real world, not for a specific platform or for an end result that’s been predetermined. There is a multi-page worksheet - Design Thinking Activity Worksheet - that corresponds to the rest of this lesson and the next lesson. Make sure you’ve had a copy printed out for each student.
Let's start by talking to your classmates about their experiences using wallets.
We're going to work in partners do this with two interview sessions:
An initial interview
- This session will be 8 mins total (2 sessions x 4 minutes each)
A "digging deeper" interview
- This session will be 6 mins total (2 sessions x 3 minutes each)
You'll need a copy of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet to fill out as we go through these activities.
Initial Interview
Everyone partner up - it will help for one person to be "Partner A" and one person to be "Partner B". Your challenge is to design something useful and meaningful with your partner. The most important part of designing for someone is to gain empathy for that person. One way to do this is to have a good conversation.
Partner A will have four minutes to interview Partner B, and then we will tell you to switch.
As a starting point, think about asking or talking about the following:
- What are the contents of their wallet?
- When do they carry their wallet?
- Why do they have a particular card in there?
- What do the things in their wallet tell you about their life?
Interviewers, be sure to take note of things you find interesting or surprising.
Use the "Interview #1" box on page one in the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet to take notes.
Ready. Set. Go!
Instructor note: Remember, this section should be 8 mins total (2 sessions x 4 minutes each) and remind students when to switch.
Dig Deeper
Now that your first round is done, follow up on things that intrigued you during the first interview:
- Dig for stories, feelings, and emotion
- Ask ‘WHY?’ early and often
Find out what’s important to your partner, outside of their wallet:
- Why does he still carry a picture of his ex-girlfriend?
- When was a time he carried a lot of cash? What does she remember most about her first paying job?
Instructor note: Remind them you will let them know when time is up.\
Again, make note of any unexpected discoveries along the way and be sure to capture quotes!
Now, use the "Interview #2" box on page one of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet.
Instructor note: It might be helpful to play some upbeat music, at this point. Remember, this section should be 6 mins total (2 sessions x 3 minutes each).
Independent Practice: Capture your findings (10 mins)
Individually, take five minutes to collect and reflect on what you learned about your partner. Synthesize your learning into two groups:
- your partner’s goals and wishes
- insights you discovered
Use verbs to express the goals and wishes. These are your partners needs related to his/her wallet and life. Think about both physical and emotional needs. For example, maybe your partner needs to minimize the number of things he carries or needs to feel like he/she is supporting the local community and economy.
‘Insights’ are discoveries that you might be able to leverage when creating solutions. For example, you might have discovered the insight that buying with cash makes your partner value the purchase more and take more care with decisions, or that he/she sees a wallet as a reminder and organization system, not a carrying device.
Write your answers to this section on page two of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet.
Independent Practice: Creating a Problem Statement (5 mins)
Now, select the most compelling need and most interesting insight to articulate a point-of-view or "problem statement". Take a stand by specifically stating the meaningful challenge, or "problem statement," you are going to take on. This is the statement that you’re going to address with your design, so make sure it’s juicy and actionable! It should feel like a problem worth tackling!
Here's an example of a problem statement:
- "Janice needs a way to feel she has access to all her stuff and is ready to act. Surprisingly, carrying her purse makes her feel less ready to act, not more."
Write your answers to this section on page two of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet.
Independent Practice: Ideation (5 mins)
Rewrite your problem statement at the top of page three of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet. - you're going to, now, create a solution to the new challenge you've identified.
Sketch a lot of ideas and to try to create a number of different ideas - go for volume!
This is time for idea generation, not evaluation — you can evaluate your ideas later.
See if you can come up with at least six ideas and try to be visual - only use words to call out details.
Instructor Note: Remind them they are not necessarily designing a wallet; instead they should create solutions to problem statement they just created.
Write your answers to this section on page three of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet.
Guided Practice: Share solutions and capture feedback (10 mins)
Instructor Note: This is 10 mins total (2 sessions x 5 minutes each)
Now it’s time to share your sketches with your partner! Partner A, share your sketches with Partner B first, and then we will tell you to switch after four minutes.
As you do this, note likes/dislikes and also listen for new insights. Spend the time listening to your partners reactions and questions. This is not just about validating your ideas. Fight the urge to explain and defend your ideas - this is another opportunity to learn more about your partner’s feelings and motivations!
Capture feedback and take notes on the back of page three of the Design Thinking Activity Worksheet.
Independent Practice: Create a Clickable Prototype (15 mins)
Now, take a moment to consider what you have learned both about your partner and about the solutions you generated. From this new understanding of your partner, and his or her needs, create a solution.
This solution may be a variation of an idea from before or something completely new. The previous problem statement may need to change to incorporate the new insights and needs discovered.
Things to consider:
- Try to provide as much detail and color around your solution as possible
- How might this solution fit into the context of your partner’s life?
- When and how might they handle or encounter your solution?
To create this "solution", create a clickable prototype, an experience that your partner can react to. Use a tool that we've reviewed in class or that you've used for homework.
Make something that your partner can engage and interact with. If your solution is a service or a system, try to create an app that allows your partner to experience this innovation. If your solution is huge, try creating only part of it.
Be scrappy and quick — you only have a few minutes!
Guided Practice: Share your Solution and get Feedback (10 mins)
Now you’re going to have the opportunity to share your prototype with your partner. Validation of the prototype is not the point - it should be an artifact that facilitates a new, targeted conversation.
When you test, let go of your prototype, physically and emotionally. Your prototype is not precious, but the feedback and new insights it draws out are!
Don’t defend your prototype; instead, watch how your partner uses and misuses it. Jot down things your partner liked and didn’t like about the idea, as well as questions that emerged and new ideas that came up.
Instructor Note: The sessions should run a total of 8 mins (2 sessions x 4 minutes each).
Conclusion (15 mins)
Let's share out what innovations you’ve created for your partners!
- Who had a partner who created something that you really like?
- Who sees something they are curious to learn more about?
- How did talking to your partner inform your design?
- How did testing and getting feedback impact your final design?
- What was the most challenging part of the process for you?
Instructor note: The key to leading this conversation is to relate the activity to the big takeaways you want to illustrate.
Some of core values of design thinking that would be great to draw out include:
- Human-centered design: Empathy for and feedback from your users
- Experimentation, validation, and prototyping: We build to think and learn
- A bias towards action: Bias toward doing and making over thinking and meeting
- Show don’t tell: Creating experiences w/ visuals and telling good stories communicate your vision in an impactful and meaningful way
- Power of iteration: This was a fast-paced lesson! Iterating solutions many times within a project is key to successful outcomes
Remind students to keep any notes and sketches from today’s class and bring everything back to class the next two days.