IDEO: The Power of Design from BusinessWeek

Interesting article in the May 17, 2004 issue(sub. required) of BusinessWeek on IDEO’s process of designing a better consumer experience.

Here’s an outline of the IDEO way:

1. Observation
IDEO’s cognitive psychologists, anthropologists and sociologists team up with corporate clients to understand the consumer experience. Some of IDEO’s techniques:

  • Shadowing
  • Behavioral mapping
  • Consumer journey
  • Extreme user interviews
  • Storytelling
  • Unfocus groups

2. Brainstorming
An intense, idea=generating session analyzing data gathered by observing people. Each lasts no more than an hour. Rules of brainstorming are strict and are stenciled on the walls:

  • Defer judgment
  • Build on the ideas of others
  • Encourage wild ideas
  • Go for quantity
  • Be visual
  • Stay focused on the topic
  • One conversation at a time

3. Rapid prototyping
Mocking up working models helps everyone visualize possible solutions and speeds up decision-making and innovation. Some guidelines:

  • Mock up everything
  • Use videography
  • Go fast
  • No frills
  • Create scenarios
  • Bodystorm

4. Refining
At this stage, IDEO narrows down the choices to a few possibilities. Here’s how it is done:

  • Brainstorm (weed out ideas)
  • Focus prototyping
  • Engage the client
  • Be disciplined
  • Focus
  • Get agreement

5. Implementation
Bring IDEO’s strong engineering, design and social-science capabilities to bear when actually creating a product of service.

  • Tap all resources
  • The workforce

Much of their success can be contributed to their consumer focus at the beginning stages of their process.