Research tips and tools

Research stuff

1.   How and why?

        -Where will you start?

        -What will you focus on?

             -Process and product- goals> desired outcomes> process

    

2.   Design literacy

            -Concept> content> aesthetic

3.   Visual and non-visual tools

-       Mood boards

-       Style guides

-       User data

-       Data mining

-       Academic research

-       Books

-       Clients brief

-       “Guerrilla testing”

-       Competitor analysis

-       Brand strategy

-       Brand identity

-       Prototyping

-       Cultural probes

-       Qualitive research

-       Quantative research

4.   Analysis

     

-       Feedback

-       Evaluation

-       Refinement

5.   Theory’s in practice

      

-       Engage with research

-       Explore

-       Analyse

-       Utilise

-       Identify

-       Disseminate

6.   Audience and message

-       The construction of meaning

-       Visual communication

-       Semiotics

-       Semantics

7.   Synthesis

-       Reflecting

-       Finalising

-       Refining

Mood boards

A mood board is a type of collage consisting of images, text and samples of objects in a composition.

A mood board is used to collect different ideas for a project

They are very useful for establishing the aesthetic feel for your project.

It usually fits into the process before design mock-ups.

“Words fail miserably when trying to translate design concepts”

Mood boards can be for:

-Photography styles

-Colour pallets

-Typography

-Patterns

-And overall feel

Style guides

A style guide is a set of standards for the writing and design of a product. It can also be called a style sheet.

A UX style guide is a tool used by a UX team, to ensure they maintain consistent, nimble product design.

A UI style guide is a design and development tool that helps you to maintain cohesion to a products user interface.

A style guide is important when creating a brand, as it helps you to make sure that it is cohesive. To have it all be cohesive is important because it helps establish a strong brand image.

User data

User data is also known as ‘User research’.

User research is where you find data on who the user of your product is going to be. This could be through creating a target audience or doing surveys.

It focuses on understanding users’ behaviours, needs, and motivations through observation, task analysis and other feedback methods.

This helps the company guide design, development, and refinement of a product by using the data.

Data mining

“The practice of examining large pre-existing databases in order to generate new information”

Retailers, banks, manufactures, telecommunicator providers and insurers, etc, use data mining to discover everything from pricing, promotions and demographics to how the competition and social media are affecting their business models, revenues, operations and customer relationships.

Data mining allows you to:

-       Sift through the chaotic and repetitive noise in data

-       Understand what relevant and likely outcomes is

-       Accelerate the pace of making informed decisions

Academic research

Academic research is an investigation in a specified field of knowledge.

The purpose of academic research is to seek the truth and new information that enhances social development.

Books

Books are goof for researching:

-       In-depth coverage of subjects

-       History and chronology

-       Overviews of a big topic

-       Background information

-       Bibliographies of additional sources

Places to look in a book:

-       Title page

-       Table of contents

-       List of illustrations

-       A preface, forward, or introduction

-       A bibliography

-       The index

Client brief

Also known as a project brief.

It is where the client will define the client’s requirements of what they want for the end product.

The brief is the most important thing for the project thing for the project as you would not know what the client wants or needs from you.

Guerrilla testing

Guerrilla usability testing is a rapid, low-cost method of getting user feedback that involves a UX consultant asking questions about specific areas of a site or application.

It is a good research method because it allows you to get a fresh pair of eyes to give you opinions and it doesn’t take a lot of time or travel.

Competitor analysis

The definition is:

“Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product and service”

5 steps to competitive analysis:

1.   Identifying all your competitors

2.   Analyse and compare competitor content

3.   Analyse their SEO structure (What google prioritises)

4.   Look at their social media integration

5.   Identify areas of improvements within your own products

Brand strategy

A brand strategy is a long-term plan for the development of a successful brand in order to achieve specific goals.

A well-defined and executed brand strategy affects all aspects of a business and is directly connected to consumer needs, emotions, and competitive environment.

Brand identity

The brand identity is a different thing from brand image.

Brand identity is the message the consumer receives from the product, person, or thing.

It can be product recognition.

Elements for brand identity:

-       Logo or wordmark

-       Different logo ‘lock ups’

-       Key colors

-       Additional color palette options

-       Corporate typefaces

-       Standard typography treatments

-       Consistent style for images

Prototyping

Definition: “To make a prototype of (a product)”

4 reasons to prototype:

1.   Evaluating and testing the design.

2.   Clarifying production costs and issues. (Can help the design team choose the best and most cost-efficient materials)

3.   Selling the product to others. (Without a prototype, it’s only a concept and it can be difficult to get a potential client to commit to buying it)

4.   Patents. (With a working prototype it is easier to get a patent attorney. To ensure nobody else does your idea.

Cultural probes

Cultural probes are a technique used to inspire ideas in a design process. It serves as a means of gathering inspiration about people’s lives, values and thoughts.

Unlike direct observation this technique allows users to self-report.

Information gathered from cultural probes are particularly useful early in the design process.

Quantative research

Quantative research is the systematic empirical investigation of observational phenomena via statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques.

Qualative research

Qualative research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop the ideas or hypotheses of potential quantitative research.