For our first week back, we looked at the project we will be completing this semester, we looked at the brief of this project and what will be expected of us. After we were introduced to the task we will be tackling, we looked at different design process techniques that will be useful to us during this semester.
Currently we are in the “Discovery” phase of the project, this phase includes identifying competitors, benchmarking and researching. We were introduced to some schools of thought that will help us during this phase. These methologies help develop a strong solution to the problem we are being faced with. Each method has a similar flow but with slightly different targets of research and structure.
The first method is the Double Diamond method, this was something I had never heard of before and was not aware of. This design process identifies a problem and finds a solution. It has clear phases which include Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. By following this method you will have a clear approach to your task using innovation and problem solving. After the class I was still not exactly sure how this worked and why its needed. So I looked into it a bit further.
I looked at an article that was recommended, the two main phases are discovery/research and design. The double diamond breaks these two phases into sections, which allows us to explore different ideas and thoughts. This gives you a wider range of options to compare before you decide on your final idea. By looking at the different sections during the phases I noticed that we have been practising some of these techniques already however if we use it all systematically we could defiantly get a greater and more effective outcome. This article was great help however, didn't provide much detail about what to actually practise at each stage.
The Double Diamond - Design Council
I had found a more clear structure of the different steps to take when at each stage, this gave me a much more clear idea on the different techniques to use and the stage that I should be at during each phase.
Hearing this methodology, I assumed I knew what it was as we hear this term frequently. My first thought was “this means just do your research”, however, this concept is a lot more complex. Human-centered design focuses on the person and their wants, needs, and feelings. HCD can help you create even more engaging and useful experiences. HCD has four main principles that should be followed to ensure a guaranteed great user interactions:
These principles were really interesting to me, especially 1 as it seemed like they just stripped the problem down to its very core and solely focus on what the problem is and how we can improve this for people. It may seem like an obvious observation however as humans we tend to overcomplicate things and can be distracted from the real problem that needs to be solved.
My first assumption of this phrase was due to me mistaking this as User Centred Design instead, which is a similar methodology that shares a few end goals such as prioritising usability, however HCD is much more broad. HCD goes beyond just viewing the user as someone who will interact with the product(UCD) and views them more holistically, considering the end user as an individual influenced by their social, cultural, and physical surroundings.