Simplicity is the hallmark of a great design

The innovator should always keep this in mind. A product which is tremendously successful will inevitably fail if the end user cannot fathom the operating instructions of that product. A good example is products from Google. The google pages have interfaces which are simple and refreshingly neat in contrast this with many other homepage, which looks cluttered and unappealing, confusing to the customer. There may be extensive and heavy usage of complex algorithms in the product, but the abstraction should be perfect to make the product appear simple and appealing to the end user. Nokia is another example. Their user friendly menus are in the phone are very popular and easy to use. Of course, their product quality and robustness are an added advantage. Apple’s products like ipods, laptops also speak volumes about simplicity and customer friendly nature.

Can design be corrupted by bringing in the business elements?

A very high level of maturity and discipline is needed to ensure that the design does not corrupted by business. It is unfortunate many of current designs are badly corrupted by the money factors that the client offers to have the design in a way that they like. This hinders the ability to come up with new and high quality stuff, because to do a masterpiece it takes years and the gratification after the masterpiece is delivered takes even more time for it to be realized as a masterpiece. However, some of the new generation designers may think otherwise and support the fact that the designers also need to think in terms of business.

Misunderstanding between designers and business people

Business people think that designers are creative people with little interest in making money. This statement may not be generalized and is a very wrong assumption, leading to becoming judgmental of the people of the creative class. When designers successfully identify an unmet need and then develop a new product, communication, or service that solves that need and makes some money for the company, the designer are innovating. Also, form is clearly the tangible result of strategy. Getting fixated while making forms by saying designing and innovating are different methods or an approach is not correct.

Design in innovation and Innovation in design

This is a classic topic for discussions among designers and innovators. The fundamental difference arise from the fact that a pure designer designs to bring in the creativity and nature aspects, the designers focus is not to make profits out of the artifact creates. The innovator on the other hand leverages the designs to give the artifact the differentiator that would help him to market and make profits. Innovation makes strategy while design makes form. Design in innovation brings the more subjective aspects like the feeling of good, bad, dull, happy, sad, etc. For the designer the business thinking helps but is not the driver. Innovation is the result of good design.

Local and global requirements

The success of design can be seen from the way it leads to practical solutions. The challenge for any solution provider is to have the design for local requirements and be able to use most of the design elements for the global requirements. This way the time to market of product reduces while the local appeal factor is still retained. However, this may not be possible in all situations. In this case the designs have to be done on a case to case basis. Many organization whose strategy is one-fit for all fail unless there is no other convincing design possible, which by nature is not true.

Design and Innovation (excerpts from Cranbrook’s interview)

Innovation makes strategy. Design makes form. Strategy without form is an empty container these days. What we say and how we say it—with form—must match. If markets are more specific, then form must be more specific.
Innovation is the result of good design. When we successfully identify an unmet need and then develop a new product, communication, or service that solves that need and makes some money for the company, we are innovating. I would also suggest that form is the tangible result of strategy. Considering them different methods or an approach is not constructive—it serves to further highlight the unfortunate (and often only perceived) gap between “designers” and “businesspeople.”
Innovation culture is different from design culture. I admire innovation culture for speaking the language of business and gaining a seat at the table. But rational propositions are the most obvious ones. Cultural propositions are fuzzy and require a specific proof of value with a specific form. In this case, design becomes more aligned with art than business. This is a critical distinction—we believe design needs to create value for both the user and the organization, which requires the designers to have an intimate knowledge of an organization’s business model and its capabilities.

Can design operate in a black box?

Not at all. Good design starts with a clear understanding of what is needed. This understanding has to be based on facts, and not on- feeling, assumptions, and interpretations.
Understanding the unit under consideration is required for the design to deliver value. A unit can be person, group, department, organization, etc. For E.g. - a person centered design is made by keeping the person’s need in mind; data is collected by observation of real user and things around him.
Similarly, improving organizational performance means that the design should create and deliver value for its stakeholders. For businesses, it means improved profits and more loyal customers; for nonprofits or governments, it means more effective ways to serve the people.

Can computers design?

In true sense I would say, no. Design for me is synonymous to creativity and innovation, both of which need good exercising of the grey matter. The brain is far more powerful when it comes to creativity, imagination, and innovation. Good design is a concoction of these things in put in various proportions. Design would still be human brain work. Computers will be very well used to support the design process. Designers will use their rational, process-driven approach while computers can bring in tremendous amount of processing power that will aid in designs. Designers can harness the compute power to help draw connections between insights and design concepts.

Starting point for a good design

Good design starts with meaning and context. Good designers work with form and meaning. Great design comes from love and passion towards what is created. Design has to be learnt as liberal art before it is considered as a business tool. Great Design is about meaning first, and not about rationalized reports on business opportunities.
Design should not start with estimation of effort and return on investment. Measuring the impact of design using financial term is not the right strategy.

What is empathic design?

Designing a product or service by considering the feelings of the users is called empathic design.

Empathic design, has three characteristics that distinguish it from other qualitative methods-
1. The design is based on actual observed customer behavior;
2. It is usually conducted through direct interaction between those who have deep understanding of the firm's technological capabilities and potential users;
3. It draws upon existing technological capabilities that can be somewhat redirected or imaginatively deployed in the service of new products or markets. (Excerpts from Wellsprings of knowledge, Dorothy Leonard).

Do you know why you are doing usability testing?

The first mistake constantly happen is teams don't understand when usability testing can help and when it cannot. Usability testing is a tool to produce information. However, it can't effectively produce all types of information.
These teams often make the mistake of using usability tests to see how the users "feel" about the design. They want to know if the tested participants will favor the design, want to use it again, and share it with their friends.
While these are all important things to find out, a standard usability test is not the way to do it. There are instances where users were extremely frustrated with the design, couldn't complete a single task, yet told they loved it. There are also tests where the users completed every task quickly and effectively, but hated the design, even though they also told they would use it again. It's very hard to know what to change when you get such results.
Because a usability test allows you to observe the user's actual behavior, its real forte is in telling you where the interface causes frustration. The observation of how users flow through the design provides far more actionable information than asking them if they like it or not.
You can avoid this first mistake by being clear what you want to get out of the test. Posing a behavioral questions, like- "Can our users apply for a car loan without confusion?" or "Will the content simplification reduce calls to our support center?". The more detailed the question, the better the results of the test will be. You will know when the design is working and what to do if it is not.

Why usability testing many times does not yield good outputs?

Usability testing is a tool to produce information, from which the designs are made or improved. Hence, the key lies in how one conducts the usability testing. The following are important parameters that one needs to consider while doing usability testing-

1. Do you know why you are doing usability testing?
2. Bringing the usability team together
3. Get the right participants
4. Design the right tasks
5. Facilitate the test effectively
6. Plan on how you will disseminate the results
7. Iterate to test potential solutions

What is a successful usability test?

When a design has a usability problem, it is because someone made a wrong decision. They chose to take the design in a direction that creates frustration for the user. A different design choice would have prevented the frustration.
There are two outcomes from poor decisions: either the user experience is worsened because of a change that just shouldn't have happened; or a valuable opportunity is missed to improve the design's user experience. Either way, when usability tests work, these results are significantly less likely.
I consider a usability test to be successful when the design team members receive the information they need to make the right decision. Successful usability tests produce informed decisions.

What is good design ?

The flow of creating something seems to follow the sequence- a thought to idea to tangibles. Tangibles can be something of value that one can feel or sense. From an idea to tangibles means various intermediate steps. The clarity on how to come up with these steps and laying it out on a media to see the manifestation of the idea is design. So, what is a good design? A good design is one in which the degree of closeness between the idea and its manifestation (tangible) is as close as possible.

On the other hand if the closeness between design and its manifestation is lacking then no amount of analysis and parameter tuning can markedly improve the value of the tangible. Which also means that there are fundamental contradictions designed into the manifestation. The ability to preemptively address and resolves design issues is an area of great importance.