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  • The Design Forty by Kendra Shimmell on October 10, 2008

    A couple of folks here started a weekly conference call a couple of weeks ago called Design Forty – a 40-minute conversation that is open to the public with a different design-related topic and featured guest every week.  This past Wednesday, our special guest was Steve Portigal of Portigal Consulting, and the topic was Design Hacks. You may find yourself asking…

    What is a “Design Hack” anyway?
    The first thought that popped into my head before jumping onto this weeks’ call was “What is a design hack?”

    First off, many of us don’t like the word “hack;” it has such a negative connotation. Second, we are sensitive to the word “hack” in association with the field of design. So, why discuss it? Is it because there is an undeniable trend towards faster and cheaper design and as responsible practitioners we need to have a position and a plan for moving forward? Or, is it simply a topic intended to get a rise out of fellow designers and thereby generate more emphatic conversation? Whatever the reason, this was an exciting call that generated dialog and stimulated thinking. The following is a recap of some of the Big Ideas:

    First things first, we need to define “Design Hack” in a positive light. The conversation quickly turned to our collective definition of “a Design Hack.” Where we landed: A design hack is not about short changing the design process. It is about finding clever, insightful ways to work smarter. By working smarter, designers save money and resources while maintaining greater focus on what’s important: Translation of consumer insights and creating a better vision for the future!

    Ideas for working smarter in Design Research & User Experience Design (thanks to everyone on the call!):


    • Tap craigslist when recruiting is not working out - avoid overwhelming your email with responses, link to Google Docs and have potential respondents complete the screener online.

    • Build rapport faster by making yourself at home. While doing in-home research, if someone offers you a drink, take it. The participant is trying to establish norms while you are in their home. Taking the drink builds rapport faster by putting them at ease.

    • Establish your analysis model up front. Use Morae to record, time stamp, and code the data in real time. After the study, export to Excel. Because the data is already coded, analysis is off to a good start.

    • Take ownership of the content by doing word for word transcription. This may seem more like a “reverse hack or slow design”, however internalizing data leads to more efficient analysis.

    • Create field reports for “on the fly” synthesis.  The insights that are gathered are organized while fielding rather than after the fielding is complete. For post analysis, the field reports are used as the data sample - saving time and resources.

    • Audio record team debriefs to capture the “off the cuff” synthesis and ideation that happens. Don’t lose these big ideas from when the team is excited and the experience is fresh!

    • Write it down. Effectively capture your design “ah has” (even when they happen in the shower). Write things down immediately (Have paper near by) and use Google Docs to collect and share. In the office, keep whiteboards in every room to capture team ideation.

    • Share your insights, even the small ones. Twitter and Delicious are a great means to get things in the open, even when they are tidbits of ideas.

    • Design on paper. Cut it up! Write out the interaction steps, sketch on paper, cut up your drawings and move them around. You can do the same in your graphics program, but it just FEELS different on paper. It’ll end up being faster, we promise.

    • Outline the framework of your deliverables up-front to save time. Also, use templates for common research instruments such as discussion guides, research plans, and screeners– to avoid “reinventing the wheel” each time.

    Hot conversations topics:


    • The rise of “Flickr Ethnography,” its implications to Design Research, and how analysis of people’s artifacts without understanding of emotion and intent is risky.

    • The Opportunities and Challenges of Remote Participatory Design.

    • The “Language Hack”— As designers are taking a greater role in guiding business strategy, our audiences are quickly becoming company executives. We need to mitigate “design speak” and communicate benefits in clear, simple terms.

    • Listen to learn more…

    Join next week’s Design Forty, where we’ll talk about Attention & Connection in Design with P&G’s Josh Norman.  Pre-registration required, go now!

    Helpful resources:

    Design Hacks from Lextant

    Transcribe faster with Windows Media Player

    New technology to take better notes: Livescribe Pen

    Capture, share ideas, and organize with Backpackit and Evernote

    The first research app for iPhone: TalkingPics

    *To see a complete list of who was on the call and who contributed, visit the archive site and check out the chat log and downloadable audio file!!  If you have iTunes you can subscribe to the Design Forty podcast following these instructions. 

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