Posted on

Design Thinking Explored

Design the New Business – English subtitles from dthenewb on Vimeo.

I’m a researcher who happens to love great design. So, it’s probably not surprising that whenever a client project comes up that is tackling a product or service design challenge, I leap at the opportunity to work on the team. Over the years, my absolute favorite projects had one thing in common; a team of diverse thinkers with very different backgrounds and skills. Something about the differences among the team members always brings out the best in our work.

If you’ve never had an opportunity to work on a design project but are interested in learning more, the above video is a great introduction. What I like about the video is that it dispels some of the hype surrounding the term “design thinking” and focuses on the rich opportunities to meld design and business thinking for greater impact. Well worth watching for inspiration!

Then, if you are interested in exploring design thinking further, a really great online Coursera class to explore is Karl Ulrich’s design class at the University of Pennsylvania. His class is fun, challenging and will definitely improve your design skills. He combines design theory with hands-on skills development so you will learn by doing. You’ll create a project website and take your idea through the design process. The lectures are fantastic, particularly the ones where Karl talks about his own experiences launching new products. The class should be offered again later this year so if you check out the course page you should be able to sign up for updates.

If you are not familiar with Coursera, it’s part of the massive open online courses (MOOC’s) movement in education and offers classes from more than 60 universities on a wide range of topics. I’ve taken classes on behavioral economics and design and so far have been impressed by the quality of the classes and the great ideas I could apply to my consulting practice.

Enjoy exploring!

Posted on

Heat Maps Capture the Big Picture

Heat maps may not be used as much in research reports these days but I think they are still an excellent way to visually capture and share complex information in one compelling snapshot. The appeal and magic of a heat map is that it’s easy for just about everyone to quickly see, process and grasp patterns in the data. It also generates a lot of attention when the heat map reveals an interesting pattern. A well-constructed heat map is still a great tool to quickly capture attention and spark a BIG picture discussion in any presentation.

Consider the above example—a partial heat map I recently saw in a blog post. Without knowing anything more about the context of the data represented, you can quickly see the large red patch indicating that something really bad happened along the right side and consistently down the page.

What if I told you that this was part of a larger heat map that Vanguard’s chief economist used in a recent presentation while discussing the future of the economy and housing sector? And, that the x-axis (horizontal) is a timeline and the y-axis (vertical) is housing market data by state. Now, the information presented quickly takes on additional meaning. In just a few moments, you have processed a snapshot of a very complex data set spanning 20+ years. That is the power of a great heat map.

Posted on

Finding Inspiration

Research presentations are not just about sharing charts and data, but also about taking the audience (even briefly) on a journey from the consumers’ point of view and experience. Whenever I’m working on a research story for a client, I have my short list of “go to” sources that I turn to for inspiration. Inspiration sources help keep the creativity flowing on even the most complex of qualitative and quantitative projects. Actually, inspiration sources have one other advantage. It helps to show the client a potential approach we could take to get the story across to their stakeholders.

One of my current “go to” favorites is the video Green Tunnel by Kevin Gallagher. In 5 minutes Kevin takes viewers on an amazing 2,200 mile journey of the beauty, ruggedness and changing topography of the Appalachian Trail. I’m not likely to ever hike the trail, but watching the video I get a sense of what that experience would be like. If Kevin can take the viewer on a 6 month journey in 5 minutes, I should be able to find a creative way to synthesize a mountain of qualitative and quantitative research data to share a compelling consumer journey. While I don’t have Kevin’s ability to edit such a masterpiece, I have drawn inspiration from this amazing video to brainstorm, synthesize and interpret research in new ways to build empathy and understanding.

  • Create and narrate a storyboard of consumers’ brand experience (e.g., field notes and images captured at an airport, navigating all the touch points with a brand).
  • Create a visually rich slide show of captured moments, places, interactions and items recorded or photographed, narrated with consumer quotes (e.g., Ken Burn’s documentary style).
  • Compile and edit video footage from ethnography, shop alongs, focus groups or interviews in a succinct 10 minute clip, organized by themes or topics or even key questions (e.g., similar to how Big Think presents interview segments).

Having inspirational sources helps keep story front and center whenever I’m pulling together a presentation. Are there other sources of inspiration that you recommend?

Image: © iStockphoto.com/Brandfurnace

Posted on

To Be a Better Writer, Play

Watch children at play and you quickly realize that their approach to learning new skills is very different than most adults. When learning to play a new game, children typically use a 3 step process: listen to a few instructions, watch others briefly and then join in and start playing the game. It’s primarily through trial and error and continuing to play that they master the game.

What can children teach writers about the learning process?

We typically spend a lot of time on step one. We take classes, more classes, read books and take a long time, if ever, to progress to step two and step three. However, to become a better writer requires the same approach to learning as children. We need to move to step three: dive in and play.

I think that’s why one of my favorite books on the art and science of writing is Gabriele Lusser Rico’s book Writing the Natural Way. I first discovered her book in the 1980’s and it’s been on my bookshelf ever since. The format of the book quickly nudges you from reading about a technique to practicing the technique outlined in the chapter. Throughout the book you practice techniques like clustering, trial webs, recurrence, imagery and metaphor, to name just a few.

Recently I picked the book up again and was amazed at how many of the techniques that I learned back then I still use today. One of the most interesting chapters explains how our left and right hemispheres of the brain process information. This was the first book I remember reading that demystified the use of right brain and left brain thinking skills in the creative writing process.

If you are looking for a book that quickly immerses you in the craft of creative writing techniques through play, I recommend checking out the book. The last edition available was published in 2000.

Image:  © iStockphoto.com/MollyAnne

Posted on

Story Lesson From NASA

NASA archive photo of Apollo 8 Firing Room December 21, 1968

Story is a powerful tool that can draw an audience into a presentation by taking them on an unexpected journey into the consumers’ point of view.  If it’s a great story, it also creates new meaning for the audience and enters their long term memory to be stored and retrieved again.

So, why don’t we include more stories in presentations?

It can be difficult and time consuming to find and assemble a good story.  It also requires skills that may not be part of our core strengths so it’s a skill most of us need to learn.  And, while there are many great books and classes that teach the science of storytelling, we need a lifetime of observation, experimentation and practice to master the art of story.

I still buy books on the topic, but these days I find the most valuable lessons in storytelling come from watching great stories unfold.  One lesson happened quite unexpectedly while on a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.   An early stop on the KSC tour is the Apollo/Saturn V Center Firing Room Theater.  This relatively low-tech, yet highly effective reenactment of a launch is a reminder of how a few simple techniques can help tell a compelling and memorable story.

1:  Set the stage.

NASA painstakingly recreated an Apollo-era firing room on a stage to show visitors where NASA employees and contractors monitored Apollo launches.  Each chair is draped with a jacket carrying the logos or names of the companies that were present in the firing room on launch day.  Surrounding the stage are large monitors and a countdown time clock.  The attention to detail on the stage immediately transports you back in time.  I remember being surprised at how primitive the computer equipment looked by today’s standards and yet how complex the engineering task was given the number of chairs and companies represented on the stage.

2:  Add context and shared understanding.

As you stand in the theater and absorb the details of the stage, a NASA presenter steps forward to explain that we are about to experience the final 3 minutes of the Apollo 8 launch, a historic mission with many firsts.  It was the first manned mission using the Saturn V rocket and the first mission to orbit the moon.  History and space buffs also know that 1968 was a tumultuous year in US history and that the Apollo 8 launch at the end of that year was the most watched event of its time.

The presenter didn’t make the assumption that everyone in the audience knew the story of Apollo 8, the problems that occurred in the previous unmanned tests of the Saturn V rocket or the events that defined 1968.  He took the time to share video clips that recapped the deeply emotional historical events leading up to the launch so that everyone in the theater understood the context of why tensions at NASA were very high on this launch day of December 21, 1968.

3:  Build creative tension.

With the introduction complete, the presenter starts the reenactment and the clock’s final 3 minute countdown begins.  At the same time the audio from that day between the firing room and the astronauts starts to play, lights on control panels light up and monitors surrounding the firing room stage display news footage from that day, all synchronized to the countdown clock.

You immediately feel the tension and excitement of that early morning in December more than 40 years ago.  Time slows and you start to understand how long 3 minutes can take to count down.  You become aware of the complexity of the systems integration and communication that needed to happen among many NASA employees and contractors for the Apollo 8 astronauts to complete their mission.  Most of all you gain a greater appreciation for how difficult this was to accomplish and what an impact the launch had on people who watched it live.  You understand that the Apollo 8 launch was an inspiring achievement at the end of a very challenging year.

4:  Create a lasting impression.

Once the simulation is over, you exit the theater into an enormous room and see a 363-foot Saturn V rocket on display, covering the length of building.  The rocket is displayed horizontally in sections allowing you to see some of the wiring and components contained within, leaving you with a lasting impression of its size, power and overwhelming complexity.  You start at the bottom of the rocket and as you walk the length and approach the top of the rocket, your final impression of the Saturn V rocket is the tiny capsule where the astronauts sat on launch day.  You immediately connect back to that morning in December when Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders were preparing for the Apollo 8 launch and imagine what it must have been like when the Saturn V rocket launched them into space.

It’s been a couple years since I was at the Kennedy Space Center, but I still think back to this lesson in storytelling whenever I need a little writing inspiration.

  • Have I set the stage with enough detail to capture the audience’s attention and interest about the business challenge and research goals?
  • Have I added context to explain why this particular research story matters?
  • Is there an opportunity to create an unexpected journey using audio, video, narrative stories, quotes or images to help the audience understand their customers’ point of view?
  • What is the final impression that the audience should take from this story?

Photo:  NASA archive photo of Apollo 8 launch firing room on December 21, 1968

 

Posted on

The Importance of Developing a Pitch

I received a call from a non-profit struggling to regroup after finding out they were turned down for a much needed and anticipated government grant to boost emergency services in the community. The non-profit had one shot to file a new grant application within 30 days but were unsure on how to proceed. They asked me to step in to review all the materials and help craft a new content strategy.

After hearing the non-profit’s story and reading through everything it became clear why the grant request was not funded. While the needs and supporting data were well documented, the application failed to answer a fundamental question. Why should this request be funded above all others?

Whether you’re asking management to fund a business idea or seeking funds for your non-profit, it’s important to develop a pitch that transforms facts and figures into a compelling story of why you should be funded. With the time clock ticking, I focused this assignment on 3 things to help the team find a new strategy.

Understand the needs of the audience.

I started with a scavenger hunt to find and review the available information about the granting agency and grant program goals. I also explored strategies from past winners to develop more clues. Then, I called the agency to clarify my assumptions and identify what was missing.  At this point I had a good understanding of the grant committee needs and in the process uncovered a few surprises that would help spark ideas and a new direction for the team.

Use visual maps to help build clarity and focus.

Government grants are notoriously complex excavations in gathering and synthesizing information. This grant was no exception with 30+ pages of application guidelines. To help move quickly from gathering to synthesizing, I created a visual map of the elements the stakeholders would be using to evaluate the grant applications. Not only was it eye-opening to see the grant process from the grant agency’s point of view, it also helped shift the non-profit’s thinking on their needs. We used the visual map as a jump off point to expand the ideas in the original grant request.

Leverage the team’s story.

With the visual map in hand, I spent time at the firehouse listening to the volunteers that provide fire and emergency services to the community. Hearing the volunteers’ stories helped bring to life the needs and challenges in the community in a way that data never could.

Combining the team’s stories with the new understanding of the granting agency goals helped us brainstorm and develop a 5 year plan focused on high-impact ideas.  The non-profit was able to file a compelling and comprehensive grant application within the 30 day deadline.

Photo: © iStockphoto.com/Charles Silvey