Design Thinking Glossary: A?—?F
In this short glossary, I have brought together a collection‘ of terms used in design thinking, service design and user-centered design.
Design Thinking is an emerging area of design and I believe will become the most signi?cant area of design this century. There are many terms that are used and these terms are still evolving.
Just like design, this glossary is iterative. I am always open to adding to the glossary, so if you feel I have missed a term or something could use a better explanation, please reach out to me!
I hope that you will ?nd this collection useful.
A-B TESTING
Testing technique where a percentage of site visitors are shown an alternate version of a design. The effectiveness of the two designs is then compared.
ACTOR
A person involved in the creation, delivery, support, or use of a service.
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
A tool used to organize a large number of ideas, sorting them into groups based on their natural relationships, for review and analysis.
AFFORDANCES
The qualities of a design or material that affects or suggests how it can be used. For example, the affordances of a hammer (weight, handle and and grip, scribed head, etc) suggest it should be used for striking objects. Looking at affordances is especially useful when analyzing how designs or materials prompt certain behaviors.
ANALOGOUS SITUATIONS
An analogous situation is a situation from another area or industry that may relate to an area of focus for a design and may suggests ways to improve it.
ANALYTIC INDUCTION
A qualitative research method that begins with a rough hypothesis. which is modi?ed through the examination of cases that don’t fit the hypothesis.
ANALYTICS
A broad term that encompasses a variety of tools, techniques and processes used for extracting useful information or meaningful patterns from data.
BACKSTAGE/BACKOFFICE
Backstage activities are those taken by the service delivering company employees that are not visible to the customer. Backstage actions are actions that impact customers. Backstage actions are separated from onstage service delivery by the line of visibility. Activities above the line of visibility are seen by the client while everything below it is invisible. On an aircraft, the taking of an order for a meal is an onstage or front-stage action, and the preparation of the food is a backstage action if it is not seen by the traveler.
BETA LAUNCH
The limited launch of a software product with the goal of ?nding bugs before ?nal launch.
BIAS
A one-sided viewpoint, inclination or a partial perspective. An interviewer might inadvertently bias an interviewee’s answers by asking a “loaded” question. in which a desired answer is presupposed in the question.
BIAS TOWARDS ACTION
A design team can become mired in discussing the pros and cons of proposed solutions. This guideline reminds designers to limit discussion and move toward actions such as ?eld research, creating/prototyping. and testing. The most common sticking point is not a “lack of creativity” but an inadequate understanding of the design space you’re working in. The best way to unstick is to prototype and to make your ideas real for the team and for your users. Build to think, don’t think to build.
BODYSTORMING
A prototyping method, Service situations are be acted out, for example for example at the hotel reception. The design team cast the roles, practice the situation. often with the input of end users The purpose is to prototype and test interactions to better understand and re?ne them.
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming is a group or individual creativity approach where design solutions are generated by members of the team in a collaborative session.
A method for generating ideas. intended to inspire the free- ?owing sharing of thoughts of an individual or a group of people, typically while withholding criticism in order to promote uninhibited thinking.
CARD SORTING
A technique using either cards or software, whereby users generate an information hierarchy that can then form the basis of an information architecture or navigation menu.
A technique to investigate how users tend to group. The users are given a set of cards containing individual item names and are told to sort them into related piles and label the groups. Card sorting provides insight into the user’s mental model and suggests the structure and placement of items on a web site.
CAUSATION
A relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is a consequence of the ?rst event.
CHANNEL
A medium for communication or delivery. Most services use more than one channel. For example phone. email, in-store or web site.
CLOSED QUESTIONS
Questions that elicit a yes/no response.
CO-DESIGN
Process in which the design team directly engages end users to assist in the design to access knowledge that is crucial to develop successful design solutions.
The designers should provide ways for people to engage with each other as well as instruments to communicate. be creative, share insights and envision their own ideas. The co-design activities can support different levels of participation, from situation in which the external ?gures are involved just in speci?c moments to situations in which they take part to the entire process. building up the service together with the designers.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
A PET technique in changing impression. Cognitive dissonance refers to the discomfort caused by holding two or more con?icting (dissonant) beliefs at the same time. People seek to reduce the discomfort by changing one of the beliefs, thus returning to a state of ‘consonance’. So, for example, someone holding the belief that “I am a smart consumer,” may be faced with the dawning realization that “I paid too much for that car.” The two beliefs are in con?ict (dissonant) and therefore uncomfortable. so one of the beliefs must change. To avoid undermining positive self-belief. and because it is difficult to get a different car, the user’s attitude about the car will change, so that it is seen as more valuable, and therefore worth the price paid.
COMPARISON TESTS
Usability test that compares two or more designs. Examples might be comparing alternative wireframes, comparing before and after designs, or a comparing a design against competitor designs.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL
A model constructed by the users in their mind to understand the working or the structure of objects, based on their mental model and previous experience. to speed up their understanding. Also called mental model.
CONFIRMATlON BIAS
The tendency to search for, notice, and interpret information in a way that con?rms one’s beliefs or opinions.
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
A semi-structured ?eld interviewing method based on a set of principles that allow it to be molded to different situations. This technique is generally used at the beginning of the design process and is good for getting rich information, but can be complex and time consuming.
CODE
A word chosen to represent an idea, topic, or event that is an important theme of the interviews. After these words are decided on, they are connected to colors or symbols used to mark passages of the transcripts.
CODING
The process of marking passages of the interview’s transcript that are about the same thing. By same thing we mean-the passages have the same phrases repeated in them or they talk about the topic in the same way. These passages are marked with a name, the code, which is usually connected to a longer explanation of what the passages have in common. Codes stress what themes run through the interview or the collection of interviews.
COLLABORATIVE DESIGN
Inviting input from users, stakeholders and other project members.
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Collective intelligence is shared knowledge that comes from the collaboration of a group of people and is expressed in consensus decision making. Collective intelligence requires openness, sharing ideas, experiences and perspectives.
CONTEXT
The world the service belongs to. The context is the speci?c frame in which the service takes place. Exploring and de?ning the context means setting the project boundaries in terms of limits but also opportunities. Context is external elements that surround and in?uence design. These items can be physical and non-physical and cultural. The environmental context relates to the time, the day, the location, the type of place and any other physical aspect that could in?uence your design. The surrounding context in?uences the success of design.
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Interviewing users in the location that they use the product or service, to understand their tasks and challenges.
CONVERGENT
Process of Narrowing down ideas through synthesis.
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Combines the wisdom and skills of different professional disciplines working in close and ?exible collaboration. Each team member requires disciplinary empathy allowing them to work collaboratively with other discipline members. Design teams can include anthropologists, engineers, educators, doctors, lawyers. scientists, etc. in the innovative problem solving process.
CULTURAL COMPETENCE
A consciousness, knowledge and skill to work effectively in cross-cultural situations that is grounded in a self-awareness of one’s own personal and cultural values and beliefs.
CULTURAL PROBE
Cultural probes are sets of simple artifacts (such as maps, postcards, cameras, or diaries) that are given to users for them to record speci?c events, feelings or interactions in their usual environment, in order to get to know them and their culture better. Cultural probes are used to uncover aspects of culture and human interaction like emotions, values. connections. and trust.
CUSTOMER JOURNEY
The customer journey is a graphical representation of how the customer perceives and experiences the service interface over time It often also shows the phases before and after the interaction with the service. A customer journey map is a tool to explore. visualize, understand and re?ne an end user experience.
DECOY STRATEGY
A PET technique in changing impression… linked to the Contrast Principle. People want to compare things before making decisions and like to make easy comparisons. So you can persuade them to select one of a small number of easily compared choices by introducing another choice that can’t easily be compared. For example, you are more likely to get people to purchase a front loader washing machine. if you give them two front loader choices (easily compared) by contrast to a third choice of a top-loader (less easy to compare). In another example, you can increase sales of an item, by offering a similar, but inferior item at about the same price. It’s easy to compare them, recognize the contrast in quality, and conclude that the better quality item represents exceptional value.
DEDUCTIVE ANALYSlS
A type of analysis that begins with theoretically derived hypotheses then tests them with data that were collected in accordance with the theoretical context.
DIARY STUDY
Asking users to record their experiences and thoughts about a product or task in a journal over a set period of time.
DIFFUSlON OF RESPONSIBILITY
A common cause of inaction, in circumstances where action is obviously required (e.g. someone is crying out in distress and no one from a group of bystanders intervenes). In an ambiguous situation, people in a group check to see if others in the group are acting before personally taking action. Since everyone is checking, and no one is acting, the chance of someone acting becomes much smaller than if there is only one person present.
DIVERGENT
Expansive idea generation and exploration of ideas.
EMPATHIZE
This term is sometimes used to encompass the Understand and Observe steps or as a replacement for them. The use of this emotional term helps remind designers that they must always consider the human experience of real people. It’s more than just seeing it from their perspectives, it’s about understanding how they feel about it all and what it means to them.
EMPATHY
Principle in the design thinking process and human- centered design, in which the user’s perspective is always represented.
ENTRY POlNTS
Position of access to a service. where people are able to engage the service as customers. providers. or stakeholders.
ETHNOGRAPHY
The process of gathering information about users and tasks directly from users in their normal work. home or leisure environment.
EVIDENCE
Service evidences are touch-points that represent parts of a service experience.
EVIDENCE-BASED DESIGN
Evidence-based design is the approach of basing design decisions on credible research to achieve the best possible outcomes. Evidence-based design emphasizes the importance of basing decisions on the best possible data for the best possible outcomes. The design is not based just on the designer’s opinion.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
The application of design processes with the goal of creating an appropriate experience for the person interacting with the product. This process begins with understanding the needs and wants of the user. Analysis focuses on cognitive, emotional and motor aspects of the interaction and is completed when the quality of the experience is measured with the developed product.
EXPERIENCE PROTOTYPING
Service experiences have components that are intangible, and change over time and have multiple touch-points. Services are prototyped different ways then physical products. Experience Prototype is a representation, that is designed to help us understand, explore or communicate what it feels like to engage with a product. space service or system.
EXIT POINTS
Point of disengagement of a service. by stakeholders.
EXTREME USER
A person who lies at the periphery of a group of users. Extremes can can include age, ability, occupation, experience, etc. Rather than designing for a composite or “average” user, a design team will oftentimes look to extreme users for surprising and actionable insights. Focusing on extreme users can lead to more innovative solutions, more profound insights about a group of users. and new, untapped markets for a product or service.
FIELD STUDY
A ?eld study is a general method for collecting data about users. user needs. and product requirements that involves observation and interviewing. Data are collected about task ?ows. inefficiencies, and the organizational and physical environments of users.
FIVE WHYS
An analysis method used to uncover the root cause of a problem.
Example of the method:
A patient had the wrong leg amputated
- Why: Patient gave consent for amputation the night before the proposed surgery to Registrar (who was not going to undertake procedure).
- Why: Amputation site marked with a biro (wrong leg).
- Why: Registrar unaware of hospital policy on amputation sites being marked with a skin pencil and with bodily part being fully visible to Doctor.
- Why: The department had no induction procedures for new medical staff working in the department.
- Why: Because “we’ve never been asked to”. Root Cause
FOCUS GROUPS
A direct data gathering method in which a small group (8–10) of participants are led in a semi- structured. brainstorming session to elicit rapid feedback.
FORMATIVE EVALUATlON
Formative evaluation is a type of usability evaluation that helps to ‘form’ the design for a product or service. Formative evaluations involve evaluating a product or service during development. often iteratively, with the goal of detecting and eliminating usability problems.
FREE LISTINGS
Free listing is a technique for gathering data about a specific domain or topic by asking people to list all the items they can think of that relate to the topic. It can be used to gather data in large group settings or in one-on- one interviews.
FRONTSTAGE/FRONTOFFICE
These are face-to-face between customers and employees.