Design Thinking Glossary: G?—?P

In this short glossary, I have brought together a collection‘ of terms used 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.

GAMBLER’S FALLACY

The mistaken belief that if an event has occurred more frequently than normal, it will happen less frequently in the future. and vice-versa. Source: Human Factors International

GAP ANALYSIS

A technique used to determine the difference between a desired state and an actual state, often used in branding and marketing. Gap analysis may address performance issues or perception issues.

GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME

The body’s 3-stage, short- and long-term reactions to stress: (1) Alarm (?ght or ?ight); (2) Resistance (bodily adaption to the stressors and attempts to reduce the stressors’ effects; (3) Exhaustion (bodily resistance is depleted and the immune system might be impaired).

GASTALT PRINCIPLES

Set of principles developed by the Gestalt Psychology Movement that established rules governing how humans perceive order in a complex ?eld of objects. Gestalt principles of visual organization state that objects near each other, with same background, connected to each other, or having similar appearance are perceived as belonging to a group.

GROUNDED THEORY

A qualitative research method in which theory is developed after data has been gathered and analyzed.

GROUPTHINK

Groupthink is consensus of opinion without critical reasoning or evaluation of consequences or alternatives. Employees may self-censor themselves for fear of upsetting the status quo.

HCI

Human Computer Interaction involves the study, planning, and design of the interaction between people (users) and computers.

HEURISTICS

Best practices, principles, or rules of thumb. Established principles of design and best practices in interface design, used as a method of solving usability problems by using rules of thumb acquired from human factors experience.

HEURISTIC EVALUATION

A usability evaluation method in which one or more reviewers. preferably experts. compare a software, documentation, or hardware product to a list of design principles, referred to as heuristics and identify where the product does not follow those principles. Evaluating a website or product and documenting usability ?aws and other areas for improvement.

HICK-HYMAN LAW

Demonstrates the relationship between the time it takes someone to make a decision and the number of possible choices he or she has. More choices will increase decision time.

HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

A prototype which is quite close to the ?nal product, with lots of detail and a good indication of the ?nal proposed aesthetics and functionality.

HORIZONTAL PROTOTYPE

Prototypes that display a wide range of features without fully implementing all of them. Horizontal prototypes provide insights into users’ understanding of relationships across a range of features.

HOW MIGHT WE? (HMW)

A positive, actionable question that frames the challenge but does not point to any one solution.

HUMAN-CENTERED

An approach to design that adapts the solution to the end user through understanding the end user. The understanding is developed through engaging the end user and testing a variety of possible solutions through an iterative design process.

INDUCTIVE ANALYSIS

A type of analysis that begins with collecting and analyzing data, after which hypotheses are made. Putting the user and users’ perspective at the 0f a solution. Human-centered or people-centric desk requires having empathy with the user to solve their specific needs. This philosophy involves starting with people and desirability first, before moving on to feasibility and viability.

INTERACTION DESIGN (IxD)

Sometimes referred to as IxD, interaction design strives to create meaningful relationships between people and the products and services that they use.

INSIGHTS

Ideas or notions expressed as succinct statements that interpret patterns in your research and can provide new understanding or perspective on the issue.

INTERCEPT

Spontaneous, casual an conversations with users brief in a natural context. Unplanned interviews that garner live feedback for your mini-pilot.

INTERVIEW GUIDE

A list of questions to direct conversation and make sure key issues get discussed. The guide should be ?exible to move with conversation but at the same time its main purpose is to keep the interview on topic.

INTERVIEWER BIAS

The in?uence of the interviewer on the interviewee, which affects responses.

I-SHAPED DESIGN

Someone who has deep skills and knowledge in one area but not a broad competency across other areas.

ITERATIVE CONSULTATIVE PROCESS

An iterative consultative process is a design process of inviting diverse stakeholders to review a design and give feedback in order to improve the design from their point of view.

ITERATE

The act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal, target or result. Each repetition of the process is also called an iteration. In design thinking it refers to the cycles of prototyping, testing and revision.

ITERATIVE DESIGN PROCESS

Iterative design is the process of prototyping testing and re?ning a design in a series of repeated steps.

JOURNEY MAP

A visual representation of a particular person or persona’s experience with a service. The experience is documented over time and often shows multiple channels.

LEADING QUESTION

A question that is phrased in a way that suggests to the interviewee an answer that the researcher prefers.

LEARNINGS

The most basic level of information you record from your research, including direct quotes, anecdotes, ?rst impressions, notes on the environment, notes on what was most memorable or surprising, and more.

LIKERT SCALE

A type of survey question where respondents are asked to rate the level on which they agree or disagree with a given statement on a numeric scale, e.g., 1–7, where 1 = strongly agree and 7 = strongly disagree.  (Also see Rating Scale.)

LINE OF VISIBILITY

In a service blueprint this is a line that separates face to face customer employee interactions from customer employee interactions that are remote or not face to face.

LOADED WORD

A word that has positive or negative connotations and can influence the interviewee’s response to a question.

LOW FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

A quick and easy translation of high-level design concepts into tangible and testable artifacts, giving an indication of the direction that the product is heading. Prototypes that are simple, focused on one or two features. Low resolution prototyping allows a team to make their ideas tangible and gather feedback.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

A theory of motivation, in which individuals’ needs are described as a hierarchy. often illustrated as layers in a pyramid. Needs at each level must be met prior to an individual aspiring to the next level. Maslow’s theory describes ?ve levels: Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem and Self-actualization. In PET we can design to meet needs at one or more of these levels. For example, a mobile phone may meet people’s safety (‘I need to contact you in an emergency’), social (‘I like to keep in touch wherever I am’) and self-esteem needs (‘Look at my cool phone’), with somewhat different design considerations applying to each of these levels.

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT (MVP)

A minimum viable product is a simple version of a new product which allows a team to learn the maximum amount about customers with the least effort. The goal of an MVP is to test fundamental business hypotheses as efficiently in the real world as possible.

MODERATOR

A person that works with a group to regulate, but not lead, a discussion. Whereas a facilitator might take charge of a discussion to shepherd it in a speci?c direction, a moderator remains passive, without explicitly leading the process or driving a desired outcome. A moderator takes the lead from the participants, listening and intervening only when necessary to encourage further discussion or ask for clarity for other participants or audiences.

NEEDS

A necessary function or condition. There are a wide variety of human needs such as food, shelter, security, affection and self fulfillment.

NEEDFINDING

Needfinding is the art of talking to people and discovering their needs?—?both those they might explicitly state. and those hidden beneath the surface. It is only in truly understanding people that we can gain meaningful insights to inspire and inform a ?nal, impactful design.

OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

A PET technique in pressure compliance. People feel pressured into complying with the will of authority ?gures. In PET design, you can use images, statements and other content to convey authority ?gures, such as doctors, nurses, policemen, celebrity chefs and captains of industry so as to reinforce persuasive messages.

OUTSIDE-IN PERSPECTIVE

This is the perception that people outside of an organization have of the organization and it’s products and services such as customers and other stakeholders.

PAPER PROTOTYPE

Paper prototyping is the process of creating rough. often hand- sketched. drawings of a user interface, and using them in a usability test to gather feedback. A rough, often hand- sketched, drawing of a user interface, used in a usability test to gather feedback. Participants point to locations on the page that they would click, and screens are manually presented to the user based on the interactions they indicate.

PARADOX OF CHOICE

Limiting choice is a PET technique in changing impression. Paradoxically. people think they want many choices, but can, in fact, be overwhelmed by the complexities too many choices introduce to decision- making. 80, people are more likely to be persuaded to make a purchase (or other decision) I’f you limit their choice to a small number, often no more than three or four.

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

An approach that involves stakeholders such as clients, end users, community members in the design process to ensure that the design meets the needs of those it is serving as well as generating buy-in. A type of social research in which the people being studied have signi?cant control over and participation in the research.

PERSONA

A persona is a ?ctitious identity that re?ects one of the user groups for who you are designing. A representation of a user segment with shared needs and characteristics. In user- centered design and marketing. personas are archetypal characters that represent different user segments that might use a product or service in a similar way.

PLACEBO EFFECT

A PET technique in changing impression. In medicine, for example, you can achieve health improvements just by giving the impression you are treating patients with a drug, even if you are giving them a ‘placebo’, a neutral substance with no known medical properties. There is evidence that the more expensive patients think the drug to be, the greater the placebo effect.

POINT OF VIEW (POV)

In design thinking, a POV means the point of view of a very particular person. Creating a point of view involves synthesizing the data gained in the Understand and Observe phases in order to create a common reference/inspiration for later ideation and prototyping. The idea is to focus on a real person, with many of the concrete details found during the Understand/Observe phases. One approach is to develop one or two concise sentences that express User+Need+Insight.

POWER OF EXPECTATION

A PET technique in changing impression. Presenting goods or services in a way that raises the expectation that they will be good, results in users perceiving them as better. A well-formatted report, for example will be seen as better written than a scruffy one, even if the text is exactly the same. Similarly, a well presented meal will not only be more tempting than the same food just thrown on the plate, but will also taste better. So, in PET, if we design to give the expectation that goods and services will be good. they are more likely to be experienced as good.

PROBES

Areas you want to go more in- depth in an interview. A technique used during in-depth interviews to explore the interviewee’s emotions about the topic we’re researching. The ‘probing’ questions asked gently nudge the interviewees to disclose their feelings and beliefs. For example: “How do you feel about shopping online?”

PROTOTYPE

A prototype is a model built to test a concept with end users in order to learn from. Prototyping helps understand real, working conditions rather than a theoretical conditions.