Brief Introduction to the Design Process from Design Situation to Design Opportunities

Introduction to the Design Process

The design process is a journey that starts with a design situation and ends with design opportunities. This blog post will guide you through each step of this process, using real-world examples and interactive elements to make it engaging and easy to understand.

Steps in the Design Process

Identifying the Design Situation

Every design process begins with a design situation. This could be a problem or a need that exists in the world. For example, in a kitchen, a common design situation might be the difficulty of opening a tightly sealed jar. 

Research Methods: To understand the design situation, we need to conduct research. This could involve observing people in the kitchen, conducting interviews, or even shadowing someone as they go about their kitchen tasks. 

Defining the Design Need

From the design situation, we identify the design need. In our kitchen example, the need might be for a tool that makes it easier to open tightly sealed jars.

Research Methods: To understand the design need, we might conduct surveys to find out how many people struggle with opening jars, or we might experiment with different methods of opening jars to understand the challenges better.

Uncovering Design Problems

The design problems are the specific issues that need to be addressed to meet the design need. In our example, the problems might include the fact that some people don't have enough hand strength to open jars, or that some jars are sealed too tightly.

Research Methods: To understand the problems, we might use the "5 Whys" technique to get to the root cause of the issue. We might also conduct more interviews or surveys to gather more data.

Discovering Design Opportunities

Finally, from the design problems, we identify the design opportunities. These are the potential solutions to the problems. In our example, a design opportunity might be to create a jar opener that uses leverage to make opening jars easier.

Research Methods: To identify design opportunities, we might use techniques like brainstorming or mind mapping. We might also look at existing solutions and see how they could be improved.

Decision Making in the Design Process

After conducting research at each step of the process, we need to make decisions about how to proceed. This might involve choosing which design opportunity to pursue, or deciding how to refine a design to better meet the need.

Research Methods: Decision making often involves further research. For example, we might need to test different design ideas to see which one works best. We might also need to gather feedback from potential users.

Conclusion: Understanding the Design Process

Understanding the design process and the importance of research and decision-making is crucial for successful design outcomes. By applying these methods, you can become a better designer, able to create solutions that truly meet people's needs.

Quiz

1. What is the first step in the design process?

2. Why is research important at each step of the process?

3. Can you think of a design situation in your own life? What is the design need, what are the design problems, and what are some potential design opportunities?

Application Questions

1. Choose a room in your house (e.g., the living room, kitchen, toilet, storeroom, bedroom). Identify a design situation in that room, and go through the process of identifying the design need, design problems, and design opportunities.

2. Think about a common household item (like a jar opener). How could you improve this item? What research would you need to do? What decisions would you need to make?

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‘Practical’ & ‘Luxury’ Innovative Design Directions

“What the heck is that?”

Never mind, I hear you.

I bet you have not heard of anyone talking about “Practical & Luxury” Innovation as Design Opportunities. There is no point presenting to you what every body can tell you. I’ll be nothing more than an echo chamber. 

However I do not purposely create these weird stuffs, so I have something different to tell you.

But they must have its purpose. I’ve consolidated two decades of thinking about this, and came to the conclusion that there may just be two broad categories of Design Opportunities you can think about. And decide which of them you wish to take on, for your Coursework.

Chat on Practical & Luxury Innovations

The former is your typical common good and meaningful value-added function project, combined to an existing product, to it’s primary function. To create an innovation.

The latter is a solution to an existing function; but the difference is that this innovation; “Luxury”, is luxury, because it is really not needed. It’s WANT, rather than NEED. It’s designed primarily for fun and entertainment. Not really enhancing or adding useful practical functionality. For the sake of being different or offering an alternative way of functionality. Nothing really wrong with that. It can be a very challenging design challenge. And very fun to work on. And it’s not an easy challenge compared to the ‘Practical’ innovation type of design. But this direction can be very fulfilling.

Hear more about this in the video.

The previous video I talked about earlier on in the chat here: https://youtu.be/b5wN6B5di-M

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Design Need and Design Opportunity. What are they? Is an Identified “Problem” = Design “Need”?

Design Needs and Opportunities: Commonly attempted as “Problem(s) Situation”. 

Design Needs and Opportunities, are they they same? Or are they not.

I’ve gone well past the way of identifying Design Needs with problems, but I won’t be surprised this might still be what everybody else is doing. I find this not fruitful. 

So what is the problem when one tries to identify Design Needs, but treats it as identifying problems? The problem with this is there is hardly any ‘problems’ you can identify today.

At least not so easy. If you do, you WIN big time. Otherwise what can we do if we don’t go around searching for problems? 

Follow this video chat to find out more:

We innovate. We strive to change things a little bit here and there. Make some improvements from the previous versions, etc. We find things to innovate, or further innovate. 

If you find a Need for an improvement (a genuine one), you have a meaningful Design Opportunity. This will lead to a meaningful project, for yourself.

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How to identify REAL 'problems'? Revisit a classic post

Save you hours of confusion frustration and useless works.

Get your Ultimate Guide to Mindmapping from Theme to Design Needs & Opportunities HERE: https://mrdanielsos.gumroad.com/l/gamlp

If you are short of time and didn't want to read a load of junk below simply click here: Two Common Blunders with regards to 'Identified Problems' to read this classic post.

Just as situations happen all the time and everywhere, and as long as there are more than one person in a space, there will always be conflicts or problems. This is human nature. We are probably the only intelligence on the planet that has caused most, if not all the problems we have in this world. Isn't it?

Most problems we encounter are self-created or self-imposed. There is a difference between lifestyle and basic needs deprivation. Many times we feel miserable or short-changed because we don't have this and that. My friend has a better phone. My colleague drives a nicer car. That family eats in a fancy restaurant. The cat has a better life than me. But we failed to recognise that we are all probably living in the most prosperous times in human history. A hundred years ago or more people probably have less than you have right now. No elevator, no escalator, no TV, no internet, no phones, no cars, and no fancy gadgets of all sorts. But were they any less happy or joyful? No. But you are miserable and sad because you did not have some of these things. Are you any less a human being than our ancestors? No. 

Unless you are really starving or live in a life threatening situations that is a different story. That requires compassion. Giving you a 100" TV with unlimited  5G internet data for all the movies in the world will not help.

So, some of the problems you may have identified from you little mindmap attempt, if you think hard enough and pay close enough attention to each one of them, they really aren't anything at all. Some passing whining about things that did not go your way or as you expected. Isn't it? Oh my desk is messy. I cannot find my pencil. The books are falling down. I cannot pick up tennis balls quickly. I need somewhere to hold my Gucci Bag. The dustbin is too far. Students are bored doing homework. I have nothing to do. The table is wet. The toys are all over the place.

All those problems listed above, yes to a certain extend brings us some inconveniences and some little irritations. But if you know how to handle yourself and your emotions, the solutions are just very simple and need no gadgets or new products. You can walk further and take that as an activity. You can stretch your arm. You can think of something else. You can take a slightly longer time. You can put things elsewhere. Buy less stuffs. Seriously what is the big deal here? Nothing. Maybe you don't have the right things for the right job. Maybe you are just lazy.

Think outward. Be more aware to being more inclusive to the people around you. What generally are people struggling with? Most people aren't even aware of problems around them and they go about doing the same thing again and again. What are those things you see are causing some of the problems you have observed? How can we make people's life better? What really are essential for a meaningful and joyful life? What aspect of our products can be made to enhance that and value-add? 

Pay attention to details. Ask 'why' to get to the root cause of any problems you initially find. You will be surprised you'll find something else that is bothering everybody.

Ok that being said, if that is too profound for you, you can really design and make just about anything. Just make sure that the situation and the problem you have identified is worth your 20 weeks of fun and toil. It must be a situation that is meaningful to you at least, and one that somehow most of your friends (and your teacher) agree that is something nice and neat to work on, and is something within your capacity and capability to transform it to reality.

Cheers. All the best.

Pictorial Theme Definition to Design Specifications

*Updated in January 2022*

What you'll see in this post are visual examples on 

1. Theme Definition (Optional to read but NOT NEEDED from 2021 D&T Syllabus)
2. Mindmap on the Theme (exploring the theme)
3. Theme Board (Optional to read but do this ONLY IF needed)
4. Tips on how to use a mind map to identify Design Needs/Situations
5. Identifying and drafting Design Needs/Situations 
6. Selecting Design Need / Situation for coursework
7. Design Brief
8. Design Considerations
9. Design Specifications
10. (a) Pictorial Idea Generation and Development (Using SCAMPER) (Click here)
11. (b) Pictorial Idea Generation and Development (Using Attribute Listing / Morphological Method) (Click here).

Use them as a reference and a guide to start or to improve your journal. Make informed choices on your own on what your takeaways should be after looking at the materials in here. Do not copy. 

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Theme Definition 

!!! Do this ONLY if absolutely necessary !!!

For example if you need to understand terms in more detail in order to progress.

Define the theme using either online or physical dictionaries. Use a variety of sources for richer scope of definition.

Including synonyms and antonyms helps. Antonyms give the opposite meanings of the defined word - which is exactly what you need for exploring design opportunities. 

Add photos and images to substantiate some keywords - images also serve to spice up the page - makes understanding the definitions faster at a glance.

Mindmap on the Theme (exploring the theme)

Every stage in the design journal is build up from the previous section. If you understood them theme perfectly, you will have little problem mapping out the theme.

End the mindmap with identified products / objects followed by a brief description of the problems or issues associated with them. 

These 'comments' at the end becomes your identified design need and situations. Which you simply extract and write them formally in your Design Needs and Situations section.

Theme Board 

(Do this ONLY IF needed)

A theme board is a collage of images/products/activities to illustrate what the theme means. There is no need for annotations or descriptions in a theme board. 

Remember that you got to know and understand the theme first before doing this. Use the keywords you discovered about the theme and find related images for the theme board.

You can use the completed theme board to help you in your mind map later (see below). Use the same theme board to help you identify potential problems or issues.

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Tips on how to use a mind map to identify Design Needs/Situations

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Identifying and drafting Design Needs/Situations

Identifying and drafting your Design Needs and Situation section should not be difficult because all the information you need are already in your mind map (see above tips on how to use a mind map to identify design opportunities).

Pick and choose the information you need and rephrase them in a paragraph or two stating clearly the context and the problems / issues. Finish off with a 'wish list' - that will pave your way to writing a design brief (see below).

Selecting Design Need / Situation for coursework + Design Brief

You may use a modified Plus, Minus and Interesting (PMI) method to help select a Design Situation to work on later. You can use any other decision making techniques to do this.

Here the Design Need and Situation is repeated. Fine tune your paragraph if needed.

A design brief is quickly drafted by rephrasing the 'wish list' at the end of the Design Need and Situation paragraph.

Design Considerations

The design Consideration and Limitations (or constraints) is where you list out general points on what should be considered during the Ideaiton stage. Begin a mind map surfacing very general areas like e.g. functionalities - then move on to describe what do you expect in terms of functions.

The further you are from the core (centre of the mind map) the more specific you become. You'll reach a point at the far end where you need to research for data to be included. e.g. if it has to hold some pens, then research how many exactly do you need. 5 pens?

These quantifiable specific data / information you have at the end of the Design Considerations and Limitation mind map (again) automatically becomes a preview of your Design Specifications (see below).

Design Specifications

Remember you read in the previous sections that whatever comes after in your design journal stage, some, if not most of the information should come from the previous section. 

If you did your Design Considerations and Limitations as suggested above, making a list of Design Specifications is a breeze. All the information you need and want is already available and researched. 

Extract your quantifiable and researched data / information and then transform them into Design Specification points. Categories and order your Design Specifications beginning with Functional specifications. A typical design specification begins with 'The product must...'

Note that these points in turn becomes your guide for Ideation (see below).

Pictorial Idea Generation and Development (Using SCAMPER) 2016 (Click here)

Situation and Problem and the differences, and how to identify the best NEED to solve

Welcome to another new year of coursework in 2021. In this post we will look at what a situation and a problem is. And end with three simple questions you can ask yourself, so you may know if you have identified a design need that you can solve.  

A Situation:

A Situation is set of events that are happening (e.g. someone sweeping the floor in a windy condition), and the conditions (e.g. peacefulness, frustration, chaos, anxiety, etc.) that exist at a particular time and place, in which one finds oneself. Something is happening. What is it? Who is involved? What’s the atmosphere like?

Situations happen everywhere, all the time. A Situation is just... a Situation. Something involving someone took place. There is no good or bad Situation. Just Situation. When and how does a Situation become a Problem?

A Problem:

When one have yet to know how to handle a Situation, the situation becomes a Problem. When we have a Problem, unpleasantness / uncertainty is a natural consequence of that. People get anxious, irritated, or frustrated. 

It is very IMPORTANT to establish which is the real Problem? The Situation or the Person or the Product he is using (or should not be using), etc.? If you cannot get the Problem right, you aren’t solving any anything even with the best Solution. 

You can use the 5 Whys to help you get to the root cause of a problem.

When a root cause is found, we have an identified the NEED - the Solution to the Problem for the Situation.

A Need:

(Verb): refers to when someone requires something because it is essential or very important rather than just desirable, 

(Noun): a circumstance (in the Situation) in which something (e.g. a Solution to the Problem) is necessary.

THREE Questions you use to figure out if you have the BEST Design Project

Before you sprint all out with mindmaps after mindmaps with your newly found Theme you need to understand that there are so many unlimited situations you can identify. 

So where do I begin? How do I manage my work to be concise, precise and down-to-earth? 

You can answer the following THREE questions below to help you decide what is best:

1) Is the situation where I spend most of my time in? / Am I familiar with the situation?

    If no, consider choosing another situation. 

    If yes, move on to question 2.

2) Will I be able to realistically and conveniently test & evaluate my model(s), mock-up(s) or prototype? 
 

    If  no, consider choosing another situation. 

    If yes, move on to question 3.

3) Will I be able to gather researched information conveniently, truthfully and readily?

    If  no, consider choosing another situation. 

    If yes, go ahead. Or you can choose another one or two for consideration and comparison, and  

    finally find the best project for the best bang for your time.

If you do not choose a situation from which you spend most of your time in, or often enough, what chance do you have to be familiar with the situation? The exception is that you must be very good with your research to study an unfamiliar but equally promising situation and its concerns very well. Otherwise stick to what is closest to you according to your experience.

If you chose a situation where it will be very challenging for you to gather sufficient data, e.g. very difficult to get an appointment to observe / interview / talk to your target user(s), the place is too far or out-of-bounds or very limited accessibility, etc, again what is your chance of knowing your situation well enough to solve a problem?

Finally, if are not competent to complete the project within the deadline then you are not being realistic and not ready to take on the identified need - regardless if it is a good or bad one. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses. The graduation year is not a time for your to learn how to do things for most of the time. You ought to be applying what you have learnt and practiced instead.

Start well, maintain your momentum and end your coursework well.

All the best. mrdanielsos

'REVERSE' Design Need & Oppotunity

IMPORTANT: MUST READ THIS FIRST

The following tips for writing your Design Need & Opportunity assumes you can find existing solutions and their respective write-ups about its problem and solution during your research phase.

The suggested procedures are not meant to encourage 'copying' literally because that will make your work 'illegal' and is considered 'plagerism' - which is a serious crime - which in turn is discouraged.

However, with the understanding that there could be better ways by the professionals and writers out there who are able to better describe similar (happens to be like 'mine') problems than 'me', 'I' can use them as references to 'learn how I can' adapt its argument, the language used and its presentation structure to describe the situation or the problem that 'I' have identified.

In that respect, it is perfectly fine. In fact, using existing references to end up writing a better 'Design Need & Oppotunity Write-Up' is a way of 'Innovation'.

The two sections below consisting of 'THREE-Super Express Steps' and 'THREE steps to write your Design Need & Opportunity' should enable you to write a very decent Design Need & Opportunity Write-up.

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ONE

THREE-Super Express Steps

(if existing or similar solutions are available)

Step 1: FIND

• Find the closest matching existing product.

Step 2: STUDY

• Trace the product to its website or better still to the original one where you can find descriptions of the problems identified and other descriptions of it.

Take notes on

• how the problem is described.
• how the function is described.
• how the solution to the problem is described.
• the descriptions about the user.
• the descriptions about the interaction on the user and the product within an environment, i.e. the contextual use.
• Keep a look out for alternative websites that feature the same product. You may find more descriptions that will come in very handy.

Step 3: CUSTOMISE and ADAPT

Modify the contents as necessary and adapt it for your Design Need & Opportunity Write-up.

Note: If existing solutions are not available, you can also find the next closest solution. The descriptions would not be too far off. It’ll probably only require a little more effort on customization to your needs.

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TWO

THREE steps to write your Design Need & Opportunity

Focusing on the Quality of its Contents

Step 1: Setting the Stage

As a starter you may make use of related definitions for the theme, say, definitions of 'Hospitality', that best fits your problem or design challenge as well as those researches you had done (facts, figures, evidences, etc.) and use them in your introduction.

This beginning by defining the theme as the introduction keeps you in check that the ‘problem’ you describe later on actually does come from and is related to the theme.

Continue by turning your attention to your subject and start introducing your targeted people and their activity in the location and/or their interaction with a certain product, etc.

Step 2:  The Drama

Once the stage is set, i.e. the contextual background to the problem is laid out, bring in your main subject - the identified problem or the design challenge.

Highlight the frustrations and the problems your target users are experiencing. Explaining where and how it all began and who are the people involved. What products are involved? Explaining why the problem remains unsolved? What are the effects and consequences? etc.

Include data and facts you found from your research related to the problem or design challenge you have identified. e.g. How many % of the people have the same problem, How frequently does the problem occur, etc.

Step 3:  The Wish List

To conclude, provide a 'wish list' at the end. e.g. 'It would be beneficial / nice if a solution for (... ) can be designed and realized as it would solve the problem of (...)

Basically you tell a story. Note that 5W1H is constantly in use.

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NEXT...

Design Brief, Considerations and Specifications Write-Up

Draft your Design Brief:

'Design and make a (use a general term) to (describe the desired functionality) to solve (describe the problem or the design challenge).

Draft your Design Considerations and Constraints.

(Research and) Draft your Design Specifications.

Research on the requirements from  ‘Design Considerations and Constraints’ and use the researched information to draft a list of ‘Design Specifications’.



Cheat Sheet for Identifying Design Need | Situation | Opportunity

This is a Cheat Sheet (pun intended) for Identifying Design Need. But in no way cheating is happening at all.

This list of posts contains some of my thoughts and flow when it comes to facilitating identification of Design Needs for the Design & Technology Coursework (Singapore GCE Syllabus). 

Note: The original post with a comprehensive "Cheat List" has gone missing and I don't know why. If you have ever downloaded a copy and it is with you, please email me the attachment. Thanks very much.

The next best thing I can do is to compile the following taken from this same blog that should serve a similar purpose for 'Identifying Design Need'. Point 3 is the most interesting.

1) Finding Design Opportunities with On-Location Activities 
2) Using Activity Mapping
3) Reverse Design Needs & Opportunities
4) Blunders with Identified Problems

WARNING: 

1) This is too good to be true. 

2) This is a draft. 

3) Use with discretion or with your teacher's permission.

To Make Progress you Need a Focused Mind to Look Out

Keep your eyes open and your mind focused on looking out for things and issues related to your theme and you'll automatically find. It's the same with the subsequence progress of your coursework. If you keep your mind focus and thinks about it often, you will get somewhere naturally. 

Anyways this voucher from Manhattan Fish Market above was found in my mailbox today. I browsed through the pages and liked the 1-for-1 deals. However it's the inner first page that caught my attention more than the rest. 

It's about observation and identifying a critical issue of how many family (or friends) behave in meal outings whose hands could not stay away from their phones. 

What's a gathering for if everyone is so glued to their smartphones. It's a nice piece of solution they have there. A fun way to encourage  family interaction rather than each staring into their smartphones. An entertaining way to keep hands off the devices and start having real family time. To top it off, the value-adding catch comes with an incentive to be rewarded with a SG$5 return dining voucher. But with one simple condition.  The box must remained untouched where all the phones will be kept in throughout the meal. Though it's a strategy to bring customers back again, it has nevertheless tackled an important issue about what family time should have been.

Secondary 2: Dining Storage Accessories Project - Research + Design Need and Design Brief

Today's activity will mark the start of your design journey! Isn't that exciting?

Introduction

You will be given a set of Design Need. Also commonly known as Design Situation or Design Opportunities. Basically the Design Need/Situation/Opportunities all do one thing, and that is a short paragraph or two stating the current situation and the problem or a design challenge that is identified.

But you got to write your own Design Brief that follows right after.

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To begin, let's take a look at the classroom demo below and a review of the steps we did in class:

Part 1/2

Steps:

1. You were tasked to work in groups of 4s.
2. Braintorm using a Mindmap to identify Restaurants you know or have been to.
3. Select ONE Restaurant and proceed with another Mindmap to identify holders and storages you may find in the restaurant.
4. Select ONE type of holder or storage.

You will fill in the Restaurant and the type of Holder/Storage in the next activity where you 'copied' the Design Need and Design Brief.

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Part 2/2

Steps:

1. You have already copied the Design Need. You will just need to fill in the 'blank' in the Design Need: 'The restaurant (fill restaurant name) had decided...'.
2. Once you have done that, you will write your own Design Brief following the guide given to you, "Design and make a/an (interesting/fun/innovative/cool/etc.) (what?) to do (what?) for (who) to be placed (where?)'.
3. Note: You do not need to follow the sentence structure rigidly. But try to include all the details.
4. An example of a Design Brief may look like this, 'Design and make a/an (interesting/fun/innovative/cool/etc.) (business card holder) to do (hold business cards) for (restaurant customers) to be placed (on the cashier counter)'.

Note:

1. Add in 'fun', 'cool', 'funky' (whatever) will make your Design Brief look real exciting to work with later. It will also give you a sense of direction on what you will be researching on and how you will sketch your ideas to look like.

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Next, is Focused Research. Find it here.

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