Design methods

Scoring individual ideas against common criteria in order to select ideas.

A method to define the expectations of both the client and the design team at the start of a new project.

A Service Blueprint is a detailed visual representation of the total service over time - showing the user’s journey, all the different touchpoints and channels, as well as the behind the scenes parts of a service that make it work.

Brainstorming is working together to help you generate ideas more quickly and effectively.

Having character profiles visible and to hand during the design process will stimulate ideas and aid decision making. They can also help in justifying innovations to stakeholders in the project.

Choosing a sample is a design method that helps you create a strategy to find the most appropriate or effective group of users to recruit will make the most of limited time and budget.

Cluster and vote is a method to identify patterns in a problem area or in a series of ideas. This in turn will help you select solutions.

Comparing notes gets messy things in order and is a useful aid to decision making.

A User Journey Map is a visual representation of a user’s journey through a service, showing all the different interactions they have. This allows us to see what parts of the service work for the user (magic moments) and what parts might need improving (pain points). A User Journey Map takes the users point of view and explains their actual experience of the service.

Drivers and hurdles helps you identify where to concentrate energies for most effect in the next stages of your project.

Visualising ideas will make them easier to understand and modify, and will in turn stimulate new ideas.

Focus groups is a design method that helps you get a broad overview of users' reactions to, and ideas about, a topic.

Hopes and fears helps you be aware of expectations and will make them easier to manage.

Observation is a design method to identify the problems that can arise when people interact with products, services and environments.

Physical prototyping is a design method to help you to iron out any unanticipated problems with your creative ideas.

Creating a project space can help you make sense of large amounts of information, keep it organised, give your project visibility and communicate the story of your project to others.

Experience Prototyping is a way of testing new service ideas or designs for specific touchpoints. Experience Prototypes are about communicating what the experience will be like and allow the design team to test and refine their solutions with potential users. They also help build buy-in from partners and other stakeholders.

Quantitative surveys is a design method to understand the 'big picture' and provide you with statistics that can help to inform the direction of your project.

Role playing means physically acting out what happens where users interact with products or services.

Scenarios is a design method that heps you develop ideas that involve interactions with multiple users over a period of time.

Scribble-Say-Slap brainstorming is a design method to generate a large number of ideas from a large group of people in a short period of time.

Secondary research is a design method for finding a range of published information about your customers, your competitors and political, social and economic trends.

User diaries is a design method to gain insight into people's lives, particularly patterns of behaviour.

Workshop toolkit are what you need when it's difficult to predict all the eventualities of a workshop - so it's best to be prepared for a wide range of activities.