Methods are an integral part of the design process. The advantage of using them is to structure a process; they can allow you to hold a team together, aid communication and share viewpoints across multi disciplinary teams. Part of the skill of being a good design strategist is identifying appropriate methods and creating the right conditions for their use.
- Inspiration - ideas, insights, new things
- Validation - testing, feedback, development
- Evaluation - effectiveness, impact, completion
Certain methods help in different phases of the design process. We have grouped methods together and applied loose categorisation to them; being the following active states within the design process
- Having ideas
- Selecting ideas
- Understanding users
- Running workshops
- Researching Information
- Analysing research
- Prototyping
We see the design process as a double diamond shape in which there are four specific phases; discovering, developing, defining and delivering. This diagram (which is shown below) is a framework to think about your project and its process. The double diamond shape is generic throughout projects though can be stretched and morphed depending on the phase a project is concentrating on.
The methods we list have been tried and tested however there is always room for improvement. Methods can always be developed and completely new ones invented.
Let us know about your experiences of using methods.
Do you have any new methods you would like to contribute? What do you think of this methods resource?
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