Bend the tools
#86 - Nov.2023
Methodologies and frameworks are trails, not rails. They generalize a solution for a challenge, yet the nuances of each problem create new contexts. They serve as guidelines, not as checklists to ensure success.
I always remember an experience some years ago when working with a group of designers revisiting the branding and strategy of a local NGO. This NGO worked with kids, educating and promoting best practices in nutrition.
How do you run user research in kids? While the playbook refers to standard tools such as surveys, interviews, or shadowing, we needed to find different (new) ways to understand their behavior, intentions, and motivations. But how?
The team came up with a brilliant approach. What if we could use super-hero profiles, link specific behavioral characteristics to each of them, and through a game, play with kids to see how they related to each of them? So we created playing cards and designed a research game to drive engagement.
Playing. That was the key that helped us unlock the different profiles of kids that ultimately enabled us to design the positioning & strategy of the NGO.
You need to mold the existing playbooks to your reality and context. Focus on how to maximize your understanding of a problem; bend the tools when needed.
Let your curiosity guide the process.
