Crossing Over to the Dark Side: Thinking the Unthinkable about Design Research

I've spent a good part of the last five years learning, teaching, and practicing design research. I've slipped it into every project I can. I've preached its virtues, sometimes publicly. I wrote a whole chapter about it in my book. So why, after all this, do I find myself lately wondering whether or not design research has any value, and if so, how much? I find myself asking, How useful is design research really?

Many of my colleagues won't do a project unless it includes some research, but more and more I'm finding myself tilting away from research, or at least to a less dogmatic view of it. On projects, I've found myself not doing design research or very little of it, and the projects seem to have turned out fine. Luck? I dunno. But I know I'm not alone; Apple doesn't do any research that I know of.

I also keep thinking back to Jesse James Garrett's seminal essay ia/recon (which is probably long overdue for a re-reading) and Jesse's admitting that, in the end, he has hunches: "[G]uesswork is an inescapable part of our work. More importantly, the quality of guesswork is what differentiates a good architect from a bad one." Michael Bierut reveals the same in a recent essay as well: "Somewhere along the way an idea for the design pops into my head from out of the blue. I can’t really explain that part; it’s like magic."

One of the reasons designers are hired is for their expertise--those good guesses--part of which is knowing what works and what doesn't in most situations (more on this in a minute). One could argue that that expertise (intuition, experience, understanding, taste) is more important than an understanding of users. I'm not sure I want to go that far, but I have decided a more reasonable approach to design research is required than the dogma that it has to be included on every project. I'm convinced that for many projects, the 80/20 rule applies: without research, I can get 80% of the way there, and sometimes that 80% is enough. Research can be an effective tool, but it can also be a time waster and ineffective. You can follow users (and time and money) down some serious rabbit holes, never to return. Here's some guidelines I'm putting around research for myself.

Use design research when

• You don't know the subject area well. I am no expert in investment banking. Designing a product for investment bankers might require learning about what they do and why they do it.
• The project is in a different culture than your own. China is a very different culture than the US. So is India. So is Western Europe. Cultural differences can be cause differences in behavior and expectations for a product.
• The product is one you'd never use yourself. Luckily, as an affluent white male in my 30s, I have a lot of products directed at me. But I'm not a doctor or nurse, and I'm not likely to use medical devices, so I'd have to use research to find out how they would use them.
• The product contains features and functionality that are for specific types of users doing a specific type of work you wouldn't do yourself. MS Office contains a bunch of features I would never use, but if they were removed, some power users would scream bloody murder. Sometimes you have to understand the nuances of a specific feature or, often, a specific group of power users that use a product.
• The designer needs inspiration. Sometimes you get stuck and an afternoon away from your computer screen can spark ideas.
• The designer needs empathy. Some types of people and groups are harder to identify with than others. Illinois Neo-Nazis for example. Not that I'd ever do a project for them.

Of course, it could be argued that I just outlined every design project. Which is true, to a degree. (Who doesn't need inspiration?) But I want to think about research differently, namely that research should be a tool, not a methodology. As Jesse pointed out, "Research can help us improve our hunches. But research should inform our professional judgment, not substitute for it." Like other tools in the designer's toolbox, it should be used when and as necessary, not applied to every project unthinkingly.

Originally posted at Tuesday, December 19, 2006 | Comments (7) | Trackback (0)