Hear
The H: HEAR phase is about:
- developing a deeper understanding of the people you are designing for (empathy) and
- defining the problem you are trying to solve.
The HEAR is the "H" in Human Centered Design (HCD), a simplifed version of Design Thinking developed by the Interaction Design Foundation.
What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is a way to think about and solve problems. Most Design Thinkers refer to the 5 Stages of Design Thinking by Stanford’s d.school: Empathize, Define (the problem), Ideate, Prototype and Test.
Empathize
Designing an effective and appealing product starts with a deeper understanding of the people you are designing for. That means gaining empathy for that person - the ability to understand and share the feelings of that person.
Your goal is to gain insights into your target user by understanding their needs, thoughts, emotions and motivations. The good news is that you have a wide range of methods at your command for learning more about people:
Pre-Data Collection
For you to truly empathize with target users, you should try to adopt the mindset of a beginner. Why assume a beginner's mindset?
We humans all have our own assumptions and beliefs that we carry around, every day. Your life experiences sculpt your beliefs and assumptions and helps you to make sense of the world. However, this affects your ability to empathize with the people we observe.
To empathize do your best to leave your own assumptions and experiences behind when making observations. Below are some tips on how to assume a beginner’s mindset from Stanford’s d.school:
- Don’t judge. Just observe and engage users without the influence of value judgments upon their actions, circumstances, decisions, or “issues.”
- Question everything. Even (and especially) the things you think you already understand. Ask questions to learn about how the user perceives the world. Think about a 5-year-old who asks “Why?” a hundred times.
- Be truly curious. Strive to assume a posture of wonder and curiosity, especially in circumstances that seem either familiar or frightening.
- Find patterns. Look for interesting threads and themes that emerge across interactions with users.
- Listen. Really. Lose your agenda and let the scene soak into your psyche. Absorb what users say to you, and how they say it, without thinking about the next thing you’re going to say.
Data Collection
Define the Problem
In this stage, analyze your data from the empathize stage and define the problem you want to solve.
A great definition of your problem will be able to guide you and give you a clearer, more focused approach to the next stages.
The goal of the Define mode is to craft a meaningful and actionable problem statement. This is otherwise known as a the POV (point-of-view) of your target user.
During your research, you might uncover some insights and problems, however, it is critical to "frame the right problem to create the right solution."
To interpret results, use methods like space saturating, empathy mapping, and laddering questions:
Organizing Data and Interpreting Results
Space saturating, or grouping, is exactly what it sounds like: saturate a space. Bring all your findings into one place to create a collage of interviews and ideas. From there, it will be easier to draw connections between the individual observations and help to both develop deeper insights and define the problem(s).
