Design Thinking and Innovation - Week 8 Lecture Notes

Overview of Week 8

• Focus on applying tools learned to projects.
• Key activities: Creating Personas and OI Table.
• Summary and documentation of Weeks 1-8 through a report and presentation.

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Key Topics

Creating Personas

• Purpose: Represent typical users from the user segment related to the problem space.
• Steps to Create Personas:
  • List users connected to your topic.
  • Refer to user participant mapping from Week 4.
  • Select important users relevant to the problem space.
  • Write down typical characteristics for each user.
  • Optionally, draw or choose an image for the user.
  • Create scenarios for user activities related to the topic.

OI Table

• OI Table Components:
  • O: Observations
  • I: Inferences
  • O: Opportunities for design
  • R: Recommendations for design

Steps to Create OI Table:

1. List relevant observations connected to the topic.
2. Make a list of inferences based on the study.
3. Identify opportunities for design based on inferences.
4. Develop recommendations for design based on identified opportunities.
5. Create the table to facilitate problem statement redefinition.

Redefining the Problem Statement

• Includes: what is designed, for whom, how, where, materials, and processes involved.
• Example Transformation:
  • Initial: "It's a toy for children."
  • Redefined: "Designing an engaging Play and Learn constructive toy for children aged 3-6, incorporating features of collaboration, sharing, and storytelling, for use at home and in play school, using sustainable materials."

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Deliverables

Part 1 - Mid-Session Deliverables

• Report:

  • Summary of progress from Weeks 1-8 in text format.
  • Approx. one page per week, A4 vertical format, 11-point font, 1.5 line spacing.
  • Structure: Title, Introduction, Secondary Research, Primary Research, Analysis (Part 1 & 2), Inferences, Recommendations, Redefined Problem Statement, References, Acknowledgements.

• Presentation:

  • Visual format summary of progress.
  • Approx. two slides for every two weeks (1 slide/week).
  • Specifications: 254 mm x 453 mm or 16x9 ratio, minimum 14-point font, single spaced.
  • Include mappings and tables (4 tools required).

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Sample Structures

• Report Sample:
  • Title page, Abstract, Introduction, body content (tables, diagrams).
• Presentation Sample:
  • Cover page, pages for secondary and primary research, analysis, recommendations, references.

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References and Acknowledgements

• References:

  • Follow a consistent system (e.g., Harvard style).
  • Include author, year, title, publisher/location for books; URLs for online resources.

• Acknowledgements:

  • Acknowledge assistance from faculty, mentors, librarians, organizations.
  • Include names and institutions, email addresses optional.

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Summary of Project Development Weeks 1-8

1. Week 1: Select project topic, initial brainstorming.
2. Week 2: Topic selection and mind mapping.
3. Week 3: Secondary research part 1 with questions and matrix.
4. Week 4: User participant mapping (secondary research part 2).
5. Week 5: Primary research part 1 (contextual inquiry).
6. Week 6: Primary research part 2 (questionnaires, expert interviews).
7. Week 7: Analysis part 1 (artifact activity, spatial mappings).
8. Week 8: Analysis part 2 (personas, OI table, redefine problem statement).

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Next Steps

• Continue with case study on the Indian medicine system.