1

Trust & believe in yourself.The design process is a combination of gaining expert knowledge (from various stakeholders) and going with your gut & intuition to what feels right.

Along the way you way come across moments of being completely lost & overwhelmed, and it is at this point you need to be aware, & believe in yourself inspite of failing.

Characteristics required for this process are: 1) awareness 2) positive confidence to succeed as much as you may fail 3) empathy & humbleness to learn & unlearn

learning

There is no one way. And its no way a waterfall method. One is always learning new methods, new approaches & combinations. What would be ideal, is being able to command that knowledge (of design thinking methodologies) to execute a successful process.

2

As much as you have freedom, there needs to be control.Control in the means of respecting time, people, etc. This process is best when it is collaborative and has the right constraints.

3

process

application

The needIn my design company that we have been running for the past 6 years, I have noticed a certain problem:

The business development representative has had difficulty capturing the client’s feedback in a way that lets designers relate to the problem or the client. He/she either misses out explaining the nuances of the client (such as his likes, dislikes, personality, etc.) which could be vital at some point of the project or sometimes misses out on just really understanding the bigger, unnoticeable client need.

So one afternoon just few hours before a client meeting we asked ourselves HMW capture our client discussion that results in us truly understanding the client and his need and allow us to share the details with the team in the most unbiased, effective manner, which allows for discussion?

application

The idea After quickly brainstorming we decided to develop a sort of “dialogue manual”, that captures vital questions & also creates a process of direction which helps uncover what the client is like, and what he really wants! This is unique for each client

This also makes it easier for the business development rep to listen, observe & speak to the client in a way that records the discussion, and the process of empathizing (through questions, observation, etc.) uncovers the clients needs.

application

The prototype We created the manual on the same day of discussion and prototyped the experience immediately.

The result – success!The client was very impressed with the way we were asking questions, and in-fact mentioned that he wanted the same “method,” for his own team.

The client increased the project value & SOW after the discussion. and signed the contract after 1 week of discussion.

the prototype