- There's a growing awareness of user-centered design
as a value-add in the organization.
The thing is design thinking is just a sexy term for some
of the user-centered design techniques
that we've been using for years.
I'm okay with that though.
I suggest that you leverage it too.
Once people get hooked on the sexiness
of design thinking, you can start implementing
other user-centered design techniques based
on your design thinking successes.
There are several other techniques that you'll find useful
in your organization.
Here are just a couple of them.
Information architecture research
and content testing helps you work out
whether your content is findable
and when people find it, whether they can understand it.
Writing good content for online use
involves much more than just search engine optimization.
Doing upfront research
into how your customers categorize your products
or services and then doing ongoing research
into what content works well
for them is likely to do much more good
for your business than hiring someone
to keyword stuff Some articles for you.
Consistent usability testing
will take you a long way as well.
The design thinking process involves
early prototype testing
but watching representative users work
with subsequent versions of the product both before
and after it releases
will tell you a lot more and help you stay
on track to deliver a great user experience.
Once other teams see how well that product is accepted
by customers, they'll want some of the same magic
for their products.
The easiest way
for them to get it is to do some usability testing
of their current release
and then to act on what they find.
More advanced companies
take the user-centered design techniques
to the next level by using them in a predictive way,
rather than a reactive way.
Field research and ethnography
can help you identify unmet needs.
And some companies go as far
as determining their future product portfolio direction
and priorities based primarily on user research.
They interpret the research to find out
what people truly need,
then develop products to meet those needs.
Of course, if you're only just starting
to implement design thinking.
you probably aren't yet at the point
of using other user-centered design techniques
to set your company's strategy
but you're on the right path.
Succeeding with design thinking opens the door
for a whole set of other usability techniques.