Embrace The Concept of An Inspirational Design Target
I recently wrote an article about the four lessons I learned in the trenches of corporate innovation. In it, I write that in order to innovate you need to know what you’re doing (and why), identify your champions, embrace learning and not be afraid to ask for what’s truly needed.
I want to expand a bit on the article’s underlying topic, which I wasn’t quite explicit enough about: designing for true customer need. Mastering this skill is essential for true innovators. I’m a math and science guy at heart, so here’s my highly scientific breakdown for you:
- There is no market without a customer need.
- It’s awfully difficult to make money without a market.
- It’s near impossible to sustain a business without making money.
Science!
If you agree with my brilliant theory and believe that being problem-focused (versus solution first-focused) is incredibly important, where do you go next? How do you find out what a customer’s need really is and then act on it? Today I will focus on how to create an inspirational design target.
Many organizations have tools and processes to help them define their target customers. These tools often have names like “prime prospect,” “target consumer” or “persona.” They also often involve an amalgamation of both demographics and psychographics, and describe broad swaths of people without really defining anything. (Has anyone ever designed for men ages 18 to 35 who have one child and are willing to pay more for X benefit or for moms ages 34 to 49 who take an active interest in their children’s welfare?)
While these tools serve their purposes, a much more powerful practice is to start with a specific inspirational design target. Think of this target as a character you could define based on a specific understanding of their behaviours and unmet needs. In what situation can your idea solve that character’s problem in a new and better way?
The best design targets are very specific, embody a high-order need and can even be extreme in nature. Maybe the design target is the anti-hero or someone incredibly skeptical or non-typical of the category you’re focusing on. If you can solve for the extreme user and truly meet their specific need, there’s a very good chance you’re going to meet the similar (but lower-order) needs of a huge cohort of people.
Consider the digital SLR camera market: the most popular cameras in this market, the Canon EOS and Nikon D Series, have a host of high-end features that the average buyer never uses. However, these cameras have actually been designed to satisfy the very specific needs of a much smaller overall market — professional video producers and photographers — and are actually being used in advertising and movies. By satisfying the highest-order needs of their target design market, Canon and Nikon are able to capture both the professional market and the larger and more valuable market of the everyday person who wants a great camera to take pictures of their kids, pets and vacations.
Here are three examples of inspirational design targets created in workshops I’ve led and supported with brands before:
- For the cough and cold category: Jeff, a fighter pilot flying billion-dollar jets who has a head cold
- For the diaper wipes category: George, a one-armed single dad with a 14-month-old child in diapers
- For the hair-styling category: Stacy, an aspiring actress who works a low-wage day job but has to be able to be camera ready for auditions at a moment’s notice
Can you imagine these specific characters? Can you extrapolate very specific and potentially high-risk-of-failure moments that characterize their needs? How might that lead to more specific holistic design choices?
When you design with an extreme user in mind, your solution will solve for much more specific need states. Your offering will be more unique and differentiated, and it will offer a stronger value proposition to your potential market. You’ll also avoid the peril of designing for the average user. Spoiler alert: the average user is a myth. Here’s a great article on the topic, using United States Army fighter pilots as an example.
Once you’ve created a few inspirational design target characters, the next step is to validate your assumptions about their needs and behaviours. This is a topic in itself, which I will cover in my next post.
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Do you want to continue the conversation? Are you willing to be interviewed by me about your own personal views of and experiences in innovation? Email me at gdubejsky@marsdd.com or follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
