The Design Studio I Didn’t Want to Have
The moment I finally got to “do UX” and showcase my team’s work is hard to forget.
Karen and I were in John’s office (not their real names). John and Karen were on the product management team. Karen had already used software like the one John wanted to create. She and I spent hours working together every week. Our goals:
- Redesign the current software to improve our customers’ experiences, and
- Create designs for new features that made it easier for hospital employees to request and evaluate medical new products to use.
We filled the whiteboard wall with ideas and refined workflows. I created wireframes for the product’s interface. I was excited about partnering with someone to create a design. It was one of the few times I wasn’t handed a finished design and told to make it interactive.
John had a clear vision of what the software should be.
As I sat there in John’s office with Karen, I learned Karen had a vision of the software, too. But, it was a different vision that didn’t align with John’s.
I remember sitting there thinking, “Shouldn’t they have worked this out before?”
The answer to the question is, “Yes, this should’ve been worked out beforehand and I should’ve facilitated that process.” But back then, I didn’t know how to navigate that situation. Not until I practiced it (a lot) at Center Centre.
Now that I’m over halfway through the program, I’ve learned different ways to approach design problems and when to use them.
At Center Centre, I’ve learned how to alleviate (or mitigate) these situations by being proactive throughout the design process.
Below, I’d like to share one of my favorite techniques that could’ve helped me in this situation with John and Karen: design studios.
Design Studios
This past February, Adam Connor taught a 2-day workshop on Critique and Design Studio at Center Centre based on his and Aaron Irizarry’s book, Discussing Design. He introduced us to techniques we now use often during our projects. We learned how to:
- Give effective feedback,
- Receive feedback using methods like active listening,
- Present a design for critique, and
- Facilitate design conversations to keep them productive.
Design studios are a collaborative activity. It encourages everyone to contribute their ideas through individual and small group activities. Those ideas are the foundation of the resulting design. (Learn more about design studios.)
But, I Don’t Want to Do a Design Studio…
I spent a lot of time at the public library after school in elementary school and junior high. There were times I snuck off to hangout with my friends, but I genuinely loved being in the library. It was like another world that spoke to me through books, languages to learn (I tried Spanish, German, Mandarin, Italian and Greek), and cassette tapes.
Center Centre has a great library, too. We have 250+ titles on topics covering user experience design and front-end development. But as I talked to my team and tried using the library, I identified two design problems: (1) there was no good record of its books — so no way to search it for the book you want, and (2) aside from our partner collections (A Book Apart, O’Reilly, and Rosenfeld Media) the books weren’t organized. So, I started organizing the library and designing a Center Center Library application (“The Library App”).
A lot of my early activities focused on self-design and how I would use the application. But when I tested my initial designs with my cohort, it failed in ways I hadn’t expected.
My facilitator suggested I run a design studio and I initially resisted the idea. Other than me, who else was interested in the library? I’d seen how design studios helped other teammates explore and flesh out ideas for their personal projects.
Mine? I knew what I wanted, and I knew where I wanted to go.
I had a clear vision of what I wanted The Library App to be.
Sound familiar?
I scheduled the session anyway.
To lay the groundwork for my team, I had to put together a short-form creative brief to bring everyone up to speed.
I was worried that the brief and my goals were too vague and that the session was going to flop.
So I decided to take a chance and try something different to draw the team in and created an intro that included a visualization before reviewing the brief and beginning the first of three charretes.
Close your eyes.
Imagine that the produce area of the grocery store was just one big basket of fruits and vegetables.
You just arrived at that grocery store. Your shopping list has 1 thing: pears. How would you feel if that was all you needed and you found just that one big basket of fruits and vegetables? Are there even pears in that basket? If so, how many because you need 3 of them?
Okay. You can open your eyes.
It’s difficult to find what you’re looking for when there is little to no order and you don’t know what’s there…
Here’s how the design studio went:
Round 1 (26 minutes):
Everyone started sketching their solutions to the design problem. I’m scribbling notes to myself like a crazy woman to calm my nerves. As they were presenting their ideas and getting feedback within their groups, I heard someone say, “This is an interesting problem.” Yes! Yes, it is!
Round 2 (25 minutes):
Each participant refined ideas sparked from the first round in their own sketches. Everyone presented their revised ideas to others in their small groups and received feedback.
Round 3 (49 minutes):
As the groups presented their sketches to each other, I was speechless. The ideas my team came up with collectively surpassed what I came up with by myself.
One of the groups presented sketches that integrated our first real world project, Alicorn, and The Library App, in a way I hadn’t considered. They are excited about this project and are interested in what I’m doing next.
The design studio I didn’t want to have was the best thing that could’ve happened to The Library App.
Reflections on a Design Studio
There are times when design studios aren’t the best option. Discussing Design does a great job explaining when to use a design studio and why, so I won’t go into that here. However, when a design studio is a good approach, it’s one of the activities my cohort enjoys most.
One of the many important lessons Center Centre taught me is that great design doesn’t happen on its own.
Had I known about design studios, the situation with John and Karen could have been different. Collaborating with Karen, John, a developer, someone from sales, and a software trainer might have surfaced the best of all of our ideas and saved us all time and a lot frustration. I almost made the same mistake with The Library App.
I know better now. In knowing better, I will do better.
