A method for every mission
A primer on the digital product lifecycle and how it can inform your team’s research plan as you generate and evaluate design concepts.
I have spent many years crafting research approaches to support the design of better digital products. Like anything, it becomes easier with practice, but research method selection can be a daunting task, even for seasoned design practitioners. But intimidation is a horrible excuse for designing uninformed products.
I first shared this product lifecycle framework at the HOW Design Conference in 2014 to give designers and product managers greater situational awareness of goals and research targets at the five major stages of a product’s evolution. I think that it holds true to it’s purpose as a reference and planning tool for product teams.
Typically, a design project lives in only one of these phases at a time, and this tool maps a short list of selected research methods to each of those phases.
Within a design project, I believe research has two main purposes; helping the team to generate ideas and helping the team evaluate ideas.
The generative methods listed should be used before fully embarking on concept sketching. Generative research should frame the design opportunities and boundaries in a way that is consumable to your business stakeholders and inspiring to your creative stakeholders.
Evaluative methods should be applied throughout the design process. Remember the mantra: Test early, test often.
I think the product life cycle framework is pretty awesome because it helps design teams spend less time brainstorming research approaches, and gives them more time to iterate through design concepts.
Originally published at momentdesign.com.
