Back to the Basics
When I was in college, I had a professor who liked to pontificate on the importance of defining your target audience. One day, while reviewing the first draft of a rather large project, our professor interrupts our class review and states, “I want a show of hands– who actually went out and spoke to their defined audience? Got to know them? Used their frustrations to develop their objectives?”
Crickets.
He went on, “In your careers, if there is one question that should be asked it should be this: Who is your audience? Not who they are on paper, but who are they in every day life?”
It was this memory that played in my head as I sat in an all-agency meeting where the roll out of Design Thinking, or UX Design, was introduced to the agency…but not as a big scary corporate initiative. No. In true Gaul fashion, it was presented as a card game.
Borrowing from classical UX, typically used in web design, and Design Thinking, a method of working that allows for quick and efficient execution, the goal is to put your consumer at the center of your process– but also facilitate cross departmental collaboration and client ownership of projects (yes, they can be included in this game as well!). The main question you are tasked with answering is:
How will this be useful, interesting or relevant to my consumer?
Here’s how it works:
Yellow Cards: Tools
Most of these are not new, but are often forgotten in the haste of advertising (P.S- “Outils” means tools in French). Tools like “Customer Journey Mapping” and “Brand Platform” are all elements we know and understand. The function of these cards are to remind you and your team that they are available, and can be useful mechanisms for fostering a creative insight if you’re “stuck”.
Pink Cards: Activities/Action
In order to create, or use, the tools above you might be required to gather information. Pink cards are meant to remind you of the bounty of options available. For example, activities like “Focus Groups”, or my favorite, “Intuit Room” (assembling a task force of 4–8 people after a client briefing or pitch to quickly outline initial thoughts, next steps and responsibilities in 30 mins) are listed to provide guardrails on how to go about collecting data, team alignment or even a starting point for a project.
Blue Cards: Expert
Of course, in order to accomplish any of this, you must assemble the right team. Blue cards outline the responsibilities and expertise of each role in the agency, and their mission when involved in the UX Design game. For example, the role of a “UX Planner” is not what you think. These individuals are a part of the Planning department, and serve as the “truthful voice of the consumer; she listens and observes to better understand and garner the creation of campaigns and services that represent the needs of the consumer.” As my new colleague, Céline (one of the planners championing this initiative), explained to me, they are “stretching the classical practice of UX” and applying it on a broader scale to ensure consumer centricity in campaign and brand development.
As I think back to that college professor, and the important lesson he tried to bestow upon a group of 19 year olds, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia as I sat in the all agency meeting. Sometimes, all you need is a little reminder to return back to the basics.
