Research as Strategy
All major parts of a business have a research component — marketing and business analysts use market research to target customers and understand the landscape of what is available in the market, as well as predict the impact the product will have on the market as a whole. Design research produces data that complements other business research because it qualifies and quantifies the needs of the user. Those needs are extracted, and when combined with all of the other research done, inform a strategy that is the center of a design led project — humans.
Design research is a way of understanding why things are as they are, and helps set the plan for strategically changing them for the long haul. Through design research activities, everyone on the project gains a collective understanding of the problems and user needs. With that understanding established, teammates can stop fighting about the best way to do things and start collaborating on the best outcome for the user. It explicitly involves users in giving feedback directly to designers so that they have a hand in shaping the products they use.
The biggest question when trying to prove that research sets a sound strategy is:
Why understand the current when we can just design the future?
Because without understanding how things got to be the way they are, we are bound to make similar mistakes in the future. History repeats itself. Both radical and progressive innovation can be informed by research. Research, in either instance, is especially helpful in large organizations with complex relationships and processes. People are generally adverse to change, and need to be led through change with care and understanding. When everyone on the team is invited along for the ride (the research), the outcomes become clear and the message remains consistent.
The strategy of a design led project is human centered. The only way to understand the humans you’re creating or improving a product for, is to research them and establish an empathetic relationship that helps you through the design process and makes an impact on the business outcomes and user’s lives.
Inspirations:
https://www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/content/radical-and-incremental-innovation
