IA Summit 11: Critical Thinking by Stephen Anderson & Russ Unger

For the morning of the second day of the IA Summit this year I decided to attend Stephen Anderson and Russ Unger’s Critical Thinking Workshop. I really enjoyed this workshop, as it was a great reminder that we as designers constantly need to step outside the problem an look at it from different angles.

My Notes

• It’s not about the tools or documents, it’s about the thinking process that leads to the tools people use.
  • In a house, with 4 walls, and a window on each wall facing south, if a bear walks through the house what color is it?
    • White
  • Henry Ford: If I asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse
  • You have 4 plants, and you have to find a way to plant them equal distance from each other.
    • One needs to be planted above the other 3, in a 3D triangle design.
• It’s about going beyond the boundaries of your assumptions.
• Self-directed, self-corrected, and self-monitored
• “Z” shaped thinkers –
  • When everyone zigs, zag.
  • Be willing to stop and change paths, like the flow of the letter Z
• Buckminster Fuller
  • Invented geodesic dome housing
    • Why should houses be blocks? Blocks are the easiest to destroy
    • Why heat corners, when no one is there
  • Big on ecofriendly solutions
  • Created the dymaxion car, which could have been huge, but was hit and destroyed on the way to being shown.
• Exercise by Mark Reddig
  • Design a vase
  • Now design a way for people to enjoy flowers in the home
  • It’s about removing the product and framing the problem correctly.
• Jess McMullin: Design Maturity Model – http://www.bplusd.org/uploads/designmaturitymodel.pdf
• Framing the problem is about three things
  • The context that holds the whole thing
  • The problem
  • The desired outcome
• Focus on the experience
• Target exercise. Show clients a target. Ask them to prioritize features starting from the center. Only one feature or thing can be in the center of the target, then more things can be added at each ring out from the target.
• Emotion Strategy Canvas
  • Way of mapping out the value factors of your competitors, and how each value is met then comparing to your solution.
• Experience Planner – http://www.scottweisbrod.com
• What’s the value of what I’m delivering. Focus on the value, so that your focused on the right work
  • The value of a persona is internal alignment.
  • (See slides for his example of artifact values)
  • A round sitemap may provide more value than a traditional one based on the goal of the task.
• Browser window exercise
  • Have two people participate, one person is the user, who asks their questions out loud, the other is the computer, who can only respond with information shown on the screen. Shows the impracticality of many apps.
  • Counteract this with both people running the same exercise, but in the context of a phone call as the medium.
• Can a 5 year old understand this? Can your grandmother understand this?
• Activity: wear a different brand hat
  • How would you build this if you were Disney, what about McDonalds, or Facebook?
• Look at things in the Classical Invention:
  • Definition
  • Comparison
  • Relationship
  • Circumstances
  • Testimony
• Emotion is a powerful part of design
  • Peaks and Valley chart. Evaluate the peaks and valleys of emotion when completing a task such as ordering pizza
    • Dominos turned some valleys into peaks in their new online design
      • Interactive pizza builder makes ordering fun
      • Pizza tracker ads information, stages, etc. and makes waiting for the pizza more enjoyable and informed.
    • What valleys can you turn into peaks via design?

• Activity – “reverse the problem” – by focusing on all the things you don’t want to happen, you can make sure you design defensively for them
• Change your work context every 18 months, to keep your self active and challenged.
  • Doesn’t have to be your job, but maybe your job duties, or the people you interact with.
• Keep your brain sharp
  • Synthesize information
  • Expose yourself to other interfaces
  • Expose yourself to other industries
  • Embrace constraints
    • Luke’s light saber in star wars was made out of a camera light pole.
• Make an Inspiration library
• Design 6-8 different versions of a design in 5 minutes or less. Then create 1 design in 5 minutes.
• MUP: Minimum Viable Product
• Challenge assumptions and ask why
  • “Why until you Cry”
• What if? – is a safe zone question for challenging assumptions
• Appreciate details
• 6 steps to critically thinking
  • 1. Reframe the problem
  • 2. Explore Many Perspectives
  • 3. Synthesize Information
  • 4. Embrace Constraints
  • 5. Challenge Assumptions
  • 6. Appreciate Details

  Slides:

  Critical Thinking forUX Designers (Workshop)

  View more presentations from Stephen Anderson