Pen & paper tools for
getting from research to design IA Summit | April 8, 2010 | #penpapertools Kate Rutter kate@adaptivepath.com

A little about me… @katerutter
I’m a designer and strategist. Designing delightful experiences makes me tick. Making things visible and visual makes my heart sing. Adaptive Path Adaptive Path is a User Experience strategy and design consultancy. Our mission is to help companies make products and services that deliver great experiences that improve people’s lives.

What’s the whole point? To
create products & services that delight, that inspire and that improve the lives of the people who use them.

First, a story... BIG opportunity
space large shifting team money & time constraints

So here’s what we did:

So here’s what we did:

So here’s what we did:

And it was awesome. Vibrant
stories captured visually Shared understanding Compelling insights Clear implications for design

What made it work? Visual
approach activated a different way of working Pen & paper tools were accessible and fast Concepts hinged The insights carried directly to design from research implications into design

Why work visually? Pictures Visual
ideas communicate a Images help get through more complete groups move faster idea faster...together So that the resulting designs reflect real people and their needs.

How could we do this
again?

We’ll cover… What you need
to get started : tools techniques A simple method activities! A way to take this home with you.

Warm-up INSTRUCTIONS Make a nameplate.
1. On a piece of paper write your name in a way that communicates something about who you are. 2. Then make a sketch of some kind that says something about you. 3. Do it in 2 minutes.

Your toolkit Surfaces Mark-makers 1/2
sheets squares quarters sharpies stickies markers sheets colored pencils templates colored chalks poster board rolls of paper crayons!

Your toolkit Marks WORDS LINES
PICTURES case symbols case weight Case CASE lettering texture icons drawings Takes only seconds more than writing! shading

Your toolkit Layouts And also...
centered size list cluster shape grid linear color tree radiant

the plaguing thought of... “but
I can’t draw” when you think instead, think I can’t draw I’ll try a little each day I don’t know how I’ll use text, but with more to start texture My stuff looks it’s like grammar, not art crappy

Here is our process

Here is our process

Here is our process

Transcripts Jotting Note taking Coding
Spreadsheets Video Audio And more!

Jotting

Jotting EPIC : October 2008
: p. 23

Jotting Jotting breaks down observations
into their most elemental parts and captures the weight of each idea.

Let’s do an experiment You’ll
practice jotting items from a short clip of an interview, using pen paper tools. Try to capture the emotional energy along with key messages.

Activity INSTRUCTIONS I love to
come home after a long day. When I get here, it just feels like this is the place I can Jot what you observe. hide from the world, or recover, 1. Read this quote from a user or just be alone. It's all my stuff interview. and everything is where I want it. It's like a nest. Well, 2. As you read, jot any significant sometimes it’s a nest. But ideas or themes that you observe. sometimes it's more like a 3. Jot one observation per project. There's always piece of paper. something that needs to be 4. Do it in 2 minutes. done.

Activity INSTRUCTIONS Let’s jot an
audio transcript. 1. Now, listen to this three-minute transcript. 2. As you listen, jot what you hear. 3. Use line weight, color, and imagery to distinguish the big themes from the smaller ideas. 4. Do it in 5 minutes.

Some examples

Some examples

What do we do with
all these pieces of paper?

Relationship Models Word Sort Theme
Boards Bottom-up Sorting Affinity Diagrams Clustering And more!

Theme Boards

Theme Boards Theme boards display
the results of synthesis. They show the patterns and themes that act as a bridge to the design process.

Reports Presentations Concept Storyboards Sketches
Decks Books Video Reels Personas And more!

Concept Sketching

Some examples

Concept Sketching Concept sketches capture
a story, illustrate the relationships of elements, or a communicate a core set of related ideas.

Handy visual layouts Mind Maps
2 x 2s Graphs Grids Mandalas

Bringing it all together Use
the concept sketches, jots supplemental material to craft stories and implications for design.

Moving into design

Project Management Marketing Product Management
Business strategy Product engineering!

Hinge from
research…
…to design

From concept sketch… … to
storyboard

From concept sketch… … to
information architecture

From concept sketch… … to
interface prototype

What we covered What you
need to get started : tools techniques A simple method activities! A way to take this home with you.

Why are we doing this?
So that the stuff we design connects with real people... their true stories, their honest emotions and their most important needs.

Why are we doing this?
So that the stuff we design connects with real people... their true stories, their honest emotions and their most important needs. P URE ESO ME AW

Why are we doing this?
So that the stuff we design connects with real people... their true stories, their honest emotions and their most important needs. P URE ESO ME AW

THINK ABOUT... What 1 thing
can you start using tomorrow?

MORE UX GOODNESS Portland, OR
• Pre-con : May 19 • Conference: May 20-21 www.webvisionsevent.org | @webvisions Amsterdam: Apr 26-29 | San Francisco: Jun 27-30 www.adaptivepath.com/events 15% off with code FOKR San Francisco: Aug 24-27 www.uxweek.com 15% off with code FOKR

GETTING THE GOODS kate@adaptivepath.com www.adaptivepath.com
@katerutter www.intelleto.com The slides will be on intelleto.com and slideshare in the near future... Credits to Leah Buley and Rachel Hinman for collaborating on this material and to the Adaptive Path folks who shared their project work.