Making Sense Of Field Research: A Practical Guide For Information Designers

Description

Learn how to use field research to bring essential people-centred insights to your information design projects. Information design is recognized as the practice of making complex data and information understandable for a particular audience, but what’s often overlooked is the importance of understanding the audience themselves during the information design process. Rather than rely on intuition or assumptions, information designers need evidence gathered from real people about how they think, feel, and behave in order to inform the design of effective solutions. To do this, they need field research. If you’re unsure about field research and how it might fit into a project, this book is for you. This text presents practical, easy-to-follow instructions for planning, designing, and conducting a field study, as well as guidance for making sense of field data and translating findings into action. The selection of established methods and techniques, drawn from social sciences, anthropology, and participatory design, is geared specifically toward information design problems. Over 80 illustrations and five real-world case studies bring key principles and methods of field research to life. Whether you are designing a family of icons or a large-scale signage system, an instruction manual or an interactive data visualization, this book will guide you through the necessary steps to ensure you are meeting people’s needs. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 List of figures......Page 10 List of tables......Page 14 Preface......Page 16 Acknowledgements......Page 22 PART I: Two practices, one journey......Page 24 1. What is information design?......Page 26 Information design challenges......Page 28 The role of people in information design......Page 30 New roles, new needs, new skills......Page 33 Emerging role: information design researchers......Page 37 Understanding people-centred research in design......Page 40 Understanding qualitative research......Page 46 Why clients (and designers) don't trust qualitative research......Page 47 Working with field research: the information design process revised......Page 52 When to conduct field research in information design......Page 57 Understanding key components......Page 60 Considerations for conducting field research in information design......Page 61 How to ensure quality and validity in field research......Page 67 How to work around constraints......Page 71 Thinking creatively in field research......Page 72 Use information design in the research process......Page 73 PART II: Conducting a field study......Page 76 Design the study......Page 78 Put the pieces of the study together......Page 91 Test the design study......Page 98 Going into the field......Page 99 Checklist......Page 103 Observational studies......Page 104 Contextual interviews......Page 112 Contextual inquiry......Page 118 Design probes and diary studies......Page 120 Collaborative workshops......Page 127 Online field research......Page 132 Information design evaluation dimensions......Page 136 Assessing a design at various stages of development......Page 138 Assessing a design with field evaluations......Page 141 Concept evaluations......Page 145 Covert evaluations......Page 146 Overt evaluations......Page 147 Free evaluations......Page 149 Understanding sensemaking......Page 152 Sensemaking step-by-step......Page 155 Tools supporting analysis......Page 168 Five Ws + One H......Page 170 Visual content analysis......Page 172 Affinity diagrams......Page 174 Empathy maps......Page 177 Needfinding......Page 180 Personas......Page 182 Visualizations......Page 186 PART III: Communicating findings......Page 192 Dimensions for communicating findings......Page 194 Creating authentic stories......Page 196 How to share the whole study......Page 197 How to share key parts of the study......Page 200 9. Bridging to design: from findings to actionable design decisions......Page 206 Understand findings......Page 207 Make findings tangible......Page 209 From ideas to design concepts......Page 215 Support the information design process......Page 216 10. Putting it all together......Page 220 PART IV: Case studies......Page 224 11. Field research in information design practice......Page 226 CASE STUDY 1: The Redesign of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh......Page 228 CASE STUDY 2: Legible London......Page 234 CASE STUDY 3: Vendor Power Guide......Page 242 CASE STUDY 4: A Better A&E......Page 248 CASE STUDY 5: To Park or Not to Park......Page 254 References......Page 260 Index......Page 268