Interaction Design
Investing in new projects is inherently risky, but design can help get a grasp on the unknowns. By exploring, analyzing, and prototyping in a number of areas - customer needs, technical feasibility, and the visual and usability details of the final product - a designer can help to de-risk innovation.
While researching LEGO's 5 to 10 years outlook, my team and I discovered the company's great connection to individuals who become lifelong fans of LEGO. We also saw that LEGO is not used by groups. Focusing on families gives LEGO a connection to strongly held values all over the world and ensures that the next generation always has fond memories of the product.
When the problem at hand is as fuzzy and ill-defined as the solutions a typical designer or engineer might solve, I rely on rapid iterations, visual communication, and structured processes to solidify a starting point.
When I got a summer internship in the IT department for a web-based business, I felt like information was being hidden from me. That is, until I realized that no one had a clear idea of what role technology should play in the organization.
One critical detail in interaction design is wording. Choosing the right language lets users accomplish their task without searching around or getting lost, and without taking up too much space on the screen. The Scoop Network used 3 rounds of paper prototyping with real users shown here to settle on language like Crews, Tags and Scoops, and Networks. More about Scoop