Designers want to be more strategic. Stakeholders want strategy to be carried through in design. And yet somewhere in the product creation process, it's all too easy for teams to become reactive, losing the vision set forth in the kick-off. Business leaders and designers seldom take the time to create design principles together, even though doing so can make design decisions easier and more impactful. In this session we'll talk about some of the reasons collaborative creation of principles can be difficult, and activities that can help you climb above the chaos for a clearer vision - together.

1. DESIGN PRINCIPLESCreating Your Own Through Collaboration

5. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the
Don’t let good enough be the enemy of the GOOD
Details Matter

8. STYLE MATTERS

10. http://ui-animations.tumblr.com/page/2
Tumblr

11. ...FACILITATED by the designers
...but OWNED by the whole team, to the highest stakeholder
STRONG FOUNDATIONS
What do we need before we start developing?
COMMON VOCABULARY
How do we speak about experience design details?
VALUED CHECKPOINTS
When does “good enough” become “good” or “great?”

12. Design Principles help you
with all three

13. Design Principles
Brand-rooted guiding statements that
help your team make decisions about
which features to build, and how they
work

15. The French

16. The British

17. In the 1970’s, Ann C Noble, professor emeritus of the
University of California Davis created the aroma wheel

18. Brand Attributes
q Corporate
q Cutting-Edge
q Decisive
q Deliberate
q Detailed
q Dominating
q Educated
q Elitist
q Energetic
q Essential
q Ethical
q Exacting
q Exciting
q Exclusive
q Experienced
q Adaptable
q Adventurous
q Approachable
q Assertive
q Busy
q Candid
q Caring
q Commercial
q Communal
q Complex
q Concise
q Conservative
q Confident
q Confidential
q Conscientious
q Familial
q Fearless
q Fresh
q Friendly
q Fun
q Functional
q Giving
q Growing
q Heavy
q Honest
q Hopeful
q Humble
q Impactful
q Informed
q Innovative
q Inspiring
q Modern
q Nostalgic
q Open
q Organic
q Organized
q Outgoing
q Political
q Refined
q Refreshing
q Safe
q Self-aware
q Simplistic
q Spontaneous
q Stable
q Sterile
q Timeless
q Transparent
q Trusted
q Vibrant
q Warm
q Welcoming
q Youthful
!
ADD YOUR OWN:
!
!
!
!
!

22. INSPIRATIONAL
Great design
principles are

23. ACCESSIBLE
& PRECISE
Great design
principles are both

24. HELP YOU SAY
A SAVVY NO
Great design
principles

25. SPONGE SPARK SPLATTER SCULPT STORYTELL
One of the hardest jobs of a design team is effective use of a
SAVVY NO
Choose a design
challenge and immerse
in the related context.
What do you want to
make better? For who?
Take insights from
Sponge. Define your
audience and their
needs. Generate the
solution idea you want
to design.
Brainstorm multiple
ideas (quantity over
quality). Explore
possible features
and content.
!
Form and refine your
solution with user
insights and design
strategy.
!
Express the
importance and
meaning of your
solution.

27. Design Principle Examples
Fast
We value our users time
more than our own. We
recognize faster experiences
are more efficient and feel
more effortless. As such, site
performance is something
our users should never
notice. Our site should move
as fast as we do.
!
- Facebook
Time matters, so build for people
on the go
• All UX principles apply equally at
12-inch and 20-inch screen sizes.
• Be interruptible.
• Account for starting and
stopping (fast return, and do not
get in the way of other UX).
• Account for getting and losing
connectivity.
• Performance is the universal UX
killer.
!
- Windows 7

28. BASED ON REAL
RESEARCH
Great design
principles are

30. Our challenge:
How might we make learning about
experience design more fun and
accessible for curious beginners?
Related Problems:
• Design practices are best learned in a hands-on way, but
not everyone can learn straight from a designer.
• The full design process can be daunting!

31. User Focus
Our target audiences:
•Beginners in career exploration (late high school, early college)
•Complete design beginners
•Professional groups that want to learn together playfully
User Insight: Many students - and
schools! - are cash-strapped. Not
everyone will have an iPad or Android.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
The product and required materials
should be low-cost and highly
available.
= Accessible Play

32. Why are design principles so rare?
1. You need the organization to have
established brand values and
genuine user insights to really give
them weight.
2.By the time you realize you need
them on a particular project, it’s
often too late to make them.

33. project time
kickoff
“…”
requirements
& design
design
review

34. project time
kickoff requirements
& design
design
review
complaint from
strategic customer
new release from
a competitor
change in
business strategy
high visibility
conference is
approaching

35.
CEO at the design review

36. Using chaos
Don’t hold a design principle
workshop during a crisis...
...but use the energy of a crisis to get it
on the calendar

37. Why are design principles so rare?
1. You need the organization to have
established brand values and
genuine user insights to really give
them weight.
2.By the time you realize you need
them on a particular project, it’s
often too late to make them.
3.Teams don’t know how to engage
stakeholders to make them.

38. Co-creation breaks down walls
Create something together that’s
relevant, but possibly unreal

39. Co-creation breaks down walls
Creating real things right away
activates agendas and defenses
Creating irrelevant things don’t hold
the attention of your stakeholders
Try a “design challenge” workshop
that inspires meaningful play

40. Spa Day Planner (Hypothetical Challenge)
Hosted parties are a common approach that our consultants use to share their passion for
products, and to gain new customers. Our company and its consultants have a business
goal to increase the number of parties hosted.
!
However, encouraging non-consultants to host parties can sometimes be difficult due to:
!
• Scheduling difficulties
• Reluctance of potential guests to attend a “product-centric” party
• Other reasons?
Challenge:
Design a party-scheduling tool that also helps overcome other obstacles that may
interfere with attendance.
!

41. Spa Day Planner: Personas
Patricia the Planner (32)
Patricia is an avid explorer of her city - if you go to a fest in the summer,
you’ll probably run in to her. She’s also the magnet that draws her friends
together. About once a month, she tries to plan a get-together.
Patricia really likes the idea of doing double-duty, supporting her friend
(who is a consultant for the company) and hosting a spa event that will
draw out her friends. As a vegan, she’s also interested in our products
herself, but hasn’t tried them yet.
Goals
• Find or host interesting events - ones that will get several of her friends together.
• Be a supportive friend.
• Have an event that she can host with minimal work, so she can enjoy the party
itself.
!
Frustrations
• It’s so hard to get friends to commit! Everyone has such busy schedules, and
many of Patricia’s friends have kids, so they have to arrange for babysitters or
work with their spouse’s schedules. Patricia feels like she spends most of her
time negotiating dates, or trying to think of events that will really get friends
interested and excited.
• Patricia is worried that some of her friends may feel pressured to come to a party
where products are being sold.

42. Spa Day Planner: PersonasSpa Day Planner: Personas
Meredith the Multi-Tasker (36)
Meredith is the mother of two girls, Alyssa and Suzy. Between working full-
time, and managing events for Alyssa’s theater group and Suzy’s after-
school tennis practice, she often feels like she spends all of her “free” time
driving around or planning schedules with her husband Ben.
Meredith has made it a resolution to stay in touch with her friends and to
make time for herself as well, something her husband is very supportive of
when they can make it happen. She has to balance budget and schedules,
and is hesitant to commit to things, but makes a great effort to attend once
she’s decided to join.
Goals
• Make sure she doesn’t “disappear” on her friends. That’s happened off and on
and she knows she’s happier with some regular girl-time.
• Take care of herself. Living a healthy lifestyle - and modeling one for her
daughters - is a priority.
!
Frustrations
• Some of her friends don’t have kids, and it seems so much easier for them to get
together last-minute! She has to plan weeks in advance, most of the time.
• Meredith is trying to keep to a budget and is wary of parties where she might
feel pressure to buy something. She’s open to the possibility but doesn’t want a
hard sell, and doesn’t want to appear “cheap” to her friends.

43. Spa Day Planner: Personas
Ambitious Amy (39)
Amy is a live-theater actor at heart. She loves the stage, and spends her
summers as cast in open summer-theater festivals. During the fall and
winter, she finds shows in her hometown and makes whatever money she
can to keep her schedule and lifestyle flexible.
Rita has been a company representative for 3 years now. It’s been a great
way to supplement her income - it provides her the flexibility needed for
her schedule, and is something she can do as a third job if she’s between
shows. She’s gotten to the point where she thinks she could just act and
represent the company, if she can reach her sales goals.
Goals
• Reach her sales goals in order to advance to the next level.
• Share her love of our products with her friends, to convert them to happy
customers.
!
Frustrations
• Encouraging people in her network to host parties can be very difficult. There
are several obstacles that come up: scheduling, the work hosts perceive will be
needed, the hesitance potential hosts have to invite their friends to a product-
sponsored party...

44. What a
workshop might
look like...

45. Pre-work for the facilitator
Gather resources on:
• Company brand values & expressions
• Customer insights
Create a design challenge that is:
• Industry-specific
• Not on the roadmap

46. Have each attendee bring at least 3 insights
or “a-ha” moments about your customers
• Personal Anecdotes (try to limit)
• Field Observation
• Contextual Inquiry
• Usability Testing
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Web Analytics / Logs

47. ...and the following:
• One example of an industry-related amazing
experience with a company
• One example of a non-industry amazing
experience with a company
• Thoughts on the question -
what would you take a stand for?

48. Workshop Objective
3-5 collaboratively created, potential
design principles
Each should make you feel:
• Inspired to create
• Connected to brand values
• Empathetic to your users
• Able to say a savvy no

49. After the workshop:
• Iterate with more relevant examples -
or real projects - until accepted principles
emerge
• Make your principles pithy and visual
• Socialize! Socialize! Socialize!

50. To continue with activities like this…
!
ADMCi offers 10 week classes
Custom corporate training is also available.
school.admci.org
!
“Adventures in Experience Design”
adventuresxd.com
!
Questions?
Carolyn Chandler
@chanan