Let’s face it: Website projects can no longer be defined by a boilerplate process. Evolving your website along with your organization can drive participation among all of your users: Staff, volunteers, donors, the board, and constituents. Driven by the buzzy “design thinking,” we can use a more nuanced approach that thinks of your end user first, and powers far-reaching results for your website projects. So how do you bring design thinking into your organization? From leading brainstorming meetings that are actually useful, to getting real-world feedback and buy-in from IT and other stakeholders, we’ll review common and uncommon methods and their outcomes.

1. Design
Thinking:
ALIGNMENT ACTIVITIES
TO ENSURE PROJECT SUCCESS
Lisa Ghisolf • Gizmo Creative Factory, Inc.
@gizmodesign • #ntcwpday

2. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
What is design thinking?
“Design thinking is a human-centered approach
to innovation that draws from the designer's
toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the
possibilities of technology, and the
requirements for business success.”
— Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO

3. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Break it down…

4. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Empathy map
Source: IBM

5. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Source: TICbeat

6. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Ask the questions
■ How do they think about their fears
and hopes?
■ What do they hear when other people talk
about your organization/its website?
■ What do they see when they use your
website? What is the environment?
■ What do they say or feel when using your
website, whether in private or public?
■ What are their pain points when using your
website?
■ Is this a positive or a painful experience for
them?
■ What does a typical day look like in their
world?
■ Do they hear positive feedback about your
organization from external sources?
■ What do they hope to gain from using your
website?
■ Has your user repeated quotes or defining
words?
■ Example: Donating blood… What does it
represent? What is embedded in the act of
donating? What can be donated and what
cannot? Where does it come from?
(Questions via Copyblogger, Quora)

7. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Supporter or donor “customer journey"
■ How do they interact with the org and how do
they feel during these interactions?
■ Sample findings from MSF Canada:
– The communications Carla (donor)
receives after her first gift have included
a thank-you call, welcome package,
personal email, 2016 annual appeal,
requests to sign petitions, bi-annual
newsletters and holiday solicitations.
– Feels noticed, appreciated and made to
feel as though she is having an impact
– House mailing stream, limited
personalized messaging, and being
made to feel as though the organization
wants another gift quickly were seen as
negatives.
– Strategies gleaned from the exercise
include more new-donor-appropriate
communications, leveraging constituent
relationship management (CRM) data to
create better segmentation, sending
thank-you videos from the field and
increasing opportunities for engagement
— including telephone town hall
meetings and invitations to documentary
screenings and other events.
Source:
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-
articles/map-donors-giving-journey/

8. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Source: https://boagworld.com/usability/customer-journey-mappin

9. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
“Rather than beginning with shiny new
technology, we start by trying to establish
deep, personal empathy with our users to
determine their needs and wants. We must
fill in two blanks: our users need a better
way to ___ BECAUSE ___. The because
portion is a big deal.”
–Dr. James Patell, stanford d.School
source: CNN

10. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
As-is scenario map
Example scenario: Priyanka Chaurasia, Coroflot

11. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
As-is scenario map
Example scenario: Priyanka Chaurasia, Coroflot

12. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
As-is
scenario map

13. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
As-is scenario map

14. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Ideate
■ Have a clear goal
■ Diversity matters
■ Don't shoot down ideas
■ Question your assumptions
■ No negativity, no teasing for
crazy ideas
■ Put lots of ideas on the table—
no matter how silly
■ Start with problem statements
■ Make sure you record all ideas
■ Revisit
■ HOW MIGHT WE…

15. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Atmosphere
■ Dschool has 2 Spotify lists to
aid:
dschool.stanford.edu/resourc
es/two-playlists-for-classroom-
use
■ Make an engaging space
(catalystranchmeetings.com)

16. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Improv
1.Yes, AND…
2.Alphabet
3.Sound ball
4.Machine
5.Freeze
6.Body movement
evolution

17. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Activities
■ Love letters
■ Card sorting (navigation, emotions, goals)
■ Rose / Bud / Thorn
■ Competitors/complementors map (audience type, personality traits,
value propositions, features and capabilities)
– Social/Solo vs. Modern/Traditional
– Frequent/Infrequent Usage vs. Intimate/Distant User
Relationship
– Many/Few Users vs. Older/Younger Users
– High/Low Revenue vs. High/Low Market Share
– Ease/Difficulty of Use vs. Many/Few Features
– Market Disruptor/Moderate vs. High/Low Profitability
■ http://gamestorming.com/

18. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Design kit travel pack
www.kickstarter.com/projects/581125890/design-kit-travel-pack

19. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
“Have the mindset of testing to learn, not
testing to validate. This is where many
people get tripped up; they try to perfect
the idea rather than use a low-fidelity
prototype to learn from people.”
—Brendan Boyle, founder of IDEO Toy Lab

20. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Prototyping
■ As simple as
wireframes
(gomockingbird.com),
or a sketch/paper
■ Or a coded prototype
(framer.com,
invisionapp.com)

21. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
User testing
■ feedbacktools.org/
■ usertest.io/
■ uxcam.com/
■ usabilityhub.com/
■ brutalteardowns.com/

22. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Resources
■ dschool.stanford.edu/resources/the-bootcamp-bootleg
■ www.kickstarter.com/projects/581125890/design-kit-
travel-pack

23. Lisa Ghisolf • @gizmodesign • #ntcwpday
Thank you!
Lisa Ghisolf
lisa@gizmo-design.com
@gizmodesign
slideshare.com/gizmodeign