Design Decisions

I started looking into some work by James March and the his thoughts on the decision making process. He suggests there are two basic models for making decisions.

1. We weigh up the alternatives and calculate consequences then pick the one that yields the most value. This is the standard model in economics for decision making, that assumes we are rational and make choices based on the logical outcome that benefits the individual.


2. Is decision making based on identity considerations, Who am I? What situation is this? and what do people like me do in this type of situation? This type of decision making is much more based on principles to the individual.

These two decision making alternatives were interesting summaries of decision making. It definitely supports the work I have been reading about brand thinking and consumer behavior. That people naturally making decisions partly based on logical choices, but likewise are driven by internal drives and emotions as well as self identity.

As I dived deeper into the work on decision making, there were various discussions around the decision making process and methodology, which is basically outlined as :

1. Discover the problem
2. Define the problem
3. Define the Objectives
4. Think of Alternatives
5. Work out consequences
6. Make Trade Offs

Of course suddenly it made sense to me that this of course is reflective of the design thinking process, which in itself requires many decision making choices. So it makes sense that these two areas of methodology should have overlap and similarities. The early phases of discovery, rolling into definition followed by building alternatives or prototypes, ending with analysis and making the final result. Of course as such many of the design thinking tools can be used, to help in the decision making process, such as brainstorming, the 5 whys and user research.

In decision making important things to consider are, how we frame the problem. The framing of problems and finding the right questions are going to yield different results, so getting it right early on is going to save much time and effort later. Donald Schon, has written about this issue in his book "The Reflective Practitioner". Wording can go along way to changing peoples thoughts and ideas.

Decisions are not always rational and it should never be discounted that we are emotional creatures and that may affect the decisions we make. Our ability to keep our attention on a task, remember information and clearly think about problems can also have impact on our decision making.

I am not the only one to have noticed this similarity and Dan Saffer, put together a nice slide presentation here on decision making and design.

Summarizing some of the decision theories he outlines in his presentation.

Utility Theory - Each decision has a cost or consequence, as well as a benefit. We weight the benefits against the consequences to arrive at the best choice. Sometimes though the comparisons are not objectively the same. Sometimes the decisions are subjective and then it becomes an individual choice that has other influences, that maybe less rational.

Descriptive Theory - This is about how we actually go about making decisions. It suggests we are driven by forces that try to avoid regret, like loss aversion. We rationalize our decisions to ourselves so that we do not feel regret later. One of the interesting phrases that is used is the term "satisficing" the combination of satisfying and suffice. The idea is to reach a level of just good enough, that makes it easier to make decisions, rather than striving for perfection. Considering the huge amount of data and information we have to process in modern times this is good way to optimize decision making. In his book "The Paradox of Choice" Barry Schwartz mention this problem with consumer choices being to many, "satisficing" is a potential way to avoid becoming frozen in decision making for a consumer.

Decisions surround us everyday, we have to make easy ones, and sometimes very hard ones. Along with this we sometimes have a great deal of time to make those choices and other times it has to be in a blink of an eye. What I like is that designers and design thinking methodology offers one possible way to systematically make the decision making process work in business and new product development teams. Not by guessing but by consideration, learning, building then evaluating. What is clear is that it is not always possible to know which is the right path, but having some form of process can help start the journey.

Sharks and the Availability Bias

Do deer or sharks kill more people a year? If you look into stories covered in the media or reports on the internet you would find all kinds of horror stories and tales of sharks attacks and fatalities. Certainly most people have a very rational and natural fear of this large tooth filled animal. Steven Spielberg film Jaws went a long way to a general fear of being in shark infested waters for swimmers and paddlers. It is fair to say that if you like me were asked this question you would probably answer that of course sharks are more dangerous and attack more people a year than humble docile deer. The truth is a little more surprising.

You would actually be wrong, in fact deer kill many more people every year in car accidents than sharks attacking swimmers. The poor shark has become the victim of our own imaginations. Although I would still prefer to stroke a deer than a shark, the truth tell us that the shark is persecuted by our beliefs and this can of course have negative consequences if making an important uninformed decision. If we are not properly informed the decision could well be the wrong one and have a consequence for the shark that is unjustified. So what might be happening here. Well it seems this is part of what is know in psychology as the Availability Bias.

Availability Bias is a cognitive bias that generally causes us to over estimate a probable outcome based on how recently or well a memory is stored in our brains. So in the instance of the shark comparison because they have such a strong mental image for us, heightened by the news stories, internet tales and films, we have a stronger belief that this animal is more likely to attack us and base our belief on how easily we recall the shark in our minds. This incorrect information is the result of the availability bias. This the same condition that makes people fear flying when in fact there are far more fatal car accidents. The recall of the information is more likely to be based on how often and when we last heard of a similar event.

This bias can also affect how you approach a problem or business decision. You might jump to conclusion based on opinion and subjective information. The information you use may also be subject to this bias. Care must be taken when making assumptions about consumers and users of products. Without the real data or study of the target people it is too easy to make sweeping statements based on incorrect information. You might for example make a decision based on assumptions about the users preferences that are general opinion rather than fact. Do girls always like pink rather than blue? Do Apple consumers really hate Microsoft? Yes the media paints these pictures but that doesn't make them absolutely true, I am sure that some people buy Apple iPhones, but use Windows PC's at work, or there are girls out there that actually hate pink. The point being made here is that the availability bias can creep into product and service design as well as business decision very easily if the choice is made based on opinion rather than facts, or testing. We shouldn't rely on our most recent memory of this in the news or the last time we saw this product in use or use as the standard opinion of a small group of people. It is important to not allow this bias to cause us to make the wrong decision, as it can be quite incorrect.

Of course this says a lot about how we rely on the news, opinions, ratings and stories of others to inform our decisions. This is why we should be aware and careful the next time we jump to a conclusion without a little more research into the truth.

Kinect for impact

So what to do, if you have a new product and it is not quite ready for a big show, but you want to get people excited about it and want them to try it out and look at it freely by themselves. This was the problem posed to us here at Identitymine recently along with our good friends at Critical Mass, for their client Nissan. I was lucky enough to be a part of this project and thought I would share some of our experiences.

The Chicago autoshow was due in a matter of weeks and the concept car wasn't quite ready for the show, but they had to find a way to show off the new car and impress people with their new offering for the year. The solution was to push technology further than before and try something a little different. So with help from Critical Mass we produced a 3D model and placed it in a gesture based environment that utilizes Microsoft Kinect. The results were stunning and a real testament to how far technology and interactive experiences have come.
This is in my opinion is a vision of the future of virtual showrooms.

Interactive platform where user walks around car. The large monitor is hanging
from the ceiling in the top right corner.

So what exactly did it take for us to pull this off? Firstly the 3D model was several million polygons, and had an immense amount of detail from not only the model itself but also the texturing. The car was always intended to be a real time 3D object not pre-rendered, as you normally see on websites and in Flash. In order to make this work, some extra time was required to reduce the poly count and reproduce some of the texturing to make it a reasonable object to play with without needing a super computer to calculate all the information points. Even with this effort, due to the fact we had to retain so much detail because the car was meant to be reflective of the real car, the machine we used was very high end and ran a powerful graphics card, but it was an off the self HP machine and is a consumer model. The end result was quite simply amazing to see a real time 3D render of a such a detailed and large model. Think Forza 4!!!

Million Polygon Model with HDR lighting effects

The next challenge was to build the lighting and environment, this was originally built out of real 3d objects and it was intended to show the car in a real setting and lighting scene, but the decision was to reduce the environmental clutter to allow the car the shine as the star. Although the environment was well within capabilities of the team and machine. Using HDR maps we produced a rather nice lighting schema that was very much inline with real car photography that uses huge light boxes. This really brought out the curves and reflection throughout the vehicle. Of course the great thing about a 3D object and environment is everything was editable and even possible to see results in real time. After lighting and general model tweaking everything had to become an interactive experience. This was a real discovery process.

Two Kinects Interaction Zones

It was always imagined that you should be able to walk around the car as you might at a dealership. This of course was not quite possible with a static TV and single Kinect sensor. So the next effort was spent making the Kinect track the user in front of the screen and rotate the car as you walk from side to side, amazingly the Kinect would even track you up and down motion as you walked across side to side, giving a real feeling of you being in front of the car. Some issues occurred with the "visible zone" of the Kinect and this was resolved with a second sensor increasing the area it could see, but this also require deeper development to make it work. With more time and effort we might have been able to work out a way to project a more curved screen experience, but even so, the car would rotate from front to back within the distance from one side of the screen to the other. One of the amazing features of the demo was the ability to open the doors and go inside the car to check out the seating and dashboard. The nice part was not only the incredible texturing and lighting detail but also the fact that using zones in front of the Kinect sensor we were able to allow you to "step back" to any of the 3 rows of seating within the car as well as glance around and change seating location.

High Res Interior, with Drivers Eye View

The end result was truly amazing and has been gaining a lot of attention at the Chicago Autoshow. All of this was acheived in weeks not months or years. An amazing effort from our talented crew here at Identitymine and Critical Mass. The main interaction was performed in front of a 52" TV and the large projection was placed above the car for all to view. An amazing thing to see at the autoshow. Overall the project had some interesting challenges and pushed the current technology really hard but the results speak for themselves, we have come along way, and I believe this shows a glimpse of what is now possible. The car model and interactions are stunning and proof that we are close to very virtual showrooms where you can pick cars and see them in almost life like settings.

If you are near Chicago or attending the show, I really recommend you check it out.

The 5 Whys

Why?Why?Why? is the repetitive question that every parent hears from their children growing up, when they think of something that peaks their curiosity. This is of course is expected as they begin to grow and learn about the World around them and have more questions than answers. So interestingly this same activity is actually a good way to approach problems in the adult World as well, especially when looking for answers to important problems.

When a problem exists it can be hard to know where to begin to solve that issue. Sometimes what seems obvious is actually way more complex than it first appeared to be. So before jumping to conclusions and investing time and money in unknowns it is important to look for the root cause of the issue, and address that first. So how might we begin to deconstruct the problem and get closer to the root cause of the issue? There are a few techniques that allow you to do this, including root cause analysis, cause and effect analysis and the 5 whys. Each has technique has its advantages and help get to the root of the problem. The first two are the more powerful forms of the 5 whys technique that really try to solve complex issues. They require more investment of time and gathering data and making statistical analysis. The 5 whys on the other hand, really shines in a more rapid and simple problem solving exercise that might be looking for more of a direction to begin further investigation. The 5 whys is the focus of this post.

First let's look at the technique, well quite simply you ask the question why 5 times to a problem statement and recursively build on the previous answer to ask the next question. This is best explained through an example.

Say for example an worker damages his thumb at work on a conveyor belt, and we want to get to the root cause of the problem. So if we plug that into the 5 whys we might end up with this:


Why did the associate damage his thumb?
Because his thumb got caught in the conveyor.
Why did his thumb get caught in the conveyor?
Because he was chasing his bag, which was on a running conveyor.
Why did he chase his bag?
Because he had placed his bag on the conveyor, which had then started unexpectedly.
Why was his bag on the conveyor?
Because he was using the conveyor as a table.

This example highlights that the problem isn't what might have been assumed at the beginning of the exercise, that maybe the worker was unskilled. Instead it seems the problem could have been avoided by adding a table for the bag to be placed on instead of the conveyor belt.

This technique can be a great way to dive into assumptions and works well in creative brainstorming sessions as it is so quick and aims for rapid answers. It quickly can identify root causes of simple problem statement and engage a questioning activity among team members and clients. It also can help identify relationships between different levels of an issue, without a huge investment in data and statistical analysis that more complex issues require. It can even work well to find out what motivations are involved in new product decisions and brand development. The reasoning can come out by examining the answers to each level of the questions.

When engaging in this activity, it is important to understand that there are 3 essential techniques to making this exercise effective, otherwise the exercise will have more likelihood to investigate symptoms rather than root causes, it can cause limited ability of those involved to cast their minds beyond the current knowledge and it can lack the of facilitation of people to investigate the problem space, so that they can come up with the right questions. So with that in mind these 3 considerations are good to remember to better facilitate the activity.


1. Create an accurate and complete problem statement
2. Be honest in answering the questions
3. A determination to get to the bottom of the problem and solve it.


following these 3 premises will help make the questioning more productive and produce better results, as each member in the team will be proactive in trying to answer and solve the issues at hand. The process itself can also be improved by considering the following.


1. Gather a team refine the problem statement. Once this is done, decide whether or not additional individuals are needed to be included to resolve the problem.


2. Make the first question "why is does this problem exist?" There might be 3 or 4 sensible answers. These should be recorded and investigated.


3. Ask the why question to each question generated in the beginning. Follow up on all plausible answers. Sometimes these may require more than 5 why questions.


4. Among the answers to the last "why" look for systemic causes of the problem. Follow up the after the session with a debriefing and show the results to others to confirm that they see logic in the conclusion.


5. After deciding the probably root cause to the problem, develop appropriate corrective actions to fix the problem. The actions can be undertaken by others but planning and implementation will benefit from team inputs.


The 5 Whys is a powerful and quick technique to use in meetings and brainstorming exercises and can even help you individually think at a more granular level about a particular issue. As long as the technique is used carefully and the results are not necessarily the end of the investigation and expected solution then this can be a great way to get to the bottom of simple issues. So next time a child asks you why about something, remember that this is great way to see the world around you, and encourage them to see how it can lead to results.

Instagram - How small ideas can win big

Instagram the iPhone app that released into the market place about a year ago, is now up to about 15 million users worldwide, and it seems to be a run away success story that has no limits to where it might end up. They now have large brands such as GE,Starbucks, as well as, fashion brands like Gucci and Burberry trying to get in on the action using their platform to get access to the huge social network around a simple photo editing and sharing application. So what might be some of the factors that lead Instagram to their huge success?

Firstly let's look a quick look at the application as a user experience. The idea was the collaboration of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. They had been slightly less successful in an early product called Burbn, a location sharing service, but this early failure I have no doubt helped in building Instagram right.

The application uses the pictures you take with you iPhone and then allows you to apply some nice professional looking filters, that make the images look very "instamatic" and retro in appearance. Then you can share the pictures across multiple social networks all at once. The results are pleasing to look at and have a nice aesthetic and the sharing aspect is very easy and quick to use. This I think is the first successful aspect to the application design simplicity. There is nothing complex in what the app does or how it behaves. Everything is simple and it does what it does very well, allowing you to take pictures, edit them then share. The application is also free to download and this makes recommending the application to a friend easy when it doesn't cost anything to try. Another successful way to allow easy adoption, and it makes it very able to become viral.



So how about the picture results, well of course the hi-res camera in the iPhone already can take pretty good pictures but the filters that Instagram allows you to apply are very well produced and make the images have a retrospective look and feel. This of course is another huge value add to the application, as two important things have occurred. One is that the pictures you take can look more stylistic and artistic with a sense of a 1960's surfer magazine, but more importantly there is a trend occurring right now across the design community for more retro hazy looking work in photography and graphics. American Eagle, GAP and many other companies are using the retro aesthetic in their branding. This makes the application fit right inline with current trend for that style, as it helps make those style pictures with your own images and share them. This again increases the likelyhood of the app becoming a viral and sticky idea. It stands out from other applications that do photo editing and makes it slightly unique and fitting in with a current trend in photography for fashion.


Most importantly there is of course the social sharing aspect to the application and how to help that spreading of the message and application among friends. Here again the application makes this super easy and you can share to multiple social outlets at the same time. Also you have the ability to rate, favorite and comment on peoples pictures with ease. Supporting the idea of social sharing and helping get the app noticed by others.

So what kinds of users might be most interested in this app, well of course these are right now mostly iPhone users so they are already mostly going to be pretty social, probably young and looking for new ways to express themselves and their lives to each other. They are already sharing photos but want to tell their stories in an unexpected way. Instagram can help them show how trendy they are but I think more importantly Instagram helps these users tell stories and make them look hazy and artisitic that adds to that narrative of being creative and fun, like "it used to be".

When we think of the aesthetic of retro imagery we think back to a time of naivete and exploration. I at least am taken back to the images of californian surfers with their hand made boards and a time when people were less stressed by the things we are today and less connected. Things were less than perfect but people seemed happier. The 1960's onwards was expressed visually by the camera this app imitates, the instamatic camera with the instant polariod effect, when people cared less about perfection and quite simply felt more content with the fact the moment had even been captured, they were more into the event than the image captured. That is at least one of my interpretations of this style. Of course each person has their own inner narrative of why this style may appeal to them, as Rob Walker suggests in his book Buying In.



The Instagram application is a success not because of one particular thing, but because of many reasons as well as a good dose of timing and the trending of people's interests. I think the application is a joy to use and has many great things to say about good quality apps that should do small tasks very well and simply when possible. I also think that if you want success in the marketplace with all the others apps out there then you have to offer a way to be social and share the idea, easily and freely. Instagram allows you to have fun be social and share things you find, that might otherwise be mundane and turn them into something new and unexpected, this is role of any great photographer. To capture the world and tell stories, this app helps.

Creative Space

Charles and Ray Eames' studio in LA was the place for some of the most creative work and ideas to be thought up and built in America from 1950's to 1978. Their studio was really an extension and expression of the two creative minds that worked there along with their talented designers. the Architect (Charles) and the Painter (Ray) saw the world through those perspectives. What really strikes me about their studio was that it seemed to be a place that not only fostered ideas but encouraged creativity throughout the space. They built and environment for creative thinking. They seemed to naturally know that the space they worked in would influence their thoughts and should be made to work that way.

Just looking at the layout and openness of the space it is easy to see how ideas could be generated and experimented with quickly and easily. The chance to reorganize the space to suit the project was a common theme to the Eames. They were constantly rearranging the space. They would be jumping from filming a creative vignette, taking photos, making a model for a huge exhibition, to designing another Herman Miller Chair. Around the walls were inspiration and a certain amount of random clutter, that allowed the chance pollination of ideas across different themes. The opportunity for inspiration is very apparent and the ability to jump into to sketching or making something is always at hand. The Eames studio really allows a creative mind to stroll freely around the space and be inspired. There is no doubting the effect it had on the work they produced from films to products. The Eames studio was a power house of creativity during their time and I believe the environment they created for themselves went along way to helping this process.

Of course by today's standards this doesn't seem anything particularly new, but at the time it was very forward thinking. The Eames' studio ideal is still used and encouraged at design studios all over the World today. The openness to be expressive and the tools to be creative. The ability to rapidly build something or sketch out ideas is something that design agencies still encourage in their spaces. The realization is that being playful and encouraging mixed conversations can really improve the creative mind and lead to interesting insights.

I think the environment that people work in greatly affects the creative ability to think and be innovative. I think that the Eames studio and philosophy to build a playful and interactive environment proved itself over and over again during their career and helped them fulfill their imaginative ability to make all manner of things, giving them a space to release their inner creative mind. Their products have stood the test of time and still today are bought and admired by people with an eye for good design.

You can watch a documentary film about the Eames and see the environment they created for themselves here.

Could Crowdfunding be the Future of New Project Development?

Reading this article reminds us that the jump from concepting and ideation to actual production is something that can be very difficult. Could crowdfunding be a possible solution to this more difficult problem of funding ideas?

Traditionally, design companies show new product development workflow as something like this.

With design concepting and ideation on the left progressively working towards a proof of concept and prototype, then finally flowing through to production and distribution. All very simple when you know how. Of course this is the idealized view of product development and it requires time and effort, not to mention money to make this process work.

The reality is as the article suggests more like this.

Where the concepting and ideation are can be quick and full of possibilities then the reality of having to make and distribute and getting investors involved can change the new products possibility of surviving in the marketplace. Ultimately you have to get to a point in the product development where considerations about marketing and product placement occur. To get people to buy your product thoughts on differentiation from competition and potential rivals has to occur. Most likely you will need some kind of advertising and marketing effort to make that happen. When should these have been considered? Probably quite early on in the product life-cycle. Then the questions of manufacturing and shipping to consumers has to discussed and solved. Apple hasn't just been innovative in their products but also in the infrastructures that support the making and shipping of these items. Innovation si more than a good idea and great product.

So this leads onto the focus of the article, for the majority of start ups and small businesses that have lower budgets and not the reach and resources for these systems to be put in place, how can they solve these issues without help? Could a form of crowdsourcing that involves investments from a crowd, called crowdfunding help?

Firstly there are 2 important questions to ask yourself.

1. Do I have the time to make this commitment?
2. Do I want to develop this publicly

These questions of course have huge impacts on whether you should begin a crowdfunded project.

Certainly crowdfunding has been shown to work in gathering money for projects\ that seem worthwhile. One attempt at this that has proven successful has been the work by Grameen bank, an attempt at helping the third World at getting micro financial help for individual projects that can help those in extreme poverty.

So how might this fit into the building of an idea at what stage should you seek funding from other people. The website suggests getting people involved at the proof of concept stage, of course this makes sense that people want to see at least something working in action rather than pure speculation. Then the idea has already started to prove at least it can be made. The speculation of course might still be in the interest of the public at large and it's possibility of future growth and success. But then that is what investment is all about, speculation on future growth.

There are already many sites forming on this concept such as kickstarter and IndieGoGo, they are proving out the model and already have many projects looking for crowd funding. Time will tell how successful these become. but already signs are looking positive for this new venture into funding. Kickstarter has already as of 2010, had 319 successful projects and raised over $9.1 Million in funding these efforts. Top catagories seem to be towards film and music efforts with design making a growth sector in third. The reason suggested is that designer primarily spend their time working on projects for others and are not as used to pitching their ideas for themselves.

Noted reasons for Kickstarters crowdsourcing success are suggested to be:

1. They filter which projects get posted to the crowd -
makes them interesting and worthwhile

2. You only get funding if you meet the threshold of prior to launching your project
keeps projects realistic and encourages crowd participation in promotion as projects get close to reaching their goals

3. Easy to find and promote projects
Easy is always good in these efforts, as it makes it easier for anyone to get involved.

4. Its success has made it more successful
As Malcolm Gladwell would suggest reaching a tipping point in success will only lead to more interest by others.

5. It's not about the money
Like most crowdsourcing efforts the crowd is most motivated by personal pet projects and interests.

You can find out more information about crowdsourcing in a previous post here.