Class 2:

Inspiration Phase

2
Inspiration Phase

INSPIRATION IDEATION IMPLEMENTATION

The Design Process

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Table Of Contents

Class 2
Inspiration Phase

Readings
Overview of Inspiration Phase
Step 1: Choose a Design Challenge
Step 2: Plan Your Research Methods
Step 3: Build Your Discussion Guide
Step 4: Additional Research Methods
Step 5: Capture Your Learnings

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INSPIRATION IDEATION IMPLEMENTATION

Overview of the Inspiration Phase

Creating meaningful solutions begins with gaining a
deep understanding of people’s needs.

In the Inspiration phase, you’ll learn directly

from the people you’re designing for as you
immerse yourself in their lives and come to
deeply understand their needs and aspirations.
The Inspiration phase is about learning on the fly,
opening yourself up to creative possibilities, and
trusting that as long as you remain grounded in
desires of the people you’re designing for, your
ideas will evolve into the right solution.

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Step 1: Choose a Design Challenge

As part of this course, you will be selecting one of three design challenges. You’ll spend
time with your team to select the design challenge that you wish to tackle and then create
a common understanding of what you are working toward.

INSPIRATION Collect Thoughts Define What You Don’t Know

As a team, your first step will be to talk You’ll also want to write down and
about the design challenge you choose share what you don’t know or don’t yet
to work on. You’ll collect and write down understand about the challenge. And
thoughts about your challenge. Your remember, an important part of human-
team will discuss how you can refine centered design is embracing your
the challenge if it feels too broad, or too beginner’s mind. It’s not a bad thing if there
specific. are aspects of the design challenge that you
don’t yet grasp.
Review What You Already Know
Chances are good that members of your Review Constraints or Barriers
team will have some knowledge about the Your team will review a list of constraints
design challenge you choose. It will be or barriers that might prevent you from
important for your team to share what you tackling the design challenge. You’ll also
already know, so you can build upon it and brainstorm solutions for overcoming or
then focus on discovering what you don’t working around these barriers.
yet know.

This design team working on reproductive health in Zambia spent time as

a team reviewing their assumptions, knowledge of existing barriers, and
questions of things they didn’t know, before heading to the field.

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Step 2: Plan Your Research Methods

Research is the fuel for your ideas. During the Inspiration phase you’ll want to plan
research activities to learn from the people you’re designing for and explore unfamiliar
contexts. As part of this course, we’ve selected four good starting points—learn from
people, learn from experts, immerse yourself in context, and seek analogous inspiration.

A. Learn From People

This team working on improving urban food security in Nairobi gathered information from
vegetable sellers at a local market.

Human-centered design is built upon deeply empathetic research. It’s spending quality
time with people to gain insight about and inspiration from the people you’re designing for.
But learning from people requires practice and preparation. Here’s where to start.

This Gives You Define Your Audience Recruitment Tools

In-depth insight into Before you dig into your research, it’s It’s important to have a strategy around who
people’s needs and critical to know who you’re designing for. you talk to, what you ask them, and what
motivations.
Think about the people or groups that are pieces of information you need to gather.
directly involved in or reached by your Don’t be afraid to tap into your personal
Keep in Mind
Experts are everywhere—
challenge, and then add those who are network: people are generally happy to
and you don’t need peripherally relevant. Those are the people share what they know, particularly if you
a degree to be one. you want to talk to. tell them that you are learning a new design
Treat your interviewee process for creating positive social change
as an expert. You’re Extremes & Mainsteams in the community.
interviewing them about When recruiting people to interview, target
their life, and in that, both the big broad mainstream and those Create a Trusted Atmosphere
they are the expert. Be on either extreme of the spectrum. An Start the conversation on a casual note.
curious and always give idea that suits an extreme user will nearly Talk about a subject that is unrelated to
them the respect they
certainly work for the majority too. More your research first to make the interviewee
deserve.
importantly, talking to extremes can spark feel comfortable. Be considerate of the
creativity by exposing you to use cases that space you are in and make sure you have an
you’d never have imagined on your own. appropriate level of privacy.

Plan Logistics
Think about what exactly you want to do
with each participant. Where do you want to
meet them? How much time will you spend
with them? Is there an activity you can do
together to enrich conversation? What will
you ask them to show you?

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CAPTURE...
Pay Attention to the Environment Take Photographs
Try to meet in the person’s context—in their Photographs help you remember who you
home, office, or workplace. This will help talked to and what you saw. Photographs
you get a better sense of what’s important taken during your interviews will make
to them. During the conversation, be your research more visual, meaningful,
curious about the environment. Ask about and easier to recall and navigate. But
objects or spaces you find interesting, and make sure to ask interviewees if it’s OK
if you sense the person might be willing, ask to take photographs, and never use those
for a tour. photographs for anything beyond internal
project use.
Capture Quotes
During your interview, capture important
quotes directly rather than interpreting
what you think the person is saying. Later,
when sharing back with your team, you
will have a more accurate record of who
the person is—on their terms and in their
language.

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B. Learn From Experts

When designing a campaign for early learning, this team talked with an expert in child
development who is working a continent away.

Though human-centered design is all about talking with people, there are moments where
you’ll need more context or history than a typical interview can afford. This is where both
expert interviews and secondary research come into play.

This Gives You Expert Interview Secondary Research

Access to in-depth Experts can often give you a systems- Social sector challenges can be really
knowledge in a certain level view of your project area, tell you thorny, which is why secondary research,
area of expertise.
about recent innovations—successes and whether done online, by reading books, or
failures—and offer the perspectives of by crunching numbers, can help you ask
Keep in Mind
Find the balance between
organizations like banks, governments, the right questions. A firm foundation of
using experts to get a or NGOs. You will want to choose experts knowledge is the best place from which
good understanding of based on your objective. Are you looking for to tackle a design challenge. Try to find
the current situation someone with a radical opinion, or do you recent innovations in your particular area.
and preserving space to want to gain a more historical overview of They could be technological, behavioral,
think beyond the existing what’s worked and what hasn’t? Get a few or cultural. Better yet, take a look at other
models. different perspectives to balance out your solutions in your area. Which ones worked?
information. You might also look to experts Which ones didn’t?
for specific technical advice.

Plan For The Conversation

Ask smart, researched questions and plan
how you want the conversation to flow.
Though you should come prepared with an
idea of what you’d like to learn, make sure
your game plan is flexible enough to allow
you to pursue unexpected lines of inquiry.

You could even consider asking the expert

to actively help you work on an early
concept.

Using videoconferencing tools like Skype

will allow you to share and build on visual
concepts in real time.

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C. Immerse Yourself In Context

A team designing new ways to improve clean cookstove usage in Tanzania spent an entire
Saturday with a local family cooking a meal.

The Inspiration phase is dedicated to hearing the voices and understanding the lives of
the people you’re designing for. There’s no better way to understand the people you’re
designing for than by immersing yourself in their lives and communities.

This Gives You Plan Your Observations Reflect on What You’ve Observed
Skills for learning from The best route to gaining an understanding Immediately after your observation, take
what’s around you. of the people you’re designing for is to some time to reflect upon the moments you
see in person, where they live, work, and found most interesting. Capture them on
Keep in Mind
lead their lives. Choose an experience that Post-its or in your notebook so you will be
Approach your
observation with an
can inform your challenge. For example, able to share back with your team in a way
open mind and imagine if you are looking for new ideas on ways that is accurate, vivid, and visual.
this as the first time you to provide healthier food options for
have gone through this people in need, you might visit a low-cost
experience. Look for cafeteria or fast food restaurant during the
details you may have lunchtime rush. Wait in line, order a meal,
overlooked before. and observe the space as you eat. If you
have the opportunity, you can learn a lot by
shadowing someone for a few hours.

Capture What You See

It’s easy to interpret what’s in front of you
before you’ve fully understood it, but first
be sure you’re taking down concrete details
and quotes alongside your impressions.

Think of certain aspects you want to

capture, such as:

• Map out the different parts of your

experience from beginning to end (we
call this “the customer journey”).
• How did you feel at different parts of
the experience?
• What was unexpected? Challenging?
Seamless?

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D. Analagous Inspiration
When helping surgical teams deal with complex procedures, designers looked at how car
racing pit-crews optimized their workflow for safety and efficiency.

You’re probably familiar with what an analogy is: it’s an associative thought-process that
allows you to transfer meaning from one subject to another. Analogous research takes
inspiration from a different context to give you a fresh perspective.

This Gives You Brainstorm Analogous Experiences Just Take It In

A new perspective on the Start with a large sheet of paper, and list the Don’t worry too much about making sense
challenge you’re working distinct activities, behaviors, and emotions of the experience in the moment. This part
on, as well as inspiration
you’re looking to research in your own of inspiration is all about gaining learnings
and energy.
design challenge. Next to each one, write from unexpected places and experiences. In
Keep in Mind
down a setting or situation where you might fact, your design team may find it helpful to
Explore with an open observe this activity, behavior, or emotion. keep an eye out for analogous experiences
mind, even if you do not For example, when one of our teams was throughout the process, not just in the
immediately understand designing an online college experience, they Inspiration phase. Later on, it might
how to apply your narrowed down one objective to learn how influence your project in ways you never
experiences. After to create a sense of community. This team imagined.
you regroup, spend sought out and interviewed a former Navy
time relating what you SEAL to understand how they structure
found interesting to the bootcamp to create intentional bonds
challenge you are working
amongst recruits.
on.

Make Arrangements
If you want to talk with people while in a
private (as opposed to public) space, it’s best
to get permission. For example, if you’re
going to a hotel for inspiration and want to
interview staff or take pictures of the space,
speak with a manager ahead of time.

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Step 3: Build Your Discussion Guide

Having a good conversation with someone you don’t know isn’t always easy. When speaking
with research participants, you first have to help them feel comfortable. It might seem odd,
but conducting an interview with a casual tone and feel requires rigourous preparation.
Here’s where to start.

Identify Objectives • Go Deep: ask more profound questions

As a team, think about the goal of your about hopes, fears, and ambitions. It’s
design challenge. Ask yourselves some basic best if these questions are open-ended,
questions: Why are you doing the research? but relate subtly back to your design
What are you trying find out? Who are you challenge. For example, if you were
going to talk to or observe? Know that the working on a project related to saving
most valuable part of creating a discussion money, you might ask someone to draw
guide is the thinking that goes into it. the five big things they’re saving money
for over the next ten years and how
Brainstorm Questions those things fit into their life goals.
When writing your guide, think about
the kind of feedback that’s going to be Word Questions Strategically
most useful and inspiring. Discussion Frame questions in an open-ended way. This
guides should not be seen as scripts for the helps you to further explore your challenge
observation, but rather guide rails to make and elaborate on interesting themes you
sure you stay on track. Make questions discover during the conversations. Try:
easily scannable so you can maintain more
eye contact with your interviewee. • “Tell me about an experience …”
• “What are the best/worst parts
Organize Your Questions about …?”
A good rule of thumb is start specific, finish • “Can you help me understand about …?”
deep. This will give your interviewee time
to get comfortable with you. Here’s some Encourage people to tell you their whole
helpful guidelines: story and avoid questions that lead to yes/no
answers.
• Open Specific: gather basic
demographics first. Ask people their
age, what they do for a living, if they
have children, etc. Begin with questions
your participants are comfortable
answering. For example, if you are
designing new savings products, you
might ask people to make a list of all of
the things they purchased yesterday.

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Use Tangible Conversation Starters Assign Roles

It can be helpful to share early ideas or As part of your field research, you’ll
concepts in your conversation, particularly designate one person to lead the
when you are working on an abstract conversation and a different team member
challenge. You can create a sketch, build to take notes. Remember to encourage them
a simple cardboard representation, or to write down direct quotes and capture the
details we’ve outlined on page 6. The team
describe a scenario to elicit a reaction or
should also select someone to photograph
response from participants. These are called your interview subject and the surrounding
conversation starters. environment. Make sure you ask for
permission before taking any photos. It’s
Confirm Your Plans often best to build trust with your interview
You should confirm date, time, and location subject before asking to take photos, so you
for your research activities. Agree on may want to leave this until you’ve finished
logistics, including transportation, with the interview.
your team. Can you conduct your research
during the Class 2 Workshop? Consider
scheduling Class 2 on a weekend so that
your team has more time to talk with and
meet people. We encourage you to take as
much time as you need for the research
activities. Don’t feel like you must complete
Class 2 within the allotted workshop time.

RESEARCH TIPS

Establish Trust With Participants. Know What To Look For.

• Listen patiently. Do not interrupt, and allow • What people “say” is often different than
for pauses to give participants time to think. what they actually “do.” Look for cues in the
• Use nonverbal gestures, such as eye contact, things that people keep around them or the
nodding, and smiling, to reassure participants way they carry themselves.
you are engaged and interested in what they • Notice workarounds that people have made
are saying. to make a system or tool serve their needs
better.
Encourage Participants To Show As Well As Tell.
• Have participants draw what they’retalking Capture What You See.
about. Visuals often prompt more conversation. Take lots of notes and photos of what you see,
• Try asking “why?” in response to five hear, feel, smell, and taste during a field visit.
consecutive answers. Capture direct quotes when possible. Write
down immediate thoughts without worrying
about interpretation.

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Step 4: Additional Research Methods

Though likely difficult to explore given the time constraints of this course, these are some
other methods we use at [Link] to gain a deeper understanding of the people you’re
designing for. Just some food for thought!

Personal Diaries Card Sorts

Ask participants to reflect at the end of Create a series of cards with a single word or
the day on certain moments or themes. image on it and ask participants to prioritize
This gives them time for personal and what’s most/least important, interesting, or
uninterrupted thinking, and gives you an relevant to them.
interviewee’s thoughts captured in their
own words. Use this when: You want multiple
participants to narrow down a set of ideas.
Use this when: You want to get a longer
view of a participant’s experience over an Concept Provocations
extended amount of time. These are a series of concept drawings with
accompanying explanations. Concepts
Photo Essays could be outliers meant to elicit a strong
Give participants a disposable camera reaction, or early ideas you might want to
and a list of objects and/or experiences to build into prototypes.
photograph throughout their day. This gives
you a firsthand, visual perspective about Use this when: You want early feedback on
your participants through things that are why participants like or don’t like certain
important to them, or are part of features.
their everyday lives.

Use this when: You want to compare and

contrast the different daily experiences and
realities of a set of participants.

Journey Maps
Have participants create a personal timeline
of an experience, then have them map how
they felt at different points along the way.
Use the map as a visual jumping off point
for conversation.

Use this when: You want to discuss a

complicated system or series of interactions
with a participant. (The process of buying a
car is a good example.)

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Step 5: Capture Your Learnings

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you have gathered after an
interview, so use a few minutes immediately after the session to capture what you’ve
observed, as well as any new ideas you have as a result.

Take Time To Regroup Illustrate New Ideas

Plan extra time so that you can share Did the observation spark a new thought
your thoughts and impressions with your or idea for you? Sketch it out. Don’t
teammates right after your interview or worry about the way your sketches look
observation. This may often happen in a or feel intimidated about being visual.
coffee shop or while in transit. These illustrations will simply help you
communicate your ideas to others and
Share Your Impressions give you all a head start on brainstorming
What are the things you found most concepts.
interesting during the observation? Listen
to each others recollections. Compare
experiences and impressions, but don’t
worry about interpreting these stories yet.

To cover the most important topics, consider

using these prompts:

• Sound bites: What were the most

memorable quotes that people heard?
Why were they memorable?

• Interesting stories: What was most

surprising to you?

• Interactions: What was interesting

about the way he/she interacted with
his/her environment?

• Remaining questions: What questions

would you like to explore in your next
conversation?

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Case Study: Vroom

A Human-Centered Take on Early Childhood Development

Advances in neuroscience and child development confirm what many

educators have long believed: Children’s readiness for kindergarten (and life
beyond) hinges on positive engagement with their parents and caregivers
during the first five years of their lives. This is the most active period for
brain development—children’s brains form new connections at a rate of
700 synapses per second. But as a society, we underinvest in children
and families during the earliest years, leaving far too much opportunity
on the table. For low-income parents, who may have lacked good models
themselves, much of the parenting advice is unattainable. The Bezos Family
Foundation and [Link] set out to activate engagement through new
tools and messages, and to broaden the prescription beyond commonly
heard (but not uniformly embraced) directives about reading to children.
Could there be a way to communicate brain science directly to parents in
ways that positively influence behavior, and raises the value of all forms of
positive interaction with babies
and toddlers?

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The Outcome

After extensive interviews with parents, child development experts, and pediatricians
around the country, the team developed a large-scale messaging campaign celebrating
everyday moments as learning opportunities. Whether sitting in the laundromat or
shopping at the supermarket, the fundamental message was that taking advantage of
the many chances to engage with a child strengthens the foundation of that child’s brain
development. The Bezos Family Foundation built upon our design team’s key insights,
further developed them, and in the spring of 2014, launched Vroom. Vroom advocates for
the time parents do have and using it in different ways to help build their kids’ brains.

INSPIRATION By modeling play, they were able to affect

behavior change and shift the parent-child
The [Link] team undertook a highly dynamic.
immersive inspiration phase, visiting Interviews with child development
low-income communities in California, experts and pediatricians tended to
New York, and Pennsylvania to conduct reinforce the direct findings: If parenting
interviews with parents and to observe advice is limited to reading books, those
existing programs aimed at improving who don’t feel comfortable reading aloud
child development outcomes. The team may forego all forms of engagement. One
learned that many of the parents they met pediatrician in New York argued outright
had had very tough upbringings. These that playing, talking to, and responding to
parents didn’t feel fully equipped to engage children trumps reading.
with their children, because their own In the end, immersion turned out to
parents didn’t engage with them. One of be absolutely critical to the design team
the most successful programs the team devising innovative solutions. Because
witnessed during their research was one the designers found themselves working
in which nurses went into people’s homes on behalf of communities that are quite
for several hours each week simply to play different from them, they had to push the
with the children in front of the parents. boundaries of their own empathy, but in

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doing so, they came to really understand the provid feedback on which character they’d
needs of low-income parents. trust for advice on child-rearing.
To the delight of the individual team From this feedback period, the team
members and to the benefit of the project, discovered that most parents, though they
this approach eventually led to open weren’t drawn to an academic approach
doors in the participating communities. to engaging their children, were very
By immersing in the neighborhoods and interested in the science behind behavior
communities they were looking to serve, the and brain development. Through a host of
team established trust with a core group of interviews, the team heard parents talking
individuals who then told their neighbors about a eureka moment after meeting
and referred friends, creating the critical with a neurologist who explained how the
mass necessary for understanding the science worked. It was a revelation that had
audience and building the right brand voice. a big impact on how they saw their role in
bringing up their child.
IDEATION
IMPLEMENTATION
When field research was complete, the team
returned to San Francisco to synthesize its By the end of the Inspiration and Ideation
findings and look for patterns among the phases, the [Link] team had created a
interviews. As they synthesized everything strong, well-defined creative brief that
they learned, the team began to formulate a could be handed to an advertising agency
voice, identity, and set of design principles and used as the foundation for a major
for the [Link] came to some core campaign. They came up with provocations
principles that still guide Vroom today, and prompts for people to play with their
ideas like Speak in the voice of their peers, kids as well as an advertising strategy that
Withhold Judgment, and All parents want to included guerrilla interventions displayed
be good parents. in laundromats instead of on big billboards.
The team came up with a series of After another couple years of refinement
personas, each of them representing a and more design work, the Bezos Family
woman from the communities being served, Foundation launched the pilot of Vroom in
then invited mothers to the office to review 2014 in King County in Washington State.
mood boards, listen to sample voices, and

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Method in Action: Immersion

In 2012, [Link] began work on a project with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an
organization that seeks to advance the global market for clean cookstoves. A compelling technology,
clean cookstoves have the potential to improve health by reducing exposure to smoke from traditional
fires and stoves, improve livelihoods through increased savings from reduction of fuel use, and help
the environment via a decrease in carbon emissions. Emily Friedberg, a designer on the project, wrote
about a day spent cooking with a Tanzanian family as part of her team’s Inspiration phase research.

Given language and cultural barriers, it’s the squawking chicken. Cameras ready, we
relatively difficult to really get to know watched as he cut through the bird’s neck,
people in Tanzania in a short amount drained the blood, and left the carcass
of time. To remedy this situation, our twitching in a bowl ready for plucking.
[Link] cookstoves team arranged to The meal took several hours to prepare.
spend an entire day with one family, There was swapping of pots and lids, lids
casually hanging out and cooking an doubled as cutting boards, and each item
afternoon meal. including water and the chicken went
Daniel and Gaudensia welcomed us into through several discrete processes before
their family of nine in the Tanzanian town it reached the table. And when it was done,
of Buhongwe. Our first stop was the market three hours later, it was elaborately dished
where we bought everything we needed onto plates for the men and the guests and
for our feast including meat, beans, sweet eaten out of cooking pots for women and
potato, ugali flour, fruits and vegetables, children, and all consumed in the space of
and… a live chicken. 20 minutes.
When we got home, the ladies quickly got And then, when it was cleared, they
to work lighting the three charcoal stoves lit the charcoal stove again and started
and cutting up the meat and vegetables. The preparing for dinner.
oldest boy, Godwa, was told to slaughter

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2Workshop Guide

INSPIRATION IDEATION IMPLEMENTATION

The Design Process

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Table of Contents

The Class 2 Workshop involves getting out into the community for your
field research and does take some time, so we’ve budgeted two weeks to
complete it. Spend the first week planning your research (Activities 01-05)
and the second week conducting your research (Activity 06). Whether you
complete all of Activity 06 in one day or spread it out over a few days, we
highly recommend you go beyond the minimum two hours for this piece.

Class Leader’s Guide

Before the Class 2 Workshop

Activities & Discussions

01 Questions, Comments, & Takeaways // 10 mins
02 Choose Your Design Challenge // 15 mins
03 Team Knowledge & Assumptions // 10 mins
04 Plan Your Research // 1+ hours
05 Build a Discussion Guide // 1+ hours
06 Conduct Your Research // To Be Determined by Your Team

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Class Leader’s Guide

As your team completes Activities 01—05 during the first week, you will
begin to understand how long Activity 06 might take during the second
week. Some teams prefer completing field research as a whole group, while
others find it best to split up into two groups for conducting interviews. If
you do divide into smaller teams, we recommend you check in as a group
either in person or over Skype sometime during that second week to
debrief and determine if there are gaps in your research. If needed, modify
your Research Plan or add/subtract questions from your Discussion Guide.

Before the Class 2 Workshop

Find a Meeting Space
Confirm with your team that you have a space for your workshop activities.

Plan, if Possible, to Hold the Workshop During the Day on a Weekend

For the second week of the Class 2 Workshop, we recommend scheduling a full
day on the weekend to conduct research. If that is not possible, your team may
conduct a few interviews or observations here and there throughout the week. It is
important that your team build agreements around how much research you plan to
complete and who will execute each task. As Class Leader, ensure your teammates
are aware of and comfortable with their assignments before jumping into research.

Print Out Class 2 Workshop Guide

To save paper, it is not required to print the Class 2 Readings. Check with your team
members and encourage them to print the Class 2 Workshop Guide.

Coordinate With Your Team to Bring Supplies

A notebook for blank paper, pens, felt markers or Sharpies, Post-it notes (or their
equivalent), and printed Class 2 Workshop Guide should be sufficient.

Lead the Workshop

This guide will walk you through facilitating the activities, discussions, and
assignments for Class 2. If your team does not come back together after you’ve
begun conducting your research as part of Activity 06, please make sure the group
takes a few minutes to discuss the Class 3 prepwork before departing.

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01
Questions, Comments & Takeaways
10 Minutes

Congratulations! You’ve completed Class 1, which introduced you to the human-centered design process. You’ve also read
more in depth about the first phase of the design process in the Class 2 Inspiration phase Readings. The activity below is a
way for you to reflect on what you’ve learned, and help clarify questions you might have. Take a few minutes to reflect on
the questions below and then discuss your answers with your group.

1) What were your big takeaways about the Class 2 Inspiration phase Readings?

2) Do you have questions about the readings?

3) Which research methods are you excited to try and why?

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02
Choose Your Design Challenge
15 Minutes

Human-centered design requires practice, practice, and more practice. Because of this, this course is structured in terms of
a practice design challenge. Spend some time here in Activity 02 to select from the following, which have been prevetted to
be good, collaborative challenges for the given time frame. This challenge will be the basis for the next six weeks.

To Select a Practice Design Challenge, Follow These Instructions:

Individually read through As a group review the scores given Select one design challenge.
and rate each design challenge. to each challenge. Since collaboration and teamwork
The following pages describe three Compare the scores that the are critical to the human-centered
different design challenges. Read members of your team have given design process, decide on a single
through each challenge and then rate to each challenge. Which challenge shared challenge. Use this exercise as
it. Add up the score you’ve given to resonates most with people? Where a chance to begin to understand the
each challenge and write that score did you agree and where did you personalities and work styles in your
in the box provided. The design not agree? Ask each other questions group. How will you hear each other
challenge that you’ve given the about why you rated each challenge out? What is the best way to express
highest score may help you align a particular way and discover your opinions? What does each
quickly around the challenge you what previous experience people person excel at? How will you nurture
would like to pursue. However, this have with the challenge subject. your talents and highlight those of
score does not have to determine Remember, it’s often most effective your peers throughout this course?
how you select your challenge. The to learn the human-centered design Most importantly, how will you reach
score is just a jumping off point for process via a design challenge that a consensus?
your team to discuss. you don’t know much about.

The Course for Human-Centered Design 5

 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

02
Choose Your Design Challenge
15 Minutes

Challenge

1
How Might We Enable More Young People to Become
Social Entrepreneurs?

While more and more youth are interested in social entrepreneurship

as a means for tackling some of the world’s toughest challenges, many
aspiring social entrepreneurs fail to move beyond the initial idea phase
because the infrastructure to support them is lacking. Some are unable
to gain access to networks or mentors that could provide the knowledge
and experience to confront major decisions, while others lack the
capital they need to start their venture.

As part of this design challenge, you’ll work with your team to design
new systems or strengthen existing programs that cultivate and support
social entrepreneurship as a viable career path.

Rate the design challenge, then add up your score.

Least Most

Instinctively, how excited are you about this design challenge? 1 2 3 4 5

What potential for impact in your community does this design challenge have? 1 2 3 4 5

How feasible is it to tackle this challenge over the next three classes of the course? 1 2 3 4 5

Total =

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

02
Choose Your Design Challenge
15 Minutes

Challenge

2
How Might We Provide Healthier Food Options For
People In Need?

In many neighborhoods, there is little infrasturcture for the

distribution and preservation of food. Food is often spoiled or lost
during distribution. In other places, healthy food options are simply
unavailable or community members lack the knowledge to make healthy
food choices. Another constraint is access to capital, both for small
businesses providing healthy food as well as potential customers.

As part of this design challenge, you and your team will design solutions
for providing healthier food options, which might include providing
people with better food choices, the skills to cook healthier food, or the
knowledge to make healthier food choices.

Rate the design challenge, then add up your score.

Least Most

Instinctively, how excited are you about this design challenge? 1 2 3 4 5

What potential for impact in your community does this design challenge have? 1 2 3 4 5

How feasible is it to tackle this challenge over the next three classes of the course? 1 2 3 4 5

Total =

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

02
Choose Your Design Challenge
15 Minutes

Challenge

3
How Might Parents in Low-Income Communities Ensure
Children Thrive in Their First Five Years?

The first five years of a child’s life are a crucial time—filled with exciting
milestones and innumerable roadblocks. Skills, competencies, health,
and habits gained in these early years accompany children into
adulthood. Parents and caregivers play an influential role in ensuring
children have the best start in life, but in low-income communities
there are substantial barriers to overcome. This challenge focuses on
designing solutions that help parents navigate these obstacles, so that
children everywhere not only survive but thrive—in their early years.

With this design challenge, you’ll work with your team to design new or
strengthen existing ways to ensure children thrive in their first five years.

Rate the design challenge, then add up your score.

Least Most

Instinctively, how excited are you about this design challenge? 1 2 3 4 5

What potential for impact in your community does this design challenge have? 1 2 3 4 5

How feasible is it to tackle this challenge over the next three classes of the course? 1 2 3 4 5

Total =

The Course for Human-Centered Design 8

 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

WHAT SHOULD YOU CAPTURE?

A NOTE ABOUT CHALLENGE 3

As your group is deciding which design challenge you’d like to pursue, please take special note of
Challenge 3. This challenge represents a unique collaboration between this course and the [Link]
Amplify program. What is Amplify? Amplify is a program to make international aid more collaborative and
human-centered. Through a series of 10 innovation challenges over the next five years, human-centered
designers from across the globe are encouraged to join the OpenIDEO platform and work together
to design a better world. Please find out more at [Link]/amplify. Then return to this Activity 02 and
consider if this is something in which you and your group would like to participate.

What would this mean for our design team? Could my idea be selected?
If your group decides to pursue Challenge 3, it Yes, if you have joined the OpenIDEO platform
means you have the opportunity to submit the and submitted your idea then you are part of the
ideas that result from this course directly onto collaborative group of innovative problem solvers
the OpenIDEO platform. It means the solutions working towards this #zerotofive challenge. If
your group creates at the end of this seven-week your idea is short listed, you should continue
course could become tangible solutions out in to participate after the course is completed to
the world! continue evolving your idea based on input during
the Refinement Phase. If your idea gets all the way
Keep a lookout for announcements on the NovoEd to the final stage, you could be in the running for
platform Challenge 3 forum as these will give funding and design support from [Link]!
you special instructions on what to submit to
OpenIDEO and when. Please note that while Amplify challenges are
global in scope and ideas can originate from
What deadlines would we need to keep in mind? anyone around the world, this funding and design
The Amplify program is opening the Ideas Phase support are reserved for implementation of ideas
from October 22 - December 2, meaning you’ll in the 28 DFID focus countries. See the full list of
have ample time as you pursue your design countries on [Link]/amplify_faqs.
challenge to both test and refine your idea before
putting it up onto the OpenIDEO platform. After
the Ideas Phase, the Amplify challenge then
enters Refinement, where you can get feedback
and guidance from the community at large. The
sooner you get your idea up onto the platform, the
more feedback you can get from the community
to make it the best solution possible!

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

03
Team Knowledge & Assumptions
10 Minutes

Now that you’ve selected a design challenge, it’s time to figure out what you already know (or believe you
know) about the challenge. Take five minutes to answer the questions below yourself and then five minutes
to discuss your answers with your team. If it’s helpful, use Post-it notes to organize your thoughts and look
for unique perspectives as well as overlaps in your team’s knowledge base.

What are the aspects of the challenge that you already know a lot about? What are your assumptions?
Examples
- Many low-income families lack access to pre- and post-natal care.
- I know it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find fresh fruit in my neighborhood.

Where are the aspects of the design challenge where you need to learn more? What don’t you know?
Examples
- Do people who need healthier food options want to eat healthier?
- I don’t know the five most important developmental milestones in the first year of a child’s life.

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

04
Plan Your Research
1+ Hours

The Inspiration phase requires you to get out into the world and learn from people. (We call this research “fieldwork.”)
To make the most of your time in the field, you’ll want to plan who to speak with, where you might visit, and the types of
research that your team will conduct. A full review of these methods can be found on pages 5-9 of the Class 2 Inspiration
Readings.

Review the Inspiration Methods

A. Learn from People
Who will you be designing for? Consider both the
core user and the extended community. Imagine
a map of all the people who might have something
to do with your design challenge. Think of
characteristics that would make them interesting
to meet. Also consider speaking with users who
represent extreme (as opposed to mainstream)
viewpoints.

B. Learn from Experts

Who are the inspiring researchers or organizations
in the space of your design challenge? Successful
members of the target population can also be great
experts. A telephone or Skype call with experts who
aren’t local often works very well.

C. Immerse Yourself in Context

With a curious mindset, inspiration and new
perspectives can be found in many places and
without much preparation. Sharpen your skills
and get started observing the world around you.
Plan your observations by choosing places where
you can have experiences that are relevant to your
challenge.

D. Seek Analagous Inspiration

What are the activities, emotions, and behaviors
that make up the experience of your challenge?
Now select similar scenarios that you would like to
observe in places and situations that are different
than your design challenge.

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

Assignment for Submission

04
Plan Your Research
1+ Hours

Work with your design team to write down potential people to speak to and places to visit as part of your
research. Remember to choose some research targets that will be feasible to accomplish during the second
half of this workshop.

A. People to Learn from B. Experts to Speak to

(3+ individuals) (1+ expert)

C. In-Context Immersion Locations D. Analogous Inspiration Locations

(2+ locations) (1+ location)

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

Assignment for Submission

05
Build A Discussion Guide
1+ Hours

Now it’s time to create a discussion guide to prepare for your interviews. It’s best to create your question guide in teams
of two or three people. You’ll likely need more space than this worksheet, so use your notebook to write down additional
questions. Start building questions following the structure below.

Open Specific Then Go Deep

What are some specific questions you can ask to open the What are some questions that can help you start to understand
conversation and help people feel comfortable? this person’s hopes, fears, and ambitions?

Examples Examples
- What did you and your family eat yesterday? - Draw your dream grocery aisle. What would be on the shelves,
- Describe your last family meal. Who was there? Where did it the coolers?
take place? - Describe your favorite meal. What do you love about it?
- Do you have any specific mealtime rituals in your family? - Imagine you can only eat one meal everyday. What would it
be and why?

RESEARCH TIPS
Ask questions that will allow you to learn details related to each of these key categories:

Personal Details Motivations Frustrations Interactions

Who are you meeting What do people care about What frustrates them? What is interesting about
and what are their the most? What needs do they have the way they interact with
demographics (profession, What motivates them? that aren’t being met? their environment?
age, location, etc.)?

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

06
Conduct Your Research
To Be Determined by Your Team

Now it’s time to start your research. Conducting thorough research is extremely important because what you learn will
create the foundation for your design solution, as well as fuel the next two phases of the human-centered design process.

Getting the Most Out Of Research

Agree on the Length of Your Research Select Roles
Before you start, spend a few minutes building agreements As part of your field research, you’ll designate one person
around how much time you will spend researching and to lead the conversation. This person should not be the
who will complete each task. We highly recommend that note taker. Select someone else to take notes during the
you take more than the usual two hours to complete all of interview. If there is a third member of your interview team,
your research for this class, but also understand that you they can focus on observing your interview subject and the
have busy lives outside of this course. Try to strike a good surrounding environment. Each member of the team should
balance. practice different roles with different interviewees.

Divide Into Research Teams Do Quick Debriefs

If your group is two or three people, you should conduct Don’t forget to take a few minutes after each interview
research as a full team. If your group is four to six people, or field visit to debrief with your teammates and start
divide into two research teams. capturing what you learned. You can do this debrief virtually
anywhere, but it should immediately follow the interview.
Select Locations to Visit
Choose where to go and who you can talk to. You can also If your research team doesn’t plan to return to the
think about scheduling expert interviews via Skype, phone workshop venue after you’ve completed today’s research,
calls, or in-person meetings. take a few minutes to review Prep for Class 3 items on the
NovoEd platform so you can be ready for next week.

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

06
Conduct Your Research
To Be Determined by Your Team

A. Learn from People

Remember to reference the discussion guide you created. Depending on who you are talking to, you will want to
tailor your questions to address this person specifically. Remember to try and interview extreme users as well.

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

06
Conduct Your Research
To Be Determined by Your Team

B. Learn from Experts

Remember to reference the discussion guide you created. Depending on who you are talking to, you will want to
tailor your questions to address this person specifically. Remember, for experts, it’s also okay to communicate
via telephone or Skype if they aren’t readily available in person.

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

06
Conduct Your Research
To Be Determined by Your Team

C. Immerse Yourself In Context

Visit organizations, institutions, and events that you can gather inspiration from. Plan your observations by
choosing places where you can have experiences that are relevant to your challenge. Take notes and photos.
Capture interesting quotes by talking to people that spend time in these spaces. What do they love? What is
frustrating? Draw sketches, plans, and layouts.

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 Class 2:
Inspiration Phase

06
Conduct Your Research
To Be Determined by Your Team

D. Seek Analogous Inspiration

Visit places and situations that are different than your design challenge. These places should approach an angle
of your problem in a unique way. For instance, what could you learn from an amusment park about engaging
experiences that you could apply to the fruit aisle at a grocery store or waiting in line at a bank to open a new
savings account?

The Course for Human-Centered Design 18