Example Reflection – Visualization

Challenge

Visualization is one of the most powerful tools one can use during the presentation of  the problem as well as understanding how insights gathered during the exploration  phase can partner with others in order to create groups of information that will help  strategic designers understand the problem.

I lead the digital team on a Marketing Performance Agency, therefore we are always  searching for the most effective way to communicate with our client´s customers with  one goal: Improve Conversion Rates (sales, subscriptions, multiply content, owned  audiences, understand information, etc).

Last week, we had a huge challenge while working with the brands of a Global Lab,  who wanted to understand their digital audiences, and how to approach them with  engaging content that could connect with the human on each one of them (emotional  connections that could “humanize” their brands), rather than only the rational part of  their brains (product´s direct benefits) which was their current approach. So, to  summarize, we needed to understand “WHAT ARE” the key elements that  move/interest these audiences.

Selection

We decided to work with Visualization tools since we already knew we were going to  have huge amounts of data and we were going to need an easy way to understand it in  order to analyze it, and finally use it in an organized way; and here´s where  Visualization tools help the most. As you will see next, visualization helped us create  the audiences “Affinity Maps” by understanding  all the data on the walls.

Application

Our first step was to gather as much information as possible regarding the audience we  wanted to understand, therefore, we decided to do “Digital Tracking” of these  audiences; and for us the best way to know what a person see, hear, like, hate, feel,  say, support, and think, is to understand that person´s profile in the Social Media. This  was our main river of knowledge, and by the time we had already done our research,  we ended with several boards that looked like the one on the following picture:

These boards contained all the information we saw during our research, but we had a  long road ahead of us, since this was merely data, not information; so our next step was  to group the data on “Affinity Maps” that will help us visually understand what where  the main drivers of our audience´s life’s.

Finally, we needed to understand the people behind the “Affinity Maps” so we could  understand to whom we were going to market our new content. Therefore, we created  a visual picture or collage of one of the people we did saw on our research, in order to  facilitate the understanding of this specific person, and making it easy for anyone to  describe her (in this case this person was a female).

Insight

We ended up with four design subjects who are going to be the brand´s main audience  on the Digital Channels, and by understanding them in this way we had some  breakthroughs regarding what these audiences really care about.

For me, the visualization tools that design thinking provide, makes the discovery  process extremely fun and effective; since it provides the best conditions for us  “Strategic Designers” to connect the dots. And these dot/idea connections where  really important when we had to define the fears and desires of each one of the  identified audiences, that will, at the end, be the ones providing the insights of the  Content Matrix we will use on our Digital Channels. So every time the question arose  “is this really important for our audience”, all we had to do was turn our heads back to  the “Affinity Maps” and “Collage” of our Design Audience to make a decision.

Approach

Although we´ve already had really god results with the approach we explained here, I  believe there are a lot more Visualization tools that we don´t know about that could  provide us with different approaches depending on the challenge off course.  Nevertheless, there is one tool that we did saw on this course that could be extremely  useful to focus the participants of the workshops on the main goal, and this is the “Mind  Mapping” tool that was explained, where we could draw the whole process and  stakeholders of our challenge, so we can get the whole picture, and probably find  some holes on it that we didn´t see ourselves.


Example Reflection – Visualization Challenge Visualization is one of the most powerful tools one can use during the presentation of the problem as well as understanding how insights gathered during the exploration phase can partner with others in order to create groups of information that will help strategic designers understand the problem . I lead the digital team on a Marketing Performance Agency , therefore we are always searching for the most effective way to communicate with our client´s customers with one goal : Improve Conversion Rates ( sales , subscriptions , multiply content , owned audiences , understand information , etc ) . Last week , we had a huge challenge while working with the brands of a Global Lab , who wanted to understand their digital audiences , and how to approach them with engaging content that could connect with the human on each one of them ( emotional connections that could “ humanize ” their brands ) , rather than only the rational part of their brains ( product´s direct benefits ) which was their current approach . So , to summarize , we needed to understand “ WHAT ARE ” the key elements that move / interest these audiences . Selection We decided to work with Visualization tools since we already knew we were going to have huge amounts of data and we were going to need an easy way to understand it in order to analyze it , and finally use it in an organized way ; and here´s where Visualization tools help the most . As you will see next , visualization helped us create the audiences “ Affinity Maps ” by understanding all the data on the walls . Application Our first step was to gather as much information as possible regarding the audience we wanted to understand , therefore , we decided to do “ Digital Tracking ” of these audiences ; and for us the best way to know what a person see , hear , like , hate , feel , say , support , and think , is to understand that person´s profile in the Social Media . This was our main river of knowledge , and by the time we had already done our research , we ended with several boards that looked like the one on the following picture : These boards contained all the information we saw during our research , but we had a long road ahead of us , since this was merely data , not information ; so our next step was to group the data on “ Affinity Maps ” that will help us visually understand what where the main drivers of our audience´s life ’s . Finally , we needed to understand the people behind the “ Affinity Maps ” so we could understand to whom we were going to market our new content . Therefore , we created a visual picture or collage of one of the people we did saw on our research , in order to facilitate the understanding of this specific person , and making it easy for anyone to describe her ( in this case this person was a female ) . Insight We ended up with four design subjects who are going to be the brand´s main audience on the Digital Channels , and by understanding them in this way we had some breakthroughs regarding what these audiences really care about . For me , the visualization tools that design thinking provide , makes the discovery process extremely fun and effective ; since it provides the best conditions for us “ Strategic Designers ” to connect the dots . And these dot / idea connections where really important when we had to define the fears and desires of each one of the identified audiences , that will , at the end , be the ones providing the insights of the Content Matrix we will use on our Digital Channels . So every time the question arose “ is this really important for our audience ” , all we had to do was turn our heads back to the “ Affinity Maps ” and “ Collage ” of our Design Audience to make a decision . Approach Although we´ve already had really god results with the approach we explained here , I believe there are a lot more Visualization tools that we don´t know about that could provide us with different approaches depending on the challenge off course . Nevertheless , there is one tool that we did saw on this course that could be extremely useful to focus the participants of the workshops on the main goal , and this is the “ Mind Mapping ” tool that was explained , where we could draw the whole process and stakeholders of our challenge , so we can get the whole picture , and probably find some holes on it that we didn´t see ourselves .