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“Presumptive Design: Design Provocations for Innovation” by Leo Frishberg and Charles Lambdin begins with the bold assertions that:

1. We are frequently wrong about what design is needed to solve a problem
2. We deny we are wrong
3. We don’t like learning that we are wrong

To presume can mean one of two things: to simply do something as if it’s true or to be audacious enough to do something where it’s more like a dare. Presumptive Design, aka PrD, combines both of these definitions. It instructs designers to present designs based on presumptions as somewhat of a dare to provoke reactions that get to insights about what’s needed and better solutions. This method actually builds off our often wrong presumptions about design solutions as a way to move design teams closer to a functional design.

The method starts by creating something (almost anything) in a creation session based on the team’s presumptions about what’s needed. Next, rapid prototyping is used to visualize a solution to get feedback (requirements) through an evaluation session.

An appealing aspect of the author’s thesis is how their method helps to overcome the issues that arise when UX practitioners are brought in too late on a project. Similarly, too often we propose doing user experience research that rarely gets funded. Presumptive design solves these challenges by identifying needs, as well as evaluating designs quickly and cost-effectively. When done successfully, it’s quite an amazing feat and will change how you think about prototyping.

It takes the authors more than 400 pages to fully explain Presumptive Design. Both authors do a thorough job of setting up the method, taking us out on a few drives and then reminiscing about the drive with you. The book is structured really well with clear references to upcoming chapters, what else to read, a summary at the end of each chapter, and lots of resources intermingled. I like the book’s recipe-like approach, with strong points-of-view for things like holding creation sessions in person, timelines, who should be involved, the roles needed, and ways to help you plan the logistics of exercises. They illustrate lots of examples and details to get there. They also have an impressive array of experts who are referenced and leveraged throughout to lend credibility. The authors do a stellar job of referencing existing methods and weaving their insights together. In some sense, this book is a good history of UX research and Design Thinking methods.

To continue the conversation, it would be useful for the authors to engage readers by creating a forum to allow those who have used their method to discuss it. I also believe there are a lot of differences between applying this method in a corporate setting versus an agency setting. Providing support or ideas for how practitioners can apply this method in different contexts would be useful.

Overall the book is persuasive in documenting how this new method can be a universal source of inspiration. It is one of the most radically different methodologies I’ve seen in a long time. I would recommend it to more seasoned practitioners and likely those in corporate settings; but those working in agencies would benefit from its ability to let one do quick deep dives into a new domain.

 [:zh]《假设性设计》指导用户体验从业者利用他们时常出错的假设作为设计的起点。尽管这一思路看起来违反直觉，文中所述方法仍然为设计团队提供了使用最初创意进行试验的机会，并让他们通过对实际用户进行验证来最终确定解决方案。

文章全文为英文版[:KO]Presumptive Design(추정에 입각한 디자인)은 사용자 경험 실무자들에게 디자인 시작점으로서 보통 부정확한 추정을 활용하라고 가르칩니다. 이것이 직관에 어긋나는 것처럼 보이지만, 이 방법은 디자인 팀에게 그들의 최초 아이디어로 실험을 하고 실제 사용자들과 그 아이디어를 검증하는 과정을 통해서 마침내 솔루션을 찾아낼 기회를 제공합니다.

전체 기사는 영어로만 제공됩니다.

[:pt]Presumptive Design instrui os profissionais de experiência com o usuário a impulsionar suas presunções muitas vezes incorretas como ponto de partida para o projeto. Embora pareça ser contraintuitivo, o método oferece às equipes de projeto uma oportunidade de experimentar suas ideias iniciais e, finalmente, identificar soluções por meio da validação com usuários reais.

O artigo completo está disponível somente em inglês.

[:ja]『Presumptive Design』によれば、ユーザーエクスペリエンスの実践者は、多くの場合において誤っている自分の推測を、デザインの出発点として活用するべきであるという。一見、直観に反するとも思えるこの手法によって、デザインチームは最初のアイデアを試し、実際のユーザーで検証することにより最終的にソリューションを見つける機会を得ることができる。

原文は英語だけになります

[:es]Presumptive Design enseña a los profesionales de la experiencia de usuario a sacar provecho de sus suposiciones generalmente incorrectas como punto de partida para el diseño. Aunque esto puede parecer ilógico, el método ofrece a los equipos de diseño la oportunidad de experimentar con sus ideas iniciales y, a fin de cuentas, identificar soluciones al validarlas con los usuarios reales.

La versión completa de este artículo está sólo disponible en inglés

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Topics: User-centered design, Innovation, [:en]UX Methods[:zh]用户体验方法[:KO]UX 방법[:pt]Métodos de experiência do usuário[:ja]UX手法[:es]Métodos de experiencia del usuario[:]
Published in: November, 2016 in Trust and Security

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