Page 175 - The Design Thinking Playbook

EXPERT TIP

Stories that generate
emotional needs

We all know the problem of how the respondents in a direct user survey describe their own behavior as In the ideal case, the respondents wrote down a little story they made
an ideal type but do not show their true self. We ask them about their goals and desires, but the reply only up about how the person got out of the difficult situation. They were
consists of the most obvious insights. One way to reach users on a more emotional level is to offer stories asked not to reflect too critically on what is possible or impossible in
of their dreams, which give us the opportunity to learn things that go deeper and reveal their true needs reality. Ideally, the whole thing was pepped up with drawings. The
and desires. length, content, and depth of the story were irrelevant.

A project with the name “wearable dreams” is a good example of how such stories about dreams can The design process builds on this information. The idea behind it
provide an inspiring framework for a design thinking project. In this project, the interviewees were initially is that objects must satisfy our emotional needs, for one. Also, our
asked to imagine that their favorite piece of clothing was a person. Then they were asked to describe the rational stories are the best way to transport these needs.
personality of this person:

• What is the name of the favorite piece of clothing?
• How old is it, and what does it do for a living?
• Is it pretty shy or rather extroverted?
• Where was it born, and what is its marital status? My favorite piece of
clothing is a bucket
This way of talking about a product helped the interviewee to think about his favorite item of clothing and hat. Its name is
thus transported the object into a social and emotional context. The remaining interview built on these Alex. It is 34 years
dreams. The respondents were asked to imagine the person depicted by the item of clothing in a difficult old and a small-time
crook!
situation. Fortunately, the person had super powers that got him out of the situation.
Initially, the respondent was asked to describe a situation that he or she did not want to get into. In addi-
tion, the person was requested to choose a specific role and take it on. The questions were, for instance:

• How do the surroundings look?
• Are there any other people?
• What items are lying about?

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