design research
WHY?
- You can't effectively solve the design problem unless you complete understand it
- Need to identify & study the different faucets that may effect the solution
- Help you form the right strategy and make correct decisions when formulating the solution
3 Approaches to research
- Exploratory: Gain background information and clarify problems to solve
- Descriptive: To research and describe marketing phenomena
- Causal: Determine the cause. If this then that statement
define the problem
- What is it that you have to solve? Is it an increase in sales, a new product launch, target a new audience?
- Ask yourself: Why are you creating the ad?
- There might be more then one problem to solve. Make sure you review everything and look at the problem from every possible angle
determine the audience
- Who is your target audience? Are they young, old, male, female?
- Flush this out with details. Write them down.
- You can try surveying or using focus groups to determine their habits and what their perception of the product/service.
research the competition
- Create detailed profiles of the competition
- Who are they?
- What's their position?
- What do they do right/wrong?
- How can you do it differently?
- How can you set yourself apart from them?
- go to their websites, browse the shelves in stores, get to know their history. Gather information as if they hired you!
Remember: A Common goal is to set yourself apart from them!
research The brand/product
- Create detailed about the brand/product/service that your solving the problem for
- Who are they?
- What's their position?
- What's the features/benefits?
- What do they do right/wrong?
- How can you set yourself apart from the competition?
- Go to their website, browse the shelves in stores, get to know their history. Gather any information that you can about the company
Key Words, Feelings and metaphors
- How should the audience feel when viewing the ad?
- Happy, introspective, determined?
- Write them down and keep them in mind for the design phase
- What 4 keywords (adjectives) would describe your product or service?
- Rugged, Sleek, Expensive, etc...
- Write them down and keep them in mind for the design phase
- What metaphors can you use to describe the product or service?
- If brand X were a car, they'd be a porche because their fast, sexy and expensive
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if you get stuck
- Try posing the problem as a question
- Don't be afraid to ask questions
- Ask yourself what would make you buy the product
- Find the central truth about your product. The human truth
- Try the competitors product
- Dramatize the benefit
- Study award winning ads
- Focus on substance
- Test the strategy - it's better then testing executions
ideas on paper
When you start out, it's quantity not quality
Getting your ideas down
- First, say it strait, then say it great
- Restate the strategy and put some spin on it
- Think about the mood that you want the view to feel
- It's okay to come up with horrible ideas
- Share your ideas with other people to get feedback on them
- Try mind mapping
- Look at pictures that stir the emotion that you want to communicate
- Make sure the medium works
- Be provocative
design research
design research
By shadow4611
design research
- 962