原文: How Designers Build Strategy

My How Designers Build Strategy workshop at Yahoo! Design Week focused on why design considerations can add value to strategy development. Specifically I outlined a number of design principles and skills that define the unique perspective that designers can bring to strategic work.

Design Considerations
While design methodologies (processes), and product design deliverables may also have a place in product strategy, this workshop was focused on design considerations. I used design considerations as an umbrella term to cover the principles and skills employed by designers in traditional product design roles. These same considerations can be applied to product strategy. In particular, how designers utilize pattern recognition, storytelling, visual communication, and empathy.

Pattern Recognition
People make sense of what they see by recognizing the similarities and differences between visual elements. Through the process of visual organization, designers manipulate these visual relationships to create meaning. This requires an intimate awareness of visual patterns and the ability to manipulate those patterns to tell a structured story.

This pattern recognition skill can be measured quantitatively through a series of tests known as Raven’s Progressive Matrices. The tests do away with words and numbers and present all questions visually. Participants succeed by detecting the patterns in each series of objects and separating relevant information from irrelevant information. Given the amount of time designers spend manipulating visual patterns when creating product designs, they are likely to be highly proficient in this form of pattern recognition.

The same skill can be applied to strategic work. When faced with complex market information, pattern recognition is invaluable for separating the signal from the noise and uncovering insights. This skill becomes even more relevant when you consider the huge quantities of information available today: market research, user research, Web analytics, and more.

Story Telling
The design of products requires effective communication with an audience. Each product (via its interface design) needs to “tell” people what it offers them and why they should care. This requires the ability to explain and persuade not only with logic but with emotion as well. In other words, it requires story telling.

This ability to craft a structured narrative is also pertinent to strategic work. When compared with the series of graphs and bullet points typically used to communicate a strategy, a story can be more impactful, memorable, and clear. It is well documented that people can recite epic poems from memory but fail to do so when the same content in these stories is presented to them as a series of random words. Storytelling not only makes strategic direction more memorable, it makes it more compelling.

Visual Communication
In order to effectively communicate meaningful stories, designers need to manage the prioritization and relationship of visual elements. Exposing these relationships through visual communication enables people to easily interpret complex information and its implications. Perhaps Tom Chi bests outlines how this skill set is applicable to strategic work:

“Designers can use our skills to powerfully communicate the data we’ve collected. We can represent dozens of viewpoints, influences, competitive factors and more in a single slide. We can get large collections of people on the same page with clear actionable goals in less time than any manager giving a speech. We also think about the form and scale that data is best consumed. Oftentimes, we are beset with either far too much data or far too little. They come in the form of gigantic spreadsheets or organizational meetings filled with platitudes but no content. As designers we know how to deliver data at a meaningful human scale.

Many people are visual learners, but much fewer are effective visual communicators. When these people see a diagram or visualization or competitive timeline that makes sense, the discussion quickly moves to the next level. Sadly, without some visual as a point of discussion, you’ll see these same people in endless meetings pouring through a 24-page document and leaving with less clarity than when they went in.”

Empathy
Designers spend much of their time thinking through problems from the “outside in”. Contrasted with the “inside out” approaches that typify corporate business agendas, this methodology focuses on the perspective of customers and end users when analyzing and crafting solutions. Applying this perspective to strategic work creates more genuine relevance. As an example, when the eBay design team crafted a visual representation of their registration redesign strategy, they used full sized images of what actual eBay customers see to outline their goals within the context of actual an user experience.

译文: 设计师们是如何建立战略的？

在Yahoo!设计周上，我的“设计师们是如何建立策略的”讨论，主要聚焦在为什么设计中需要考虑的事项能够增加策略发展的价值。特别是，我概述了一些设计原则和技巧，定义了一些设计能够带入策略操作的独特观点。

设计需要考虑的事情
当设计方法（步骤），以及产品设计成果也可能在产品策略中占有一定地位，这次的研讨会主要着重于设计需要考虑的事项。我习惯于把设计需要考虑的事项作为一个总括术语，在传统产品的设计原则中，通过设计师去包含覆盖了设计原则和技巧。这些相同的因素能够适用于产品策略。特别是，设计师们如何去利用模式识别、事件叙说、视觉感染、以及移情作用。

模式识别
人们通过辨认在视觉元素中的相似和不同之处，来搞清楚他们看到了些什么。通过视觉组织的处理，设计师们利用视觉关系去创造价值。这需要有一种对视觉模式的本质知晓，并且有能力去利用那些模式去述说一个有条理的故事。

模式识别技术能够通过一系列的测试去量化它，如著名的瑞文推理能力测验（Raven’s Progressive Matrices）。这个测试不使用文字和数字，所有的问题都在视觉上来展示。参与者通过检测在每个系列中的目标的模式取得成功，并且从不相关的信息中分离出有用的内容。当在创造产品设计时，设计师们在利用视觉模式上花费了大量的时间，他们可能非常精通模式识别的这种形式。

同样的技巧能够适用于战略工作。当面对复杂的市场信息时，模式识别对从无用数据中分离有用信号的价值是无法衡量的。当你认为今天大量信息是可得到的，这样的技能变得更为相关：市场调查、用户调查、网站分析，甚至更多。

事件叙说
产品的设计需要与受众产生有效的沟通。每个产品（通过它的界面设计）都需要去“告诉”人们，它提供给人们什么，以及他们为什么要对此在意。这需要有能力去解释和说服，不仅用逻辑，同样也要运用情感。换种说法，它需要具有事件叙说能力。

这种结构叙说能力也与战略工作相关。当与图表系列比较时，作为特色的小圆点通常用于策略沟通，事件能够更为有效、难忘、及清晰。有文件能够很好的证明，人们能够凭记忆背诵篇章很长的诗歌，但是如果同样的内容在文章中以一系列不经意的词句出现，那么人们便很难将它背诵下来。事件叙说不是让战略方向更让人难忘，而是让它更为引人注目。

视觉感染
为了有效地传达那些意味深长的事件，设计师们需要设法去区分优先次序，并且关联视觉元素。通过视觉感染来揭示这些关联，能够让人们方便地去理解复杂的信息及它的含义。或许Tom Chi bests略述了这个技巧是如何适用于战略工作的：

“设计师们能够利用我们的技巧去有力地传达我们所收集的数据。我们能够表现许多观点、影响、竞争因素和更多的单一幻灯片。比起任何经理人的讲话，我们可以用更少的时间，带有明确目标的在同一页面上得到大量的信息。我们也考虑到数据最好消耗的形式和标准。我们时常也被要么太多、要么太少的数据所困扰。他们以巨大的电子数据表或者是充满陈词滥调却没有实际内容的组织会议的形式呈现。作为设计师，我们知道如何以一种有意义的、通人情的方式去传递数据。

许多人是视觉的初学者，但是少了许多有效的视觉感染。当这些人看到图表或者是竞争时间线，便会有感觉，那么讨论便能迅速地进入下一个阶段。可悲的是，没有一些视觉上的东西作为讨论的焦点，你将会看到这些人通过一份24页的文件，开着无休止的会议，并且与他们刚开始时相比，并没有理解的更为清晰。“

移情作用
设计师们花了许多的时间，“从里到外”地对问题得出结论。与“从里到外”的方法形成对比的是典型的企业业务议程，当分析和制定解决方法时，这种方法侧重消费者和终端用户的看法。运用这种观点的战略工作，创造了更多的实用性。例如：当eBay设计团队对他们的注册新设计策略精心设计一个视觉表现时，他们运用了客户看到的实际尺寸的图片，根据用户体验，去略述他们的目标。