product design

The Birth (And Death) of Market Research: Why Design Research Will Prevail

by Sam Ladner on January 28, 2010 · 17 comments

in Blog, Qualitative Research & Design, Research Methods, design, ethnography, home, market research, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, survey, surveys

Few would disagree that fundamental economic change is upon us. Business models are crumbling daily. From the auto industry to the banking industry, it is clear that old ways of doing things are no longer working. The market research industry is just as vulnerable to this shift, yet, like the auto industry before it, it [...]

17 comments

Tagged as: design research, ethnography, linkedin, market research, qualitative research, quantitative research

Categories: Blog · Qualitative Research & Design · Research Methods · design · ethnography · home · market research · product design · qualitative research · quantitative research · survey · surveys

Why are Japanese lunches so beautiful?

by Sam Ladner on November 1, 2009 · 5 comments

in anthropology, culture, design, discourse analysis, food, product design, sociology

I am a big fan of MUJI, the simple Japanese housewares company. So I was quite interested to read a post by their art director Kenya Hara on the New York Times’s “Room for Debate.” Hara argues that Japanese people have
…a special ability to focus fully on what’s right in front of our eyes. We [...]

5 comments

Tagged as: bento, design, discourse analysis, food, Japanese design, John Maeda, linkedin, MUJI, symbolism

Categories: anthropology · culture · design · discourse analysis · food · product design · sociology

The essence of qualitative research: “verstehen”

by Sam Ladner on October 15, 2009 · 15 comments

“But how many people did you talk to?” If you’ve ever done qualitative research, you’ve heard that question at least once. And the first time? You were flummoxed. In 3 short minutes, you can be assured that will never happen again.
Folks, qualitative research does not worry about numbers of people; it worries about deep understanding. [...]

15 comments

Tagged as: anthropology, linkedin, organizations, qualitative, qualitative research, quantitative, quantitative research, sample size, sociology, thick description, verstehen

Designers are from Venus, Six Sigmas are from Mars

by Sam Ladner on September 25, 2009 · 4 comments

in Research Methods, anthropology, design, discourse analysis, ethnography, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, surveys

DT has a great post over at Design Sojourn that discusses Six Sigma methodology and how it relates to design. He cites Tim Brown at IDEO who argues that Six Sigma is essentially Newtonian, while design thinking is quantum. In his own design work, DT expressed doubts about using Six Sigma:
After studying the Six Sigma [...]

4 comments

Tagged as: design, ethnography, linkedin, organizations, qualitative research, quantitative research

Categories: Research Methods · anthropology · design · discourse analysis · ethnography · product design · qualitative research · quantitative research · surveys

Organizational culture 101: a practical how-to for designers

by Sam Ladner on September 8, 2009 · 0 comments

in anthropology, culture, facebook, interaction design, product design, qualitative research, sociology, technology design

My article on understanding organizational culture is now up on the interaction design site, Johnny Holland. The post provides an overview of key factors in organizational culture and how these factors affect an organization’s culture. It’s specifically intended to help designers understand their clients’ business culture and to avoid the all-too-common trap of “missing the [...]