All Posts under Archive: May 2009

Is “design research” a subset of “market research”?

There’s a heated debate happening over at Core 77 in response to my recent article “Spend it Wisely: A Market Research Primer for Designers.” Not surprisingly, the design community doesn’t agree with my claim that “design research” is really a subset of “market research.” I’ve just posted the following comment to share a bit more [...]


Mobile Literacy: Redesigning the mobile phone for low-income, emerging markets

If you’re interested in designing new services and products (particularly those tech-based) for individuals living in low-income, Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) communities, then you need to check out the recent work of Adaptive Path. Last Fall they kicked off their Mobile Literacy project, sending two researchers into rural India to get a better grasp [...]


Spend it wisely: A market research primer for designers

I’m excited to announce a new article that I wrote for Core 77 called “Spend It Wisely: A Market Research Primer for Designers.” Here’s a bit of teaser text.
Market research is expensive—not only for the time and money required to execute it, but also for the opportunity cost it represents to the organization sponsoring it. [...]


Two groups taking a user-centered approach to getting the word out

I came across two interesting articles in the NY Times this morning. The first is called “Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus.” The second article is “When the Cellphone Teaches Sex Education.” Both are about reframing problems and their resulting solution delivery in a way that better resonates with the audience intended [...]