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 of my viewpoint on the matter.

I knew that my statement that “design research” was a term invented by the design community (and one not easily recognized by others outside this community) would provoke debate, especially on the Core 77 site. But, honestly, some of the comments went in a direction I never expected.

First things first, in my understanding, two types of “design research” currently exist. The first is academic-based “design research,” which is about developing new methodologies or answering a research question. The second is applied “design research,” which has been adopted by the design community and refers to activities such as user research, user experience design, observational research, and ethnography as it’s used in the product development process.

I can share from previous conversations that I’ve had with academics on this topic that they’re a bit irked that the design community has picked up the name “design research” and ran with it. From these conversations I’ve understood that academic “design research” is about planning and executing a course of study that results in something that advances the knowledge of that profession, like a new method. The academics I’ve spoken with don’t believe that going into peoples’ homes to understand their food storage habits, for instance, reflects the rigor that they generally attach to the academic definition of “design research.”

So, when I wrote the “Spend it Wisely” article and spoke of “design research” I wasn’t referring to academic “design research,” but to the form of “design research” that has been adopted by professionals, such as designers, human factor specialists, etc. to design new products and services. Should this have been stated in the article more clearly? Probably, but it would have taken more space and further delayed getting to the point of that article, which is about how to choose the right method for the right level of customer insight required at the current stage of a product’s development.

Now, onto my point that “design research” (as practiced by designers developing new products) is really a subset of “market research.” At a high level, I think the intent of “design research” and “market research” is the same; to help a product be successful in the marketplace. By nature of this alone, I think “design research” and “market research” are more related than the design community would like to believe.

I also believe that designers have a history of separating themselves from the group, which more times than not works against them. I believe this adamant stance that “design research” is not a type of “market research” is just another example of how designers have left opportunity on the table.

There is an arm of “market research” out there that addresses more of the business questions associated with how to bring a product to market. In this research the focus is on scoping the opportunity, segmenting the target market and determining in which markets and at what price point to introduce a new product or service into the marketplace. But there is another, equally as prominent, arm of “market research” that’s more customer focused and is about helping companies to determine the features and functions that should be embedded in their new product or to identify the needs of their customer base. And it’s common that it’s the “market research” companies, not the “design research” companies, which are called upon to do that work, leveraging focus groups to obtain that customer understanding.

Is a focus group the best method to use to define the new functions and features of a product? In most cases, the answer would be ‘no’ (as my article clearly states). But market research companies are leveraging focus groups every day to answer that exact question because the designers who are using the methodologies, such as “ethnography” or “listening labs,” that really can answer those questions are making themselves so hard to be found because they insist on calling their work “design research.”

Categories: Design, Market research