This week’s main task was to obtain rich data from your subject. Rich data is interesting, because it is highly subjective and time-consuming to gather. Instead of gathering quantitative data from many participants, you gather rich data from a few participants about a specific context.
This means you can’t just mash together a questionaire, put it on the internet and ask people to fill it in. Instead, you spent days poring over your design context, creating tools for your participants to think deeply about their experiences, sharing their insights and knowledge with you, the designer.
Rich data is invaluable to great design. It allows you to gain deeper insights in how people experience certain contexts, and often the little details the participants share with you, inspire you to create even more beautiful designs.
Starting late
Sadly, life happened and I didn’t get to spend days creating tools. Instead I had to start the night before the deadline, which is never a good idea. Luckily I have my girlfriend, who leads quite a different life than me, except for living in the same home. Even our morning rituals are quite different most of the time, since she gets up really early and I’m usually still asleep. This way, I at least don’t feel like I chose someone close too much for convenience.
Even better, the course keeps providing excellent templates for us to use. So even with little preparation, I was able to gather some excellent rich data. Even more interesting, is that I found out some new things about how my girlfriend experiences her morning rituals!
If you’re curious about my results, you can view my video below. You can read the exercise result in PDF.
Other posts about this course: Prologue, week 1, week 2, week 4