Exploring the two sides of a moment of use approach to design.

Abstract

We have explored designers having empathy for the audience of focus, designers using empathy as a means to an end, and designers using empathy to deliver a meaningful design deliverable. Our research has evolved from studying how designers reflect on their own design context and the audience's given circumstance to designers acting on moments of use. Our purpose was to explore two sides of a moment of use approach to design by observing one team of graduate student designers, tasked with designing an online training course from beginning to end. Our research question was the following: how did the design team act on a moment of use approach to design a meaningful design deliverable? Our findings indicated that although the design team designed a meaningful design deliverable the client did not implement the final deliverable. We discuss why this happened and the implications for designers and those who prepare designers.