ARTICLE SUMMARY: When it comes to design, any design, research is the foundation your success will be built on.
Without extensive research your finished design product will be made from a hunch rather than a decision made from data you have compiled from an in-depth study of the problem your looking to solve.
“The waves of research practice” by Dave Hora looks at how one wave of research builds on the next until you have created value in your design. Here he explains in historical context
- Wave 1 — The Usability Wave
- Wave 2 — The Product Wave
- Wave 3 — The Strategy Wave
These waves would help us understand people in new ways and help designers develop new and updated forms of research that would take the pragmatic approach of creating research practice from the ground up.
Just as we create a means of challenging assumptions and learning through visual models of user context in Product Wave research, Strategy Wave research will see us visually model and challenge our ideas about the strategic product landscape.
There is a lot of information in this article and well worth getting a cup of coffee and reading.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
