This week we thought we would share with you a roundup of our favourite multi-channel design tools.
Here are our favourite:
Experience Maps
Gene says -
"An experience map combines a user persona with a story about that user's journey through a particular experience—such as researching and buying a video game, choosing a post-secondary institution, getting married, and so on. The map shows how the user moves through the different phases of their task, what kind of information-seeking or decision-making processes they choose during each phase, and the different channels with which they interact during the whole process.
When we’ve done experience maps we’ve include real users’ quotes and observations from our research to lend additional authenticity to the diagram"
Gene has written more about experience maps in a prevous blog post that you can find here.
Ethnography for Multichannel Service Design
Yvonne says- “One of the ways to investigate and validate service offers is to go and see the processes and environments first hand. If the service is not digital, then we’d better be sure we understand what the service looks and feels like. Our insights reveal opportunities to improve our products, services, and may even be a catalyst to improving the environment itself.
Blueprint+
Ammneh says –
“I found this tool on the Service Design Tools | Communicaton Methods Supporting Design Process site and think that it is very much like an alignment model we use in our usual practice. In the diagram above it shows the different user roles, their media touch points, tasks, emotional level on the task and touch points between user roles. It’s a great tool to present a lot of information visually in one diagram. It doesn’t only focus on the tasks but also shows the user’s emotional level while doing the task.
Business Origami
Ammneh says –
“This tool from Jess (McMullin) uses paper cut outs that can be used as a collaborative workshop activity to describe current and future scenarios, contexts and environments. What I like about this tool is that it let us know different channels within a business process in a collaborative environment.”
Multi-channel Service Inventory
Dennis says –
“We were recently working with a client that had never thought about service delivery from a multi-channel point of view. We wanted to help them start thinking more deliberately about how services utilize different channels. Our solution was to develop a simple multi-channel service inventory. Using services mentioned on their website as a starting point, we built a matrix that showed how a service could be accessed.
The simple matrix includes:
• A checkmark to indicate that a service is definitely available via a certain channel
• A blank spot when a service is not available via a certain channel
• A question mark when the website doesn't provide any information about a certain channel
• A note when information on a certain channel is available only in a PDF or FAQ section
• A note when the site provides a link to a PDF or online form, but no supporting information
As an introduction to thinking about delivering services via many channels this can be a useful tool. It quickly shows gaps and inconsistencies in how services are delivered. It can also help guide decisions about which channels should be supported for certain types of services, and which should not."
Video
Brightkite Augmented Reality from Brightkite on Vimeo.
Heather says –“I’m a big believer in video when it comes to uncovering and exploring challenges for people as they move across various channels to complete a particular task. I think it’s the best way to capture the full experience and context of what that looks like physically, culturally and emotionally. It’s also a good way to communicate with clients through storytelling what their future solution could look like.”
Posted in on April 16, 2010
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