First question: Is this a problem worth solving?
It’s fun and tempting to jump right in to making beautiful prototypes for a new business, a new product, a new app, a new streaming service. It feels good to show people something polished, something that seems “ready.” Unfortunately, the result is that we generally end up talking about usability — do these buttons work? Is this the right wording? Should we use brighter colors? — before we’ve really validated our assumptions about the desirability of the product or service we’re developing. Yes, we think it’s a good idea... but that’s not enough. We need to get out there and actually talk to the people who might benefit from using it. (See here for some thoughts on customer/constituent research.)
Once we’ve established desirability, we move on to viability. Good idea or not, is this a practical option? Do we have the team and the tools and the resources to begin — and to see it through? Do we have a clear sense of what the challenges and requirements are going to be? Only once we’ve answered these questions in the affirmative should we move on to the specifics of implementation.
This may seem like common sense, but beware! It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of the big green button. The what? Read on...
Find the needs behind the strategies
Often, during an interview with a client about a website or an app I’m designing, they’ll say something like this:
“I would love a big green button right here that does [XYZ].”
or, giving feedback on a brochure I’ve designed, they might say something like,
“What if you made this photo black and white and kept the headline in color?”
The clients are offering me specific solutions, specific strategies, to fix some problem. Although sometimes it’s tempting to just implement the particular strategy — “Sure, I can build you that button” — I almost always have more success if I try to identify the needs that are driving those strategies. The client doesn’t need a big green button, per se; the client needs a simple and obvious way to do some particular task. The photo doesn't need to be black and white; the client just wants to make sure the headline really pops.
The key phrase at that moment in the interview is TELL ME MORE. “Tell me more about that button. What would that do for you, if you had that button? Who do you imagine using it?” This is also a great time to get a sense of what’s at stake in solving (or failing to solve) this problem.
Learn to listen beyond the strategies for the needs, and dig for stories and other details to be sure you really understand.