Design Strategies and Avoiding Fixation
The strategies designers use to generate ideas, from collaboration and user-centred design to a systems approach and iterative design, and how to avoid getting stuck on one idea, known as design fixation.
Justify the choices, the way you are assessed
Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.
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Where good ideas come from
A designer needs lots of ideas before choosing the best one. There are set strategies for generating those ideas, from working with others to designing around the user. There is also a trap to avoid: getting stuck on the first idea, which is called design fixation. This module covers the strategies and how to break out of fixation.
Strategy words to know
Learn these before you sort the strategies.
Fixated against open
Two ways of approaching a design problem.
Name the strategy, show how it helps
In the exam, name the strategy and say how it improves the ideas: collaboration brings in more views, user-centred design fits the real user, a systems approach breaks a problem into input, process and output, and iterative design improves through repeated testing. To avoid fixation, deliberately generate several different ideas before choosing one.
Match the strategy
- collaboration
- user-centred design
- a systems approach
- iterative design
- working with others to get more ideas
- designing around the needs of the user
- thinking as input, process and output
- improving through repeated test cycles
Match the fixation fix
- generate many different ideas
- ask other people for views
- go back to the brief
- test ideas with real users
- stops you settling on the first one
- brings in fresh points of view
- reminds you what is really needed
- shows which idea actually works
What is design fixation?
What does design fixation mean?
- Getting stuck on one idea and missing better ones.
- Generating as many ideas as possible.
- Repairing a broken product.
- Designing around the user.
Ways to avoid fixation
Select the TWO good ways to avoid design fixation.
- Deliberately generate several different ideas first
- Ask other people for their views
- Always build the very first idea at once
- Copy the best-selling product exactly
Count the ideas kept
To avoid fixation a designer sketches 8 different concepts and then rejects 5 of them. Subtract to find how many concepts are kept to develop. What is the answer?
Order the iterative cycle
Put the steps of an iterative design cycle in order, earliest first.
- Design an idea
- Make a model of it
- Test it with users
- Improve it and repeat
Complete the summary
Designing around the needs of the person who will use a product is called _____ design. Repeating a design, make and test cycle to improve it is called _____ design. Getting stuck on a single idea is called design _____, and the best way to avoid it is to generate _____ different ideas first.
Spot the fixation traps
Tap the TWO habits that lead to design fixation.
- building the first idea straight away
- copying an existing product
- sketching many different ideas
- asking users what they need
Advise the designer
Read each case and choose the best answer.
- A designer copies the first product they see and refuses to consider anything else. What is this?
- A team asks the people who will use a product what they actually need. Which strategy is this?
- A designer keeps making, testing and improving a model over and over. Which strategy is this?
Explain the strategies
Explain two strategies a designer uses to generate ideas, and describe design fixation and how to avoid it.
- Name and explain two idea-generation strategies
- Say what design fixation is
- Describe one concrete technique for avoiding fixation