Playbook for universal design

Universal design methods for more inclusive solutions

Problem statement Add/remove

Purpose:

Formulating a clear problem statement in development processes helps keep focus on the problem you are trying to solve, as well as defining who the user is and why this is an important problem to solve.

Step by step Facilitating tips Materials needed

Tips to include participants who are not able to:

See

If a participant has low vision use good color contrast and readable font size. Also, make sure that one person in the pair has high vision

Hear

If a participant is unable to hear make sure that they have a sign language interpreter so they can communicate with persons able to hear

Touch

If a participant is unable to write make sure that one person in the pair is able to

Hold

If a participant is unable to hold a pen make sure that one person in the pair is able to

Overview

Input

Opportunity areas, challenges

Output

Problem statement

Complexity

Moderate

Time

10-15 min

Participants

2

Activity

Core abilities: Communicate

Step by step:

  1. Present the input for conducting the method. The input would be either opportunity areas identified in earlier methods or challenges identified through desktop research or through user interviews

  2. Present the template to the participants and ask them in pairs to agree to the elements outlined in the template before filling it out

  3. If you are in a large workshop setting ask the pairs to take turn to present their problem statements and cluster if many are similar or overlapping

When doing this method you should consider:

In order to formulate a good problem statement it is optimal to have thoroughly explored the problem space beforehand. You need to have an understanding of your user or the challenge you are tackling. This you can acquire through desktop research, user interviews and through generative methods in the early stage of the design process.

Materials needed:

Pens
Template