Exercises: Research and ideation

Explain in your own words what Design Thinking is and why it is said to put the user at the centre of the process.

These Design Thinking phases are jumbled: (a) prototype, (b) define the problem, (c) test with users, (d) empathise, (e) ideate. Put them in order and explain in one sentence what is done in each.

The diagram shows the phases of Design Thinking, but one of them is covered with a question mark, as shown in the figure.

State which phase is missing, what it consists of, and why the feedback loop arrow is an important part of the process.

Explain what 'empathise' means in Design Thinking and name two specific techniques used to better understand users (interview, observation, questionnaire...), writing one sentence about each.

In the define phase, a user-centred problem statement is written. Rewrite this poorly framed sentence as a good problem statement: "students arrive late to first period because they are terribly disorganised".

What is the purpose of building a prototype even if we know in advance that it will not be the final version? Give two specific reasons (learning before spending, demonstrating and gathering feedback...).

In the testing phase, the prototype is tested with real users. Explain why it is not enough to test it among the team members who designed it (they know the concept, they are not impartial).

Name three team ground rules that improve an ideation session (listen, do not interrupt, take turns, record all ideas...) and briefly explain what each contributes.

In team brainstorming, there are two basic rules: do not criticise others' ideas during the session and aim for quantity before quality. Explain why each of these rules helps generate better solutions.

A school team wants to reduce the plastic generated in the canteen. Write three questions you would ask users (students, kitchen staff) in the empathise phase, and explain what information you expect to gain from each.

Explain the difference between a low-fidelity prototype (for example, cardboard or sketched) and a high-fidelity one, and explain why in the early stages of a project it is advisable to start with low-fidelity ones even if they do not actually function.

The 'How might we...?' questioning technique opens the ideation phase. Write three 'How might we...?' questions for the challenge of improving a school bag (weight, organization, night visibility...) and select the one that interests you most, justifying your choice.

These interview questions are poorly phrased: (a) "don't you think the current app is terrible?", (b) "do you like the app: yes or no?" and (c) "would you use an app with blue screens and large text?". Explain what is wrong with each (leading question, closed question, solution-loaded question) and rewrite them correctly.

An empathy map captures what the user says, thinks, feels and does. Choose a school library user as your subject and complete at least two of the four quadrants with realistic content, explaining where you would gather that information.

After coming up with twenty proposals, you must narrow them down to two. Explain the difference between diverging and converging in an ideation process and name three useful criteria for selecting ideas (feasibility, cost, impact, originality...), providing an example of how one of them would be applied.

In an ideation session, a team member responds to every proposal from others with "that won't work". State which brainstorming rule is being broken, what effect this attitude has on the quantity and quality of the group's ideas, and how the session moderator should act.

In the empathy phase of designing a technological medication dispenser for older adults living alone, a team gathered two seemingly contradictory pieces of data:

1. In a prior survey, 88 % stated that "they never forget to take their pills on time and do not need technical help".

2. During direct observation in their homes, it was found that 62 % had messy pillboxes, open boxes with expired blister packs, and recurring doubts about whether they had already taken their morning dose.

1. a) Justify why this discrepancy occurs by analysing the limitations of the self-reported method (survey) versus the observational method for this user profile.
2. b) Based on the tension detected between what they say and what they do, formulate the problem statement (POV: user + need + insight) avoiding preconceived solutions and write two challenge-generating questions ("How might we...?") that address the true root cause.

A team of students wants to reduce heating and cooling energy consumption in the Technology workshop. Their first idea was to "install smart Wi-Fi thermostats on each radiator". The team focused exclusively on programming the microcontroller and sourcing cheap sensors, ruling out exploring other avenues. After a month of testing, they found that energy consumption barely changed by 2 %, as the real problem was draughts caused by defective window/door frames and poor ventilation habits.

1. a) Identify the two methodological errors made during the ideation phase (functional fixedness and premature validation) and explain their technical impact on the project's outcome.
2. b) Apply the SCAMPER technique to the initial idea ("Wi-Fi thermostats on radiators") by developing at least four action verbs (e.g., Modify, Eliminate, Rearrange, Substitute) to generate radically different technological and classroom management solutions that address the true causes of the problem.

A school furniture company has manufactured a pre-series of 100 units of a new adjustable ergonomic desk without having conducted prior user testing. Upon delivering them to a pilot school, two critical problems arise: the crank-operated height adjustment mechanism frequently jams due to a lack of dimensional clearance in the presence of ambient dust, and students below the 10th percentile (P10) cannot rest their feet on the floor, causing postural fatigue after 45 minutes.

1. a) Design a technical and ergonomic evaluation plan with real users for this already manufactured desk: define the sample of subjects (selection criteria), three measurable test tasks, and two quantitative biomechanical or functional performance variables to be recorded.
2. b) Determine, justifying your answer based on cost and technical feasibility, which defect can be corrected through an adaptation or retrofitting and which one would require a complete structural redesign of the manufacturing tooling/die.

Design a complete mini Design Thinking process to improve your school's study room: for each phase, indicate the specific technique you would use, who you would apply it with, what deliverable you would produce and how much time you would allocate to it, and justify the coherence of the overall plan.

The following table shows the results of a usability test on a functional prototype of smart lockers for a municipal sports centre, evaluated with two groups of 10 users each:

• Group A (young people aged 16 to 25, regular users of the facility): average opening time 8,2 s; success rate on the first attempt: 95 %; help panel consultations: 0.

• Group B (people aged 60 to 75, users of gentle exercise classes): average opening time 54,6 s; success rate on the first attempt: 20 %; help panel consultations: 85 % (70 % gave up because they did not understand the capacitive numeric keypad lacking tactile feedback and sound confirmation).

1. a) Interpret these results: refute the team's conclusion that "the machine works well and the problem is the older adults' lack of digital competence". Justify which principles of accessible design and physical interfaces were ignored.
2. b) Design an A/B evaluation test for a new prototype: describe the proposed variant to resolve the identified barrier, what environmental conditions you must control, and which two quantitative metrics will determine whether the redesign is valid before manufacturing the final lockers.

For a project to improve sustainable and safe mobility around a high school, three team members propose different techniques to investigate students' needs:

• Proposal 1: An anonymous digital questionnaire sent by email with closed questions about how they commute and whether they would use a bicycle.

• Proposal 2: Non-participant field observation at the school entrances during five school days (8:00 to 8:30 a.m.), recording counts, paths, vehicle types, and conflict points.

• Proposal 3: Semi-structured in-depth interviews with four students who suffered falls or minor incidents on a scooter or bicycle in the last quarter.

1. a) Analyze what critical information each of the three proposals will provide and what methodological bias it introduces in this particular case (social desirability, lack of representativeness, or observer bias).
2. b) Justify a research strategy that sequentially combines two of these techniques to obtain the strongest empirical database before moving to the definition phase.

Your team is undecided between three ideas to reduce canteen queues: (1) app orders, (2) a second point of sale and (3) pre-packaged set lunch. Construct a decision matrix with at least four weighted criteria (cost, speed of implementation, impact on the queue, student acceptance), rate each idea from 1 to 5 reasoning each score, and defend the winning option using the numbers.

A famous designer stated: "if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse". Critically analyse this quote: give an example where relying solely on the user's literal request leads to a mediocre solution, and another where ignoring users leads to disaster, and conclude what role the empathise phase should play.

Unit challenge. How can you optimize electricity consumption in your home by applying project management? Design a reasoned technical proposal by planning its actual implementation.

1. Research: Access the official website of Red Eléctrica de España (REE - eSIOS) and record the hourly electricity price ($€/\text{MWh}$) for a full day. Identify the rated power of 3 common household appliances in your home and calculate the estimated operating cost during peak hours versus off-peak hours (express costs using a decimal comma, for example $0,18\ €/\text{kWh}$).

2. Ideation: Apply a creative technique (SCAMPER or morphological matrix) to design a technical solution (e.g., monitoring system, smart timers, or home automation alert) that optimizes the use of these appliances. Select the most viable alternative.

3. Planning: Using LibreOffice Calc (or another free spreadsheet), break down the project into a work breakdown structure (WBS) and prepare a Gantt chart for a 4-week timeframe, setting tasks, responsible persons, milestones, and an estimated budget.

4. Reasoned proposal: Write a brief report (maximum 2 pages) summarizing the problem, the devised solution, the schedule, and the budget.

Assessment criteria:

• Rigour in extracting and using official REE data.

• Originality and technical justification in the ideation process.

• Coherence and formal correctness of the Gantt chart and the WBS in LibreOffice.