The
Innovation Process has been derived from years of experience
and knowledge in the research and design of innovative, industry-leading
products, services, applications and websites.
The process is the focal point of our Engagement
Model and is organized into several distinct phases. Each
phase feeds critical information into the next one and builds
upon that information to add further detail to the results.
Certain projects will only require a select number of phases
and specific number of tasks within each phase, while other
projects will require the entire spectrum of the Innovation
Process. Depending on your unique situation we tailor each phase
to meet your specific needs and requirements.
Research
and Analysis
Only with a complete understand of your problem space can we
begin to create the solution. Depending on your specific problem
we utilize the appropriate tasks to investigate the necessary
areas of concern.
The Research
and Analysis phase is all about data collection and evaluation
- where appropriate we gather data on your business models/practices,
organizational structure and process, existing products/services/applications,
target markets, customers, vendors, partners, and competitors.
The
typical activities
we carry out during this phase are:
•
Company Analysis - We talk to your Marketing, Development
and Sales stakeholders. We will also talk to your vendors and
partners to gain a complete business model understanding.
Deliverable:
Report that captures your organizational structure, development
processes and business model. The results allow us to identify
inefficiencies and misunderstandings arising from your business
models and product development processes.
•
Product Evaluations - We perform expert evaluations
and conduct usability testing on your existing product, service,
application or website.
Deliverable:
Report that reveals the usability strengths and weaknesses
of your product. The results allow us to identify areas for
improvement with your products usability and ease of use.
•
Market Investigations - We research your target markets
to capture the demographic segments of your customers.
Deliverable:
Report that describes the details regarding your target customers
such as age, gender, education, training, attitude, income,
lifestyle, etc. The results allow us to clearly define the
customers in your target market(s).
•
User Interactions - We observe your current and potential
customers via ‘job shadowing’ and interviews to gather
critical information that will lead directly to defining the
product requirements. We will also create survey questionnaires
and conduct focus group activities to gather additional customer
information/feedback. At times we may develop a series of stimulus
“prototypes” that form the focal point of discussion.
Initially these “prototypes” are provocative and designed
to elicit both positive and negative reactions. Negative reactions
at the phase are expected and desirable as they help narrow
the design space for the eventual product.
Deliverable:
Report that captures the users’ environment(s), behaviours,
opinions and values. The results allow us to determine the
critical product requirements for user acceptance and market
leadership.
•
Competitive Analysis - We investigate your competitors
to understand their strengths and weaknesses. We also compare
every aspect of your product against that of your rival(s) by
conducting ‘head-to-head’ competitive benchmarking.
Deliverable:
Report that reveals the strengths and weaknesses of your competitor’s
design. The results allow us to recommend solutions that ensure
your product offering outshines your competitor.
•
Intellectual Property Identification - We review
your product's technology to identify the strategic aspects
which may be protected via patent submission.
Deliverable:
Report detailing a patent submission strategy that identifies
and describes the ‘aspects’ of your technology in
such way that allows your intellectual property to be covered
in a broad, yet focused manner offering the greatest range
of patent protection.
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Framework
In this phase we unify the findings from the individual Research
and Analysis phase results into a framework of critical product
requirements.
The critical requirements represent the coming together of your
Customer, Product and Market requirements to ensure that your
product succeeds in the marketplace while fitting into your
business objectives.
From these critical requirements we storyboard primary use case
scenarios to capture the high-level functional demands of your
product. The scenarios allow us to define a seamless framework
in which all features and functions can work together. The framework
outlines the significant content areas, solution structure and
essential elements of your product. Basically, it describes
what to build, and gives critical insights into the technical
requirements.
Deliverable: Framework
Specification and Prototype describing product requirements
along with the key interface components and main features
and how they interact. The specification expresses the product
framework in a common language that describes the requirements
in a way that facilitates communication between users, marketing
and product development.
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Design
Implementation
In this
phase we build on the Framework Specification and Prototype
to define the final level of design detail for your product.
Essentially, we determine the ‘fundamentals’ of the
design solution. We complete the missing details in the framework
specification to produce a highly-visual, detailed description
of your product’s end-state.
We create every aspect of your product’s design - from
the colours used in icons and widgets to the behaviours of interface
elements to the exact interaction flow of every feature, button
and dialog box.
As we work to define the design details of your product, we
keep in close contact with your development team to ensure that
no unexpected implementation problems will arise. All of our
detailed design solutions are based in the original project
vision and guided by the information gathered from the earlier
phases of work.
Deliverable: Customer
Experience Specification and Customer Experience Prototype
- a highly visual, detailed descriptions of the product's
end-state providing developers with a way to see everything
they need to know in order to build it right. Marketing/Sales
groups can utilize the Experience Specification/Prototype
to engage customers/partners and generate market excitement
long before the first beta product is available.
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Best
Practice Guidelines
With
the Design Implementation phase nearing completion we can work
in conjunction with the appropriate stakeholders to reconfigure
the Customer Experience Specification and Prototype into a set
of best practice guidelines.
Deliverable:
Tailored to stakeholder requirements: e.g. training materials
for Human Resources departments; Customer Engagement tools
for Marketing; Communications collateral for Media/PR departments.
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