I started my research by examining what factors cause anxiety or stress to Clients and Designers, during a design project. By investigating project management and the design process I was able to clarify my own thoughts, gain knowledge and confirm that the troubles I experienced during the summer were not an isolated case.

The Anxiety Gap

The situation I experienced on my summer placement is not uncommon during design projects. Due to a lack of understanding of the design process, Clients can become anxious during the early stages of the project when the Designers are still trying to understand the problem and creating initial ideas due to a perceived lack of project progress.

Some Clients expect that when the half way stage is reached, half of the product (or other outcome) should be completed. Often this is not the case, and when the Client contacts the Designers for answers they only get asked more questions because the process is still diverging for the Designers.

As simple as it may sound, even just knowing that this problem can occur during a project can help the Clients and Designers collaborate with increased effectiveness. Ideally the Designers will have an appreciation of the client’s anxiety, after all, some Design consultants will have gone through this process hundreds of times but for a Client this might be their first experience.

It is important to explain and make sure that the Client understands that the design process is not a linear model and time invested in intangibles at the beginning should lead to a better final outcome. My application will try and bridge the Anxiety Gap by guiding both sides through a typical project, show how to identify problem stages and by explaining the concepts involved propose strategies to overcome any difficulties which arise.

Types of Development

Traditional Development

In the traditional project design process all of the stages are a fixed length of time, once the development time has been completed then implementation must begin so the project can keep on schedule. There are numerous disadvantages to this process as any errors in the design or technology may not be discovered until the outcome is being implemented. This will cost extra resources (time and money) to change. This problem will also occur if the Client hasn’t seen or been shown the full concept before it is frozen by the Designer meaning a change later in the project, at extra cost.

Flexible Development

In this more modern approach to software development the implementation of the concept begins before the concept is frozen. This prevents most errors within the system from being carried forward and allows the Client to decide to continue with the system with much more confidence and informed idea of how the conclusion will turn out. This style of development is part of the design process and this concept must be communicated to the Client effectively so they understand how this affects the timescale and milestones of the project.

Client - User Centred Design

From my experiences as a designer at university and during my summer placement I gained knowledge of the design process and how to apply it to each different project. However, I felt that I should carry out more research to ensure that the process I believed to be successful was not missing a vital stage due to my limited experience with “real world projects”.

Researching this process I found a model that simplified design as a process into three key areas of Discovery, Design and Use. The model is a good overview of the design process and clarifies the key tasks within each of the three headings. The Discovery stage highlights two key principles of the process, the designer must not only understand the problem as completely, as possible, but also the system or environment (including users) that the design will be used in. Therefore this first stage is vital to project success even if it produces only appreciation and knowledge and not any ‘hard’ outcomes such as a prototype.

This was an important concept that kept returning throughout the research for this project was the principle of the more work done upfront, before the design ideas begin to be focussed on fully, the more effective the process will be at producing a design that will fully meet the specifications.

Project Management

I also researched into project management to see if there was any areas that perhaps were not associated directly with the design process but that could have an effect on a design project.

There are certain classic measures of project success such as time, cost and specification. It is good practice to think about all the stakeholders involved both directly and indirectly with the project, as the Client needs a solution that meets their needs. Project success can be measured in two ways. The first is by Hard and Tangible project outcomes, which are the easiest project outcomes to measure, in a qualitative method, where the project stakeholders can clearly see the success level of the project. In the design process this would take the shape of key deliverables such as a final system design or a fully tested program.

The second is much harder to measure as it concerns the Soft success of the project, this is something or someone that has been managed, influenced or involved in the project and has benefited from being part of the project process. This is extremely relevant to the design process and my application where the Client can learn about the design process as the project develops, allowing them to use their knowledge to help prevent anxiety and move forward both during and after the project.

“If a leader acts with sincerity and trustworthiness in what they say and do then stakeholders are now built into advocates and supporters.” - Eddie Obeng
(Obeng, Eddie. All change! The project leader's handbook / London : Pitman Publishing, 1994)

Along with these measures another relevant topic of project management is Client (or stakeholder) management. This is essential to project success as if the stakeholders are not kept informed and involved then they will not be able to provide feedback (to both the project team and their superiors) and in extreme cases may stop the project before it is complete. The Client must be managed to get valuable input from them that can help the project progress faster and increase the chance that it will meet the measures of success.

Research Reflection - Revised Idea

After conducting research into project management and design process management I began to refine my initial brief for myself. Throughout my research I seemed to keep referring back to the design process, and the methodical steps it used to guide people through a project. A representation of the process could be used in my project management tool to allow clearer management of the information needed to make the project successful.

This would not only be an improvement on the initial three level system of the original idea, but would also provide a much more relevant overview of the project for managers or external consultant who needed to understand the project and what stage it was at.

As well as being a useful tool for displaying/holding the project data, a visualisation of the process can also be used to help complete key tasks and give the Client a better understanding of how the Designer works.