Design without guidelines is like going into a brand-new city without a Map. You'll probably take a couple of wrong terms.
Frameworks and guidelines help us create a blueprint - minimising the amount of mistakes we make along the way. Especially for new designers.
Understanding and framing your problem is the first step before you can brainstorm, prototype, test, and launch groundbreaking ideas.
At heartbeat, we rely on design frameworks at the start of every project. These frameworks not only aid us during the project but often become invaluable resources long after the project concludes. We have even created our own design system: .pulse
What Frameworks Are and Why We Need Them
A framework is the basic structure of something. It’s a set of ideas or facts that provide support. For business problems, a framework creates a structure that gives focus and support to the problem you’re trying to solve.
Why is this necessary? Doesn’t the goal of the project provide a frame for solving it? Not exactly. Business problems are very unstructured. They have many variables and interdependent factors. Solutions aren’t clearly right or wrong—they are bad, good, or better.
We all grew up solving textbook problems, which are structured and straightforward. But business problems aimed at innovation, growth, or new ways to serve customers are different. They are what we call wicked problems. This is why you need a framework.
Conduct Research to Gather Content for Your Framework
A framework provides a set of ideas or facts for your project. But where do these ideas and facts come from? They come from research and immersion in your problem.
Here’s how to get that done:
Interview Leaders: Understand the company’s goals and capabilities, and how they think about the problem.
Spend Time with Customers: Learn about their experiences, what works well, and what doesn’t.
Research the Context: Look at other solutions, technology, industry dynamics, and trends.
The information and data from research are your raw materials. Use them to create a meaningful and useful framework. Don’t skip this step! You must generate new information about your problem to create relevant and powerful frameworks.
Identify Categories of Information as the Basis of Your Framework
The foundation of a framework is a list of important categories. You create these categories by analyzing the data collected during your research.
Many times, your framework will focus on the customer and their needs. But it could also be about industry structure, the structure of a current service, or a major trend like the sharing economy.
Example:
Let’s say you’re working on a challenge in healthcare to reduce re-admittance rates. After analyzing your research, you identify “six areas of patient uncertainty after discharge from the hospital”:
Managing Pain
Taking Medications
Coordinating Care Among Specialists
Getting Back to Everyday Life
Financial Concerns
Emotional Well-being
For each of these areas, you have real data from patients about their uncertainties, challenges, and questions. This is a great start for a framework! Notice that the content comes from research, with a clear intent to communicate patient uncertainties.
Organize the Categories Visually into a Diagram
The second step in creating a good framework is to represent the list visually. A talented designer can add tremendous value to the communication power of the framework, but there are simple ways to organize a list.
Approaches:
Table: Use category titles along the top and organize content in table cells below.
Venn Diagram: If categories overlap, use a Venn diagram.
Timeline: If categories are arranged in sequence or by time, use a timeline. For steps in the customer experience, use a Journey Map.
Organizing your list of categories into a visual form provides a more engaging way for others to understand and focus on the content. It also reveals spaces to explore further, potentially leading to new insights.
Use the Framework to Describe the Problem and Focus Areas for Ideation
Once you have a framework, it’s great for sharing research results and helping others understand the problem's nuances. Any category title can become a section in a presentation, detailing what’s happening and why.
A framework should also focus ideation and problem-solving. In a collaborative workshop, breakout groups can work on different areas of the framework. For example, in the healthcare scenario, one group might address patients' financial concerns, while another focuses on coordinating care.
Using the framework to guide ideation ensures more focused and organized brainstorming sessions.
Start Creating Design Frameworks to Solve Complex Problems
Business problems aren’t like textbook problems where everything is structured in advance. The first step in any project should be to research and frame the problem. This helps everyone understand the problem better before beginning ideation.
A design framework is a simple visual structure that organizes information and ideas, making it easier to work on the problem effectively. Start by conducting thorough research, identifying important categories, and organizing them visually. This process will improve your team’s ability to solve complex problems and generate innovative solutions.