ARIANA KOBLITZ design researcherportfolio: approach to uncovering, exploring and tackling needs*

*need: verb, can be explicit / implicit. requires interpretation design better experiences | akoblitz.com

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Fun facts:

a third culture millennial

Stanford taught

design consultancy trained

in-house honed

The end user is at the core of everything I do. I believe experience extends beyond digital, and in user research that creates an impact beyond incremental improvement.

Research is a way to communicate throughout the life of a project, (between teammates, different disciplines, different types of stakeholders, etc) as we identify a behavior worth changing and come up with a new experience that works for the end users.

I’m a design researcher. I help dig up, connect the dots on, and answer questions related to:

It’s not linear, but organizational management hasn’t really caught on to that yet. In a perfect world, needs & feasibility are weighted more, with business simply giving the go ahead to try. But that isn’t how internal (or arguably market) forces allow progress.

a project’s process is the means by which all 3 priorities are kept in mind.

HI!

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

experience

feasibilitybusiness

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exploring empathetically

iterating creatively

refining rationally

(Damien Newman’s squiggle lives on…)

In a perfect world we’d simply go out into the world with real users and then let gut & inspiration do their magic. Design research (& processes) exist to aid in identifying new patterns, break stereotypes & assist with sidestepping bias, and convincing each other & the powers that be to take the risk (& fail systematically)

Case studies showcase how I’ve used whats in our toolbox of methodologies:design process via needfinding:

observations

interpretations

solutions

directions

Abstract

Concrete

Analysis Synthesis

journey mapping articulating design principles

ethnographic research

assumptions mapping

user narrative building

narrative of product experience

defining MVPdefining product ecosystem

usability testing

prototype testing

competitive analysis

identifying

Elizabeth Sanders’ Convivial Toolbox is a favorite treasure trove of other additions to tools, methodologies and activities.

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

Case studies span: Education sector / tech space

International development / agriculture business

Health industry / disease management

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BlueRidge Labs, an incubator focused on gathering entrepreneurs with an eye to solving the needs of those most overlooked by technology. I worked as a designer in residence, supporting Margo Wright and her team throughout the initial 3 months to demo day.

GOAL: EMPOWER STUDENTS ON FINANCIAL AID TOWARDS COLLEGE GRADUATIONOf the 57%1 of first-generation students that graduate, only 11%2 are first-generation, low-income*— Yenko set out to change that. The habits that ensure passing grades are habits many first-generation college students simply never learned. Personal development is a long road and personal counseling has a proven track record. We wanted to find a way to scale this type of effect to reach all the students in need.

*source: 1: http://www.cic.edu/Research-and-Data/Making-the-Case/Pages/First-Generation-Students-Graduation-Rates.aspx 2: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED504448.pdf

This is when I was at:

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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How do first generation, low-income students prepare

for class work and retain their financial aid?

Students walked us through their day to day, juggling school, job(s) and often extensive family responsibilities

\interview activities: define “time”, “helpful”, and what course planning looks like

map of student study experience

School resources are not clear to students, especially given the limited amount of time they spend on campus.

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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How might students better manage their financial aid?

map of data ecosystem

students + bridged gap in information + directed suggestions => planned actions Translating research findings into a user behavior flow helped make the connection between qualitative research and design elements more tangible.

An insight we had: information of what’s needed to keep financial aid is not making its way to students, resulting in losing eligibility.

App flow — from most necessary out to nice to haves, future features

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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What keeps students engaged in a digital study aid?

The road to a first design that did not try and cram every single wishful nice-to-have was a constant back and forth between having an idea, and asking whether that idea is, in fact, grounded in an insight we had from students. !We introduced an early prototype to two Brooklyn English college courses, and touched base with the students regularly.

Yenko founder Margo Wright storyboarding, realizing it’s back to the drawing board for a particular interaction

Design principles at work: tie daily work to longer-term goals visualize changes to facilitate decision making tie intangibles (study habits) to tangibles (grades)

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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InCompass, a design consultancy in Phnom Penh that partners with international foundations as well as local organizations, supporting introducing new technology and services through a design research approach.

GOAL: EMPOWER FARMERS WHO TAKE ON THEIR FUTURELors Thmey is a subsidiary of iDE, a social enterprise focused on market-based solutions that empower communities around the world to generate value and invest themselves out of poverty. Lors Thmey hired inCompass to work with farmers recruited to promote new technologies, who have trouble introducing drip irrigation kits in rural villages. How do these recruits guarantee a return on investments which are perceived as risky by their peers?

I’d like to think that my 8 months in Cambodia was more than white guilt. It was an opportunity to learn from those who have persevered, and are recreating a world for themselves.

This is when I was at:

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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How might farmers adopt new technology?

We spent 2 months meeting with members of villages in two different provinces and multiple villages. We heard from farmers, their families, as well as other roles in the villages (such as the village chief, and vendors at markets). !Project plan included going out into the field a second time, presenting farm equipment along with programs / messaging ideas generated in earlier synthesis. !Beyond selling product, Lors Thmey’s underlying mission is capacity building in Cambodian rural farm communities. Ravaged by a decade of the Khmer Rouge, the country is learning how to walk again

Nadia runs an interview at a farmers’ home

Synthesis with business advisors, Cambodians who are trained in new farm technology

Project plan

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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How can business advisors serve early adopters?

Driving insights: There was no one best path to purchase. what provided proof of ROI to some appeared a waste to others Barriers to farmers purchasing and seeing a return on their investment included a perceived challenge with the increased produce that resulted from these improved farming techniques

in-person sorting activity to hear the why behind the choice

frameworks used in strategy presentation

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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Lors Thmey invited inCompass to strategic board meetings to expand the role description of farm business advisors to include post-harvest sales channel development / infrastructure.

How can we socialize ideas in a de-centralized organization?

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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GOAL: EMPOWER HIV PATIENTS TO LIVE WITH THEIR DISEASE

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

Design Concepts, a design consultancy out of Madison, WI.

This is when I was at:

It was hard not to walk into this project with the cynical biases against pharmaceutical companies front and center. The folks we worked with, who traveled with us and sat with us as they listened to patients’ stories, blew me away. They had been there in the 80s and 90s, saw the impact this type of medication was able to have. They were driven, truly, by the patients who now have increasing access to treatment.

A pharmaceutical company has had an HIV pill on the market for over a decade. Chemically, nothing will change. Their particular configuration, they knew, is good for certain patient profiles and segments. Their sales reports showed, however, that physicians were not prescribing their medication necessarily by those segments.

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How can patients better connect with medication that,

medically speaking, best serves them?

medication: pills

patient typephysician’s office

Decision: physicians and patients both have strong influence on the ultimate decision medical “best fits” are not the only, or the highest, priority

Education spheres of influence exist in a patient’s history, community, social circles competing messages in clinics, doctor’s offices

Sales physicians have seen HIV morph over the years, have their own strongly held beliefs about what types of medication works best for different patients

Fun fact: I got to make use of my mother tongue! While I traveled to the US cities for the interviews, a couple interviews in Germany needed a German moderator. I was more than happy to oblige remotely.

Maintenance Adherence is the biggest issue — it is important physicians, nurses better understand root causes

Experience patients have a vastly different experience of HIV, depending on their ecosystem of support (or lack of one) and their previous experience with HIV/AIDS

Reputation Taxonomy of side effects is a clear distinction patents learn over time It is difficult to ask a patient break from that mental model

We spoke to patients, physicians, and nurses in 4 countries (US, Mexico, Germany and France) over the course of a month. Interviews focused on the life of an HIV patient more generally, diving into how a patient thinks about making decisions related to their disease, how other aspects of the lives have changed, and what their relationship with their physician / primary medical advisor is.

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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How can a pharmaceutical company play a role, as it is

a third party not directly involved?In an industry as complex and as entrenched as this, it was imperative we included the business and institutional knowledge of the folks we were going to ultimately present to.

Agenda — and impact Storytelling: videos of all three interview groups

Directors began citing quotes they’d heard in the field to further flesh out and ground activities later

Friction mapping: pointed collecting of insights related to pain points During later brainstorms friction points were brought in organically, to help articulate how a given idea would solve one or multiple issues Agents were able to give insight as to the back-office processes that resulted in certain administrative pain points Agents were able to connect the dots between assumptions they were making in their role and the reality of patient’s lives and decision-making

Directed ideating with larger thematic buckets we had prepared during initial interview synthesis

those who had been out in the field with us / listened into interviews brought along the debrief exercise sheets we had provided and were able to make use of thought starters they had jotted down

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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schematic of 2-day workshop with stakeholders at the pharmaceutical company

How might a patient learn about and become an expert in disease management?

due to NDA confidentiality, schematic of delivered patient experience of living with HIV

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Let’s play!

ariansky@gmail.com

design better experiences | akoblitz.com | ARIANA KOBLITZ march 2016

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work samples

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design manifesto

Check out my LinkedIn for a full download on where I’ve worked

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