Observation Skills – Find the unspoken needs and wants of customers

Simple approach – Use feedback from customers (complaints, emails, etc)
Go deeper
- Active Observation – get our of the chair/office and go to where the customers are
- Active Reflection – after the observation, go back and dig deeper in the information you gathered
Use empathic (observational) design
- In-the-world observations (home, office, where the customers are)
- Trend Safari
Ethnographic Studies
- Study of customers as a social group
  - Customer segmentation/persona
  - Structure of the customer tribe
  - Wishes/desires of the tribe
  - Fears/concerns of the tribe
- Observation of the tribe
Practice helps improve your observations skills
- People watching
  - Are they alone?
  - Are they an organized individual?
  - Are they married?/Do they have kids?
  - Are they a shopper or a buyer?
- Friends – in-house observations
  - What is their task in music and art?
  - What are their priorities (exercise, hobbies,etc)?
  - Is there a gap between their professional and personal personas?
- For the above:
  - What tribe do they belong to?
  - Who else do you know is in the same tribe?
  - How big do you think that tribe is?

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