Essays
A Powerful Lens: People’s Purpose
Purpose is a way of framing how you look at something that brings so much more clarity of perception. When I say, “purpose,” I mean what ...
Jan 30, 2021 / Read More
A Team that Is Switched On
what does non-hierarchical collaboration look like?
Sep 25, 2020 / Read More
How to Wield Empathy
This is what I mean by empathy. I tried thinking like Daren would think.
Aug 25, 2020 / Read More
Generating Focused Ideas Through Practical Empathy
Building awareness of cognitive bias, and solving for it with thinking styles and problem space research
Aug 24, 2020 / Read More
Remote Collaboration Tips
Time travel with me back to 2003, and discover the through-line.
Aug 24, 2020 / Read More
Watch past talks
Design and Power
Using Opportunity Maps: People, Purpose, Patterns, & Problems
No Assumptions: Embracing Human Complexity through Purposes and Patterns
Paying Better Attention to the Problem
People, Purposes, Patterns & Problem Space
Can we empower teams to perform pragmatic research that actually improves products?
Listen to other recordings
BraveUX: An Interview with Indi Young
Purpose and Thinking Styles with Indi Young
How to Bust the Myth of the Average User
The Average User Doesn't Exist with Indi Young
Why do great solutions fail?
Relationships Between Problem and Solution Space
Published articles
Removing Bias from Your Solutions
Jan-2021 – User Research Explained, A Charity Collection of Essays for Pandemic Relief;
When You Listen, What Are You Thinking
Nov-2019 – Design Management Institute dmi:Review “Innovative Thinking on Diversity & Inclusion,” Vol. 30, Issue 3, November 2019, page 22;
Contributions
3 Ways to Select the Perfect Method for your Research Goal
Dec-2014 – UXmas – Advent Calendar for UX folk
Comics
Developing valid personas
Created by Indi Young & Brad Colbow
This comic introduces the basics of creating behavioral audience segments. The examples shown in this comic are labeled as roles by accident, so ignore that. .
Mental Model Diagrams Cartoon
Created by Indi Young & Brad Colbow
Designers focus on the details of experiences–flow, layout, connection to other channels, tone of voice, etc. The goal is to be as “user-aware” as possible, yet there are different kinds of users. How can you support them more completely? For that matter, how can you support even one segment of users in a manner that aligns with their inner thinking?
Featured Voices
Building Mental Model Diagrams
by Tiago Camacho and Leah Connolly
In our previous article, we introduced mental model diagrams, some of the theory behind them, and the kind of value we believe they offer organisations. In this more hands-on article, we’ll take you through our process of collaboratively building a comprehensive mental model diagram.
Empathy Map: A Tool To Uncover What REALLY Matters
by Zulaikha
Empathy is the key trait that helps us keep people at the center of everything we do. However, people are complex, and that makes it impossible to empathize at scale. Empathetic frameworks help navigate that complexity.
Why Listening Deeply is so hard
by Pei Ling Chin
Listening deeply is a topic I am passionate about, not because I am good at it (far from it!) but because it is so deeply needed – not just in research but in our everyday conversations with people.
How I apply Indi Young’s problem space research approach in coaching my mentees
by Pei Ling Chin
Understand your mentees deeper and go beyond ‘what went well’ and ‘what went wrong’.
How I apply Indi Young’s problem space research approach in coaching my mentees (slideshow)
by Pei Ling Chin
It almost sounds silly to attend a talk on listening, because surely we know how to listen. But do we, really? I discovered during and after this talk that a lot of team issues can be resolved if only teams learn to develop empathy, and empathy can only be developed through listening deeply.
Designing with Mental Model Diagrams – An Introduction
by Tiago Camacho and Leah Connolly
Understanding people and what they’re trying to achieve is a key part of a solid design process. Mental model diagrams are a powerful way to achieve this, as they help you map people’s experiences in-depth and in a scalable way.