Ep-152 | Affinity Mapping - UX & Product Research - What, Why, How, and Donts answered

Affinity mapping is a beautiful tool in order to find lot of correlations and connections when you're doing a product design and UI UX research.

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And this podcast is going to give you why it is important and what are the problems which if it is not done will happen in your design process and how to exactly do it step by step. I'm going to give you some stat and information where it is very important for a designer to really follow this.

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So particularly a research by Carnegie Mellon found that user centered design approach which often involves affinity diagram can lead to a greater user satisfaction and reduced development time. And lot of informations are there. So this particular information is going to really have a significant benefit in your design process. Let me tell you why it is. Okay, so very first we'll have to get the clarity on what is mean by affinity mapping, right? So a lot of people will not have a understanding what is mean by that. See, it's a visual representation tool, guys. It's used in product research and UI UX research to organize and categorize your data. In fact, it can categorize your ideas when you're doing brainstorming. It's not only for gathering of user research and all. Okay? During your ideation also you can use it to affinity map it and it helps you identify some patterns and interconnectedness and themes and relationships in your information which is in the background. What will happen is it's a beautiful tool for any aiding your synthesis of information. Guys, a lot of people don't understand this. See, it mainly aids your synthesis of your data, what you're collected in your research. See, if you're not synthesizing your information, it's not a point like just to put some data and then you create some ideas around it. No, the main objective of a designer or the main USP of a designer, I would say is to find the hidden patterns, what it is happening.

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So you have to understand what is mean by affinity mapping. So now you got got an understanding, I guess. And let me tell you why it is very important. See, particularly if you are doing a cause and effect diagram, it connects your information in a very proper way. And second is you will have a lot of uncluttered data and this can help you sort out in a proper way. Abstractness will lead into a clarity. Groups and subgroups of information can be sorted out with this.

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And let me tell you, it's a visual mind mapping tool, guys. It effectively increases your communication to talk to your stakeholders, let's say inside your design department. So that's a third, third advantage why affinity mapping is very important. Fourth is it helps you find the interconnectedness and system understanding. See, people don't understand the systems properly. Whenever you're going and talking to a researcher, or maybe whenever you're talking to your clients or your whenever you're visiting field and you're talking to your different, different stakeholders, nobody will find the interconnectedness. They'll just give you some raw information. Like let's say if you're solving a problem of let's say library management system. If you go and talk to a library guy who is coming and reading every single day, he'll talk about something else, what he's facing in a problem. If you go and talk to a librarian, he'll tell about something which is more pertaining to book finding is a problem. Or maybe people are not able to get a proper ventilation, no space to keep the new books, digitalization of this information, he'll talk about something. When you go and talk to a government about how the libraries are managed, they will have a different set of information. The point is how as a designer, you are able to find the correlations between these different stakeholders. Like let's say a person who is in the educational department, how he is viewing library experience. A person who is making a policy, how he is viewing that library experience. A person who is managing the library, how he is viewing that experience. A person who is going and sitting and reading the library, what is his pain points. If you are able to correlate that using an affinity mapping, you will find a significant difference in your whole mapping of an information.

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And why it has been collaboratively used. See, a lot of people don't understand this collaborativeness will only happen once. If you put the data together and find the pattern inside it, then the other team will also find a significant importance. Okay, I've been a part of this process. I've been considered in this process. And let me also pour this information. When you're not mapping it is in an affinity way. When you're not mapping it in an affinity way, people find that UI UX research is something different. I am not, I'm in a very different, what you call field. If you need any data, you give me, I'll give you the moment. If you show the interconnectedness, the moment, if you show the pattern, the visual mapping team will come and collaborate with you guys. I've seen lot of information. If it is presented in a proper way, people feel the sense of importance. That's why the Designers are valued more.

The moment when they show it, okay?

And the focus will be very clear which task is very critical, which task is not very critical. People will get to understand in a more deeper way. So this is the importance guys.

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Organizing your information, identifying patterns, collaborativeness, prioritizing problem solving. So these are all the several advantages. Okay? So after having understood why it is important, now let us understand the bad effects of it. If it is not done, what will happen? Your time will go like anything. Particularly if the time is happening in a. If your mismanaged tasks is going in a different way, definitely it impacts in your cost, it will impact in your resources, it will impact in your infrastructure. Data processing storage will be a very huge problem, guys. Like let's say your servers and other things will be having a huge amount of information. Whenever you are finding that in a abstract way. Hey Jagdish, I am collecting few information only how this will impact my server data here. Think about it guys. I'm giving you an example to understand this point.

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Like let's say if you're doing an application of food delivery app, let's say your target market, you're collecting some information and then you are unnecessarily finding some information which is not there properly. You are not able to find a correlation out of it. So that data is still lying upfront. What will happen is whenever you are developing, whenever your developer is building this information and he is also not having a clarity in that. So huge amount of data will be stacked inside that particular option. See, you have not found out exact affinity point, why that particular data is it's important. Okay, like let's say there is a ill effects of people who are having a food chain food supply delivery. Like let's say Swiggy or Zomato. If people are taking that as a product example, let's let me give you, there are some many information which people will go and collect. Like let's say if you are a UX designer in Swiggy or a Zomato, you will find a lot of information coming in, okay? It's your responsibility to map it out properly. If you're not mapping it out properly, what will happen is it will lie just like that. So your developer will also not know the importance. He will just keep on collecting information. Your entire application will be overloaded with that unwanted information which is not adding any value to the purchasing decision of the product or booking the food for the delivery or the delivery guy who is delivering that product. It will be unnecessarily lying. If you are not removing that from a system, your entire Swiggy server will have that unwanted information. Unless until somebody is consciously removing that data. See how your product lifecycle is getting streamlined if you use it properly. So it definitely impacts in your timeline and your cost. It reduces your user experience. It challenges the scalability guys. See whenever you're making the product into a big mass scale by millions or millions of user, the more more data which you put in your application or a website app, the complex it will become guys. The more bottleneck it will become in order to maintain that in a server level. That is why minimal, minimal, minimal data is very, very, very, very necessary. That's why if you do an affinity mapping properly, we will find which is very critical, which is not critical and in fact we will find lot of risk of errors also which can be forecasted before we launch the product. And also if you are not doing it properly, integration difficulties will happen. Complex data structure can pose challenges and during integration of different system, the third party services will come in picture and potential hindering the seamless operation of the product will be a big problem guys like let's say if you're doing it in a mass scale, if you're scaling this product, you will come to know. See designers job is not only to collect information and showcase and design a UI ux. It's also to understand in a product lifecycle management how the entire integration, risk, scalability, user experience is coming into the picture. If you are taking that responsibility guys, then you will be valued as a crazy designer. And let me tell you guys, managing that complex data will be also a sensitive information for you. The security concerns will be a big problem. Higher level of security and risk vulnerability will be having a huge data problem in your information.

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So having understood why it is important and what are the bad effects of it, now you have to know how to do it effectively, right? So let me give you very shortly guys. See first of all gather proper data when you wanted to do a proper affinity mapping, whether you are collecting from primary source. Second resource, user, research, interview, survey, please have a proper information gathered, okay? Write each and every ideas on your cards. Have a good team to collaborate with and arrange these ideas in a proper way so that people can able to visualize it in a proper way. It's been shown like let's say use sticky notes, use sketch pens, use colors, use highlights, use a very collaborative approach. Now arrange these ideas in a more appealing way, okay? In a whiteboard or in a canvas or in a Miro tool in an InVision tool, use anything, okay? Avoid grouping this information in a premature way. Use it in a very consciously thoughtful way so that the ideas are very clearly put together. Now find a theme inside it. After you do this now, the themes will be very clearly visible. Guys, start grouping it related to your ideas which you mapped it together. Find the patterns, find the interconnectedness, find the system connectedness and now categorize the information. Immediately after doing this, label the groups properly. Create a yellow label, create a orange label, create a blue label or create a labeling in terms of names, not maybe notations. That's totally up to you guys. Once if the labeling is done clearly then you can refine and iterate this information and find a proper affinity inside what it is happening. Once if you're able to refine and iterate it now we can create some headers and sub headers and cluster it in a more detailed way. Once if you're able to do it. Guys, now call your stakeholders. Now call your different teams. Now people can able to drive lot of insights feminine information. And once if you're able to do it guys have a time and a limiter to do this. So you cannot do this for one or two years. You cannot do this for one or two months also hardly. You can take days or weeks to complete this information. Once everything is set and the moment, if you are using the timer and a limiter like say one hour, people should look at this affinity mapping and give some insights. People will be forced to give a proper information or else people will just come here and there will give you random feedback. Nobody will be taking it very seriously guys. So have a very good thoughtfulness when you are setting your timer last but not document it properly and create a very good reservoir and a repository with the high quality visuals and information so that people who are seeing it from a next version, people are going to work in your next version two of your product. Or maybe your other stakeholders or your sales marketing should understand it in a more detailed way so nobody will question your design decision. Guys, people will not come and randomly comment. Hey, why did you put this information here? Hey, why did this particular information is lying here? People will have a very conviction while you're doing. Let me recap you guys. Gather your data properly. Write your idea on your cards, have a team collaboration and put it them in a proper way. And arrange this idea in a canvas or a whiteboard or in a mirror tool. Identify the themes, label your groups and subgroups and refine and iterate it and then create headers and sub headers. And now call your team for getting more insights and document it properly with the high quality vendors and visuals.

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If you're able to do this guys, let me tell you, your entire life cycle management in your whole design process will be streamlined in a different way. 2018 Nielsen Norman Group emphasizes that role of user research in reducing the design flaws and enhancing design quality is definitely improving. Affinity diagrams are very very crucial tool in finding out that information. I'm pasting that link also guys. You can read about it.

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2016 study published in Journal of Engineering Design found that using a collaborative visual tools like affinity diagrams can improve your communication and collaboration within design teams. This fosters a shared understanding of user needs and lead to a better decision making industry recognition. Leading industry organizations like Interaction Design foundation and Nielsen Norman Groups advocates for user centered design methodologies which heavily relies on techniques like Affinity diagram is very important they endorse this highlights the industry wide acceptance of this approach. So Industrial Design foundation is also encouraging this approach for doing this affinity mapping in a more more extensive way. If you are able to do this guys, definitely guys, nobody will touch your design process. You will have a much more conviction if you are presenting your data.

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I hope this information is very useful for you. So don't just listen to this podcast. Take action and let me know how you tried this method and how you have progressed in your affinity diagrams. In this particular podcast which I've given. What do you think about this podcast section? Okay, I'll be more than happy to read your comments and definitely I'll revert back you guys. Each and every comment I'll revert back to you guys. Even thousand comments are there. I'll give it back to you. Okay, so thank you so much guys. I hope this podcast would have given you clarity. Give me best star rating in Apple and Spotify if you find this useful and give me five star rating. And if you need my mentorship support, send an email DFC designed for changemail.com me or my team will revert back to you for selecting you in my mentorship program because I don't take a lot of people. Only few selected use people if they're really needed will definitely take care in our program because it's an intensive program. It's not for everybody.

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