INFORMING DESIGN – the Pivotal Moment

It also happens to be the key to great design. Informed Design is a creative, analytical and rewarding process that serves up a rich understanding of the topic of our inquiry – the people who will use and benefit from Pivot’s design solution. The process reveals a synthesis of emotions, thoughts and feelings that are the human experience, a snapshot of our social life. Through Informed Design we get to appreciate a particular slice of life from a particular point of view and devise a strategy for making it better.

So, that’s the big picture. But what exactly is it?

By definition, Informed Design is a highly co-creative, research-driven process. It focuses on users as both the source of inspiration for research insights and the target of our creative thinking. With Informed Design we can imagine and enable better life experiences. Basically, it’s a series of investigative steps that synthesize empirical research with our professional judgment to better connect users with everyday products and services.

For Pivot designers, it is the roadmap for getting totally immersed in the subject. And coming to terms with the essence of the project.

Informed Design takes us beyond the limitations of the subjective and aesthetic into the realm of evidence and the objective.

To that pivotal moment when design connects reason and logic with winning client outcomes.

Informed Design consists of two supporting elements – User-centred Design (UCD) and Design Evidence™ – that are crucial to Pivot’s ability to really get the user experience, by understanding the dynamics of individual users and the priorities of our clients. UCD is a holistic profile of the user looked at from every perspective – the audience, client organization, the marketplace and the social context. It is grounded in extensive industry experience and expertise, user behaviour research, communication audits, and stakeholder interviews to create the best possible understanding of the user experience and the goals of the organization.

Through this collaborative, multidisciplinary research process, we build our Design Evidence™, which is our comprehensive knowledge base and definitive source document used for designing and delivering creative solutions for end-users. This strategic approach is rooted in our emphasis on understanding users through a design research lens that is highly empathetic.

Before even considering any design outcomes, we take our time to start slowly and deliberately, listen carefully, learn and appreciate the nuances of the issue from all sides.

"The Pivot team did an amazing job understanding and empathizing with our community and the reality of living with ALS. I appreciated that the recommendations and perspectives brought forward by Pivot were grounded in the needs of our community, always reminding us of who we are creating for. It was an absolute pleasure to work with the Pivot team. You are smart, strategic, flexible and strike a great balance between meeting client needs while staying grounded in informed design." – VP Marketing & Public Affairs, ALS Society of Canada

Pivot’s Informed Design is the approach best suited to our creative process that yields the solutions and results we’re looking for. It has one clear goal: to grasp fully the motivations of users, thereby providing our clients with the solutions that will enhance their products and services by taking user experience to a higher level. Informed Design defines us. It’s our path to inspired design and quality client solutions realized through the medium of heightened user experience.

"Pivot helped us ideate on a range of mobile, desktop and web-based products, which delivered high-end design thinking with practical human-centered simplicity into the designs. Time and time again I was impressed with the empathetic thinking and the abilities of the Pivot process to simplify and eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." – Head of UX, Investment Banking, Thomson Reuters, New York