A Method a Month

The idea came about in autumn 2015, after a great User Research and User Testing Seminar that Cath Richardson had run with us here at Edenspiekermann.

We wanted to follow up the topic and give all our designers, developers and project managers the opportunity to constantly extend their UX and design research skill set, so we put together a small task force (Meral, Louise, Bastian) and combined our Digital and Service Design skills to create a new format: Method Monday.

The idea is simple: once a month we hold a workshop where we share our knowledge and explore certain methods and tools. We always have an introductory presentation, internal work examples, and a practice workshop where we try out the method in a fun way.

The goal is to foster our creativity and methodological thinking; we want to learn from each other and, most importantly, use the theoretical models in a practical way, so that they’re understood by everyone. The format also underlines our transdisciplinary work approach and team building, allowing everybody to work with colleagues they don’t usually have the chance to work with.

Everyone is invited to contribute their own topics and moderate workshops themselves. So far, we have tackled the topics of Card Sorting, Persona Prototyping, Hypothesis Creation and Customer Journeys.

To give you a better idea of what exactly we’re doing, here’s an overview of the last Method Monday organized by Bastian and Eddo, all about Customer Journeys:

Method Monday: Customer Journeys

So, first of all, what exactly is a Customer Journey? A Customer Journey Map visualizes the user’s experience of a service. The combined touchpoints of a user interacting with a service or brand create a Journey, and this Journey contains a story filled with interactions and emotions.

It allows the team to really put themselves in the customer’s shoes. It ensures the customer’s voice is easily represented and referenced during development and building. It captures complex information at a visual level, saving time by not requiring lengthy text to get everyone on the same page.

Customer Journeys are a pivotal part of our work, and we shared a few internal work examples to display different Journey structures and designs. As reducing complexity is one of our core tasks here at Edenspiekermann, we always aim to present the toolkit as simply as possible.

Bastian and Eddo created a straightforward Customer Journey Scratchboard, including the most important elements: motivation, interaction, emotions and touchpoints.

Our Persona was a blue alien from another planet, with very specific needs and motivations. The little guy had recently arrived here in Berlin, and was having problems finding his way to the registration office. We analysed his experience and identified potential points where we could enhance his journey.

The next task was to create a full Customer Journey for our special little friend, helping him to find a suitable girlfriend. The journey started at the entrance of the famous nightclub Berghain, and you won’t believe what he experienced…

It’s fun, it’s effective knowledge sharing, and it’s a great opportunity to learn. We’re looking forward to the next one!