Gretchen, I think that's a good characterisation, and fits with what I am thinking. There seems to be a point at which we pause and reflect on the data - as it was, and as it is after we've done some work with it - after which the real Synthesis phase begins. Looking back at my article, this is where you get into techniques like abstraction and generalisation; and the heavy lifting of design begins.
I also like your reference to a story - that thread around which our insights are woven into a compelling "here's where we're headed" that contains elements of both the 'what' and the 'why'. In Cindy Chastain's IA Summit presentation she introduced the notion of a theme (in the context of story-telling/film-making) as this core idea or thread. Her presentation is worth a look: http://www.slideshare.net/cchastain/experience-themes-an-element-of-story-applied-to-design-1190389# Regards, Steve 2009/3/31 Gretchen Anderson <[email protected]> > There's Synthesis and synthesis. > > You always do some synthesis along the way, you can't help it. But the > Synthesis is a really important step that should be distinct from Research. > This is where you are really putting the whole picture together. And > checking assumptions: "Did everyone really say x? Or do I just think that?" > > Finally, I find that your audience won't hang with you if you don't have a > great story about what you did and what you found. And I don't mean the > story is "we did this, and we think this." You need to really craft your > findings to capture all the nuances that lead you to a design direction. > This is Synthesis. > > -- Steve 'Doc' Baty | Principal | Meld Consulting | P: +61 417 061 292 | E: [email protected] | Twitter: docbaty | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stevebaty Blog: http://meld.com.au/blog Contributor: Johnny Holland - johnnyholland.org Contributor: UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com UX Australia: 25-27 August, http://uxaustralia.com.au UX Book Club: http://uxbookclub.org/ - Read, discuss, connect. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
