Why do you use it?

In rapid, lean design processes, it's important not to get bogged down trying to capture too much data about your challenge - this can lead to what's called 'analysis paralysis'. Dividing your research attention between these three pillars allows you to be strategic about gathering just enough insights to help you move forward.

When to use it:

The most important part of your design research takes place towards the start of a design process, when you're seeking to better understand the problem at hand and the people involved. This canvas has been designed to help you quickly gather rich insights about your challenge at this early stage.

How to use it:

Begin your rapid design research process by writing down the different questions that you need to ask about your design challenge in each of the three categories offered by the canvas.

• Landscape Scan: This category is all about what's currently happening in and around your problem. Who are the people already working on this problem? What's been tried before, what's working and what isn't? What are the great ideas you might be able to copy and adapt? What mistakes do you want to avoid repeating?
• Business Intel: This category is all about looking internally at your organisation to understand why this problem is important, and what resources you can put towards solving it. Why is this problem relevant to your business? What would success look like for you? What resources do you have available to help you tackle this problem? What are the risks, opportunity size, and potential return?
• Customer Research: This category is all about who you are designing for. Try to understand all you can about your customers and what they want so you can build a solution that meets their needs. Who are your customers or users? Who will benefit from the solution you design? How do your customers experience this problem? What would they need a successful solution to be like or include?