Exemplar curation & Analysis
Exemplar curation and analysis is the process of collecting examples that inspire design and analyzing the same to identify a pattern that might help build upon existing ideas, iterate and assist during the design process.
“Collecting exemplars is a form of inquiry, that is, you should be learning something as you proceed, and what you learn should change how you understand and see the design space. You do not collect exemplars to prove that you were right about something...As you collect your exemplars you will start to have insights and ideas.”
Nature & context
Design Technique
Resources
Repository of design samples (physical and online), basic context of design space, analysis plan, notes.
Procedure
Curation: Exemplars provide an inspiration as well as a source of inquiry to the designer. Therefore exemplars gathered should focus on helping the designer learn and iterate on their design process and not just provide direct solution to their design problem. Exemplars can be collected following the 10x10 method where you arrange the exemplar in the form of a matrix to observe a pattern. Or, the design dimension schema method can be used to collect exemplars based on its dimensions like material, uses, components etc.
Analysis: Analyzing exemplars, especially those that are widely used can reveal a pattern that can be utilized by the designer to make his/her own design more prevalent. Performing competitive analysis on exemplars will reveal market based data while thematic analysis of exemplars over time, shows a pattern of needs that are fulfilled and other needs that are problematic. Design criticism of exemplars can help in the designer avoiding the obvious design issues, that are identified in the exemplars (as a pattern).
Use Case
Exemplar curation and analysis was done as a part of designing for multi species ethnography. By gathering and analyzing exemplars that were designed keeping in mind environment and species ecology, we observed a pattern i.e., of most of the designs considering environment were biophilic (consuming minimal energy and utilizing natural energy sources & its components to the fullest). This in turn informed our design decision.
Sense Making Data
While exemplars are supposed to initiate inquiry for the designer as well as allow him/her to think better about the insights/solution in hand, there are chances of the pattern being looked upon aesthetically and the designer just using it as a copy for his/her own design. Hence during exemplar analysis, focus should be on "challenging" thought process over just appearance.