This document summarizes Kate Rutter's presentation on using pen and paper tools for moving from research to design. The presentation introduced various pen and paper techniques including jotting, theme boards, concept sketching, and storyboarding. These techniques allow teams to synthesize research insights visually and identify patterns, themes, and implications for design faster than traditional note-taking methods. The goal is to design products and services that truly connect with people by reflecting their real experiences, emotions, and needs uncovered through research.

1. Pen & paper tools for getting
from research to design
SXSW | March 13, 2010 | #penpapertools
Kate Rutter kate@adaptivepath.com

2. A little about me…
@katerutter
I’m a designer and strategist.
Designing delightful experiences
makes me tick.
Making things visible and visual
makes my heart sing.
Adaptive Path
Adaptive Path is a User Experience strategy and design consultancy.
Our mission is to help companies make products and services that
deliver great experiences that improve people’s lives.

3. What’s the whole point?
To create products & services that delight,
that inspire and that improve the lives of
the people who use them.

4. First, a story...
BIG opportunity space
large shifting team
money & time
constraints

5. So here’s what we did:

6. So here’s what we did:

7. So here’s what we did:

8. And it was awesome.
Vibrant stories captured visually
Shared understanding
Compelling insights
Clear implications for design

9. What made it work?
Visual approach
activated a different
way of working Pen & paper tools
were accessible
and fast
Concepts hinged
The insights carried
directly to design
from research implications
into design

10. Why work visually?
Pictures
Visual ideas communicate a Images help
get through more complete groups move
faster idea faster...together
So that the resulting designs
reflect real people
and their needs.

11. How could we do this again?

12. We’ll cover…
What you need to get started :
tools techniques
A simple method
activities!
A way to take this home with you.

13. Warm-up
INSTRUCTIONS
Make a nameplate.
1. On a piece of paper write your name in a
way that communicates something
about who you are.
2. Then make a sketch of some kind that
says something about you.
3. Do it in 2 minutes.

14. Your toolkit
Surfaces Mark-makers
1/2 sheets
squares quarters
sharpies
stickies markers
sheets
colored pencils
templates
colored chalks
poster board
rolls of paper crayons!

15. Your toolkit
Marks
WORDS LINES PICTURES
case symbols
case
weight
Case
CASE
lettering
texture
icons
drawings
Takes only
seconds more
than writing! shading

16. Your toolkit
Layouts And also...
centered size
list
cluster shape
grid
linear
color
tree
radiant

17. Here is our process

18. Here is our process

19. Here is our process

20. Transcripts
Jotting
Note taking
Coding
Spreadsheets
And more!

21. Jotting

22. Jotting
EPIC : October 2008 : p. 22

23. Jotting
Jotting breaks down
observations into their
most elemental parts
and captures the weight
of each idea.

24. Let’s do an experiment
You’ll practice jotting items from a
short clip of an interview, using pen
paper tools. Try to capture the
emotional energy along with key
messages.

25. Activity
INSTRUCTIONS
I love to come home after a
long day. When I get here, it just
feels like this is the place I can Jot what you observe.
hide from the world, or recover,
1. Read this quote from a user
or just be alone. It's all my stuff interview.
and everything is where I want
it. It's like a nest. Well, 2. As you read, jot any significant
sometimes it’s a nest. But ideas or themes that you observe.
sometimes it's more like a 3. Jot one observation per
project. There's always piece of paper.
something that needs to be
4. Do it in 2 minutes.
done.

26. Activity
INSTRUCTIONS
Let’s jot an audio transcript.
1. Now, listen to this three-minute
transcript.
2. As you listen, jot what you hear.
3. Use line weight, color, and imagery
to distinguish the big themes from
the smaller ideas.
4. Do it in 5 minutes.

27. What do we do
with all these
pieces of paper?

28. Relationship
Models
Word Sort Theme
Boards
Bottom-up
Sorting
Affinity Diagrams
Clustering And more!

29. Theme Boards

30. Theme Boards
Theme boards display
the results of synthesis.
They show the patterns
and themes that act
as a bridge to the
design process.

31. Reports
Presentations
Concept
Storyboards Sketches
Decks
Books
Video Reels
Personas
And more!

32. Concept Sketching

33. Concept Sketching
Concept sketches capture
a story, illustrate the
relationships of elements,
or a communicate a core
set of related ideas.

34. Handy visual layouts
Mind Maps 2 x 2s
Graphs
Grids Mandalas

35. Bringing it all together
Use the concept
sketches, jots
supplemental material
to craft stories and
implications for design.

36. Moving into design

37. Project Management
Marketing
Product Management
Business strategy
Product engineering!

38. Hinge from
research…
…to design

39. From concept sketch… … to storyboard

40. From concept sketch… … to information architecture

41. From concept sketch… … to interface prototype

42. What we covered
What you need to get started :
tools techniques
A simple method
activities!
A way to take this home with you.

43. Why are we doing this?
So that the stuff we design connects with
real people...
their true stories, their honest emotions
and their most important needs.

44. Why are we doing this?
So that the stuff we design connects with
real people...
their true stories, their honest emotions
and their most important needs.
PU RE
ESO ME
AW

45. THINK ABOUT...
What 1 thing
can you start using
tomorrow?

46. MORE UX GOODNESS
Phoenix, AZ
• Pre-con : Apr 6-7
• Conference: Apr 8-11
www.iasummit.org | @iasummit
Amsterdam: Apr 26-29 | San Francisco: Jun 27-30
www.adaptivepath.com/events
15% off with code FOKR
San Francisco: Aug 24-27
www.uxweek.com
15% off with code FOKR

47. GETTING THE GOODS
kate@adaptivepath.com
www.adaptivepath.com
@katerutter
www.intelleto.com
The slides will be on
intelleto.com and slideshare
in the next day or so...
Credits to Leah Buley and Rachel Hinman for collaborating on
this material and to the Adaptive Path folks who shared their
project work.