Communicating Out: Design Signals and Case Studies

Storytelling
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Your team has learned a lot through a design project. It’s time to communicate some of these clear signals, and do so in a public forum.

Your Design Signals will require more context and explanation than you might expect.

Helio Glare Framework
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Given the diagram above, the etymology of a Design Signal means that a core project team who is immersed in the product design experience will not be actively thinking about the reasoning behind their design intuition, business goals, or the purpose behind the direction the company is taking. These elements of the design signal may not even appear important when trying to communicate outward.

But to those unfamiliar, these elements are crucial to understand. We might even argue:

  • Get them to care - People don’t care unless they see how it can affect them. What can the listener take away from your learnings?
  • Why did your team do it - Part of getting them to care is helping them to empathize with the problem your team was trying to solve, and your hunches. This design intuition is valuable to recall at the retelling of the story.
  • Eye on the prize - The business goal and direction are important to understanding the story. Without this narrative, it’s just another feature release.

What other aspects of the design signal might have key disconnects in a case-study context?

2 Likes
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Nice. Love this framing @EricZ!

I can tell it’s coming from the heart of a designer!

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Yes! Defining a design signal moves the work beyond pure data and into the space where a designer’s judgment actually adds value (instead of a confusing mess).

It gives people a simple way to follow how you interpret what you saw. It turns your synthesis into something others can understand and use from a design perspective

It’s something you can repeat, but it’s not rigid. (Many designers struggle with creating repeatable pieces that add value in business communication).

@Helge shared a nice viewpoint on a design signal.

2 Likes
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I like this a lot, Eric! From an Ops view, the part that often gets missed is what the signal actually changes. The team knows why it matters because they lived it, but everyone else needs a clear “this is what we’re doing differently now.” Without that, the signal just feels like another update instead of something useful, IMO

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@nathaliesmith totally on target :bullseye:, and that clarifies that ‘communicating out’ isn’t just about case-studies for the website, to vendors, or potential business partners. It’s also outside of the core project team to the wider company as well.