A Day in the Life
Understand your users day-to-day. To better design for people, try shadowing them for a day. By observing someone in their own context, you'll notice details about their life - the way they engage with people, pr their routine - that you'd otherwise never see.
by Andrea BeliczkiInstructions
1. Find a potential user and choose a mutually agreeable day to spend together. Remember to let them know that you want to see a typical day so they don't need to plan anything special. Ask to join them wherever they go that day.
2. Try to blend into the background as much as possible and just observe. Take copious notes about things that stand out - the person's reactions, quirks, needs or emotional responses throughout the day.
3. Reflect on the experience. How did you feel? What did you learn?
Project example
While designing birthing kits for new moms in Nepal, the design team spent time shadowing the lives of community health workers. They walked miles with them to appointments and use their phones and tools.