Presentations

Digital design strategy: Translating consumer insights into a user driven experience

Session Title

Digital design strategy: Translating consumer insights into a user driven experience

Presenter

Hyun Kim, Continuum

Session Type: Presentation

Increasingly, branded service experiences are being delivered digitally. Corporations are aggressively investing in their digital service experiences with a range of tools and services, from knowledge management systems to customization tools to suggestion engines. Often, the investment in these resources is allocated separately for digital service strategy and digital design execution, ignoring the question of how different aspects of the experience connect to (and work for) consumers.

The gap created by this bifurcated approach to digital service design poses a number of risks. We can address these risks by understanding people as both consumers and users. With this connection and a cohesive approach, we can create successful solutions that integrate consumer understanding from strategy development through user experience design.

In her presentation, Ms. Kim will help attendees understand three key facets of consumer-driven digital design:

* The opportunities and implications created by connecting digital design strategy to implementation
* Practical techniques to capitalize on these opportunities by understanding consumers as people, with their diverse needs (instead of just thinking about users and usability requirements), and
* Experience design techniques to incorporate and build on this understanding for different project types, ranging from technology-led to brand driven examples.

Biography

As a Senior Designer in the Product Behavior group, Hyun Kim creates digital-service and product user experiences that are relevant to customers and intuitive to users. Hyun has developed a wide range of skills in digital service strategy, including consumer research and analysis, translating consumer insights to rational user experiences, and developing creative user interactions. Since joining Continuum in 2006, Hyun has lent her expertise in user experience to projects for Samsung, Dixie Narco, Fidelity, Haemonetics, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Ford, Sprint, L.L.Bean, Insulet, Avedro, and many other global medical device companies and global financial services companies.

Prior to joining Continuum, Hyun worked at the Eastman Kodak Company designing the user interface software for business printers and envisioning an online photo album for the future concept. She also spent six years creating websites and software user interfaces for Samsung China and other companies in Korea and the United States. From 2000 to 2003, Hyun was a design team manager at Freechal, a social network company based in Seoul, Korea, designing online shopping malls and portal websites and creating the web style guides for user experience.

Hyun holds a MFA in Computer Graphics Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a BFA in Industrial Design from Sungshin Wemen’s University in Seoul, Korea.

Hyun has written and published many articles on user experience design. Currently Hyun is teaching a service and user experience design class remotely for Sungshin Wemen’s University.

4 Comments

  1. Ryan Kim
    Posted October 1, 2009 at 10:12 am

    This sounds very interesting. I have the same issue. I think to consider consumer’s insights during the UX design process is very important especially for designing online service such as social networking.

  2. Jon Rayeski
    Posted October 1, 2009 at 10:32 am

    This presentation sounds fantastic. I think that this is especially relevant with the influx of digital applications that are flooding the market. It is very important to ensure that we are designing relevant and intuitive interactions that add value.

  3. Posted October 1, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Having worked closely with Hyun for the past year, I am confident that this will be a stellar presentation. She has a breadth of experience solving business problems through the design of digital services that meet real consumer needs. This will be a great opportunity to learn from a sharp mind in the digital design field.

  4. Augusta Meill
    Posted October 1, 2009 at 11:54 am

    I think Hyun’s distinction between people as “consumers” and people as “users” is a valuable one. Understanding the differences in these roles and the transitions between them can drive digital experiences that best support broader brand and business objectives.