Exemplar Collection
Constructive Design
Definition
Exemplar collections can be created at almost any part of the design process. It can help figure out how to design a button or how to approach designing a community center. Seeking inspiration is at the core of exemplar collection and, as with most pursuits, organization can help improve outcomes.
“Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”
— Albert Einstein
P.S. I don’t endorse plagiarism, but I do endorse Einstein.
Procedure
Preparation
Digital
Do some research and make sure you are familiar with the field you are studying. Get to know the other organizations and how they work.
Physical
Do research about competition, but also see if you can build relations with your competitors because often they might be willing to help you and answer questions.
Plan your rough exemplar exploration path.
Make sure to have your walking shoes and that your mode of transport is up and running.
In person
Digital
Often times this involves using your search engine of choice.
Begin by looking at the ones that jump straight to your mind that are similar to what you want to implement.
Then push yourself and begin looking at what you really want your product to do and see what other services deliver in a similar way, even if they are completely unrelated they can offer insights.
Physical
Get out there, start pounding the pavement.
As with digital start with the obvious ones that you know are similar and see how they do it.
Then start looking at products upside down start looking for the interactions you are seeking everywhere regardless of context and see if you can’t find an exemplar in a totally unexpected place.
Analysis
Compile your list of exemplars and move through them one by one figuring out what pieces you can take from each.
Look for overall uses and outcomes and see how you can get your product to have those desired outcomes.
Use Case
While researching on-boarding for the charting company Lucidchart, my team collected and analyzed on-boarding exemplars.
Strengths
The exemplar hunting was helpful for us because we started looking at different collaborative software and found many interactions that we were not looking for that we ultimately included in our design solution.
Weaknesses
Seeking out exemplars too early in the design process is like watching the movie before reading the book. It ruins your divergent thinking and now you can only visualize the character the way they were portrayed in the movie. Thus, you can end up with a product that looks like all of the products that already exist.
