When it comes to product development, trusting your intuition vs analysing the data can at times be conflicting.
It’s important to remember that both play a role, as a lot of insight can come from data analysis. However as creatives I feel what lead us to start businesses was not numbers, but the need to create something we loved, or seeing a need that could be fulfilled.
I’ve talked before about staying inspired and how key this is, and you can find a handy inspiration check list here. The key word to note here is inspiration – do you like it, does it make you happy, does it make you want to create something amazing? If not do you really want to put the effort into making something if you’re not excited by it?
This is when data sometimes won’t help you and listening to your gut and trusting your intuition is the route you should take.
So let’s say you wanna focus on inspiration and finding things you love. When you’ve researched and found things you’re inspired by the key is to really look at what you love and why.
Below are my tips on how to use the inspiration you’ve gathered to work out how to use it in product development:
- Print all your inspiration out. Don’t just rely on screens, they can create a barrier and are less personal
- Make a real like Pinterest board or Blu Tack everything to a wall in an order, randomly or by creating mini mood boards
- Pretend like you’re at school or university again!
- Stand back, stand on a chair and sit down to get as many different perspectives on your research as possible
- What are you instantly drawn to? Why does it stand out
- Think about colour, texture, theme, pattern and product types
- Pull out the key images you’re inspired by and create a story and product ideas around these
If you try the above I’d love to hear what you think. Or do you have any tips you can share?
And remember, it doesn’t matter if the data says it’s right or wrong. Just really hone in on what is inspiring you and why to start with and trust your intuition!
What’s your preference, gut instinct or numbers? I’d love to hear.
