Sense-making
Sense-making gives meaning to the information and stories that we have collected. It allows us to come up with an understanding of the situation and—possibly—the reasons why there are pain points. We analyze the data by looking for patterns and themes. Were there any challenges that you observed, and can this help to inform your designs? You can add hierarchy to this so that the most pressing or important problems become clearer. Let the data tell you the story—which themes are emerging, and which keywords or codes show themselves? We want to cluster similar information, and the quotes and stories provide evidence for these codes. One example from my own projects is shown here:
Figure 11.12 – Creating codes to group the data you collected
If you use sticky notes again, you might want to color-code them—maybe yellow for a theme, and blue for direct quotes for evidence. Add a color for the insights that emerge....
