IDEO Method Cards
51 Ways to Inspire Design
A collection of human-centered design research methods organized into four categories representing ways to empathize with people:
- Learn: Analyze collected information to identify patterns and insights
- Look: Observe people to discover what they do rather than what they say they do
- Ask: Enlist people’s participation to elicit information relevant to your project
- Try: Create simulations to help empathize with people and evaluate proposed designs
Notable Framing
IDEO explicitly positions these methods as inspiration rather than prescription. They acknowledge the techniques aren’t proprietary, they’re adapted from established human and social research methods. The cards are meant to encourage exploration of new approaches, not rigid adherence to a process.
Key Methods Referenced
- Extreme User Interviews
- Five Whys
- Shadowing
- Fly on the Wall
- Bodystorming
- Card Sort
- Rapid Ethnography
- Behavioral Mapping
- Affinity Diagrams
Atoms Extracted
Molecules Extracted
Notes
Published circa 2003. Remains influential in design education and practice despite age. The physical card format itself embodies a design principle, methods as modular, combinable tools rather than linear process steps.