ESSAY: Behavioural mapping as research tool for pack designers

We all enjoy that “Aha” moment, when something just clicks and you know it make sense. It comes naturally, little or no instruction required. The great thing about this connection is that you know that the product, service or packaging has been designed with the consumer in mind… you. As a consumer we don’t know any better until we experience it… but when we do, we call it ‘intuitive’.

Apple is widely recognised as a leading exponent of “design for experience”, and its ability to deliver the intuitive experience has in part been influenced by its shift away from reliance on the traditional qualitative and quantitative research we designers are all too familiar with through our work with FMCG brands.

Although highly valuable in clarifying the value of a known format or experience, we have to ask ourselves whether this traditional research can truly contextualise how a consumer feels about something they have never experienced, aren’t connected with at the time or don’t consciously engage with? How does the consumer – in a sterile studio surrounded by 6-8 strangers – honestly open up about how they may connect with a brand while feeling compelled to provide an answer they’re paid to give the researcher?

And why is it, then, that when making a decision on brand or product design direction we rely so heavily on the ‘mean average’ responses to questions asked completely out of context to the user experience with the product, the environment of use or even its primary occasion of use?

I see brand managers beholden to these research findings, to the point of disempowerment. With all of these uncertainties we have  to ask ourselves why we continue with this method.

As designers we should be on the lookout for the things you really can’t ask about in research and can’t capture in a response. It’s the compensatory moves a consumer may make for a shortfall in the design offer in hand. It’s the ‘white knuckle moment’ when they’re struggling to open a closure or squeeze that last bit of detergent out of the bottle. It’s the myriad facial expressions and body language we track from first pick-up of the pack, to the way it is opened and ultimately used. It’s noticing tribal behaviour – when a male buys a juice drink he often guzzles it down while a female may take the drink and graze on it throughout the day.

How do these different interactions impact the way we design our packaging? It’s these unarticulated behaviours that we designers search for to provide us that spark, clarity and reaction for true innovative design.

In the past five years I’ve have made a conscious shift in moving our process away from being guided by traditional ‘qual’ and ‘quant’ methods to ‘design research’ and encouraging ‘home user trials’ to uncover natural human behaviour in the ‘occasion of use’. The results run far deeper then traditional methods, providing insight into users’ unmet needs, and product/design application issues. It is a form of mapping, not anthropology per se, in which one studies a culture in a non-obtrusive way, but more a ‘behavioural mapping’ exercise – a voyeuristic pursuit that observes the journey of the consumer’s product experience and allows us to probe what prompted a decision or question how the consumer felt about the product at the time of use in context.

For example, when reviewing the laundry sector recently we ‘shadowed’ our consumer as they shopped, navigating the aisles with them, watching their interplay as they made their selection and noting the reasons for choice – colour, scent, habits, and price.

We then observed their transit to the car or walk back home, noting their concern about the product’s aroma in the car and the unwieldy design of the package handle as it was carried. At their home we observed the user during their washing cycle. Every step from opening, reading the instructions, loading, and cleanup was noted. We repeated this exercise with not only their loyal brand but also a new brand to understand the value of communication on pack, clarity of the messaging and to note any altered behaviour in interacting with not only the product and package but also the washing process.

We looked for facial expressions or altered body language when something didn’t make sense, when they may have strained unfastening a closure. We observed when they dusted the remaining powder from their fingers against their thighs or constantly washed their hands without realising, to “rid themselves of the chemical smell”.

The collection of these observations and conversational comments combine to leave us with a single provocation on which we can deliver a design. In this case, it may well be a “no touch” laundry experience.
These consumer experiences, actions and emotions can only be observed during the occasion of use; we call it ‘behavioural mapping’, and it’s fast becoming a valuable tool for informing intuitive design.

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