As a branding, packaging, and digital product designer, both at Input Logic and as a freelancer, I work with clients across a wide array of industries, and am responsible for simultaneously getting to the heart of what each client wants and translating those wants into beautiful designs.

作为Input Logic的品牌，包装和数字产品设计师，我还是自由职业者 ，我与各行各业的客户合作，并负责同时深入了解每个客户的需求并将这些需求转化为漂亮的设计。

I’ve done my fair share of research on how to best approach new design projects and sprints and there’s a lot out there. What I find is lacking, is about engaging with clients. How can we ask questions to guide their experience and explorations?

我已经就如何最好地处理新设计项目和冲刺进行了相当多的研究，并且还有很多工作要做。 我发现缺乏与客户互动的能力。 我们如何提出问题以指导他们的经验和探索？

不只是看样子 (Not just about how it looks)

Seeing as we all know that design isn’t just about what looks good, it’s logical that we should emphasize creating meaningful conversations at the beginning of a design sprint so that everyone understands what the intended outcomes are. This sounds like a no-brainer, but once you experience a project riddled with bumpy communication, it makes sense why it’s so important to emphasize information sharing at the very beginning.

众所周知，设计不只是外观上的好 ，我们应该强调在设计冲刺开始时就进行有意义的对话，这样每个人都可以理解预期的结果是合乎逻辑的。 这听起来很容易，但是一旦您经历了一个充满沟通障碍的项目，为什么从一开始就强调信息共享就变得如此重要是有道理的。

Getting to the heart of the product, understanding its’ users, and knowing the client’s vision should always be priorities during a design sprint, no matter the size or scope. As a designer, I find my job is to pull out what the client wants! Sometimes this isn’t always readily available, so we use questions to guide that process of opening up.

无论产品的大小或范围如何，进入产品的核心，了解产品的用户并了解客户的愿景始终是设计冲刺的重点。 作为设计师，我发现我的工作是拉出客户想要的东西！ 有时这并不总是很容易获得，因此我们使用问题来指导开放过程。

The beginning of a sprint is a crucial time, and jump-starting a relationship that values the sharing of these thoughts and opinions will lead to more thoughtful design. Open-ended questions get people talking, and it’s the little details that come out of responses that impact the relationship for the better. This dialogue creates a heightened common understanding, leading to more productive design reviews, followed by the outcome of high-quality design that fits the product. Great conversation early on leads to better design outcomes delivered on time, because everyone starts on the same page.

冲刺的开始是关键的时刻，而开始建立重视这些思想和观点共享的关系将导致更周到的设计。 开放式问题会引起人们的议论，而答案中的一些小细节会影响关系的发展。 通过这种对话，可以增进共识，从而使设计审查更有成效，然后得出适合该产品的高质量设计的结果。 尽早进行良好的对话可以使按时交付更好的设计结果，因为每个人都从同一页面开始。

客户要带什么来？ (What does the client bring to the table?)

Clients usually come to a sprint with a strong understanding of their business and position in the market. Our job here is to take in that information and apply our ability to use design to solve problems. This wealth of insight can come to us in many forms:

客户通常会对自己的业务和在市场上的位置有深刻的了解而冲刺。 我们在这里的工作是吸收这些信息，并运用我们的能力使用设计来解决问题。 这种丰富的见识可以多种形式出现在我们面前：

• Documents
  文件资料
• Moodboards
  踏板
• Spreadsheets
  试算表
• Sketches
  草图
• Notes
  笔记

Often useful information is tucked away in the clients brain and can be revealed through conversation. Some clients think through many of these questions on their own, while others are prompted by them to find new insights about their product, users, and goals. Translating thoughts and ideas into something coherent can help to expand on ideas that haven’t been explored yet, and work through explaining complex thoughts. It is valuable for everyone involved to understand details, so communication is seamless, and there is a deep understanding of what they’re working on.

通常，有用的信息会藏在客户的大脑中，并且可以通过对话来透露。 一些客户会自己考虑许多问题，而其他客户会提示他们寻找有关其产品，用户和目标的新见解。 将思想和想法转化为连贯的内容可以帮助扩展尚未探索的思想，并通过解释复杂的思想来开展工作。 对于每个参与人员来说，了解细节都很有价值，因此沟通是无缝的，并且对他们正在做的事情有深刻的了解。

We break up these questions into a few categories: background, the audience, and tone. The more a designer understands these, the stronger the design process will be, and the branding will be enriched with all the right insight. Treating the answers to these questions as though they are for someone who isn’t familiar with the product will also expand the way the questions are answered and may bring up entirely new ideas and thoughts.

我们将这些问题分为几类： 背景， 受众和语气 。 设计师对这些知识的理解越多，设计过程就会越强大，并且所有正确的见识将丰富品牌。 将这些问题的答案当作是对不熟悉产品的人使用的那样，还将扩展问题的回答方式，并可能提出全新的想法和想法。

背景 (Background)

I usually start with questions around the background of the company or product, such as:

我通常从围绕公司或产品背景的问题开始，例如：

• What is the story behind your brand?

  您的品牌背后的故事是什么？

• What is your elevator pitch?

  您的电梯间距是多少？

• What problem does your product help solve in your space?

  您的产品可帮助您解决什么问题？

• Is there any existing documentation you have that could be used to better understand the market surrounding your brand?

  您是否有现有的文档可以用来更好地了解您品牌周围的市场？

• List 10 words that describe your brand, or the ideal future for your brand (adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc).

  列出描述您的品牌或品牌理想的未来的10个字(形容词，名词，动词等)。

Many of the answers to these open-ended questions might feel redundant by the time a design sprint begins, but insight can be found in the way they are answered. Is the story behind the brand to do with a family member or childhood friend that served as the inspiration? Or maybe the origin came out of first-hand experience or problem, and in turn, the product aims to solve it.

在设计冲刺开始之时，这些悬而未决的问题的许多答案可能会变得多余，但可以通过答案的方式找到见识。 品牌背后的故事是否与受到启发的家人或儿时朋友有关？ 或起源可能来自第一手经验或问题，而该产品旨在解决该问题。

The origin and background of a product is often an area in which many similar products may have something that differentiates them, and these details are often valuable as a piece of reference material when building a brand.

产品的起源和背景通常是许多类似产品可能具有与众不同之处的领域，而这些细节在打造品牌时通常作为参考材料有价值。

Each product has a unique background, and while some may find an emphasis on the story behind the product, others may see the solving a specific problem as a big part of the story. For example, a brand who’s background is rich in family history might find that this is important to carry this through into the branding, creating a more personal and approachable feel. In exploring these questions, the importance is finding what that emphasis or strength is, and focusing on it.

每个产品都有独特的背景，尽管有些产品可能会强调产品背后的故事，但其他产品可能会将解决特定问题视为故事的重要部分。 例如，具有丰富家族背景的品牌可能会发现，将其贯彻到品牌推广中，创造出更加个性化和平易近人的感觉很重要。 在探讨这些问题时，重要的是找到重点或优势所在，并专注于此。

听众 (Audience)

Once I understand the background and story behind a company, I start to ask questions about their target market:

了解了公司背后的背景和故事后，我就开始询问有关其目标市场的问题：

• Who is your brand for? Describe your customer.

  您的品牌是谁的？ 描述您的客户。

• How do people find out about your brand?

  人们如何了解您的品牌？

• What features or benefits does this identified target audience seek that your product is offering?

  这个确定的目标受众希望您的产品提供什么功能或好处？

Understanding the customer is very important, as we all know. In some cases, maybe the client belongs to their target demographic, making it easy for them to understand their customer. In other situations, it might take some exploration to identify who the target customers are. This can take many forms — from examining competitors customers to diving deep into the product and it’s features to identify who would be likely to use it. This is crucial to building a visual identity, as it creates a high level of empathy and understanding for when, why, and how a user might interact with the product.

众所周知，了解客户非常重要。 在某些情况下，客户可能属于他们的目标人群，这使他们很容易理解他们的客户。 在其他情况下，可能需要进行一些探索才能确定目标客户是谁。 这可以采取多种形式-从检查竞争对手的客户到深入研究该产品，它的功能是确定谁可能使用该产品。 这对于建立视觉标识至关重要，因为它会在用户何时，为什么以及如何与产品进行交互方面产生高度的同理心和理解。

On top of identifying the target audience, It’s also crucial to understand some of the more subtle interactions that these people have surrounding the brand. While a lot of insight into the customer base comes from research in the form of interviews, testing, focus groups and surveys, it’s still beneficial to identify if anyone out there has published research surrounding the identified target market segment. Having a general understanding is a great place to start, and will help aid the design process to be on track with the right look and feel for the intended customer.

除了确定目标受众之外，了解这些人围绕品牌的一些更微妙的互动也至关重要。 尽管对客户群的洞察力来自于访谈，测试，焦点小组和调查等形式的研究，但确定是否有人在已发布的目标市场细分领域进行研究仍然有益。 全面了解是一个很好的起点，它将帮助设计过程按预期的目标客户正确的外观进行。

音 (Tone)

Once I understand the background and audience, then I like to dig into the tone and voice the customer expects:

一旦了解了背景和听众，便喜欢挖掘客户期望的语调和声音：

• What existing brands are similar to yours in spirit (doesn’t need to be the same industry). Describe the connection.

  现有的品牌在精神上与您的相似(不需要是同一个行业)。 描述连接。

• What feeling do you get when you think about your brand?

  当您考虑自己的品牌时，您会得到什么感觉？

• What do you want people to understand, feel, or believe about your product?

  您希望人们对您的产品有什么理解，感觉或相信？

• If your brand was a period or era, when would it be & why?

  如果您的品牌是一个时代或时代，那会是什么时候，为什么？

Many things influence the tone or attitude of the brand, including the background and audience. Often, the intended customer might expect a certain voice or feeling from the product, while others might be more open or even expect something different. In terms of the design process, the tone is one of the most crucial portions of research that influences design, which can come in the form of visual appearance or even microcopy. In many cases, we see a lot of value in hiring a copywriter who is experienced with the target market. For example, if the voice of the product is youthful, fresh, and innovative, this has a direct influence on things such as colour, and typography, as well as the type of vocabulary that is used when communicating.

许多因素都会影响品牌的语气或态度，包括背景和受众。 通常，目标客户可能期望产品有某种声音或感觉，而其他客户可能更开放，甚至期望有所不同。 就设计过程而言，基调是影响设计的最关键的研究部分之一，它可以以视觉外观甚至显微镜的形式出现。 在许多情况下，我们认为聘请在目标市场经验丰富的撰稿人具有很大的价值。 例如，如果产品的声音年轻，新鲜且具有创新性，这将直接影响诸如颜色，版式以及交流时所使用的词汇类型等内容。

开放式问题的价值 (The value of open-ended questions)

Open-ended questions bring up a myriad of different response types, which is what makes them so valuable for gaining insight. Answers could come in the form of a story, documentation, keywords, concise explanations, or even conceptual feelings that the product aims to communicate. While some questions might take some time to answer and clients will benefit from having time to think through them independently, it’s also important to use them as a tool for conversation, let them naturally flow, and engage with the responses. Most importantly, take notes! Having this valuable insight is a great resource to come back to later.

开放式问题提出了无数不同的回答类型，这正是它们使获得洞察力如此有价值的原因。 答案可以是产品旨在传达的故事，文档，关键字，简洁的说明，甚至是概念上的感觉的形式。 尽管一些问题可能需要一些时间来回答，而客户将有时间独立思考，从而从中受益，但将其用作对话工具，让他们自然地交流并参与回应也很重要。 最重要的是，记笔记！ 拥有这种宝贵的见解是返回以后的宝贵资源。

付诸实践 (Putting it into practice)

Identifying actionable steps is great, but putting them into practice is better. How can these questions be put into use? However they’re applied, whether in a survey before the kickoff call, or brought up naturally in conversation, we must use them to create dialogue, rather than an interview-style where we simply ask, answer, and move on to the next question. Refer to them during a kickoff call at the beginning of a project, use them as a guide for conversation, and create a dialogue around them. These questions can and should be used as a tool for designers and project managers to gain insight into the client’s perspective and vision, as well as for the clients to communicate their expectations.

确定可行的步骤非常好，但是将它们付诸实践则更好。 这些问题如何使用？ 无论采用哪种方法，无论是在开通电话之前进行调查还是自然地进行对话，我们都必须使用它们来进行对话，而不是像访谈式那样简单地询问，回答并继续下一个问题。 在项目开始时的电话会议中参考他们，将它们用作交谈指南，并围绕它们进行对话。 这些问题可以并且应该被用作设计师和项目经理的工具，以洞悉客户的观点和远景，以及客户传达他们的期望。

收盘时 (In Closing)

Do you have a branding kick off process you can share? Want to learn more about how I approach design engagements? I’d love to read your comments below and would appreciate any likes, shares, or follows!

您是否有可以分享的品牌启动过程？ 想更多地了解我如何进行设计参与？ 我很想阅读您在下方的评论，不胜感激，喜欢或分享或关注！