{
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    "title" : "Discovery concepts guide |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Discovery concepts guide",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/hcd/discovery-concepts/index.json","item" : [
    {"kicker" : "HCD Guide Series","title" :"Discovery concepts guide","deck" : "Explains the “why” behind conducting discovery research","summary" : "Explains the “why” behind conducting discovery research","date" : "2023-07-24T09:00:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","primary_image" : { "uid" : "hcd-discovery-concepts", "alt" :
  "Six people with binoculars look in different directions", "width" :
  "1200", "height" :
  "630", "credit" :
  "Nadezhda Kurbatova/iStock via Getty Images Plus", "caption" :
  "", "format" :
  "png" },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"_index.md",
      
      "filepath" :"guides/hcd/discovery-concepts/_index.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/guides/hcd/discovery-concepts/_index.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/guides/hcd/discovery-concepts/_index.md","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/hcd/discovery-concepts/","weight" : "2","content" :"\u003cp\u003eHuman-centered design (HCD) is a qualitative research method that helps groups solve problems and seek solutions that prioritize customer needs over a system’s needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHCD involves four phases of sequential work: discovery, design, delivery, and measurement. This guide focuses on the concepts that make up the first phase, discovery. It explains how discovery research, and synthesis of research findings, can help you to identify opportunities for improvement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou may wish to review this \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/hcd/introduction/\"\u003eintroduction to human-centered design\u003c/a\u003e to learn more about HCD principles and practices, and the basics of the HCD approach.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"what-is-discovery\"\u003eWhat is discovery?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen designers say “discovery”, they’re talking about research. This research can take many forms, but it always includes both primary research, which is research with the people who are involved in the project, as well as secondary or desk research, such as reading white papers and articles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-discovery-cycle\"\u003eThe discovery cycle\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHCD discovery should be thought of as a cycle, instead of a linear process.  One of two things typically happens after you complete a research phase:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team finds new research and/or design opportunities to follow.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team finds that the problem that they were investigating was slightly off-target, so they need to adjust the research frame and start discovery again.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n        src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/hcd-discovery-concepts-1.png\"alt=\"An illustration shows that the discovery phase is cyclical. You may have to reframe several times before moving to the design phase.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n"}
  ]
}