Opinions and decisions are rarely developed in private. Instead they surface in discourse, in the constant interaction between different personalities with different perspectives and backgrounds. This gives rise to friction points. What seems vague and imprecise when considered by the lone individual becomes distinct and clear in the course of debate with others.

Especially when exploring the language of design, this debate needs to be encouraged. The goal is to instigate an illuminating discourse in which none of the respondents can hide behind general statements and credos. That is why we rely on associative and projective techniques, as well as mind maps. And that is also why we’re not looking for group consensus, but for group contention.

We are not so much interested in facts along the lines of "liked or disliked" as we are in contrast, diversity and differentiation. Because that is the only way to unravel backgrounds, understand contexts and reconstruct patterns and logics.

Creative Labs help break away from habitual patterns of thinking, create new insights and accelerate innovation processes. That is why they are an elemental component of the Idea Generator and the Concept, Design and Pack Labs. In addition, however, Creative Labs are also the methodological platform for all consumer-centric development processes.

Creative labs are conducted with consumers and decision-makers from the companies involved and are based on four key elements:

• A sequential series of listening and creative activities, of alternating analytical and creative processes: What does that mean – and how can it be implemented?
• Projective and associative techniques, mind maps and dream journeys speed up group processes and make it easier to pinpoint fundamental needs and motives, secret fantasies and desires.
• Direct articulation using visual and symbolic language circumvents social taboos and generates emotional spontaneity and authenticity.
• Creatively alienated tasks serve as stimuli for homo ludens and promote a divergent way of thinking. They unleash the subconscious, generate authenticity and give rise to new, creative impulses.
  
  

Turbo Groups combine the best of both worlds. The bringing together of qualitative and quantitative elements in moderated, computer-assisted group explorations not only delivers reliable quantitative results in a very short time, it dynamizes the open moderation as well.

Turbo Groups are a sequential process of in-depth interviews and group techniques. Respondents complete the individual survey sequences in the form of computer-assisted interviews, which are evaluated immediately and shown on the moderator’s screen. Thanks to the computer-assisted parts of the Turbo Groups, the moderator gets an immediate overview of both general opinions and detailed aspects, of the strengths and weaknesses of the test samples, of polarisations and convergences. This can immediately be used for moderation purposes: the discussion can be targeted more precisely, certain topics can be pushed deliberately and content can be enlarged upon.

All in all, the Turbo Groups deliver the following added values:

• Rather than sharing spontaneous individual opinions that are uninfluenced by the group, the respondent also commits himself to an individual judgement that he might be called upon to “defend” as a minority vote in the subsequent discussion.
• The results are displayed on the moderator’s screen immediately after being entered; this means that, in the open exploration that follows, the moderator can deliberately focus on certain areas and make relevant contrasts.
• All the data from the web-based interviews with the various groups is evaluated together and thus provides a reliable basis for quantitative analysis.
• The qualitative output of the open explorations reveals how the data is linked, helps generate new hypotheses and uncovers the motives and needs behind the quantitative data.

When it comes to scrutinising the consumer, his world, his everyday life and his behaviour, the ethnographic approach of participatory observation of the consumer’s daily life can help.

The casualness of everyday conversation, the natural environment and informal exercising of ingrained daily routines provide far-reaching indications of motivational states and needs. They help us gain a better understanding of other milieus and lifeworlds. And they allow us to pinpoint the everyday routines and cultures consumers exhibit in their handling of products.

We provide insights into real-life situations. We accompany, inquire, observe and film throughout the entire process – from shopping, unpacking and cooking all the way to tidying away and cleaning up. Diaries, photos and collages help us make consumers’ lifeworlds and everyday aesthetics tangible.
This yields an abundance of substantial and multisensory material for in-depth and multifaceted analysis:

• Needs and motivational analysis
• Concept and product development
• Target group analysis
• Product and brand positioning
• Development of communication strategies

In the age of online surveys, face-to-face can often seem old school. However, the unbeatable advantages of a personal interview often make the higher costs more than worthwhile:

• Longer interview duration for complex topic areas.
• Shopping and shelf situations can be depicted better than online.
• The qualitative output from the open-ended questions is considerably higher when the respondent has contact with an experienced interviewer.
• Especially in the case of product and pack designs, face-to-face interviews can give a more realistic impression of colour and material variants and size differences (things like translucent materials or metallic effects are difficult to depict online).

As a rule, the interviews are conducted with the aid of computers (WAPI, CAPI). The advantages are obvious:

• Rapid availability of the data; coding and analysis can begin promptly
• Immediate quality control of the fieldwork
• Multimedia elements can be integrated into the interview
• Error-free handling of complex filters by the interviewer
• Easy integration of multivariate techniques like conjoint analysis or BPTO (brand price trade-offs)

Multimedia content, interactivity, the linking of qualitative and quantitative elements – online research has long since established itself as a powerful and attractive research tool. Design research benefits greatly from the diversity of the various elements and the variety of ways in which they can be depicted.

However, this means regarding online research as a technique in its own right. At best, simply posting classic questionnaires online leaves respondents feeling bored. At worst, it tempts them to click their way through the questionnaire as quickly as they possibly can.

The objectives are therefore to ensure more involvement on the respondent side, a greater variety of methods on the implementation side and a better quality of data on the analysis side. Accordingly, we use a wide spectrum of different survey tools:

• Photo sort and card sort for associative and projective exercises
• Drag & drop solutions
• Customised sliders
• Zoom-in functions and magnifying glasses
• Flash animations for 360° views of products and packs
• Hot spots for marking attractive and disruptive elements (e.g. concepts, designs, etc.)
• Mouse tracking

The main advantages of computer-assisted telephone interviews lie in shorter fieldwork times, lower costs and higher response rates in the case of difficult target groups such as business decision-makers, doctors or investors, as well as regionally limited customer groups or seniors.

CATI is not just limited to standardised, one-dimensional interviews: it also provides diverse and multi-modal possibilities ranging from conjoints all the way to playing jingles or radio commercials.

CATI-Interactive uses a combination of telephone interview and online presentation to get the best out of both media:

• High response rates from difficult target groups
• Targeted and in-depth probing by the interviewer
• Interactive and animating procedures for the respondent and, as a result, higher motivation and better-quality answers
• The possibility of showing and discussing design routes and other visual stimuli

Identifying relevant influencing factors in the relationship between brand and umbrella brand, deciphering relevant drivers for the purchase decision, simultaneous optimization of price and features to provide input for the range policy – these are some of the typical themes we deal with in the course of our design research.

Multivariate analysis is indispensable for reconstructing and analyzing these complex effect mechanisms and the unconscious drivers in consumer behaviour – both in terms of analyzing and interpreting the data and with regard to modelling and prognostics:

• Conjoint analysis (full profile, adaptive, CBC, adaptive CBC, multistage)
• Brand-price trade-offs
• Multiple regression analysis
• Factor analysis
• Discriminant analysis
• Cluster analysis
• Multidimensional scaling
• Correspondence analysis

Important: It is not always necessary to conduct a new study: existing data sets from previous studies can also be of help. There are often veritable data treasures lying buried in the archives, just waiting to be dug up and re-examined.