Extreme Users
help design for a better user experience by focusing on your extreme users
In Design Thinking it is just as important to understand the Extreme Users as much as it is to understand the everyday, most common user type of the organization’s product and services.
What are extreme users?
Extreme Users, is designing a solution that will work requiring the considering of the average user’s expectations and the expectations of the outliers, or the extreme users. An extreme user is someone that sets on either end of the spectrum of end-users. Gathering information on extreme users usually happens during the deep dive interviewing process as the Design team targets having conversations with average users and those users on the extreme ends of the user spectrum.
Understanding the extreme user’s perspective is valuable to the Design team for several reasons. The common belief in Design is that if you design for the extremes you will likely create a solution that works for the majority of other users. The other benefit to talking to extreme users is that the extreme user’s unique perspectives, use cases, hacks, and workarounds can help Designers think more creatively and broadly about how to solve the problem.
To view our other available tools and templates, please visit our online resource page. All PDF versions of our tools are free to download.
Download the Free "Extreme User" Template (PDF)
Purchase the template to customize for your own organization
All of our tools and templates are available in Word or PowerPoint format to allow organizations to purchase and customize the templates to their brand standards.
Using the Extreme User methodology to better design a product or service not only for the average user, but for those on either end of the spectrum of end-users. This topic is a core concept of applying creative problem-solving through design thinking. To learn more about design, please visit our Introduction to Design Thinking Course.
The Design Thinking course teaches a creative problem-solving that will give any professional an advantage in their industry or career.
- Designers or Product Development professionals that are motivated to bring innovative new products and services to their business and customers.
- Consultants who want to offer their clients a model for applying creative problem-solving to help address business challenges.
- Human Resource professionals seeking to develop more human-centered solutions to support workforce members while driving higher levels of employee engagement.
- Members of Leadership who are wishing to gain competitive advantage by differentiating their business’s products and services.
- Individuals or Teams that are searching for new ways to solve complex problems by placing the customer’s needs at the center of their solutions.
This course will help expose the learner to various design thinking tools and mental models – all with the emphasis on innovating through creative problem-solving.
Our objective is to provide the learner with practical tools for applying a versatile 3-step design thinking process within their organizations. Through this framework, the learner will be able to reframe problems from the customer’s perspective. With this perspective in mind, the learner will drive improvements around the customer experience using tools such as deep-dive interview, journey mapping, empathy mapping, and rapid prototyping.
Need help introducing use of a Extreme User at your organization?
Schedule a 30 minute coach call today and let’s talk through the details.
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