3 'thinking frames' that can be used when planning an unfamiliar field

This was the most difficult thing for me every time I touched on a new field of work.

'I do not know where to start planning, that is, the beginning of thinking.' So, I had no choice but to think a lot and fix it.

However, as I was planning for each field and field, I came to realize that the planning methods for each field were not significantly different.

Whether designing a website, planning an event, designing a product, or creating content, the field is different, the essence of the planning act is the same.

After realizing that, no matter how much planning I do in the first field, I apply my own 'thinking frame' to solve it.

Today, I will share 3 of the 'thinking frames' that I use when planning.

The first method is to 'close the gap'

Every project has two sides.

Producers and Consumers. If the intentions and thoughts of the producers are in line with the needs of the consumers, nothing can be better than that.

But in most cases, there is a gap between them.

For example, something like this From the perspective of planners (suppliers) who operate government department SNS accounts, their channels are 'a good place to have a lot of necessary information'.

However, from the consumer's point of view, government department accounts on SNS are 'just not interested and not interesting'.

Then there is already a large 'gap' between them.

If you do not realize the existence of this gap, no matter how much the SNS operator tries to include a lot of good information, it becomes a dead channel because it does not receive 'clicks' from people in the first place.

So, planners should always ask these questions. What are the 'psychological obstacles' they will face in the process of communicating our intention or purpose to the target?

If a government department SNS operator asked this question, you can see that the first obstacle consumers will face is 'the rigidity that comes from the fact that it is a government department itself.'

Because SNS, a space to kill time, would not want to subscribe to such a channel.

In this case, the first thing the planner has to do is 'get out of that image'.

We have to change the visible parts first, such as the logo design and the channel concept.

That way you'll have to click on it.

Not all projects have to start with design or break stereotypes.

If you ask about the ‘psychological gap between the supplier message and consumer perception’ before you start planning, you can figure out what to solve first in your planning work, and you can set the standard for that judgment.

This 'close the gap' is useful not only for SNS channel planning as above, but also for planning that needs to deliver a certain 'message', such as content creation or marketing strategy setting.

If I have to sell a book with a message about 'effort', I will never be able to convince the younger generation of the negative emotions that come to mind first when they hear the word 'effort'.

Thinking about what that gap is and how to close it can be a 'starting point of thought'.

The second is 'close your eyes and follow all paths'

This is the method I used when designing the website structure.

As I am not a UI or UX designer, I am trying to do this for the first time, so it was really difficult.

I'm confident in our service, there are so many things I want to say, but I didn't know where to start, what to say, and in what order.

So that's what I thought then. Where will the people who come to this website come through?

So, I closed my eyes and imagined it after reading dozens of previously produced marketing content.

‘If I came across this marketing and clicked on the website link, what would I want to see on the first screen?

What kind of image do you envision?’

So, after filling the top of the homepage main page, I imagined what would happen next.

‘What will people who have seen this far think as they scroll down? What to expect? Curious about the place? Curious about its effectiveness? What would you like to know?

What else do people who have seen the first main page think about? What kind of button should I put in for those who have such concerns?

In this way, I imagined myself as a consumer and followed from the moment I first got to know us to the purchase stage.

As a result, the words to be said naturally and the order in which they should be arranged were arranged.

This was used not only in the initial design of the homepage, but also in modifications to increase conversion rates.

This is a good thinking frame to use when there are a lot of steps for consumers to go through or when you need to solve conversion rate issues.

The third is ‘creating a specific persona’.

The most difficult area for me to plan was ‘offline community service design’.

There were so many things to pay attention to, such as the interior, the name of the space, CS, the music to fill the space, and the nature of the event.

As a result, each project faced the problem of playing separately. The concept of the interior and the concept of the music were different, and an event that did not go well was planned, etc.

A good thinking frame to use in this case is ‘persona’.

If our service or product is a real ‘person’, we are imagining in detail what kind of person that person would be. Just as a novelist specifies the main character's settings before writing a novel, name, age, place of residence, marital status, dating status, personality, likes, dislikes, dreams, occupation, hobbies, nicknames, pubs frequented with friends , fashion taste, ideal type, role model, and a book you read recently.

Just as there is no sense of alienation when a character is specified and a novel is written in this way, products and services must have such a persona so that the concept does not play separately.

Every time we plan, we match the persona character by imagining what kind of space he would go to, what kind of music he usually listens to, and what kind of taste he would have. It is a good thinking frame to use when grasping a concept or when there are too many connected elements.

Having Your Own Compass

Of course, the most standard method of planning is to ask the question ‘Why’ and bring it out, as everyone knows.

But sometimes it can feel too wide and cluttered. In that case, it is important to create your own thinking frame, that is, a ‘starting point of thinking’.

At the heart of my thinking frame is imagination. We want to be as specific as possible about what a fictional character that fits our concept will be, what the first question that person will have when they hear my message, and what their journey to purchase and use of the product will be.

The thinking frame is like a compass.

Just as a compass is not a perfect way to navigate, having a thought frame like this doesn't necessarily mean a perfect plan.

It is actually very difficult to plan all the fields that the founder is not familiar with.

But at least you have a compass to know the direction.

If even a clumsy person walks honestly in the right direction, colleagues with water, colleagues with maps, and companions with horses will appear one by one.

I close the first article in the hope that this article will be of some help to the founders who are on an unfamiliar road.