Ethnography for Product and Service Design
A course by EstudioRacimoDesign Consultancy
A course by EstudioRacimo, Design Consultancy
Learn the basic concepts for designing based on your users' needs and expectations
Ethnography and design may seem like two distant concepts, but in the hands of professionals like Estudio Racimo, the connection is obvious. This Chilean design studio applies ethnography—a field that studies the behavior of human groups—to the design of products and services, something that clients like Walmart, Telefónica, and Metlife can attest to.
In this online course, learn to tackle your design projects from a new perspective by getting to know your users in depth and understanding what they want before designing a product or service tailored to their needs.
What will you learn in this online course?
18 lessons & 17 downloads
What will we do in this course
2 minutes, 13 seconds
What is ethnography?
13 minutes, 26 seconds
Qualitative v / s quantitative research
8 minutes, 0 seconds
How to segment?
8 minutes, 9 seconds
Observation and record types
10 minutes, 1 second
The in-depth interview
12 minutes, 2 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start by learning more about Estudio Racimo, their history, their values, their most important projects, and their influences spanning across areas like design, cinema, and literature.
Next, explore the origins of ethnography and its relevance in the search for content that is meaningful to your clients.
Then, discover a range of ethnographic research techniques to help you identify the type of research that ethnography is most useful for as well as choose the right tools according to the research objectives.
Estudio Racimo then guides you through an ethnographic research project applied to design, including the research question, segmentation of the target audience, and research tools in the context of cultural analysis and applied synthesis.
Wrap up the course by reviewing how these powerful insights help lead to unique products or services that have an impact on the lives of users and can help boost their decision-making processes.
What is this course's project?
Carry out research to develop the Person-Settings tool which helps you gain a better understanding of users' needs before designing a product or service with them in mind.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Professionals from different backgrounds who want to drive cultural change within an organization and focus on their customers when developing products or services.
Requirements and materials
You need basic knowledge of research methodologies and experience analyzing and synthesizing information. Beyond that, just curiosity, empathy, and a desire to learn.
As for materials, you need a camera (you can use a phone) and a notebook.
Reviews
- 1 month ago
Muy interesante. Muy bien para ser un curso introductorio.
- 10 months ago
Muy buen curso, su contenido te permite un acercamiento interesante a la enografía, brindando bases para seguir explorando y poder aplicar al diseño que requieras.
- 1 year ago
Buena aproximacion al tema.
- 1 year ago
Muy buen curso, claro y sencillo. Vengo de la antropología y me sirve para aplicarlo al mundo ux donde estoy trabajando. Claro que conocía sobre la etnografía pero este curso me ayuda a extrapolarlo a otras áreas por fuera de la acedemia
- 1 year ago
Muy buen curso. Todo lo que enseñan está muy bien explicado y ejemplificado. Es muy valioso poder ver material real de las entrevistas.
They have applied this process to diverse projects ranging from tourist routes to antibacterial earplugs while maintaining their philosophy that each design tells a carefully constructed story.
Content
- U1
Presentation
- Presentation
- Influences
- What will we do in this course
- U2
Basic concepts
- What is ethnography?
- Qualitative v / s quantitative research
- How to segment?
- U3
Search tools
- Observation and record types
- The in-depth interview
- Minigroups or Triads
- Safari (part 1)
- Safari (part 2)
- U4
Analysis and synthesis tools
- Analysis of the information collected
- Synthesis tool: Person scenarios and attribute map
- U5
Project realization
- Objective, initial set-up and context
- Search tools
- Person Findings and Scenarios (part 1)
- Person Findings and Scenarios (part 2)
- Designing from the Person Scenarios
- FP
Final project
- Ethnography applied to the design of products and services
What to expect from a Domestika course
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FAQs
Ethnography applied to design is a qualitative method that helps you understand users’ behaviors and needs in their real-life context. It’s used to gather deep insights that guide the creation of innovative, human-centered products, services, and experiences.
This is an intermediate-level course designed for those who already have basic knowledge of design or research and want to deepen their understanding of ethnography for innovation and human-centered design projects.
Basic knowledge of design, qualitative research, or user experience is recommended. It’s not mandatory but will help you get the most out of the content and apply ethnographic tools effectively.
You’ll learn to apply ethnographic techniques like observation, interviews, and qualitative analysis to uncover users’ real needs, create archetypes and persona scenarios, and support innovative decisions in design and service projects.
Ethnography lets you spot cultural patterns, hidden needs, and user behaviors in real contexts, making it easier to develop products and services that truly stand out and resonate in the market.
The course covers techniques such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, audiovisual recording, field journals, narrative analysis, ethnographic segmentation, and persona scenario tools.
Ethnographic segmentation focuses on real behaviors, motivations, and usage contexts, whereas traditional segmentation usually relies on demographic or psychographic variables. This approach creates profiles that are more meaningful for design.