WHY use a POV madlib

• A point-of-view (POV) is your reframing of a design challenge into an actionable problem statement that will launch you into generative ideation. A POV Madlib provides a scaffolding to develop your POV.
• A good POV will allow you to ideate in a directed manner, by creating How-Might-We (HMW) questions based on your POV.
• Most of all, your POV captures your design vision – your responsibility and opportunity as a designer is to discover and articulate the meaningful challenge.

HOW to use a POV madlib

• Use the following madlib to capture and harmonize three elements of a POV: user, need, and insight. For example, [USER] needs to [USER’S NEED] because [SURPRISING INSIGHT]
• Use a whiteboard or scratch paper to try out a number of options, playing with each variable and the combinations of them. The need and insight should flow from your unpacking and synthesis work. Remember, ‘needs’ should be verbs, and the insight typically should not simply be a reason for the need, but rather a synthesized statement that you can leverage in designing a solution. Keep it sexy (it should intrigue people) and hold the tension in your POV.
• For example, instead of “A teenage girl needs more nutritious food because vitamins are vital to good health” try “A teenage girl with a bleak outlook needs to feel more socially accepted when eating healthy food, because in her hood a social risk is more dangerous than a health risk.” Note how the latter is an actionable, and potentially generative, problem statement, while the former is little more than a statement of fact, which spurs little excitement or direction to develop solutions.

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