Design Project Scoping Guide

This is a guide for selecting, framing, and communicating the intentions of a design project. It discusses what challenges are best suited for human-centered design, and how to scope and frame design projects.  

The power of design is to allow for unexpected discovery to occur: we seek to answer questions we didn't know we had, and to see possibilities and paths we didn't see before we started exploring. How we frame projects has huge effects on the work we do within the project. This guide discusses how to direct the work with intention while leaving room for discovery.

We have used this guide with d.school Project Fellows, and with Designing for Social Systems workshop participants. As a reading and a lecture/discussion, it becomes a higher-level conversation/consideration wrapping around the tools and actions of a human-centered design approach.

After scoping a challenge, it is useful to get coaching/feedback and iterate.

Scoping makes more sense after having experienced project work using human-centered design. (In other words, scoping is an advanced design skill.)

There is no single 'right framing' for a project; it all depends on your goals and constraints. However, this resource gives advice to guide how you frame a challenge.