Fun fact: Two of the most appreciated features of our Native RO water purifiers: preset water dispensing and a solid tray to keep bottles were not asked for by our potential customers. They were not even called out during customer visits. They were simply decided basis our observations on how people used purifiers to fill water bottles or a jug.

We simply observed the pain of holding the bottle in the air without them realising it. While traditional user research can be helpful, real creativity often comes from keen observation.

• Steve Jobs avoided focus groups. He believed that users don’t always know what they want. He preferred to observe behaviour and develop products based on those insights.

• Austin Kleon, one of my favourite authors, encourages creators to take “visual walks” as a form of research. Go on walks with the intent of noticing things you usually overlook.

• Ryan Holiday gathers and sorts quotes and ideas on index cards over months and years, organising them based on themes. This process allows him to observe patterns in his research that he wouldn’t have noticed if everything was stored digitally.

• A while ago I came across this book How to use your eyes. I wanted to learn how to get better at observing. James Elkins, the author, recommends paying really close attention to everyday objects, like traffic lights, handwriting, and even the night sky to practice observation.

• Ed Catmull in Creativity, Inc., mentions Pixar’s Braintrust meetings. During these sessions, directors present their work to a group of peers for critique with detailed observations. During one such sessions on Toy Story 2, folks pointed subtle problems in the story that weren’t apparent to the filmmakers at first. Very inspiring!

• A book I recently started reading is The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker. He suggests many exercises to improve observational skills. One exercise is to choose a familiar object and spend five minutes observing it in detail, noticing things you’ve never seen before. Over the next few days I just observed backpacks & drill-kit cases. Amazing book… must read!

The world around us, at home and outside, is full of hidden details. Start noticing them.