Affinity Diagrams: How to Cluster Your Ideas and Reveal Insights

Source: International Design Foundation

Affinity diagrams are a great method to use when you want to make sense of a large volume of mixed information and data—facts, ethnographic research, ideas from brainstorms, user opinions, user needs, insights and design issues, just to name a few! Affinity diagrams require you to cluster information in an organized manner, and this can therefore be one of the most valuable methods to employ during your design process. In other words, affinity diagrams help you synthesize information and insights and, for this reason, they are used in many phases of design thinking, including the Define and Ideate phases. Let’s jump into affinity diagrams in detail to discover more about what they are, why they’re useful and how you can apply them to your own design process.