Six steps for adapting your design solutions to the right context

4. Research your options.
No solutions come without scouting the horizons and putting the time into researching your options. This could be within a particular type of arena, for 

instance, a selection of out of the box software tools, like UNHCR Innovation Service did with the Digital Display solutions we used in the Mediterranean refugee situation. Together with Mercy Corps we scouted out 5 – 10 different solutions and looked at their features and specifications, mapping them to what we had outlined in our high-Level requirements. Having this overview enabled us to make informed choices about which solutions we wanted to take to the next stage of the process. If you’re lucky – and can google like a boss – you might find that somebody has already done the hard work for you.

Connected to this, often many ‘jump the gun’ and think that everything needs to be custom built for them. This should more often than not be a last resort option, and possibly even a decision taken later down the line. If other have and are investing in tools that do 90% of what you’re looking to do, it makes sense to leverage this. At very least as a prototype.