Using découpé to find the story in the data
Découpé, or to give it its anglicised name ‘cut up technique’ is a creativity device that dates back to at least the 1920s, but was popularised in the 1950s by William Burroughs (the beat writer and artist). More recently pop stars such as David Bowie have made it famous as a device for creating the narrative of songs. The cut up technique can be a great way to find the story in the data when analysing market research information, particularly for teams trying to transition from traditional reporting approaches to a more narrative style. Here is one example of how to make this transition: Create a standard market research report, reporting the key questions, using the key breaks, addressing the key topics in the research brief. For each output (which often means a PowerPoint slide if the analysis has been delegated or automate), write a comment about what the main message on the page is. Put each comment onto a separate piece of card or paper (making a note of which slide number each comment links to). Now shuffle the cards and then on your own or as a team, try to arrange the cards in a way that creates […]
