# 3.2 Write insight statements

This is a short but important activity. Do it as part of your synthesis session. 

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#### 🧙‍♂️ Tip: Take your time. Think hard. Well crafted insight statements will lead to better personas and user need statements.

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## 🛠️ Tools

The online whiteboard you used in step 5.

## 🧍🏿 Solo or collaborate 👫?

Do this with the same colleagues. Work as a group or individually.

## 👣2 Steps

### 1. Understand insight statements

Look at the insight statement examples on your whiteboard. Read each one slowly. Try and see how they communicate a mixture of context, motivations, tension and impact.

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#### 🔗🔗 [Create insight statements](https://www.designkit.org/methods/create-insight-statements) by Design Kit

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### 2. Write insight statements

Choose a theme. Notice its sub-themes. Read all its post-its. 

Turn what you’ve read into a short statement that captures the strongest insight from a sub-theme. Write this statement from the user’s perspective.

Each statement should explain:

* the context
* the problem or dilemma 
* why it is happening. 

The best ones also include users’ feelings or motivations and express a tension in the situation.

Repeat this for every sub-theme. You can combine sub-themes if they fit well together.

Ignore a sub-theme if it lacks a strong insight or relevance to your research questions. It's better to leave it out than try and create an insight that isn’t there.

### 4. Refine statements 

Work through this checklist for each of your insights to see where you can strengthen and refine. 

1. Well-informed. Is it informed by multiple users’ perspectives or experience? 
2. More than an observation. Does it offer insight into how or why a phenomenon is occurring? Does it offer a compelling reframe of something we already know? 
3. So what? Does it help people understand why it matters? Does it capture a tension or a shift that needs to happen? Does it connect to research questions and project impact objectives? 
4. Sticky. Is it memorable, interesting, and repeatable? Can you link to a metaphor?

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### 🧙‍♂️ Tips

Always write insight statements from the user’s perspective to help you connect with them on a deeper emotional level. Be real, be human, and avoid jargon. Keep it objective and honest. 
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### You’re done here

Nice work. You’ve completed Guide 3.
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### What to do next

You have two choices:

1. Move forward to [Guide 4: How to create personas and user need statements,](https://app.gitbook.com/@wearecast/s/catalyst-puns/guides/guide-4-how-to-create-personas-and-user-need-statements) or
2. Stop here and use your themes and insights to create [‘How might we... ‘ statements](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-might-we-questions/). Do this while the insights are still fresh. 
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