You essentially pick two axes that have extremes, then figure out where entities fall on each extreme as well as your target quadrant, which indicates the opportunity you have at hand.
E.g. for our sustainability study, we took the users we interviewed/observed and plotted them in regard to how much guilt they felt over not doing more to be eco-friendly and how knowledgeable they felt on eco-friendly practices. In our research we discovered that more knowledge actually made people feel guiltier because they were more aware of everything they weren't doing or felt it got in the way of their family life. We wanted to educate people and reduce their guilt.
Cheesy example ahoy:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2786/4342410273_a43c1d0aa7_o.pngI remember the 2x2 diagram from needfinding with the circle arrow in directing you from quandrant to quandrant, but I can't remember what was exactly in the quadrants. It was supposed to describe the needfinding/ideation process.
Does anyone remember exactly what it was?