Prime Student Gift
The Whiteboard Warning Sign. Participant observation lead to the creation of a meaningful student gift.
TL;DR
Engineering students were observed in their natural habitat (a computer lab); notes taken from these observation sessions influenced possible gift ideas. Three concepts were sketched for these gift ideas. One concept was chosen due to it being deemed the most useful and meaningful possible gift. A prototype was developed and usability tests were conducted. Testing participants loved the prototype.
Overview
My Role: UX Researcher and Designer
Methods: Marginal Participant Observation, AEIOU Note Taking, Prototyping, Usability testing
Tools: Sketch, Google Suite
Deliverables: Participant Observation, Design Concepts, Heuristic Analysis, Low Fidelity Prototyping, Usability Testing, Client Presentation
The Client and The Goal
Prime Digital Academy was looking for a new welcome gift to give to its new full-stack engineering students. The previous gift was a water bottle that has now been discontinued. Prime was looking for a new gift that would be both useful and meaningful for students. The goal was to design a product that would reflect Prime’s values and be something that students would both want and need.
Research Methods
The primary method of research for this project was marginal participant observation. Full-stack engineering students were observed from a distance while they worked in a classroom. Some students also submitted videos describing their home work stations. Notes were taken in regards to the users activities, environments, interactions, and objects both in the classroom and at home.
Research Note Sheet
Research Observations
The observations gathered from these research sessions were extremely helpful in understanding student wants and needs. Although students were working in two very different environments (at school and at home), many commonalities were found between students. The most significant observation was that many students shared work spaces; both in the classroom with other students and at home with family members.
Early Design Concepts
Concept 1: The Whiteboard Warning Sign
A desk sign for students who want to inform either family members at home or fellow students in the classroom that they are busy or unable to talk.
Concept 2: The Magnetic Water Bottle
A water bottle that comes with a magnetic pen that attaches to the outside. It would allow students to take both with them at all times.
Concept 3: The Stress Ball Massager
A stress ball that has rubber points which would allow the user to use the stress ball as a small hand-held massager. Allowing the students to relax.
Heuristic Analysis
After a critique of designs, concept 1, the whiteboard warning sign was selected as the design that most fit the client's goal. Before developing a prototype, a heuristic analysis of a white board was performed.
The heuristic analysis was conducted to determine if a standard whiteboard fit the criteria of the design concept. Tasks were performed using the whiteboard and it was determined that modifications would need to be made in order for it to fulfill the requirements of the design concept. Specifically the prototype would need to be portable and would need to allow the user to hide and display messages.
Prototypes
Thanks to the help of the great minds at Leonardo’s Basement, a prototype was created.
Me at Work
Front View
Back View with Kickstand
Customizable Unavailable Message
Customizable Available Message
Decorative Chain
Usability Testing
Usability testing was conducted with current Prime full-stack engineering students to determine if the prototype met the clients goal. Three participants were first asked to give general impressions of the prototype. Once the prototype was explained to the participants, they were given a list of tasks to complete. The tasks included customizing a message, displaying messages, using the prototype on a desk, and hanging up the prototype.
Lastly, the participants were asked to give ratings of the item on a scale of 1-7.
When asked how frequently they would use this item in their everyday life (1 = not frequent, 7 = very frequent) on average participants gave a score of 5.
When asked their general feelings of the prototype (1 = very negative, 7 = very positive) on average participants gave a score of 5.
When asked how they would feel if every student at Prime had the device on their desk (1 = very negative, 7 = very positive) on average participants gave a score of 6.5.
Testing was very helpful as it revealed new uses for the device such as displaying meeting times.
Client Presentation
Overall, the reaction to the concept design and prototype was very successful. With minor adjustments and improvements to the quality of materials, the Whiteboard Warning Sign will be a very beneficial product for Prime students.
Next Steps
The next potential phase of developing the Whiteboard Warning Sign would be to move into higher fidelity prototyping. The current model (displayed in photos above) is made of common household materials. The official model would be made of high quality material.
Conclusion
This project really illustrated how empathetic research can make great ideas come to light. It was so much fun to get user feedback for this design and the comments made by users during testing gave me even more ideas for designs.
I would love to design something for you! If you need a UX designed feel free to reach out to me.