Week 1
The first week is a briefing session about what the module is all about, things we will gain from this module and apply for the future such as Taylor's Impact Labs to solve problems in innovative ways by applying knowledge from the specialisation respectively. Mr Mike also shared some experience from senior work that showed the collaboration being done well and more examples on senior projects. Then, he moved on to the project topic that we were gonna pick one of them. The presentation slide already labelled their requirements and expectations clearly.
At the moment of briefing, I can see the image of how we would do in our work in future. All the steps such as brainstorming, user research, and problem solving that have been learned through from the previous semester are really the procedure we must keep in mind. The differentiation of previous assessment and current module is one is designed for solving problems with own design interpretation, and one is about dealing with clients. Therefore, when it comes to the project topic selection, our group asks for the opportunity to join the Brandialogue. I would like to have a chance to learn the progress of developing a brand project with clients that relate to real world experience.
Week 2
For this week, the group name list and project topic were confirmed. The project topic I choose is Pink Stuff. So, we planned to prepare questions for the project to meet the client’s needs. However, the questions I prepared throughout the first week were in the wrong direction. I thought the brand that was mentioned in the briefing presentation slide was the brand they wanted to develop. At that time, I was questioning, why would they want to develop a brand which they already have? Is it because they are looking for something new in design? Luckily we have a group discussion before the client’s meeting and make the assessment clear.
Fig 1.2 Brainstorming Ideas
Mr. Mike made some suggestions on what we should focus on such as definition of curios among the client and ourselves, understanding the clients needs and motivation about developing a brand on it. Also, we can join a number of groups/communities on any platform, delve deeper into pink lovers, find e-commerce stores - lazada, shopee and real world stores, check out colour products and item categories. We were also advised to choose a theme that would tell a story, not only permanently but also changeable in the future.
First introductory meeting and briefing with the clients on Week 2.
- What is the fundamental purpose or function of the product?
- Who are the target customers or users of the product?
- To the best of your knowledge, what are the specific needs, preferences, and pain points of the target audience?
- What do you think about these competitors' products or solutions?
- What are the key features and attributes that differentiate your product from competitors?
- What technological advancements or innovations do you think can enhance the product's performance or user experience?
- How do you see your product fit into the broader market landscape and industry trends?
- Are you aware of any potential regulatory or compliance requirements that may impact the development and marketing of the product?
- What are the scalability and sustainability considerations for the product?
- Could your product be optimized for cost-effectiveness and efficiency in production and distribution?
The client, Mr Damien, prefers us to have a tribute first and decide the definition of pink and curios by ourselves. One thing that he mentioned is that it is all about visuals. In this phase, we will learn how to utilise design thinking practice in this project.
Week 3
Fig 1.4 Narrowing down ideas on products
For this week, we are confirming our tributes which are the direction of the branding by voting. The final result is gaming accessories. We listed the product category and the idea, but when we presented the idea to Sir, our idea didn't stand out and didn't convince Sir why we chose this idea as a brand to develop.
Sir explained that if we can't have the ability to use a valid reason or justify why we should choose this idea as a direction to develop, how can we convince the client area to invest a lot of money and time to develop a brand that others already have. And if the product we chose is not quirky enough or special enough, we can refer to the Massage Game Chair, which is a chair with ergonomic craftsmanship that incorporates the function of massage. We can list more similar products and target audience we are looking for.
It dawned on me and reminded me of what sir said the week before, that it is the customer that we are dealing with. What we need to satisfy is their needs and we need to innovate in order to gain a foothold in the marketplace, not what we want to develop by looking at what is already in the marketplace. This also shows that we have to create something unique, which has become the purpose of developing this brand as the requirement of developing this brand is about curio. Sir suggested that we could try to combine home living with gaming accessories.
Fig 1.5 Combination of home listing and game accessories product listing
Based on the fact that most gaming has a specific area such as a bedroom or gaming room, so as a suggestion we can refer to the gaming chair with a combination of home living and gaming accessories. It was also the first time I realised that branding takes a lot of time to determine the market's next trend and future direction, unlike designing a website or an app. This project will build an informative experience and helpful in future as the cooperation with others and flow of developing the brand.
Week 4
This week we have confirmed our user research as a quantitative method to approach a wider and diverse target audience. The data collected will provide a guide in brand development. Through surveys, various design options, colour palettes, and potential functionalities can be presented. Analysing the responses helps us to prioritise which elements are most appealing to the target audience, informing our initial product development. For understanding the target audience’s deeper motivations and aspirations, I think market research would be possible to make it with the time constraint.
Fig 1.6 Market Research on Gaming Industry
Our survey was separated into several aspects, demographics, consumer behaviour, product preferences, brand building and additional information. Before consulting, we rearranged the questions in more reasonable flow. The feedback given by Sir is to observe how successful brands use social media to get customers interested (brand building). We can learn from them to build our brand and understand what gamers want through survey. Also, every question in the survey is precious and valuable, think what does the data collected from the survey would provide any insight to our brand development. Sir also suggested having a research objective to clarify the direction of user research. Last, we also need to consider the participants that answer no in the survey.
Fig 1.7 Research Direction
Fig 1.8 First Draft of Survey Question
For my own opinion is to dive deeper into why the participants said no in those questions to understand their behaviour and motivations. We finalise again our questionnaire based on the feedback by listing out the research topic, objectives, and also product category. We finally confirm our product listing that has been struggling us for about 3 weeks. Even though similar products exist, we believe there's room for something that sparks curiosity.
Our focus is on creating a visually engaging experience that evokes a sense of curio. The importance of question order in a survey became clear. One key takeaway in designing questionnaires is the importance of crafting a well-designed survey. I've come to understand that the order of questions plays a crucial role – a logical flow is essential to optimise data collection. Furthermore, each question within the survey needs to have a clear purpose. Every single question should be strategically placed to contribute valuable insights that directly inform brand development. There's no room for filler questions; each one needs to serve a specific function in the bigger picture.
Week 5
Fig 1.9 Finalize Survey Questions
After we finalised the survey questions based on last week, we ask for last confirmation and approval to prevent there is something important left behind. Our group has left behind from overall progression, this is cause we keep refining our direction without a proper guide.
Fig 1.10 Initial Competitors
While waiting for the survey finalisation, we moved on the contextual research - competitors. I arranged the steps and data that needed to be collected from competitors, I also noticed that the other groups were moved to the insight statement part. From the consultation feedback, Sir suggested we begin with a thorough SWOT analysis. This will involve a deep dive into our brand's strengths and weaknesses. By identifying our competitive advantages and areas for improvement, we can lay the groundwork for effective brand positioning.
The next step would be to utilise a brand positioning map. This visual tool will help us map our brand's value proposition against our key competitors. This will allow us to see how we compare and identify opportunities to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace. Essentially, this two-step approach will provide a clear understanding of our brand's current standing and guide us in crafting a strategic positioning that resonates with our target audience.
At the same time, we should start on the brand identity and also the moodboard. Our initial ideas for the brand name have few, still need to vote to select it. Sir also explained the use of insight statements, how might we and etc. These needed to be done after we collected the data from user research, and the best way to approach this is the survey analysis. Survey analysis would get more insightful perspective and concerns from the user. Therefore, our group decided to proceed with two types of user research, survey and interview.
Week 6
Fig 1.11 Interview Questions
This week, our focus remains on collecting data. We're finalising the interview questions to ensure they elicit insightful and relevant information. We received feedback that the current questions are lengthy, potentially leading to longer interview times. To address this, we're streamlining them for efficiency. In the meantime, we've sent out multiple interview invitations and are awaiting responses. To get back on track with our timeline, Sir suggested aiming to have all data collected and analysed by Tuesday. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we've only been able to secure interviews with 4 participants so far. The current labelling of the axes on our brand positioning map are proving difficult to explain and don't effectively communicate the map's purpose, even to those familiar with the concept (e.g., lecturers).
Fig 1.12 Initial Brand Positioning Map
Fig 1.13 Developed Brand Positioning Map
The initial axis with the label of price and visual appeal are more suitable. To address this, we propose revising the axis labels to directly reflect the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) identified in our SWOT analysis. By leveraging the insights from our SWOT analysis, the new labels will provide a more grounded and relevant framework for evaluating our brand's position in the market.
Fig 1.15 Survey Analysis
Fig 1.16 Interview Analysis
The final response we get from the survey is 77 respondents, while the interview only has 4 interviewees, 3 of them are students, one of them is content creator. We're convening a meeting to tie up loose ends and move forward with a clear direction. Our agenda focuses on analyzing all the user research we've gathered so far. This includes diving deep into the user research data, the empathy map we constructed to understand user needs and frustrations, the key insights we gleaned from this research, and the resulting problem statement that summarises the core user challenge we're aiming to address. Finally, we'll be brainstorming "How Might We" questions to spark creative solutions and potential product features that tackle the identified problem effectively. By revisiting this research and collaborating on potential solutions, we hope to solidify our understanding of the user and chart a course for the next phase of development.
Week 7
Fig 1.17 Contextual Research
Contextual research with updated SWOT analysis, brand positioning map and competitors.
We have discussed insight, problem statements, how we might and user persona through online meetings. Based on the foundation, we list a series of questions that customers may have from the user perspective in the empathy map. In the series of questions, part of it was inspired from survey and interview answers, the same as the user persona. We have made progress in the direction of branding but the design system has not. This is probably because we lost our direction in the early stages.
Fig 1.18 Empathy Map
Fig 1.19 Updated Insight Statement
During consultation, Sir mentioned that the insight statement should be the statement that we feel surprised from the data we collected. As the insight statement is the first step of branding, all of the rest were refined together with Sir.
Fig 1.20 Initial "How Might We" Statement
Initially, we had a misconception on ‘How Might We’, we directly proposed a solution from the insight statement. This section supposedly acts as a guidance for us to brainstorm in further development.
Fig 1.21 The four User Persona
There are four user personas, two of them quite similar, suggestions given were combined two of them in one (Ryan user persona were removed). Sir also mentioned that we should already start on the presentation slides and move on to the design system.
Fig 1.22 Moodboard
Fig 1.23 Logo and Brand Name Ideation
Sir suggested we should research and observe the competitors logo, look how they align their personality and characteristics with their logo and brand name. Understanding the competitive landscape is crucial for developing a strong and distinctive brand identity. Studying competitors helps us to avoid creating a logo that is too similar, ensuring our brand stands out and understanding how competitors connect their logos to their brand personality provides insights into effective visual storytelling.
Week 8
Fig 1.24 User Stories
Fig 1.25 User Persona 1
Fig 1.26 User Persona 2
Fig 1.27 User Persona 3
Following our recent consultation, we've divided tasks among the team. I've taken charge of developing the first two user stories and creating a user journey map based on the user persona. I'm also working on the information architecture, which is still in progress as I brainstorm suitable content for the website and identify what information customers might seek.
To create the user journey map, I began by closely analysing the first two user personas we developed. For each persona, I mapped out their entire interaction with our product or service, from initial awareness to post-purchase support. I identified key touchpoints, emotions, and pain points at each stage of their journey.
The consultation provided valuable insights for our project. We were advised to shorten the third user story to improve estimation, planning, and value delivery. Our user persona was approved and will inform the customer journey map after client approval. We also discussed the importance of filtering keywords based on insights, problem statements, and 'how might we' questions to guide our design system. These keywords will shape our brand's characteristics, influencing elements like the logomark, logotype, typefaces, and colour scheme.
Fig 1.28 Brand Name Draft
We learned the importance of justifying our brand name choice and explaining how it represents our brand's characteristics. Logo design decisions, including typeface and modifications, should align with our brand keywords. We'll need to explain the symbolism and significance of our colour choices, shapes, and forms in the logomark.
The consultation clarified the differences between information architecture, sitemaps, and wireframes. Information architecture focuses on content arrangement, sitemaps guide user flow, and wireframes are diagrammatic representations created in Figma based on the sitemap.
The customer journey map is supposed to develop after the proposal presentation, providing a visual representation of the customer's experience with our product or service. For our brand strategy, we'll focus on creating a positioning statement and defining brand values, using SWOT analysis to help define our brand's place among competitors. While big ideas are optional and typically used for advertising-driven campaigns, we'll concentrate on these core elements to build a strong foundation for our brand.
Fig 1.29 Website Reference
Fig 1.30 Update Website Reference
Week 9
Our team has been working on various aspects, including website wireframes, information architecture (IA), and sitemap development.
Fig 1.31 Information Architecture
Fig 1.32 Sitemap
During our consultation, Mr. Mike emphasised the importance of clear communication and visual appeal.Sir stressed the need for clear, readable fonts and consistent formatting throughout our slides. He advised us to shorten text-heavy sections or highlight keywords to improve readability. We were also cautioned against using animation transitions during the presentation to ensure stability. For our personas section, we were instructed to focus on key points rather than presenting all information. Similarly, our problem statement should concentrate on the main issue without delving into detailed user needs.
Fig 1.33 Finalizing Logo marks
Our brand identity visuals required improvement, with Mr. Mike suggested we include logos, colours, photography, graphic elements, and typefaces. He advised creating graphic elements inspired by our logo to enhance our brand personality. We learned that our key visuals should effectively showcase all these elements cohesively, allowing the client to grasp our complete vision at a glance.
Fig 1.32 Graphic Elements
Regarding our website development, Sir emphasised its importance as our main brand channel. He advised basing our website design on the IA, sitemap, and user journey map to ensure a smooth user flow and enhanced user experience. We need to include these elements in our presentation slides, along with wireframes showing the layout. In Figma, we should highlight the user journey map, focusing on our main persona's experience from start to finish.
Fig 1.35 Three UI Visual
Sir also suggested providing three UI design proposals for a selected webpage, referencing our contextual research and competitors' designs. This approach will help us compete effectively in the market. Through this process, we've learned the importance of clear communication in both design and presentation, ensuring our work is easily understood by clients. The emphasis on user experience and brand identity has reinforced the need for a user-centric approach in our future projects. Our presentation needs to include graphic elements, key visuals, sitemap, IA, a wireframe prototype, and UI design proposals. This comprehensive approach will allow us to effectively communicate our brand vision and website design to the client, setting a strong foundation for our project's success.
We select the first user persona - Sarah for the user flow of wireframe. I have designed about us, delivery status with order summary and a backup product detail page.
Fig 1.36 Wireframe
Proposal
Fig 1.37 Proposal Presentation Slides
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