Team: 10 designers
My role: Junior UI/UX designer
Context: This project was executed for a client of Handmade. Handmade was a design and innovation firm for which I collaborated for almost two years. This firm was recently purchased and incorporated by Thoughtsworks.
Problem: The client wanted to understand the motivations and behaviors of the people that uses his products and competitors products. Our client's team didn't know exactly who they were developing that product for.
Tools and skills: Miro, Personas, Journey Mapping, Qualitative and Quantitative research, Workshops
Timeframe: 9 months
When: 2022
Summary
The client wanted to better understand the public in his segment. Not just the users of his product, but also the people that used his competitors' products. To gather information, we carried out qualitative and quantitative interviews and synthesized the insights into personas and their corresponding journeys. By creating personas, we wanted to bring the client's team closer to the public, create empathy and identify possibilities.
My role
The project was done in a large team. We were divided into pairs, each pair was responsible for carrying out the research with a specific sector of the public. Also, there was a specialist designer and a product manager who led and helped all the team.
I participated in the entire process as a junior designer, contributing in the decisions and discussions, but my main role was working with my partner on the research. We wrote the script, carried out the research with the support of the recruitment team that selected the research participants, grouped the insights, did the personas and journeys. Next, I will explain each step of the process in more detail.
1- Defining roles and dividing the team into pairs
Who participated: The whole group
We discussed, had a dynamic and decided our roles. We would work in pairs, each pair would research one of the 4 identified user segments. There was a weekly alignment meeting with the entire team.
2- Deciding research methods
Who participated: The entire group participated in the discussion, but the final decision was defined by senior and specialist designers
Using references from books and design research articles, we discussed which methods would work better in this challenge. We ended up between quantitative, qualitative research and diary study. The diary study was discarded as it would not fit into the timeframe available. We also made a research plan, wrote our strategy and objectives to make it clear to everyone.
3- Gathering information by doing desk research and organizing
Who participated: The whole group
Who participated: The whole group
We used Notion to catalog our findings using the atomic research method. An specialist designer suggested this organization model, and we kept it updated throughout the project.
4- Writing the qualitative research script
Who participated: Each pair worked individually
After gathering information in group, we started working in pairs. My partner and I wrote the script, pasted it in Excel to make it easier to take notes during the interviews, and then the specialist designer read all the scripts for each one of the pairs, to check if they were all aligned.
5- Recruiting participants and doing the interviews
Who participated: Each pair worked individually
The recruitment of participants was carried out by a specialized team. My partner and I conducted the interviews, taking turns between who did the interview and who took notes.
6- Grouping and organizing information
Who participated: Each pair worked individually
Using Excel and Miro, we grouped the answers to each question, bringing together similar answers. We used post-its of different colors for each interviewee, and tags to categorize their responses. This way, we were able to get an idea of similar opinions and see patterns.
7- Insights
Who participated: Each pair worked individually
With all this valuable information organized, we had a moment of discussion and wrote down all the insights and the most relevant points that emerged. We looked closely to the key points that the client has highlighted to us. We noticed patterns of similar behavior, opinions and profiles of the interviewees.
8-Creating personas and journey mapping
Who participated: Each pair worked individually
We did the personas and journey mapping according to the patterns, insights and information gathered in the research. Right at the beginning of the project, when we presented the process, the client rejected to do quantitative research, saying he didn't need it. Then, after we did the personas, he understood what we had said from the beginning: there would be a lack of data to support the personas if they were carried out only based on qualitative data. After seeing the personas, the client was convinced that we really needed more date, and after that a quantitative research was carried out. Since the initial project didn't include the quantitative research, the client committed to do internally the task of compairing the quantitative results with the personas and also with the company's internal databases.
9- Jobs-to-be-Done Design Workshop
Who participated: The whole group, but the concept was led by specialist designers
This workshop was developed by specialist designers to help the client align the next steps with their internal team and create insights for the quantitative research. I participated in the conversations, helped to set up the boards in Miro and in the workshop facilitation.
10- Quantitative questionnaire to measure the relevance of each opportunity
Who participated: The whole group, but mainly specialist designers
The form was created based on insights from qualitative research and results from the workshop. A framework brought by a specialist designer was used to measure the relevance of each opportunity.
11- Making the final report
Who participated: The whole group
Conception and delivery of a report documenting the entire project, personas, journeys and insights from each stage. The material was thought to be simple and easy to use in a daily basis.
Wraping up
The project was very challenging, we brought a lot of value to the client in each delivery, and we also kept the client's team close, with constant deliveries and checkpoints. In the end, we brought a vision about users that was not known to them, with many relevant insights and possibilities for innovation and improvements to the experience, fixing the identified pain points and gaps in the journeys.
The project was very challenging, we brought a lot of value to the client in each delivery, and we also kept the client's team close, with constant deliveries and checkpoints. In the end, we brought a vision about users that was not known to them, with many relevant insights and possibilities for innovation and improvements to the experience, fixing the identified pain points and gaps in the journeys.
