Group Learning Journal Kwok Yat Ying Florence 14042572d
SD3265 Experience Seminar Jorn Buhring
T h ings I’ve l ea rn ed
user research methods
Observation and interviewing are the 2 main methods of user research. Observational research is a type of correlational research in which a researcher observes ongoing behavior while Interviewing involves asking questions and getting answers from participants in a study. Our group applied both of the methods onto our field trip. For observational research, we follow a few tourists on their travelling route and observed them. After some time of following, we introuduced ourselves to the tourist and had a short interview with them. Both of the method turned out quite well for our research. We successfully obtained the information and data we want. By the obseravation method, we learned about the points of interaction between the tour-
ist and the destination (where they stopped by), and also the difficulties and frustration they encountered. From the interviews we had, we learned about tourists’ basic profile and demographics, and even had a better looking at their deeper feelings towards Tai O. The user research methods I learned from this course are not only useful to experience design. In fact, they are effective and systematic research methods that can apply on many other disciplines of design. Moreover, when I think of it one more step ahead, they are even applicable to other fields of study other than design. I’m glad I learned about these 2 research methods because I am sure it would be a great help to my future study or career.
journey mapping
A journey map is an oriented graph that describes the journey of a user by representing the different touch points that characterize his or her interaction with the experience. A journey map should consists of emotional status and changes of the target customer, journey stages, associated touch points, actions and thoughts respectively. The journey stages act as a timeline, associated with the emotional changes data, it revealed the highlights and pain points at a specific touch point. The thoughts of the tourist allows me to understand which particular aspect of the experience triggers such emotions. The action part helps to generate ideas on potential measures that can maximize positive cues and avoid negative cues.
persona A persona represents a specific group of users who have similar behavioral patterns in their decisions, use of technology or products and lifestyle choices. This tool can help us understand our target group customer better. It revels their needs and wants so that we can cater our content to them in a way that they’ll find valuable.
wo rkf low p r oblem
Information anxiety Nowadays it is very scaring how advance technologies are. Back at week 1, when my group members and I were carrying out our desktop research about Hong Kong inbound tourism and consumer needs, I found tons of available information on the internet. However, with so many of them available, things became a little out of control. Suddenly I had no clues of which piece I should spend time and look into. I’ve always had this problem, that I tried to be objective and keep on searching and searching, after gathering a bunch of articles, most of the time I did not know what to do with them! Meaning I fail to make any sense out of them. It was not helpful to the project at all and I should really learn to give up some of them and try to focus on the ones that are most valuable to my work.
lack of planning Planning is an essential part of a field study. I think I did not do enough on the preparation work before visiting our destination. When I arrived at Tai O, I just kind of take random photos every here and there, because I did not have anything in mind at that moment. I did not even understand my own expectation for the field trip. With a loss of focus, the information I personally collected on the day of visit, was not satisfying and did not contribute much to the overall group study. If I had the chance to do it again, I would have sketched out a brief objective document of the field trip. For example, think about the purpose of the field trip. In this case, there are mainly 2 things we would like to find out. First, we wanted to identify existing tourism problems in context of cultural heritage so that we can improve it later. Second, we wanted to understand user’s needs and expectation so we can design the experience accordingly.