P TF LI
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30.05.18
NAME: XHENSILA REÇI S U P E RV I S O R : J E F F R E Y DAV I D S E R I O
2 ND S E M E S T E R D I G I TA L CO N C E P T DEVELOPMENT
INT R DUCT I N
The second semester of Digital Concept Development PBA was focused in gaining applied knowledge on service design, customer journey and user experience design. Therefore, this portfolio is organised into three project cases that present the challenge, design process, solution and visuals. Each chapter is reviewed in a synopsis, where a discussion on chosen theories or methods aims to provide a reflective overview of the process. Personal and professional goals have also been reflected upon in this section. A summary of thoughts follows in the conclusion paragraph, leaving a critical note and improvement suggestions.
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C NT ENTS
D I G I TA L N O R D I C C R E AT I V E S
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SERVICE STARTUP
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ADMISSIONS.DK UNDERVISNINGSMINISTERIET
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03 D R : N U
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04 C O N C L U S I O N
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05 L I T E R AT U R E
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DANMARKS RADIO
SUMMARY OF THOUGHTS
SOURCES
CASE
01 ONLINE PLATFORM
SERVICE STARTUP
D I G I TA L N O R D I C C R E AT I V E S Using a startup process to create a conceptual solution. Digital Nordic Creatives is a podcast that through curated content, focuses on increasing awareness of design issues, promoting professionals and helping aspirants get fresh knowledge. It’s aim is to connect design enthusiasts with experienced professionals internationally. ROLE: user research, concept development, show directing & hosting, user testing, presentation 4
RESEARCH
USERS AND MOTIVATIONS
Design enthusiasts are of all kinds: those who study or work with design, but also the self-made aspirants. Passion gets them interested in the field, but they have different motivations to continuously consume design related content. Students and self-made aspirants get motivated by following role models, which gives them inspiration for a future career vision. Design professionals need to stay updated, so they can stay competitive. They all have a common need to get entertained while learning.
LEARNING BY LISTENING
Design enthusiasts seek information in different sources but they have similar learning curves. Going from getting informed about a trending topic, to gaining curiosity and diving deep into a new piece of information. The interviewed design enthusiasts listen to podcasts to get information on the go, but also to hear personal stories, tips and tricks they can resonate with. The listening material needs to be compact and fit into a daily commute, if they are to activate their short attention span. 5
SOLUTION & SHOWCASE
DESIGN INFORMATION HUB Digital nordic creatives is a design information hub. For every publication there is a youtube teaser accompanied with social media promotion posts, a podcast episode with show notes and links, and a blog post. The podcast can be accessed through Podbean, iTunes, Soundcloud, Youtube, and digitalnordiccreatives.com - the website that collects all the episodes, videos and blog posts into one digital hub. Promotions through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, have created a community of followers that are consuming and sharing the content. Within 3 weeks there were over 100 listeners interacting with content in the various platforms. What started as a school assignment has turned into a side project that is inspiring many listeners and opening new opportunities.
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INTRODUCTION
This project’s challenge was to use the startup methods and process to develop a conceptual solution with focus on content production. Digital Nordic Creatives platform was created to deliver content that inspires and connects designers through stories and knowledge sharing. UNDERSTANDING USERS
SYN PSIS
A startup mindset was adopted here: fall in love with an idea, build, fail and learn fast (Ries, E., 2011). The Time Machine workbook (Pinheiro, T., 2014. pg. 132) combined with competitive research (Levy, J., 2015. pg. 63) helped explore how and where design enthusiasts got knowledge in the past, present and future. Insights about the ecosystem surrounding this domain were gathered without needing to carefully plan the research, as it had been done previously. A sprint ethnography and in-depth conversation (Pinheiro, T., 2014. pg. 147) continued the exploration of user behaviors and the moments when they consciously or not, created mental space to learn, use and remember something new about design. Results were gathered in hero profiles, who had two different extreme behaviors: laziness and enthusiasm. The hero quest workbook (Pinheiro, T., 2014. pg. 153) defined moments of the journey extreme users go through to solve the problem of getting new design knowledge - getting inspired, browsing, finding a pool of sources to follow, content consumption, reflecting, interaction with information and sharing. DEVELOPING THE SERVICE SOLUTION
Having grasped the motivations lazy and enthusiast designers had to learn, use and remember about design knowledge in distinct parts of their hero quest (user journey), we added avatars and intentions to create an MVS journey (Pinheiro, T., 2014. pg. 174). This helped ideate on features and actions. The created minimum valuable service journey takes the design enthusiast through the quest of getting knowledge while being entertained - first, they will
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find a youtube teaser or social media post (Learn) which will hook them into listening to the podcast episode (Use). Since listening to a personal story of a role model creates a deeper emotional connection, the show notes will be full of links where the listener can follow and get connected with the guest. Furthermore, a blog post will present the opportunity to read and get the in-depth knowledge, but also discuss with the others from the community of listeners (Remember). Except for the journey, we also focused on building the brand personality (Spies, M., 2015. pg. 66) To test the service solution, seven nano usability tests (Goodman, 2012. pg. 12) were performed after the launch of the first episode, to get feedback on the quality of the content and the experience as a whole. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Agile planning helped convey information and support better decision making through this project. For example using planning poker (Cohn, M. 2006. pg. 56) to estimate time needed for each task, proved to be efficient. First, team roles (Belbin, 2018) were understood and defined before project start. It was necessary to establish strengths and weaknesses for each team member. Secondly, making a team charter helped stay on the same page regarding the purpose, commitments, decision making and conflict resolution within the team. Lastly, making an agile retrospective (Larsen, D., 2006) created a safe space where the team discussed what went well and what needed to be improved for next time. For example, using the class assignments for the project work, instead of doing the same work twice, could be improved on the future projects. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Digital Nordic Creatives was a learning experience on how to work in a passionate startup environment, where keeping focus in business goals can be challenging. It was useful to be aware of my working personality type, where I scored high on co-ordinator, implementer and team worker (Belbin, 2018). This meant that I had a lot of strengths like being co-operative, a good listener, reliable and efficient, but also some weaknesses such as being hesitant in making unpopular decisions, tending to over delegate and slow to respond to new possibilities. Becoming aware of these trades will help me handle team conflict situations better in the future. 8
CASE
02 UNDERVISNINGSMINISTERIET
WEBSITE REDESIGN
ADMISSIONS.DK A digital concept experience for applying to a higher education. Admissions.dk is a concept redesign that has simplified the process of applying for higher education in Denmark, by making it more functional, accessible and inspiring to use. By considering the process as a whole - from seeking guidance of choice, to actual enrolment, this concept aims to help users get a seamless experience, and be the motivating tool to making the decision of studying. ROLE: user research, concept development, team management, user testing, presentation 9
RESEARCH
APPLICANT STATUS
For a foreigner, applying for higher education in Denmark can be one of the most important decisions in life. Especially, if they had a taste of education and work, and for various reasons decided to step away, to reapply in a new country. (international Quota 2 applicants). Getting an applicant status comes with many responsibilities; not only deciding on the right foundations of one’s career, making the effort to fulfill the admission requirements and successfully submitting the application, but also thinking ahead in terms of integration in the chosen city and university. Together with the applicant status, the person carries the doubt of understanding the application process. Did he fill in the correct information, choose the right priorities, or send the right documents?
INSIGHTS
THE JOURNEY
There is no doubt that the decision making process for higher studies is complex and starts way earlier than March 15th. For some, it starts as early as childhood, getting inspired from books, family or society. For others who were not early birds, they get influenced on the way or carried away by enthusiasm. Whatever the path they took, in the moment of deciding, there is a need for guidance in getting the necessary information on the possibilities, requirements, social and economic considerations before taking such an important decision. It is important here to create a match between real life and the digital experience, in order to ease the process of completing the mandatory application tasks, and help the applicants embark on their next destination.
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MOCKUPS
PERSONAL DASHBOARD SAVE FAVOURITE ARTICLES & PROGRAMMES EASY, VISUAL APPLICATION STEPS TO-DO LIST PROGRESS BAR
WHY STUDY IN DENMARK EXPLORE PROGRAMMES AND COMPARE REGISTER/LOGIN WITH PERSONAL EMAIL SUPPORTIVE & INFORMAL TONE OF VOICE
CONFIRMATION SCREEN DIGITIZED SIGNATURE PAPER DASHBOARD FOR USERS AND UNIVERSITIES
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INTRODUCTION
The challenge was to consider all the steps of the applicant’s journey from awareness of choices to final submission, and design a coherent user experience that is comprehensible, functional and delightful. That is what the work we put into crafting Admissions.dk can and should reflect. INVESTIGATION
SYN PSIS
A user-centred work practice was used throughout the project timeline, focusing on understanding the motivations of the applicants for higher education, their tasks and environment. Following this practice meant using a combination of secondary and primary research. First, to understand the environment and distribution of interests around the existing platforms, we performed a stakeholder map. (Kalbach, J., 2016. pg. 86). This helped understand which relationships and customers that are most important, for example, parents have a great influence in the decision making process, which should be considered when designing the concept. Subsequently, by carrying out an online survey and focus group we were provided with key insights that helped create personas and the tasks they need to perform, which was summarized in a customer journey map. (Kalbach, J., 2016. pg. 93) To create a vision of the future experience, we used the narrative arc (Kalbach, J., 2016. pg. 209) to tell a story and usage stories to create features. At the same time, a heuristic evaluation was performed to inspect the usability of current interfaces. (Hanington, B.M., 2012. pg. 98).
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DEVELOPING THE USER EXPERIENCE
The design phase that followed included brainstorming on new features and using the moscow prioritization (Carroll, J., 2015. pg. 84) to organize and prioritize ideas, in order to start wireframing. Card sorting (Hanington, B.M., 2012. pg. 26) was used as a method to explore new categories and terminology for the information architecture of the website. Experience prototyping (Hanington, B.M., 2012. pg. 78) was used as a method to co-create the user flow while testing the low-fidelity mockups, thereafter creating a digital prototype. CHANGE MANAGEMENT
In this project we were not only considered a team of digital designers, but also change agents. Getting the responsibility to help bring change, required learning about change management. We were facing the third stage of the Kotter model (Kotter, John P., 1995.) - creating a vision of how change would look like, would help the STIL team communicate this vision to the rest of the corporation. To get the right arguments for communicating this change, the driving and restraining forces (Andrzej A., 2013. pg. 634) of this project were analyzed, so we could support planning actions for them to facilitate change at a later point. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Learning about change management made me reflect on individual change from my previous workplaces and educations, and as we learn in digital design, it is a journey of learning experience. To facilitate individual change I need to improve on certain behaviors such as: having unrealistic objectives, rushing decision making, conflict resolution and working longer hours. During this journey I was able to supply my learning experience with extracurricular activities, by attending UX conferences and volunteering in related events which have proven to be a great source of getting updated with the newest knowledge and practices in the industry, but also becoming aware of other subjects that we don’t go in depth in at school. Being proactive outside of school has helped me understand the processes that we study even better. 13
03 DANMARKS RADIO
DIGITAL CONCEPT
DR:NU A digital concept design that integrates news into an online streaming service. DR:NU is the new channel within DRTV streaming service, dedicated to what’s happening now, only one click away from getting an overview of everything new and relevant. News used to be complicated and boring- now, they are a playground for exploration and knowledge for the Danish society. ROLE: user research, concept development, project management, user testing, report, presentation 14
RESEARCH
DR HABITS
DRTV’s website has 700.000 users/day with a 40% daily return rate. 83% find their way into DRTV through the direct URL, whereas 13% come from Google search. While DRTV’s loyal audience has to get used to new consumption habits online, DR has to keep up with the development of its competitors Netflix and Youtube, which the younger Danes are running after. By 2019, DR aims to increase the number of users on DRTV online and the streaming time on site. Their ambition is to make better content with a broader scope, that is current, up to date and promotes Danish culture and democracy. IMPATIENT YOUNG USERS
Apart from weather and gossip, one of the most important phenomenon that 81% of young Danes discuss in their everyday life, is news. Whether it is real or fake news they are discussing, is to be questioned. These youngsters need to get informed by trustful sources such as DR, but their impatient and picky media consumption behavior, developed by attention sucking patterns, traps them into binge watching, bait content scrolling and endless instastory slideshows. This is not a behavior that should be encouraged, however it is the way they are getting informed about current events, and getting knowledgeable about what is happening in the society.
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NEWS VIDEO
THE NUTSHELL
SCREENSHOTS FROM THE SHOWCASE VIDEO
Inside DR:NU landing page the user is able to find the latest “Today’s news in a nutshell” video in the hero content. The video is a 100 seconds summary of a daily news report. The content will be retrieved from DR Nyheder “5 vigtige” already existing on the new app redesign. This video is presented by a young host that the audience can resonate with. It is a new video format, coated with the classic news presentation to preserve the feeling of trust and loyalty. The video (and all other media content) is to be consumed in a one page player, to eliminate all other distractions and focus on the content. On hover, for each headline of the nutshell a related piece of media is displayed, in the form of an article, podcast, documentary, etc.
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PROTOTYPE
DRTV REDESIGN WITH A NEW NAVIGATION STRUCTURE PERSONALIZED CONTENT WITHIN A BROWSING SESSION DR:NU CHANNEL DEDICATED TO THE NOW
LEARNING AS YOU EXPLORE STORIES - EVENTS AROUND DENMARK, GENERATED BY USERS, PUBLISHED BY DR
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INTRODUCTION
The design challenge was to make a digital concept solution that uses DRTV streaming service platform as a means to integrate unique news formats in a modern way. The creative output, DR:NU, not only presents a new format of news, but tries to create lifelong healthy news consuming habits for the young generation. CHALLENGE AND RESEARCH
SYN PSIS
The framework that structured the design process for this project was the double-diamond model (Design Council, 2015). In the convergent phase, the brief was heavily questioned, by challenging and evaluating fields of interest. From here desk research was performed on cluster topics such as: DRTV, news categories, news formats, features and personalization. To reassess the findings from desk research and get real insights, a few group and personal interviews were performed (Goodman, 2012. pg. 95), on daily habits in relation to media consumption. Then, on site observations (Goodman, 2012. pg. 211) of users trying to navigate through the journey of finding news of their interest, were made. Understanding user’s motivations, frustrations and wishes called for improvement opportunities in some areas, such as navigation, media formats and personalization. In attempt to develop these opportunities, the “how might we” propelling questions (Morgan, A., 2015.) were asked, this way defining some of the specific challenges. IA AND DEVELOPMENT
The next phase was the iterative ideation, evaluation, building and testing of the concept. The jobs to be done framework (JTBD, 2016) helped understand the forces that shape users mo-
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tivation better than the previously used user stories (Kalbach, J., 2016. pg. 214), because it added one extra layer of understanding deep motivations. and facilitated ideas for new features. The information structure that we followed when making the new redesign is a hybrid between adaptive and matrix organizational principles(Spies, M., 2015. pg. 144), because the content will adapt the user’s exploration behaviors by using meta tag semantics and hypertext principles, and the user will be able to determine their own path by collecting choices. It was only in the divergent phase that high-fidelity prototypes were built, with features that were tested and improved. TIME MANAGEMENT
It was a learning experience to reflect on what “Time that you count and time that counts” means for our team. By using meistertask built-in time tracker we tracked every team meeting and teamwork, which was helpful for getting an overview of the finished work, and a discussion about time prioritization. However, not being mindful about individual time tracking, to our disadvantage, we did not become wiser on how much team each of the team members uses on specific deliverables. This would have been useful when arguing with the client in economic terms. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Setting constraints to the creative process is crucial. One of the constraints that I, as a future designer need to learn to thrive on, is time. During this project, I became mindful about how using less time on fx. research is not neccessarily bad, because most of the information I was looking for had already been studied, published or tweeted. I just had to look for it in a smarter way. Another challenge to look forward to is learning more about information architecture, UX patterns and design ethics, because when designing for public services like DR, or any service, it is essential to take ethical decisions that instead of aiming to gain voters and taxpayers, should intend to have a good lifelong impact on the society.
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The second semester of Digital Concept Development was a profound learning of experience design theories and methods. During this semester, each project taught me different lessons.
C N CLUS I N
Digital Nordic Creatives was an outstanding project, where I learned that a startup and all the fire that comes with it, is the fastest way to build, fail and learn. It is by far the project that has taught me most things, because I had to get my hands dirty already from the beggining. A startup is most likely also what I will find myself building in the future. With Admissions.dk I learned that being hired as a designer has greater responsabilities than just pushing pixels - I will also be hired as a change agent for the corporation and be responsible whether the end user gets a good or a bad day, whether they take one decision or the other. So, making the right arguments and decisions is essential to both ends of the people I will support and influence.
The DR media project with DR:NU taught me how to make time restrictions my dearest friend. Managing time, is esential for designers. It's how I will stay efficient and competitive and also solve challenges that are current and important in the present. It is hard not to reflect on the responsabilities we have as experience designers. Because if you think about it, life is just a strings of experiences, and then we are gone. Being at the center of creating these experiences is as exciting as it is frightening. That is why I want to make myself a mission to do the best I can to build functional, useful, relevant, enjoyable and delightful experiences, whether they are digital or of another kind. At the core, I want to build experiences that are compliant with human rights and genuinely help businesses help people. Design experiences that matter.
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Pinheiro, T., 2014. The Service Startup: Design Thinking gets Lean: A practical guide to Service Design Sprint. 4 edition ed. Hayakawa, Altabooks, CreateSpace. Ries, E., 2011. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses: Eric Ries: Levy, J., 2015. UX strategy: how to devise innovative digital products that people want. First edition ed. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly. Kuniavsky, M., Goodman, E. and Moed, A., 2012. Observing the user experience: a practitioner’s guide to user research. 2nd ed ed. Amsterdam ; Boston: Morgan Kaufmann. Spies, M., 2015. Branded interactions: creating the digital experience. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson. Anon 2018. Belbin | Great teams start with Belbin. [online] Available at: <http://www.belbin. com/> [Accessed 27 May 2018]. Derby, E. and Larsen, D., 2006. Agile retrospectives: making good teams great. Raleigh, NC: Pragmatic Bookshelf.
S UR CES
Kalbach, J., 2016. Mapping experiences: a guide to creating value through journeys, blueprints, and diagrams. Beijing ; Boston: O’Reilly. Martin, B. and Hanington, B.M., 2012. Universal methods of design: 100 ways to research complex problems, develop innovative ideas, and design effective solutions. Digital ed ed. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers. Cohn, M. 2006, Agile Estimating and Planning, Pearson Professional Education, Harlow Carroll, J., 2015. Agile Project Management In Easy Steps, 2nd Edition. Kotter, John P., 1995. Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review. Buchanan, David A., Huczynski, Andrzej A., 2013 Organizational Behaviour Edition. Chapter 18, p. 617-665 Design Council, 2015. Design methods for developing services. [online] Design Council.<https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/resources/guide/design-methods-developing-services> [Accessed 29 May 2018]. Morgan, A. and Barden, M., 2015. A beautiful constraint: how to transform your limitations into advantages, and why it’s everyone’s business. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. JTBD, 2016. What is Jobs to be Done (JTBD)? [online] Jobs to be Done. Available at: <https://jtbd.info/2-what-is-jobs-to-be-done-jtbd-796b82081cca> [Accessed 16 May 2018].
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GET IN T UCH
XHENSILA REÃ&#x2021;I info@xhensilareci.dk +45 41835511 22
