Major Project 1 - Task 1

Teo Mei Hui / 0358315

Major Project 1/ Bachelors of Design (Honors) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Task 1

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INSTRUCTIONS

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TASK

For this project, we need to work in groups to develop a proposal for an innovative concept that brings unique social, cultural, or economic value within our field. This means researching current technology and design trends that influence our industry, including case studies on product functionality, technical innovations, challenges, aesthetics, and overall effectiveness. Our goal is to identify a gap in the market—an unmet need or overlooked opportunity—and propose a creative solution that not only addresses the issue but also creates and captures value in a fresh, meaningful way.

Process

Firstly, we were assigned to a group of 4 and we began listing out our ideas for the topic, our group came up with three ideas which were :

• Digital Struggles for the Elderly
• Women’s Safety Concerns
• Everyday Knowledge Gaps

After getting feedback from Dr. Chui Yin, she said our problems were too general and not in-depth enough. She also advised us to choose a topic that we can relate to more. So we started brainstorming and came up with more ideas such as:

• Modern young generation are exposed to a lot of information everyday
• Habit development & self-discipline management
• Social Anxiety & Oral Expression
• Financial Management & Budget Control

After receiving feedback, we decided to finalize our topic as Habit development & self-discipline management.

Figure 1.1 Initial Ideas

Then, we moved on to defining the problem, project aim, project objectives, targeted users, How Might We (HMW) statements and 5W1H Statements. We also developed the interview questions.

Figure 1.2 Topic Development and Interview Questions

Then, we all did our individual interviews with three person each. 

Click here to view the interview recordings.

Figure 1.3 Interview Transcript

After showing Dr. Chui Yin our interview results, she introduced and demonstrated the affinity diagram method to us. She also told us that conducting case studies would strengthen our research.

Figure 1.4 Interview results, point listing and summarizing

Figure 1.5 Affinity Diagram

Figure 1.6 Case Studies

After we synthesized our interview findings through creating the affinity diagram, we moved on to developing three user personas.

Figure 1.7 User Personas

Final

Figure 1.8 Task 1 Fig Jam Board

Figure 1.9 Task 1 Final Proposal Slides

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FEEDBACK

Week 1:

• Digital Struggles for the Elderly : Issues faced by the elderly are often generalized, such as avoiding scams or learning to use smartphones. These topics can feel stereotypical, as interface challenges are something everyone encounters, not just the elderly. Instead, the research can be more specific by focusing on particular usability issues rather than broad assumptions.
• Women’s Safety Concerns : Women's concerns are a strong topic to explore, but it's important to define the specific issue—such as safety from domestic violence, harassment, or other threats. If you choose this topic, conducting interviews with individuals who have experienced or worked with these issues will be essential for meaningful research.
• Everyday Knowledge Gaps: Why would they rely on your knowledge apps when they can just Google or ask ChatGPT for instant answers? Unless you’re addressing highly specific gaps—like designing a water heater for blind individuals—your research needs to go beyond general information and provide unique insights or solutions.

Week 2:

• Modern young generation are exposed to a lot of information every day: It’s not wrong to using social media, everyone uses that. What’s the problem with this?
• Habit development & self-discipline management: It's a good starting point if you're pursuing this idea. For deeper insights, you might consider referencing books like Indistractable and Hooked by Nir Eyal. These could provide useful perspectives on habit formation, focus, and user engagement.
• Social Anxiety & Oral Expression: Social anxiety is a good topic, but the challenge lies in identifying individuals who actually have it. When conducting interviews, you'll need to find people with social anxiety and ensure they feel comfortable enough to share their experiences. Consider how you will reach them and create a safe space for open conversation.
• Financial Management & Budget Control: Too common and hard to do, not suggested.
• Interview Questions: All were approved. The questions were considered good, but solutions may not be necessary this semester. Instead, we should focus on gathering samples and ideas.

Week 3:

• For the affinity diagram, list out the points by grouping and summarize them into categories of the interviewee’s background, habits, challenges faced, etc.
• As for the interview questions, Solution section is not necessary, we included as the progress of our task and Dr Chui Yin said its fine to do so.
• We also mentioned about conducting case studies for the task and she said its great to do that.

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REFLECTION