Prime Welcome Gift
Prime Real Escapes
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Client
Prime Digital Academy Full Stack Students
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Role
Researcher, Strategist, Designer
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Methodology
Heuristic Analysis | AEIOU Observation | Prototyping | Usability Testing and Evaluation | Client Pitch Presentation
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Tools
Camera, Keynote | Adobe Illustrator | Pen & Paper | Physical Prototype
Background
Prime Digital Academy, a tech boot camp located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Students enrolled in Prime put their lives on hold to fully immerse themselves in their personal and professional growth for 18 weeks. Although the course is rigorous, Prime encourages a community of support, instilling key values among its students. These values are:
Include Everyone
Foster Community
Practice Empathy
Collaborate Frequently
Assume Positivity
With Covid effecting the ebb and flow of educational environments, currently enrolled students are in the process of transitioning from part time remote to full time, in person learning. The welcome gift should not only be reflective of Prime’s values, but also the needs and desires of the students themselves when they are in and away from the classroom. The current Welcome Gift for full stack students at Prime Digital Academy is a water bottle that not only has been discontinued by the manufacturer, but lacks encouragement of Prime’s core values.
It is here that I decided to construct a more suitable welcome gift to help lift up Prime’s students during and after the program.
The Problem:
A welcome gift of a water bottle, traditionally given to full stack students, is no longer being manufactured. This introduces the opportunity for an alternative, more thoughtful and meaningful gift that correlates closely with not only the students, but the core values of Prime
Who:
Prime Full stack students who are transitioning from working from home to in person. They desire organization, mental breaks, and efficiency within their working lives.
So what is the goal of this project?
The Goal was to Develop and present an alternative gift option for stakeholders that addresses the desires and concerns of full-stack students undergoing Prime’s 18 week intensive tech program, all while instilling pRimes values into a meaningful gift that is useful both during their vocational experience and after.
Methodology:
Ultimately, what would be a suitable gift for these students? What do they desire? What do they need?
Research to determine an appropriate alternative gift was carried out through two phases:
Heuristic Analysis of the Usability of the Water Bottle. To test the usability heuristics of the current gift of a water bottle, research was conducted in pairs. One served as the recorder while the other went through 5 usability tasks that were chosen among the pairings. Each task addressed whether or not the water bottle violated or demonstrated usability heuristics based on a rating system. I referred to Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics of Interface Design as a guide for this system.
AEIOU Observation: Through ethnographic observation, I watched 12 video recordings of Prime Full Stack students’ home workspaces. Through these personal videos, students openly shared their space, highlighting what excites them and pains them about their set-ups. Observations and recordings were made using AEIOU analysis, noting their:
Activities,
Environment,
Interactions,
Observations
User values.
Design Phase
After conducting user research that supported the pains of the current welcome gift, I jumped into the design phase to create a more suitable gift for full stack students. Using the students’ desires and aligning them with Prime’s core values, I conceptualized three options as alternatives.
Based on feedback given by peers, I concluded that the Prime Real Escapes option was best suited to bring to fruition. The result: A one part organizational tool, one part temporary escape device with photo screen, ambient noise machine and UV light for the dark winters (Prime students are primarily working in the Twin Cities metro area). Its compact design makes for easy transportation and with USB and bluetooth capabilities, allows for easy syncing to the user’s phone, or headphones depending on where they are working from. Not only does this address desires of the full stack students, it also emulates a sense of positivity, support and connection all aligning with the values of Prime.
Prototyping
I set off to Leonardo’s Basement, a crafty, hands-on learning center in south Minneapolis, to build a rudimentary prototype of the design before presenting it to potential users.
After building the prototype, I put my design in front of users and conducted a second evaluative interview series. Talk Aloud interviews were given to three current full stack students of Prime Digital Academy.
Results included discovering the number of hours full stackers are committing per week both at home and in person. Common reactions included:
Compact design makes for an easy transport between working spaces
First Impressions: Serene and simple, a great organizational tool where you can keep notes and plans, pens and pencils.
Users all stated they would use this gift to aid in their studies on a daily basis, but for various reasons. 2 of the 3 would use for the escape
“It would remind me to take breaks and go outside”
2 of the 3 users stated they would use it for the organizational elements
“I can keep some quick notes and daily plans inside, and transport my pens and pencils in one place”
All users felt a sense of support and comfort upon handling and analyzing the prototype.
User Recommendations
Users suggested incorporating a memory drive as a way to back up their work as another feature of the Prime Real Escapes. To further strengthen the usability, this feature would be taken into account as well as making the screen larger with the light serving around the edges as a margin.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Prime Real Escapes elicited positive emotions among full stack students. They felt a sense of organization and relief upon handling the prototype and overall found it to be a thoughtful and useable welcome gift.