miLife

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miLife
Graduate Design Studio II

• Research Plan

Dan Saffer Jennifer Anderson  Phi-Hong Ha
 Chun-Yi Chen
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Our Team

• Dan Saffer
• With technical expertise and experience as an
  interaction designer, Dan will oversee and/or
  conduct any coding and web-related activities.
  Dan will also manage the blog to provide our
  client with weekly updates on the project.
• Jennifer Anderson
• With a strong background in client relations,
  Jennifer will act as liaison to the client. She
  will also be focusing on the communication design
  aspect of the project.
• Phi-Hong Ha
• Information design is Phi-Hongs forte, and she
  will lead any activities that cover this aspect,
  as well as product flows and usability. She will
  also be gathering the teams work and creating
  compelling presentations for each phase of the
  project.
• Chun-Yi Chen
• Having received a Bachelors degree in
  Industrial Design, Chun-Yi will be responsible
  for creating the majority of our models and
  drawings. She will provide especially valuable
  expertise in the products physical form.

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Concept Map
4
Research Plan
Questions Driving Our Research

• Who are the users for this product?
• What are their unmet needs?
• What kind of product can we create that will best
  suit these needs?

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Research Plan
Overview

• User Research
• Define a user group(s) through a variety of
  traditional and adaptive research methods.

Product Research Examine product and technology
landscape through contextual research methods.
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User Research
Overview

• In-depth Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Fly-on-the-Wall Observations
• Personal Artifact Inventories
• Character Profiles

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User Research
In-Depth Interviews

• Conducted in person or over telephone, if
  necessary
• Questions will be broad, covering topics such as
• Technologies participant currently uses
• Kinds of product and services they wish existed
• Activities they engage in
• When and where they want to be connected
• Participants
• Ages 18-60, primarily targeting active 18-35 yr
  olds
• Male and Female
• From diverse areas within United States
• Rural, suburban, and urban regions
• Approximately 5 participants

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User Research
Questionnaires

• Conducted using an online program called Survey
  Monkey
• Specific, multiple-choice versions of questions
  adapted from the in-depth interviews (e.g. how
  many hours per day a participant uses a computer)
• Email requests, targeting roughly 100 diverse
  participants
• Survey Monkey compiles and analyzes the data
• Approximately 35-50 responses estimated

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User Research
Fly-on-the-Wall Observations

• We will select three diverse public places, such
  as a mall, a coffee shop, and an ice skating rink
• One team member will sit for approximately two
  hours observing people as they interact with each
  other, their environments, and any technology
  they have at their disposal
• That team member will take notes on what
  transpires, and we will discuss these results as
  a group, looking for clues that may assist us in
  designing the product

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User Research
Personal Artifact Inventories

• Two team members will locate themselves in a
  public place, stopping random and varied people
  and asking them to show us what they carry in
  their purses and pockets
• We will take inventory of and photograph these
  artifacts, using results to identify patterns
• We will choose one or two places where we expect
  to find the most variety, such as a Giant Eagle,
  or the Waterfront
• Approximately 7 diverse people

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User Research
Character Profiles

• This activity will occur toward the end of this
  phase, as it will be based upon findings from the
  other research methods we conduct
• As we see patterns in the kinds of people who
  would benefit most from the miLife project, we
  will create imaginary individuals drawn from
  actual people weve met in the field
• We will use these characters to help drive the
  remaining phases of the project
• Approximately 5 profiles

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Product Research
Overview

• Competitive/Parallel Product Profiles
• Archival Research
• Unfocus Groups
• Company Research

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Product Research
Competitive/Parallel Product Profiles

• We will conduct a field trip to Best Buy, as well
  as an online window shopping trip to
  gizmodo.com
• We will investigate related products such as
  PDAs, digital cameras, and cell phones, to
  determine current competitive, complementary and
  parallel products on the market
• This inventory of products will be documented and
  will help to inform our archival research

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Product Research
Archival Research

• Using the internet and the library, we will
  research the history of related products,
  upcoming technologies, and demographics of
  technology users
• The research will be summarized in a findings
  document that will inform the design process

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Product Research
Unfocus Groups

• In conjunction with the other teams, we will hold
  workshops based upon a pre-determined theme
• The theme will be directly related to the
  project, but will be somewhat broad
• We will invite interdisciplinary experts to speak
  to that theme in a series of short workshops, in
  order to come up with more innovative and
  inspiring designs
• We will collect data by taking notes about key
  points that emerge during the workshops, and how
  they may relate to the product

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Product Research
Company Research

• We will primarily conduct this research online
• We will be looking at Microsofts goals and
  trends, as well as their existing and upcoming
  technologies and products
• From this research, we will gain valuable
  knowledge about the resources available for the
  development of this product, as well as the
  direction Microsoft would benefit from most