PRODUCT DESIGN CONCEPT
UX Mentorship Program Vietnam 2022
Track: Product Design
Scope: User Research, Concept Design, UX UI & Interaction Design, Presentation
Time of completion: 14 weeks (May-Sep 2022)
Graphic elements credit: Iconpack and 3D characters are either bought from UI8.net or distributed for free on Figma Community. Map and environment illustrations are bought from Freepik.com.
FYI: This showcase is presented in Story Telling structure. The actual timeline of those methodologies conducted is not necessarily the same as their order of mention here.
Members' role
Thanks to our mentor - Mr. Quan La, we have learned and applied many methodologies of DESIGN THINKING in this project.
- In the stage of research and brainstorming, both 2 members played an equal role and had the same contribution to the progress.
- In the stage of design, Hoang Phuc worked on User flow, Information architecture, and Wireframe; while Hong Quan focused on Visual design, Interaction design, and UX writing.
- In the finalizing stage, Hoang Phuc took over the Visual design and Prototype, while Hong Quan documented the Case study and Pitch deck.
"What problem?"
Communication has been an essential need of human beings since the beginning of their history. Nowadays, in the modernized world, it is even more vital to the development of each individual and the whole society. While many people find that communicating is such an easy task, many others struggle to go outside and speak because of some fears they have deep inside, just like the authors of this project. Getting started with a self-reflection about our fears of making new friends, starting a new conversation, and speaking in front of a crowd, then we learned more about people out there who have the same experience.
Fear of communication
By conducting both Desk research and In-depth interview, we gathered a lot of useful insights regarding this fear, such as how people thought about it, how they were trying to deal with it every day, and importantly - the connection between this fear and a mental health problem named Social Anxiety Disorder (S.A.D).
"Why?"
There were concerns about the popularity of this fear and some initial hypotheses about the user's needs, which were all summarized from our Qualitative research data. In the later stage, we narrowed and verified them by doing Quantitative research, from which some results were extracted to prove our statements here.
Initial Approach
After defining the problem and brainstorming as many "How Might We" questions as possible, we marked this one as the first milestone in our approach. This helped us determine the general direction of the whole project and opened up many opportunities for ideation as well.
"Who?"
From the research data, the targeted users of our solution are categorized into 02 age groups, based on the characteristics of their psychophysiological state. During the ideation process, we found that in addition to the people who suffer from the fear, there is a minor but important group called "Experts", who should join the solution as the guides. For that reason, finally, there were 03 user personas built up.
Within the project, we focused on the 2nd persona (Office worker, 25y) to state his problem and brainstorm the ideas, as this person tended to be:
- Aware of the fear and its negative impact on his life and career, so he had an actual need for a solution to improve himself;
- Open to technology products and keen on trying new things;
- Able to make decisions for his life without bearing heavy drag from his parents or financial arrangements.
- Aware of the fear and its negative impact on his life and career, so he had an actual need for a solution to improve himself;
- Open to technology products and keen on trying new things;
- Able to make decisions for his life without bearing heavy drag from his parents or financial arrangements.
"How?"
Thanks to the interviews with a Life coach and some friends who were working in Psychology, we have learned about a basic framework they followed to help their clients overcome mental health problems, including the S.A.D. It was the 4 later steps in the journey below, while the 2 earlier ones were synthesized from targeted users' insight. We also collected some typical pain points, which came at a certain time, and put them into each corresponding step. Based on this, we came up with the User Journey "As-Is" along with many refined "How Might We" questions.
FYI: There is a highlight in steps 5 and 6, as they should be repeated until "the client feels safe and sound enough about the problem, which means quite a long time", said the Life coach. It is noteworthy that mental health problems would NOT totally disappear after the coaching/counseling, but sometimes they would come back. Hence, the individual should learn how to live peacefully with them in whole life.
Decisive Milestone
Diving into the User Journey "As-Is", we found many potential solutions for our targeted users. But things remain assumptions until they are verified numerically. So an online survey about communication fear and the solutions was conducted with 99 participants, who were office workers and undergraduates.
Hereunder is one of the most significant insights from the survey, about the different desires of users for our suggested solutions: people tend to find a solution to improve their communication skills, rather than to learn about the root cause of the fear. Similarly, when people face their pain, the majority will try some medicines to make them feel better right away, instead of trying to learn why they had it (though in long term, they'd better do).
Final Approach
Insights from the survey verified the best opportunity for a new solution to be welcomed by the market, which means a lot to our project. Thanks to that, the initial approach was then narrowed down, making way for us to come closer to the MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
The Concept
After several weeks of research, brainstorming, and analysis, a concept for our solution was born. Overcoming the fear of communication, or even Social Anxiety Disorder, is a complicated process when it comes to the psychological aspect. It requires lots of effort from the individual as well as professional techniques and interactions by the experts. Nowadays, technology should play important roles in certain stages of that process, such as spreading awareness to those who need it, engaging more users, and enhancing the coaching/counseling overall experience.
Within the given time and capability, we were not designing an all-in-one solution but trying to focus on some highly demanded ones only. Then we proposed a User Journey "To-Be", where technology's advantages could be delivered to users just in time. This journey was determined to last from Find support to Co-exist with the problem. As during these steps, users need a helpful companion to raise their awareness and pratice their communication skills with fun. The companion should be able to reflect their improvement progress, which is a journey to become a BRIGHTER version of themselves day by day. That is just the reason for the name of our project.
A short reflection
A three-month journey with UXMP just ended, while another longer one will surely go on, enriched by the things we have learned and practiced during this precious time.
Thanks to mentor Quan La, we are enlightened not only about many definitions and methodologies of Design Thinking but also about how to make our work an attractive story. Together we did it in the most inspiring way ever!
Thanks to mentor Quan La, we are enlightened not only about many definitions and methodologies of Design Thinking but also about how to make our work an attractive story. Together we did it in the most inspiring way ever!
