Overview


Client

Prime Digital Academy is a company that offers immersive schooling at a full-time level for students looking to launch careers in the tech industry.

Problem

Prime offers a welcome gift upon the first day of in-person learning for all cohorts. The chosen gift they decided on for many years was a water bottle. It has recently come to their attention that this water bottle was unusable and found impersonal by some cohorts. The bottle was also not being manufactured anymore. Prime has tasked me with finding a meaningful replacement to welcome students into the next chapter of their lives.

Solution

I designed a versatile Inflatable Cushion that students could use to help their postural habits while working, increase comfort during breaks or lectures and support collaboration through its ease of transport.

The Design Journey

 Observation Research


The first step was to get to know who I was creating this gift for. I did this through marginal observational research of multiple students while they were studying on campus as well as watching 12 student made videos giving a tour of their at-home workspaces. I used the AEIOU Framework - taking notes off of Activities, Environment, Interactions, Objects and Users. From these observations I concluded these key insights:

  • Many students had tunnel-vision when it came to working

  • Most students had bad posture while sitting

  • There was a mixture of students working solo or collaborating in groups

  • Most desks were cluttered

 Design Concepts


From these observations I designed three completely different welcome gifts that I thought would be meaningful to the fullstack students. I presented these designs for feedback and determined that an inflatable cushion that can be used as a footrest, lumbar support while sitting or a cool stool would be the most meaningful.

 Heuristic Analysis


With a design in mind, my next step was to find a similar item to do a heuristic analysis on in order to determine the usability of said item. I chose a versatile acupressure mat. I worked with a partner to complete four tasks on the mat using the Think Aloud Protocol while I wrote observations in order to discover if any heuristics were violated. 

From this analysis I came to these conclusions:

  • The mat was considered versatile but not intuitively so

  • The user found it frustrating to determine how to use the mat; but once they found something that worked they were able to apply that knowledge in future tasks

  • The mat did not offer any added comfort or support while it was in use

Tasks completed:

  1. Transport the mat

  2. Sit on the mat

  3. Use the mat as a back rest

  4. Use the mat as a footrest

 

Prototyping the Design


 

The Inflatable Cushion

My next step was to build a low-fidelity prototype that I could present to user’s which represented all the information gathered. I went to Leonardo’s Basement, a non-profit educational workshop, to build this low budget prototype. I used a cardboard box and pool noodles to create the differing bulbous sides and fabric to enclose the whole object. I then labeled each side to give a level of intuitiveness.

 Evaluation Plan


I developed an evaluation plan and script in order to test this prototype, in person, with three currently enrolled fullstack students for 15 minutes each. I used the Think Aloud Protocol while asking the students to complete a few tasks and answer questions regarding the intent and usability of the prototype.

Evaluation Goals:

  • To understand if the cushion is intuitive or if it needs further instruction

  • Gain insights around ways in which the users expect to use this object

  • What overall sense of feeling does the gift produce

“I’m not used to my back being caressed. I was in a dreamy oasis of comfort and greenness.”

— Student 1

 Usability Testing


I used the Evaluation Plan to conduct usability testing with three fullstack students. I gained these key insights:

“There’s tags on it, otherwise I’d be using it wrong.”

“If it was half the width it would be a lot more useful.”

“I was in a dreamy oasis of comfort and greenness.”

“If it had emotions, I’d imagine It’s happy.”

  • 3 of 3 found the prototype intuitive to use

  • 2 of 3 did not think it would be useful in helping posture in its current form

  • 2 of 3 found the prototype comfortable to use

  • 2 of 3 would be excited to be gifted this

 

I gathered all insights gained from the testing and curated an Affinity Diagram to find consistencies among the user’s feedback.

Affinity Diagram

 Next Steps


A higher fidelity prototype is needed in order for the user to accurately test the features of this redesigned welcome gift.

Some recommendations for this prototype are:

  • Adding a feature so the cushion can be a seat cushion to sit on a chair

  • Adding a rubber material to one side so that it is non-slip on surfaces

  • Making the labels bigger and moving them to a more focal area on each side

These recommendations and the process behind the Inflatable Cushion was then pitched to the president and founder of Prime and other UX Designers.


 

 Conclusion


Overall, my redesign of Prime’s welcome gift was successful. The Inflatable Cushion was usable and students agreed that they would want it as a welcome gift. With the few adjustments listed above, the Inflatable Cushion will be ready to support students through their duration at Prime while sparking joy.

 If you enjoyed learning about my work with Prime, I would love to hear about it! Feel free to shoot me an email. If you are looking for your next User Experience hire, I would especially love to hear from you!