Prime Welcome Gift Redesign
What makes a meaningful gift? I explored this concept by redesigning the welcome gift given to Prime Digital Academy’s full-stack development students.
Format: Physical Product
Research: Heuristic Analysis, AEIOU Framework, Participant Observations, Prototype Evaluation Sessions
Functional Prototype: Low-Fidelity Physical Prototype
How Did We Get Here?
Prime Digital Academy has been incorporating a water bottle into their welcome gift packages to full-stack development students. However, they have been receiving anecdotal evidence that the students are unhappy with the water bottle, going as far as to call them “unusable” and “impersonal”. In addition, the current water bottle is no longer being manufactured.
I have been tasked with performing an analysis of the current water bottle, determining where the pain points are, and providing a recommendation for a revised or redesigned welcome gift.
Original water bottle given to Prime Digital Academy’s full-stack developer students in their welcome gift packs
Heuristic Analysis
First, heuristic analysis of the water bottle was conducted, using the Nielson/Norman standard as a loose guide (that standard is better suited to digital spaces, so they were adapted to fit the context of a physical device).
A variety of tests were conducted using the water bottle to determine its usability, features, and build quality. Some key findings include:
The bottle is hard to clean due to its small opening
The silicone sleeve prevents the user from being able to see how much liquid is inside
The nylon tether began to fray after being clipped to a messenger bag a single time
The silicone sleeve became very slippery when wet, and was extremely difficult to remove and reapply for cleaning
The bottle had no branding, size information, and did not label whether it was dishwasher safe
The bottle had no specificity to Prime and does not meaningfully address the needs of the full-stack students
Removing the silicone sleeve was extremely difficult
View of the damage to the nylon tether
The silicone sleeve made fitting the bottle into a bottle holder a frustrating experience
Participant Observations
From the heuristic analysis, I determined that the water bottle did not represent a meaningful or practical gift for the full-stack students. In order to determine how to move forward, I needed to gain a deeper understanding of the full-stack students: their behaviors and personalities, their work habits and workspaces, and gain an insight into their mindsets during their first weeks at Prime.
To achieve this understanding, I was given access to touchstone tours of a number of full-stack students’ workspaces as well as a spreadsheet containing weekly reflections written by full-stack students during their first week at Prime.
This spreadsheet contained valuable insights into each student’s mental state
An AEIOU Framework was drafted based on participant observations
Touchstone Tours provided by full-stack students of their desk spaces gave tangible cognizance of their needs
From these insights, I determined that full-stack students need a gift that is:
Practical and useful
Helps them on their journey through Prime
Specific and personal to their context
Using these three guidelines, I decided that a water bottle, no matter its quality, just does not represent a meaningful gift to Prime’s full-stack students. This left me with a question: what does Prime give them instead?
Concepting
I elected to devise three concepts for a welcome gift that would embody the three guidelines found during the participant observations:
A gift card allowing the student to take $50 either a keyboard, mouse or set of headphones
A coding notebook that was designed specifically for the full-stack curriculum
A Prime-branded USB hub designed to attach the student’s required Apple computer to their peripheral devices on their desk
After presenting these three concepts to a group of peers in the UX community, the coding notebook, now renamed as the full-stack notebook, was chosen as the strongest concept to move forward with.
Prototyping
Having chosen the full-stack notebook as the concept that best embodies the three guidelines listed above, I crafted a low-fidelity prototype using common crafting supplies. During the process, the concept was further refined with some new features added.
The cover features Prime’s logo as well as the student’s cohort name, and the notebook will utilize Prime’s trademark teal color in text and images
Pages are dotted on the left in order to craft structure diagrams, and lined on the right to aid in writing pseudocode. QR codes on the bottom of each page will allow the student to scan and digitize their notes using an integrated app
An appendix in the back contains articles on common algorithms such as trees and loops as well as syntax guides for programming languages used at Prime
Concept Evaluation
To determine whether the full-stack notebook would resonate with its intended audience, I enlisted three current Prime full-stack students to perform a concept evaluation using the low-fidelity prototype, along with some supporting images and materials.
I first asked about their work habits while concepting and ideating their projects, and found the following:
All three students use notebooks to craft hand-drawn structure diagrams and pseudocode
All three students struggle to keep their hand-drawn notes organized
I then showed the students the prototype without explaining its features to get a first impression. All students had a positive reaction to the initial prototype reveal.
Finally, I explained the full feature-set of the full-stack notebook and shared my supporting material with them. I asked the students a series of questions about the concept and received the following information:
All three students were excited about the concept and expressed that they would use the notebook every day during their studies
2 out of 3 students were excited about the prospect of scanning their notes into a dedicated app using the QR codes
All three students found the appendix useful - 2 of 3 students stated that they prefer books and paper reference materials to searching online
All three students expressed that they would have valued receiving this concept as a gift and stated that including the cohort name on the cover gave it specificity to their context
Student 1 views the low-fidelity prototype via Slack call
Student 2 listens while I explain the concept’s features
Proposed Refinements
Those same students offered excellent ideas concerning some refinements to the full-stack notebook concept, including:
A smaller size (less than 8”x10”) to better fit the limited size of their workspaces
Adding a guide explaining how to use the QR-code features and app integration
Creating a page in the appendix previewing the full-stack curriculum and listing required coding languages and software
Student 3 proposes some refinements to the concept
Presentation
Finally, presentation detailing my findings was given to Prime founder Mark Hurlburt and Director of Student Affairs Emily Schumacher on March 26, 2021.