Prime Digital -
Prime Digital -
Redesigning a welcome gift for students at a design school
Background
Product
Prime Digital Academy offers a bootcamp for students to learn full stack development. Students receive a welcome package on their first day of classes, which is currently a Prime-branded lanyard, pen, and t-shirt.
Goals
The goal was to find out if the welcome gift that Prime Digital Academy provides to the new Full Stack students on their first day of school - whether it’s something they like or whether they wish to have something else. What alternative gift could be provided that’s more meaningful?
Research Methods
Fly on the wall / AEIOU - a research framework to try to observe an environment and gather information about a user group without interacting with them (activity, environment, interactions, objects, users)
Direct storytelling interview - guided interview with the user group to learn what happened with them related to the subject of the research
Research Insights
Current Prime Full Stack Students don’t seem to like their welcome gifts
One full stack user doesn’t use his lanyard
The second user did not want his shirt
Prime students wish to receive gifts that they can use and relate to that are more meaningful
Fly on the wall observations
Students are stressed about the program on the first day and this was brought to attention from direct storytelling and the environment from the fly on the wall observation
Students were hunched over trying to solve problems
Prime’s Notion page has past students recommend stress management methods
Proposed Solution - Fidget Spinners
To help students de-stress
Addresses a need
Toys made of metal that people can spin to give you a mesmerizing feeling it gives you a satisfying zone out mode of resting.
A physical device in the hand and the movement causes you to calm down
Prototyping
I began by sketching three different concepts for fidget spinners. After conducting a user survey, a round fidget spinner was selected. I crafted a clay prototype to show users the concept for further testing.
Students reviewed the prototype and were excited by the idea and approved more generally of fidget spinners. They felt it met the need of stress management for new Prime students and it was useful.
Conclusions and Learnings
Fidget spinners as a welcome gift are cost effective and address user needs at Prime. They can be branded with the Prime logo, but are useful and also fun! I learned that students also want something fun - there was also a lot of delight when students were testing the physical prototype.
If I had more time on this project, I would work with Prime to decide colors and materials for their fidget spinner and think of what other stress-management focused gifts they could include in their welcome package.
Sketched prototype
“I stay focused on the task at hand because my hands are doing something. It is a great idea.”
- Prime student during user research
Physical fidget spinner prototype