Stranger Danger, User Interviews and Affinity Mapping
I finally selected an idea/problem for my side project. Well, as most of us experience, I selected one idea and discovered after quick googling, that it already existed with a very beautiful solution. So I shook my fist in the air and moved on.
I decided to go with a problem that I also personally share in. My craft stash. If you, or anyone you know, makes things, you may know about the area of a home where the... collection... is stored. This "stash" can get out of hand. And for people who like to be organized, the stash can be a source of stress. And! Don't even get me started if you price and sell goods and you need to figure out how much you are spending on your supplies!!
Go where your users are - the craft fair
In marketing, there's a concept to spend your marketing dollars where your customers are most likely to be. In UX, this idea extends to things like Ethnographic Research and Contextual Interviews. For me, it meant getting my introverted booty down to the weekend craft fair to interview some fellow crafter's about their stash issues.
My research plan
In class, we created research plans to help us get focused before interviewing our users. Here's my example:
Background
Crafters and makers collect tools and materials to create their artwork. This collection is often called a “stash” because the collection builds up over time and is stashed away. Not all of the items are still needed, but are still kept either because the person doesn’t know what to do with or doesn’t have a good home for the items. Some stash items are meant for a specific project, while others are kept for when inspiration strikes.
Goals
Identify how crafters and makers collect and share items from his/her stash as well as opportunities for ways to make a stash more effective.
Methodology
Individuals will be interviewed during a craft fair for about 15 minutes.
Focus Audience
Individuals who identify themselves as “crafters” or “makers”. This can include men and women of adult age and use the web for the majority of their communication and online purchasing.
Research Questions
What kinds of materials do you use to make your art?
How do you keep your materials organized?
Would you like to better organize your materials?
What do you do with materials that you don’t use?
Do you use any apps or programs to keep track of your materials?
What about your product ideas? Do you keep any of these online?
What do you do when you come up with a new idea, while you are still working on something else?
My results
Before I get into the findings, I must say that the experience of interviewing complete strangers for this project was both frightening and hilarious. It took me a solid 30 minutes of walking around pumping my self up to gather up the courage to ask someone if I could ask them questions.
I was incredibly surprised by how much people were willing to share with me when I literally crashed their space while they are conducting business. Everyone was very open and happy to answer my questions with their personal experiences.
Here's what some of the answers look like with a little Affinity Mapping. Each color represents a different user interviewee.
This part of the project is weirdly fun for me and a few themes are already starting to pop up. More on that later!