Matt Research
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Matt - Research & Usability Testing
CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH | DESIGN RESEARCH | USABILITY TESTING
Academic Project, M Des NID, May - August 2020
BACKGROUND
The following entails the design research carried out while designing Matt. In this era of digital media, reading paperback books is a lost skill for most. Working through the umbrella phrase ‘Reading books’ as the chosen area of work, the proposed solution was attained after tackling a web of user research insights and value choices. This project found its anchor-point around coexisting with, as opposed to, competing with the value which the digital alternatives of reading a paperback would provide and also capitalising on the user's habits and turning them into product features. The framing journey from ‘people don’t read books anymore’ to ‘people are not able to complete the books they start reading’ was extremely important in providing focus and shaping the solution.
To understand the relationship between the consumption of various forms of media, I followed an alternatively convergent and divergent thinking research locus given below:
UNDERSTANDING READING AS A SKILL
PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW / POLL --- READERS & (CANNOT)READERS
DIGITAL BUBBLE VS READING BUBBLE
QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS - PRESSURE POINTS
Books kept down around the living area have close to no recall value in a labyrinth of reader’s digital ecosystem.
Many readers noticed that they would begin and seldom pick it up for the second time. There was opportunity in increasing this recall value and making interacting with the reading ecosystem more appealing rather than just merely pushing the reader away from their electronic devices.
Research hence led to the realisation that there was value in incorporating natural user behaviour into the solution as opportunity areas that can be turned into features.
Matt became a 'docking area' for the abandoned books which would otherwise not see light of the day
Usability Testing
Participants Distribution & Feature Mapping
The major take backs and possible feature enhancements and expectations stated by users:
The user testing and interview put forward two general journeys that users would make with Matt. Those were as follows:
