As we have already explained in previous posts, our design task is to create an app for the ministry of the environment, with which the user can rate the state of his/her local environment and see the ratings from other people. What we haven’t discussed though, is why this app is important, and what kind of data were actually dealing with.
The data set
The problem in our case is, that we don’t have any pre-collected data – since we are supposed to design the data gathering method – and that the data collected will be really subjective. We want to keep the rating questionnaire as simple as possible, probably just asking “How would you rate the state of the environment in your current location (city + country, for example), but this leads to the problem of how different people define ‘environment’. After all, the environment has much more to it than just the nature. Also, we want to give users the opportunity to send a photo or a comment with their review to better explain why a place has been rated a certain way.The users
Last Thursday, we had a concept development workshop in which we had to clearly define what our main target group and motivation for using the app is. This was really helpful, since it made us think of new viewpoints to the problem, as well as to better define our target group, which was pretty vaguely defined before the workshop.This application will create data that can serve as a base for analyzing the environment, as well as directing resources to fixing the issues that local people find important. For this reason our ideal user would be an influencer in an organization dealing with issues related to local environment: these people can benefit from reading the users’ reviews, and can help promote the app to people interested in their environment. We expect a majority of these people to be young adults from 25 to 35 years old. Many people in this age group also have small children, which may motivate them further to improve their environment.
Below is a summary of our thoughts regarding the users and main motivation for using the app.
User groups
- Locals wanting to make an impact on their environment- Organizations involved in environmental issues
- Environmentally aware tourists
Ideal user
- 25–35 year-old person interested in making an impact on the state of the environment- Influencers in local organizations involved in environmental issues
> Users believe their opinions are heard and acted upon
> Organizations get valuable information on where to invest resources
You need to frame the project so that it doesn't become awfully large. Now I can already see data collection, mobile UI, GPS, data visualization and more themes there, which seems like too much to do well.
ReplyDeleteI agree, there are many sides to this project, and it may end up being too much to handle on our own.
ReplyDeleteIn the spring, we perhaps need to decide on what parts of the app we will most focus on. At the concept development phase though, we tried to cover the whole assignment as well as we could, and leaving out any of these themes would have left the concept incomplete when considering what the client wanted.