Week 11: Revealing Gaps, Targets and Audiences for a new product

Objectives:

• Research and analyse the constructs of market research, and identify need and an audience for a new product or service idea;

• imagine and develop a clear business outline of your intended audience outlets for distribution or purchase;

• Manage your independent learning effectively.

WORKSHOP CHALLENGE //

Objectives:

• Select one of your ideas from the previous week and develop a clear business outline of your intended audience outlets for distribution or purchase.

• You may need to evolve aspects of the proposition, and ensure there is a clear objective for the next stages of development.

• Your output will include product development, research insights and production challenges; all of which will come together in the final week of this module.

• Upload the artefact and evidence of any development undertaken (this might also include brand names and approach to the product’s story), and include a one page report outlining research, insights and development challenges.

Narrowing down Ideas

Last week, I had a series of ideas I could potential focus on, and at the moment I have narrowed down to three with the intention of using research to inspire my final decision.

Examining fatigue of dyslexics can get when processing information, especially in today's fast-paced era of information.

• 'Word' fatigue or visual stress (primarily factor) and emotional fatigue (secondary factor)

• Change of pace helps

• Decoding language as they process information

• More reading = less fatigue

• Need more breaks

• Be active

1. A book that shows people how difficult it is to process information. Take away spacing. All caps. Use a material over the text that only makes the text visible when you put your finger over it. Take away context in the text. Blury until a word pops out. slow the pace. Put a word on each page to reduce the pace of reading. Could be aimed at parents

2. Maybe this could be instructions. Make them feel overwhelming. This would be for teachers?

• Sleep and food influence. Bumpy sleep patterns in Dyslexia. Brain runs on sugar. Brain holds back on energy it doesn't need - brain prefers less energy activities. Admin tasks takes up glucose. Glucose is effected by sleep, digestive system, etc.

The roller-coaster effect of Dyslexia

Horoscope forecast inspiration

Im interested in how and why performance can vary day by day, and symptoms can change as you age.

1. 'How to be a dyslexic genius '. A book for children that have been recently diagnosed. People would come together for this book to explain that some days are better than others.

2. Fortune teller on how strong your weaknesses and strengths are based on what day it is. It could be a survey chart that asks, how your day is so far, what you've eaten, weather. Maybe star sign fortunes can be re-interpreted for dyslexics; based on your traits, this would influence how stressed out you are. What if I could test out these predictions on dyslexics

3. Meal plan for dyslexics

Imposter syndrome

Employers can become frustrated when performance doesn't match-up to their work experience, placing a lot of pressure on people with learning difficulties.

1. I could see this as a public campaign

Final concept: Dyslexic Fortunes

Fortune teller on how strong your weaknesses and strengths are based on what day it is. It could be a survey chart that asks, how your day is so far, what you've eaten, weather. Maybe star sign fortunes can be re-interpreted for dyslexics; based on your traits, this would influence how stressed out you are. What if I could test out these predictions on the dyslexic community?

Factors that can influence predictions:

Food

• Sugar - increases anxiety and irritability

• Protein

• Omega 3, 6 and 9 - improves memory

• Gluten - Fatigue

• Over eating - reduces energy. Small meals often helps.

• Caffinne- a small quantity of caffeine could improve global processing and text reading skills in adults

• Water - reduces fatigue

• Herbs- improves memory

• Ginger - improves attention

There is research suggesting that cognitive variations often has something to do with diet.

Sleep

• Lack of sleep reduces blood flow to the brain resulting in loss of attention, focus, physical and mental health.

• I would need to ask how many hours of sleep the person has recieved, how old they are and the quality of sleep received (did they dream or wake up constantly).

Exercise

Alcohol

• Lack of concentration the next day

Stress

• Workload

Daily Book reading

• The more you read, the less energy it takes up; habits are patterns that are part of the unconscious mindset and take up less glucose.

Menstration

• oestrogen and progesterone hormones influence cognitive skills. There is some research that goes against this.

• Lower energy levels and increased anxiety levels

Sign traits

• Sagittarius: Promises more than can deliver, very impatient, will say anything no matter how undiplomatic. Sagittarius dislikes Clingy people, being constrained, off-the-wall theories, details.

• Aires: Courageous, determined, confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, honest, passionate, Impatient, moody, short-tempered, impulsive, aggressive. Aries likes: Comfortable clothes, taking on leadership roles, physical challenges, individual sports. Aries dislikes: Inactivity, delays, work that does not use one's talents.

• Cancer: Tenacious, highly imaginative, loyal, emotional, sympathetic, persuasive.Moody, pessimistic, suspicious, manipulative, insecure

• Scorpio: Strengths: Resourceful, powerful, brave, passionate, a true friend. Distrusting, jealous, manipulative, violent.

• Pisces: Compassionate, artistic, intuitive, gentle, wise, musical. Fearful, overly trusting, sad, desire to escape reality, can be a victim or a martyr. Pisces likes: Being alone, love, sleeping. Pisces dislikes: Know-it-all, being criticized, the past coming back to haunt, cruelty of any kind

Why do people use Astrology?

• Studies also show that people often turn to astrology in response to stress and anxiety

• The Pandemic has shown a boom in astrology due to the uncertainty; it's a way for them to feel in control again over their lives and understand patterns. “If they’re going through a time of disruption, they suddenly start to take what’s written about their sign much more seriously,” astrologer Jonathan Cainer, who writes horoscope columns for The Daily Mail.

• As Christopher French, Professor of Psychology at University of London, had written, explaining why people believe in astrology: “Anything that appears to provide a glimpse of what is waiting around the next corner may give someone a better sense of control, even if that sense of control is illusory.”

• Ages 18-29 are more likely to use astrology.

Knowing this has made me consider the possible reasons why my audience would buy my flowchart. The point is to recognise cognitive patterns and understand what factors have influenced this. In order for the consumer to recognise these patterns, I need to provide them with a way of recording them: Level of dyslexia at the top with a checklist of factors that influenced this result (only tick the ones that out answered yes to). Like astrology, the aim is to provide a glimpse of the day that lies ahead, even if the consumer is unable to control this day's outcome's, it creates a sense of reassurance.

Outputs?

1. Algorithm / online quiz

2. Yes/No chart or flowchart quiz

3. An app with an automated series of questions. The algorithm would function like a flow chart. The data is collected and shows a weekly report of what factors have been the main causes - provides tips on how to improve sleep and diet changes. This idea reminds me of a mental health app 'woebot' I once used, which asked me how I was on a daily basis and gave me some useful responses to channel emotions during lockdown. What I liked about it was the personality from the avatar as it make me feel like I was talking to someone. The only thing I found annoying is the notifications I received reminding me to check-in on a daily basis, so maybe ask how people how regularly they plan to use the interface. Additionally, maybe it should be available on desktop rather than as an app because apps take up a lot of space. Maybe it could be a desktop feature that can pop-up to greet you when you open your laptop or google.

Woebot AI avatar

By choosing to create a desktop feature rather than a mobile feature makes it more accessible. Low income families wouldn't have enough money to get mobile devices with lots of storage, and putting it on a mobile limits my audience to young adults - Teenagers might want to be able to control their dyslexic symptoms before exams, and this would increase their potential for better grades. This would also be benefitial for parents with dyslexic children and act as a guide to help their children - it also reduces hours of research for them. Could reports be shared with employers and teachers to help them understand what influences performance?

• In 2020, 84% of UK adults own a smartphone

• 57% of all respondents aged 16+ owned a laptop in 2020

Maybe this could be more of an internet feature than a desktop feature because less people have a computer in their possession compared to mobile devices, so being online allows my feature to be used in company or public computers. The emails would be an ideal place to send notifications to avoid distractions during work.

Avatar AI

For my artifact, I am going to design an avatar for the desktop feature. Due to time constraints, I feel that a lot of research would need to be done before I am able to move onto the design of the flow chart algorithm, so I think designing an avatar would communicate what kind of style I am aiming for as well as the format.

1. What is the anticipated goal of your chatbot? Is it to embody the brand? To convey your company’s values? To personalize your customer relations?

2. What is your bot’s target audience? The appearance of your chatbot must be adapted to your target audience. For example, for interactions with millennials or Gen Z, a fun, entertaining representation would be most appropriate.

3. What is your virtual assistant’s position? Choose your avatar based on the image it should portray: serious, dynamic, friendly, humorous, expert, etc. For example, a Looney Tunes avatar wouldn’t be a particularly suitable choice for an insurance broker!

4. How much should the bot’s personality resemble the user’s personality? Are the user’s needs being filled with conversation? If so, it most likely will lead to overall enjoyment by the user as they feel they’re in full control of the experience. Inversely, is the bot experience setting a high bar or steep learning curve to utilize the services being offered by the chatbot? Is the bot serving games for enjoyment: trivia, puzzles, arcade or simulations?

What characteristics/aesthetic would I need?

• Friendly

• Unintimidating

• Funny

• Expert

• Supportive

• Pastel colours

• Brain personified- many dyslexic brands use a brain to represent dyslexia

Brand names

• The Dyslexic Horoscope

• Dr Dyslexia

• Daily Dyslexia

• Dyslexia Tracker

• Dyslexia Analysis - Inspector Dyslexia

• Dr Sloth - using the idea of the need to conserve energy in when processing information. I think this would be relatable to the audience because these creators are often seen as lazy, when in fact this is a survival skill.

development

final development

final piece

Introducing Dr Sloth!

Dr Sloth is an artificial intelligence with a flowchart algorithm, designed to help dyslexics understand and predict which factors influence the level of dyslexia they experience on a daily basis: sleep patterns, diet, reading habits, work environment, exercise and personality traits.

The interface's character was inspired by the nature of dyslexia and how like sloths, they are often regarded as lazy or stupid - when in fact their slowness is a strategy to conserve energy.

This would be based on the internet rather than an app in order to be more accessible to people using public computers, and notifications would only pop-up in emails to reduce distraction during work hours.

Reflecting on my brand

What does a sloth represent as a brand?

• A quote by my sister, "It's how you usually are with your dyslexia..or maybe your average state".

• Survival - much like how dyslexics hide their weaknesses - maybe look at animals that are good at camouflage? Like the lizard in week 9?

• Since a sloth is suppose to represent how dyslexics work (energy wise), I suppose it's telling a story of a fellow dyslexic (myself) giving out health advice.

Wouldn't 'Daily Dyslexia' be a better brand name?

• Daily Dyslexia sounds like a newspaper - a piece of text or information that you receive everyday.

• Maybe there could be a rebrand 'DyslexicSelf'. Promoting the idea of making the interface feel more like a health / self-care app. Maybe it could be a play-on-word and have an elf as an avatar.

REFLECTION //

I started out narrowing down my chosen idea based on further research and seeing how they can be developed. One I chose my idea, I researched the factors that could influence dyslexic strengths and weaknesses. One market similar to my prediction idea is Astrology, so I researched why people use it and why it is still popular.

Looking more into astrology and why people use it made me consider the possible reasons why my audience would buy my flowchart. The point is to recognise cognitive patterns and understand what factors have influenced this. In order for the consumer to recognise these patterns, I need to provide them with a way of recording them: Level of dyslexia at the top with a checklist of factors that influenced this result (only tick the ones that out answered yes to). Like astrology, the aim is to provide a glimpse of the day that lies ahead, even if the consumer is unable to control this day's outcome's, it creates a sense of reassurance.

In order to make it easier for the user to recognise factors that influence the level of dyslexia they are facing on different days, I have decided to create an interface with a flowchart algorithm that will record the factors influencing good days and bad days. This would be an internet platform rather than an app for mobiles or desktop because I want the platform to be accessible to everyone - it allows people to use the platform in their workplace or public libraries. Notifications would be setld be sent via email to avoid distractions during work.