After a productive time at the London work week and vacation for much of the team, we’re back!
- We’ve completed our Research Findings for our latest research study (UR #2). A summary is below.
- We’ve also made some decisions about what we’ll be doing next.
- We’re exploring the technology options for smaller/wearable devices and different interaction models.
- We’ve created a plan/timeline for our next research study and future technology explorations and prototypes.
User Research #2
Goal
The goal of this study was to gain insight into when and why 12-16 year old girls communicate with each other and to get a sense of how often. We wanted to gain an understanding about their motivations and desires when connecting with their friends.
Our goal during the 5-day study was to identify communication patterns and then follow up with specific questions for each pair of girls in our post-interview.
Findings
The girls prefer a device that
- Is always on and more portable (less bulky)
- Has a smaller form factor, likely wearable
- Has more light choices that let them send different messages
- Lets them see their missed messages (see Note)
- Lets them communicate with a small group of friends (see Note)
Other observations:
- The rainbows delighted all the girls!
- The girls are keen to know the status and availability of their friends; they used this device (and their phones) to uncover that.
- Most communication happened in the personal space of the bedroom in the afternoon and evening.