Challenge

Identify a design strategy that proposes a way to more effectively engage key audience groups during Minneapolis Tech Month, a to-be annual effort whose goal is to increase awareness of the variety of vocational options within tech, especially among those underrepresented in the tech community.

Solution

Several multi touchpoint prototypes along with a video showcasing our persona and journey map, in order to tell the story of our thought processes and connect our prototypes to their real-life value.

KEY DELIVERABLES

Methods

Deep dive

Touchpoint strategy map

Personas

Journey mapping

Prototyping

Tools

Paper + pencil

Sketch

stakeholder interview

First, my team met our clients in a stakeholder interview. They communicated about themselves and their initiative, as well as what their goals were.

understand expectations

This enabled myself and my team to understand Tech Month's background and the opportunity space.

deep dive

Next, we conducted a deep dive into methods of feedback and tracking data, by engaging in secondary research of existing documentation.

understand problem space

Our aim was to gain a deeper understanding of client's problem space and existing methods, in order to inform our prototyping.

strategy statement

After, my team decided on an initial strategy statement. Based on the problem space, we decided on a demographic user focus group.

focus team approach

This was so we could focus our insights and approach as a team, and work towards a narrow goal.

touchpoint strategy map

Afterwards, we created a physical visualization that shows how our prototypes will fit together by creating a touchpoint strategy map. This visually combined our strategy statement, stages of the experience, and user goals/tasks for each touchpoint.

create cohesive user experience

This helped create a cohesive user experience that informs our team's decisions.

Persona

Next we created a persona, an Afro Latina woman named Chanel Martinz based off of experiences with the Afro Latina community.

focus on our user

This was to keep our team focused on the "user" goals, referring back to our strategy statement, and limit our own biases and opinions.

journey map

Using this persona, we then sketched out a rough journey map of Chanel’s experience with Minneapolis Tech Month.

showcase value

This enabled us to connect our prototypes to how users’ might value them.

prototype

With all this info in mind, we then sketched out and digitized our proposed features. I focused on creating a physical TechPass, aka passport to Tech Month, and a design for a followup email survey.

Quickly iterate

By sketching in a notebook then transferring it to Sketch, I was able to iterate a few possible designs quickly based off of the research.

professional Critique

Having digitized several prototypes, we then put forth our efforts as a whole, receiving critique from several professionals in the field.

Gain insight

This was to gain insight from people unburdened by the context that our team had baked into our brains by this point. Essentially, if we had any blind spots, this was a good way to catch them.