Opportunity:
Designing a Meaningful Gift
Prime Digital Academy wanted to welcome Full Stack Engineering students with a thoughtful gift on their first day of class. The previous gift was a water bottle that is no longer being produced and it was reported that it had some usability issues.
The Recipient:
Getting to Know Full Stack Engineering Students
In order to provide a meaningful gift, we knew we needed to get to know Full Stack students to ensure the gift would resonate with them.
We conducted a couple of observation methods to gain insights on the Full Stack student experience at Prime. We focused on their activities, environments, interactions, the objects the carried/had on their desks/had with them, and how the classroom was structured. We learned what projects they’re working on, what their program is like, what languages they learn and more. The students we interviewed are incredibly friendly, show that they value connections, like to have fun, have varied backgrounds and varied levels of experience with full stack or coding in general.
Not repeating history
Heuristic Analysis
Since the former students had a bit of dissatisfaction with the previous water bottle, we decided to dig in to see why that was. In order to ensure the meaningfulness of the new gift, we analyzed that water bottle to ensure anything we proposed did not have the same undesirable usability problems or features.
Findings:
An ideal option is a gift that fits the a majority of student’s use case or preferences in addition to being something that has longevity and is branded with the Prime Digital Academy logo.
Concepts
The concept phase of the project let us explore various options for gifts. The themes focused on were derived from observations.
Lets Have Fun!
Sometimes humor is a way to get students under pressure to laugh and step away from the computer a bit. Concept: unicorn head. In the field, Full Stack students will be able to do all the things, which is considered rare and is where the label “unicorn” comes from.
Team Cozy Time
Another thing we observed were photos of students sleeping on the couches at school while working on intense projects. That combined with seeing students wearing hats, coats, blankets, and other things to keep warm. We thought a modular Snuggie™ might be a good fit. It could roll up into a pillow, turn into a hoodie, and simply be used as a blanket.
Full-Hydrate: The Winner!
The winner of the dot voting was a Prime water bottle with a code cheat sheet on the outside. This idea was derived from seeing so many types of water bottles, coffee tumblers, mugs, etc. on each of the FS student’s desks and the idea that new students and even seasoned professionals tend to utilize some form of reference or cheat sheets.
Prototyping
We needed to get something in front of Full Stack students to see what reactions & feedback we’d receive and fast. With the students and heuristic analysis data in mind, we created this 3-dimensional prototype.
User Testing & Data
In order to glean some insights on whether or not this concept would be deemed meaningful or valuable, we decided to interview the current Full Stack students on campus.
We defined what we wanted to learn and posed open-ended questions to learn a
Intent:
To learn if an insulated water bottle with Java script cheat sheet items/snippets etched into the sides is a meaningful welcome gift for Full-Stack students at Prime Digital Academy. This item will be placed on each new students desks on their first day of class. The intent of this object is to be a useful resource for the new student at the beginning of their education and with mastery become a reminder of where they started on their Full-Stack career journey.
Evaluation Goal(s):
Determine if Full-Stack students would find a Prime-branded water bottle that has a code cheat sheet on it a meaningful gift & representation of their time at Prime.
Understand the frequency, stage of learning, and resources used when Full-Stack students reference basic unknown attributes around coding languages such as Java Script.
Gain insights about FS student beverage and bottle preferences.
Our Findings
How Full Stack Students Learn:
Students expressed wanting a way to learn the best resources.
Students thought a visual of the full stack structure would be helpful to reference.
Students create their own libraries of code snippets for coding.
Students are learning a lot of information at a fast immersive pace. It’s intense, but also exciting for them.
Learning what full stack is. Learning the various stages of full stack.
Students need serious focus time.
Students are collaborative
Learn & remember/retain many languages, systems, and theories
Keep up in fast paced learning environment
Synthesizing Results
We gained some interesting and unexpected insights on water bottle usage and preferences as well as how the Full Stack students learn & research.
Water Bottle Preferences
In addition to the stats in the infographic, here were some of the comments made during interviews:
“It’d be cool if you could change/program the content of the water bottles exterior to match up with what we’re learning”
– Trifold Student 1
“I’d really like to see the general outline of the full stack flow. That’s something I get mixed up”
– Trifold Student 2
“I don’t like my teeth on metal”
– Trifold Student 4
“I like my water bottle design to be aesthetically pleasing and simple. (clean/modern)”
– Trifold Student 1
Research Methods & Cheat Sheet usage:
One theme we notices during interviews on the research side of things was that there were already many technologies in place to help the students learn.
“I typically use the internet to find what I’m looking for”
– All Trifold Students interviewed
“I created a snippet library in a note document that I can pull from”
– Trifold Student 5
“My text editor can sense what kind of statement I’m starting and offers to finish it for me.”
– Trifold Student 6
“It’d be cool if the heat from your hand revealed something”
– Trifold Student 1
“I’d like it if I could see the various research resources on my water bottle”
– Trifold Student 2
All the things!
We were surprised to see exactly what all the students learn at Prime. It is an amazing list. They also learn about databases in addition to this list.
This list of resources is just scratching the surface of the resources utilized in the Full Stack program.
Research & Connection to Goals
A surprising amount of research showed that drinking water has been proven to increase productivity, mood, memory, energy levels, and clarity or focus. (Quench Survey)
We recognize that Full Stack students need all of these things to be amazing students.
Why this is a meaningful gift.
When embarking on a life-changing program, receiving a meaningful gift tells the students that they’re supported and cared for is going the extra mile.
Prime is a place where new habits will be formed, both personally and professionally. Combining their values around students and education, combined with our concept and research around healthy habits, we believe this water bottle can be meaningful and sentimental.
I’d love to get a Prime branded water bottle. It’s something I would definitely use.”
– Current Student
Next Steps:
Get more quantitative information to see if the resource/cheat sheet is valuable & what a student would like to see & Provide options. (card sorting, survey, etc.)
See if there is technology around a water bottle with a digital interface on the exterior.
Interview ~20 students/computer workers to narrow down water bottle preferences.
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