Prime Academy Welcome Gift*
Stakeholders at Prime Academy’s welcome gift of a water bottle for Full Stack students was being discontinued by the supplier. It had also come to light students didn’t find the water bottle useful or meaningful, so stakeholders wanted to learn what students valued most about the Prime experience and apply the findings toward choosing a better gift.
The previous student gift
*Mock exercise
My role
I performed all user research methods, conceptualization, prototyping and evaluations involved in reaching a solution.
Tools and methods used
Heuristic evaluation (Jakob’s Ten)
Marginal participant observation using AEIOU
Paper and pencil for sketching and note taking
Foam and random small items for prototyping
In-person interviews
Powerpoint for presentations
Research & discovery
First, I performed a heuristic evaluation on the existing water bottle to see why it wasn’t a satisfactory gift. During my research I discovered key findings that confirmed the bottle had significant usability issues such as bursting open when dropped, a locking mechanism that caused discomfort while drinking, and a loose accessory inside the bottle that’s use was indeterminable due to lack of instructions and/or a more obvious design.
Heuristic evaluation results using Jakob’s ten usability heuristics & ratings
I then performed participant observations of students in their classroom environment using the AEIOU method.
I noted details such as how they all wore tennis/athletic shoes, used non-Prime branded bottles (mostly insulated) and performed a lot of collaborating and problem solving together.
During my marginal participant observation, two students approached me and were helpful in offering insight as to what they would appreciate as a welcome gift. One mentioned a possible gift of a “really nice” Prime-branded insulated mug or bottle. The other suggested a rubber duck due to the meaningful tie it has to the Rubber Ducking coding method they are taught early in the program.
AEIOU method notes
Conceptualization
Using learnings I had gathered, I conceptualized three new welcome gifts:
• Concept 1 – Customized Prime Insulated Tumbler
• Concept 2 – Customized Prime Kicks
• Concept 3 – Personalized Prime Rubber Duck
These concepts were shown to a group of 15 potential users who each voted for their favorite. Based on the results of the vote, I moved forward with the Personalized Prime Rubber Duck concept.
Voting results:
Tumbler 0 | Kicks 5 | Rubber Duck 10
Chosen concept and prototyping – Customizable Prime Rubber Duck
Each student receives a Prime-branded rubber duck with their name & cohort printed on it. Various relevant accessories in themes such as Prime Academy, coding, student life, pop culture, hobbies, costumes etc. would be available, and the entire cohort would participate in a weekly group activity of adding one accessory of their choice to their ducks every Friday throughout their time at Prime. Students would keep their ducks at their workstations.
The personalization and participant customization of this gift would convey a sense of welcoming and camaraderie while adding to the student’s sense of progression and success throughout the program.
Using very limited time and resources (and an electric knife), I created a prototype by carving a duck out of a piece of foam and picking out some small objects to represent the many accessories that students could use to embellish their ducks.
Crude prototype
Planning and conducting user evaluations
I then wrote an evaluation plan and conducted user interviews. My evaluation goals were to:
Better understand how the user interacts with the prototype
Determine if participants find value in the item as a welcome gift for Full Stack students
Gain insights around the emotional connection to the gift, if any
Identify any improvements needed as well as any positive reactions
Me (left) interviewing a participant
My user evaluation plan
Some user comments
“This is awesome! Love how it progresses with you throughout the entire program.”
“I like that it’s a weekly group activity, and everyone’s duck will be different.”
“The meaningful nature of this gift would scale with time—20 weeks of memories!”
Key findings from user evaluations
100%* of users wish they’d received a Prime Rubber Duck welcome gift when they started at Prime
100%* of users considered community to be one of their favorite things about being a Prime student
100%* of users thought the size of the duck should be slightly (approx. 25%) smaller
*3 out of 3
Recommendations and next steps
I concluded this round of iteration by creating a presentation that shared my findings and recommendations for the Prime Rubber Duck with the stakeholders at Prime.
Client presentation (notes available upon request)