My partner Annie and I conducted two sets of interviews which helped us to get to know each other better. Unfortunately when we conducted the first interview, we did not know that we had to record our interview with each other, hence we made notes on them.
Some of the information that I was able to get during our interview was very interesting, and I found that she is a lot like me. I learnt that her favorite food is avocado because it is so healthy and can be substituted as anything such as meat, fish or even cream sometimes. She is really big into being sustainable and environmentally friendly which is one of the reasons that she is vegetarian. I also learnt that she would love to work as an art director in a magazine where she has the opportunity to edit and work with other people and their writing. She is also grateful for the people that are always there for her, whether in times of good or bad. She also said that her friends usually come to her for advise which relationships and with moral problems.
For her product, I wanted to design something that would be fitting for her and I had a couple different ideas. I tried to think of a variety of ideas.
The first idea that I thought of was a clock or a device that would tell you what to do and when do it basically dividing the time up for you. From the interview, I was able to gather that Annie really enjoys watching youtube videos and would love to just do it all day, but at the same time she really enjoys going out and spending time with her friends. Since she has been busy with school work, she is looking for that balance to be able to do things that she enjoys such as work on her own artwork and create her own art but at the same time be able to be able to work on her school work.
The other idea that I thought of was a stress ball which is shaped like an avocado and smells like cinnamon. From our interview, I learnt that she is the kind of person to overthink things and stress over small problems, which is something that I do too. I thought of making a stress ball for her which smells like cinnamon because the smell of cinnamon reminds her of being home with family and of the holiday season which is one of her favorite times of the year. If she ever feels stressed she can always play around with it, smell it perhaps to remind herself of home and feel like a part of her home is with her in this big city.
The third idea that I thought of was an application that basically helps you decide what to wear to look fashionable but also feel comfortable and warm in this weather. While conducting the interview, I learnt that she would love to be more comfortable but at the same times really enjoys dressing up. However since the weather is slightly on the lower temperature recently she is unable to wear some of her dresses. The application helps you be warm and dress fashionably but also keeps you feeling comfortable.
After much consideration, the aspect of Annie that I would like to explore/exploit is her feeling of anxiety. This is something that I want to explore further and make it something that helps her with her anxiety.
I was considering making an interactive coloring book which is open ended letting her create whatever she wants. This is a product that already exists hence I was thinking about making a couple of tweaks to it. I wanted to make it something that she can do mindlessly without having to think much about the things that are stressing her, possibly making her feel anxious. I want some aspect of the coloring book for her being able to decide what she wants to do on that day, so she could potentially design the whole book for herself. I wanted it to be an experience that is calming to her. Since my potential target audience is Annie, I thought it would fit her perfectly, however I believe this could work for someone who tends to be busy and needs some time for themselves, such as time to unwind and get away from their work to break up the stress.
The advertisement I have designed for her, exploits the fact that she has some level of anxiety, however I want to help her with that. Therefore, I designed a coloring book for her, however there is a twist to this coloring book. While talking to Annie, I also learnt that due to so much work from all her classes, she does not have time to work on her own art and do the things thats the really enjoys, hence I thought it would be interesting for her to have an incomplete coloring book, where she is able to color in as well as create her own patterns and designs.
There are some pages in this book that are completely empty with a one word prompt or a sentence for a prompt, motivating her to make something and focus on her own work too. I want this coloring book to be something she reaches out to when she wants to get away and do something mindlessly while watching her favorite show or listening to music. I want it to be an activity that can help her unwind from her busy schedule, and destress. An image of the ad is attached below. Looking at the ad, one side is full of patterns, where as the other side is filled with texts. I left the other side without a pattern so that Annie is able to finish it up for herself, and create it the way she wants to create it. Which is the whole point of the ‘incomplete coloring book’. Where she does not have to stick to the ending, and is able to let her creativity out, without worrying about anything.
In the advertisement I also included hand drawn patterns that were very similar to mandala’s, which symbolize’s spirituality in Hinduism and Buddhism. I hand drew everything as I wanted it to feel personal towards her, something that she can keep with her and just pull out whenever she wants to. I also used the coloring green, by adding ombre green from dark to light to the letters in the text. In terms of color theory, green is often looked at to be a calming color and known for good health.
Potential Slogans:
- Color away!
- Color your dreams!
- Start coloring outside the lines.
- Live in Color.
- You are your only limit.
- Color your stress away!
- Inhale hope, exhale creativity!
- Makers gonna make
- Color your world
- Bring out your inner child
- Conquer the world with a color pencil
