This thesis is a final bachelor's project in Interaction Design at the Department of Design at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). When BloksbergTechnologies presented the project, which consisted of developing a business portal that would connect companies and organizers with users of the "Join" application, we saw its potential to create a positive impact for local businesses, by connecting them more closely with cultural users. Bloksberg has developed a mobile application called "Join" whose motto is "right place, right time". The app is based on the fact that you can "like" each other, but limits the users' communication within the app, in order to encourage meeting physically. By doing like Join, focusing on getting people to meet in the physical world to a greater extent, this can have a positive impact on health and quality of life. By creating a company portal that belongs to an app like Join, we will be able to connect companies that share the desire to be a safe and open meeting place for everyone, directly to users looking for a place to meet like-minded people.
Photoshop
Drive
Teams
figma
Miro
Balsamiq
To carry out a methodical and structured design process, the Double-Diamond method was used as a starting point for our project. It is a process method that takes the project through four phases. The first phase involves exploring, where we gain insight, look other solutions for inspiration and maps the current situation. The second phase is definition, where we analyze and structure the data we have collected through different sources, so the problem can be defined. The next phase is ideation, this is where potention solutions to the problems is found after the exploration and definition phase. The last phase will be to prototype, test and iterate the solution. Every phase of this project build on service design and user-centered design by always focusing on the user.
I have worked with 2 students on this bachelors thesis. To ensure that we meet our own expectations we used contracts and verbal agreements as to how work should be done. We agreed on deliveries and when we would work, and how we would distribute tasks. The group were all interactional designers, so we would have to plan according to this. With this taken to consideration, we concluded that our solution would be based on the courses we have had during our bachelors degree, and minimize our need for either grapchical design og web development.
The groupmembers have similar experience and expertise in different parts of the UX prosess, but to ensure that all tasks would be finished, while meeting expectations, we arranged for simple roles to be fulfilled throughout the prosess. My main tasks were project management and documentation. In regards to the design work that is to be done, this was divided in between the group, and my focus was often on estetic desing, wireframing and protyping.
As project manager, i was tasked with organizing the information we gather during the bachelors, such as the affinity digrams shown under, keeping up to timeframes, and ensuring quality in what is being produced. We worked through google disc and nettskjema.no, and kept digital copies of all work either in their own programs, such as Figma, Miro and Balsamiq. For me and my part of the project, this is an important task, as it optimizes the time we spend on the project, and allows us to focus completely on moving forward, instead of being confused by tasks that has been done and forgotten. It also ensures that we actually see the limits of our own project, as time limits allows you to see what work should be prioritized or conclude and move on from. I have learned a lot about teamwork from taking tasks such as these, and understand more about how teamwork ensures quality in what you do, and minimize the chance of unexpected pitfalls, as good teamwork includes good communication and understand of your peers.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of today's problem, seven people were interviewed in the age group 19 to 30 years. They worked within different parts of the nightlife industry i Oslo. These were people who worked as day-to-day managers, marketers, marketing coordinators and event organizers.
The content of these post-its are the main insights from the interviews. Its as following:
A wish for all tools in one
Production of content takes to much time
If the users are to pay for the tool, it has to be cost- and time effective
They want to not have to create events in the new portal
They are happy to pay for good statistics
Meta Business has too many functions
In the interviews we gathered some new interesting information. Where we earlier wanted insight in how to build a good businessplatform, we discovered that this might be the wrong approach angle. Our users didn't see the neccesity for "another" platform, but wanted a new way to do it, an easier way. With this information, we can continously strive to create a solution that not only our employer will be happy with, but as our users needs differ from the specs we were given, we will accomodate for both the users and employer.
To put this information to the test, we need a problemstatement. A good problemstatement allows us to explore different angles of the problem, while having a clear reference as to where we want to end up.
