CUBE TO THE RESCUE!
I designed a Prime branded Rubik’s cube as a welcome gift for incoming full stack development students.
CLIENT
I was hired by Prime Digital Academy to design a replacement for the current welcome gift to full stack development students. I designed and proposed a new gift by evaluating the current gift, observing students at Prime, prototyping a proposed solution, interviewing and testing with users.
USERS
Incoming full stack developer students at Prime Digital Academy.
MY ROLE(S)
UX-Researcher - Conducted a heuristic analysis of current gift and participant observations, created an evaluation script, moderated 3 user interviews.
UX-Designer - Conceptualized three product designs based on my findings, prototyped the design selected by my design team, presented findings and proposed solution.
METHODS
Participant observations, Heuristic Analysis, Digital and Physical Prototypes, AEIOU framework, Desirability testing, User Interviews
TOOLS
Keynote, Notion, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Desirability Toolkit, Prototype, Quicktime
DELIVERABLES
Heuristic Analysis Report, AEIOU report, Design Concepts, Evaluation Script, Prototypes, Design Pitch to Prime stakeholders.
SOLUTION
A Prime branded Rubik’s cube with coding tips and positive affirmations to support focus by allowing the hands to fidget during lectures and deep thought.
GOALS
Identify issues with current gift, then design a new gift based on user research and testing.
PROBLEM
Prime Academy needs to replace its welcome gift to full stack development students as it is no longer produced and was found to be impersonal and not usable.
CHALLENGE
HOW DO WE CREATE A MORE MEANINGFUL WELCOME GIFT?
Physical Prototype of design Iteration #2
HEURISTIC ANALYSIS OF WATER BOTTLE
Violates the following Heuristics:
Visibility of system status
Since the bottle changes shape, it is impossible to know when the bottle may overflow when filling.
User Control and Freedom
Impossible to fill bottle without overflowing. Also it’s painful to hold
Consistency and Standards
Holds less water than advertised. Tries to “reinvent the wheel”.
Error Prevention
Impossible to fill without overflowing. No way to know if you are too close to the fill point.
Flexibility and Efficiency of use
It can fold or be flat when empty but this makes it less usable when holding the water.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The folding aspect is irrelevant for the students purposes with the bottle.
Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors
No way to not repeat your error.
CURRENT GIFT
Vapur Foldable Water Bottle
USER PROFILE OF FULL STACK STUDENTS
So that I could identify who the full stack students were and what they did, I observed the full stack students in their classroom as well as the common areas of the Prime campus. I would use this information to help ideate on a new gift to better suit their needs.
MAJOR TAKEAWAYS
Full stack students spend a lot of time at their desks. Either listening to lectures, coding along during lectures, or working on their assignments.
Working together to solve complex problems.
Many students needed caffeination to help them stay focused for working the long hours that Prime coursework demands.
While it’s a very supportive community, the program itself as well as coding can be stressful. Especially when you are new and learning.
IDEATION
What could it be?
I created three design concepts to address different aspects of student life that I observed to find out which would be a more meaningful gift to the new students.
SOLUTION
The design team identified that they would like me to move forward with the Rubik's cube product as the solution to the welcome gift problem.
PROTOTYPING
So what would it look like?
It would appear very similar to traditional Rubik’s Cubes but with the Prime logo split up over the 9 squares on each side.
How does it work?
The same way as a traditional cube but with the added difficulty of lining up the squares to reveal the prime logo.
I built a lo-fidelity prototype with functionality. The main purpose was to show users the added prime logo design. The visual element was what I would be interviewing users about.
Original Design Sketch
Physical Prototype made with cardboard, tape, and markers
EVALUATION
So what did they think?
To see what the students thought about the look of the new cube, I showed three full stack Prime students the lo-fi prototype along with a traditional cube so they would understand that it would be fully functional and of the normal 3x3 cube size that they are familiar with.
To get a better understanding of how the Rubik’s cube made them feel, I asked the students how they felt about solving puzzles. Each student was enthusiastic in saying that they really enjoyed puzzles and discovering how things worked. I was curious about how each participant would use it.
However, when presented with the Rubik’s cube, each participant suggested another function beyond solving it. They said they would likely use it as more of a fidgeting device to help them focus while thinking about code or when listening to lectures where note taking was unnecessary.
DESIRABILITY TOOLKIT WORDS
FRESH PROFESSIONAL CALMING FAMILIAR
FAMILIAR EXCITING INTIMIDATING
INSPIRING FAMILIAR CLASSIC
CUSTOMIZE IT!
I asked each participant what they would change to make the cube more valuable to them.
One identified that using only Prime branded colors would make it feel more special and unique.
3 of 3 participants were less concerned with the solvability of the cube and so they thought maybe some of the squares could have coding tips and some positive affirmations rather than solid colors and prime logos.
CODING TIPS
AFFIRMATIONS
PRIME BRANDING
SOLUTION
The Prime Cube.
A rubik’s cube branded in Prime colors and logos, with nine squares that have coding tips or positive affirmations to help them through their time at Prime and afterwards.
The cube embraces the complex problem solving that students would be doing in their careers.
It is designed to be used for fidgeting with the option of solving the cube still available to those who choose to pursue it.
FINAL DESIGN
Additionally, the cube is solved from the bottom up, just like Prime is.
TIER 1
TIER 2
TIER 3
DESIGN PITCH
I created a slide deck to present to Prime stakeholders to show why the prime cube was a more meaningful welcome gift. The deck showed my research, design concepts, testing, and recommendations.
MOVING FORWARD
FURTHER TESTING
Since the participants all said they didn’t think they would try to solve it, I have considered a cube that was only coding tips and affirmations and was “unsolvable” since there was no pattern to follow. I would be interested to conduct A/B testing with the cube I have designed now and another that was entirely Prime Values, coding tips, and affirmations and see which of the two was more desirable.