User Research &
Target Audience:
Phase 3 - Who is our target audience?
PURPOSE FOR RESEARCH:
Before I begin ideation, It's important to establish a target audience to understand who I am designing for, taking into consideration their demands, wants and needs. This will make it easier to design in-line with a specific demographic and fulfil their desires. In order to do this, I'll use my project goals to clarify who would benefit most and therefore be my target for design.
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By the end of this section, I should have a clear and established target audience.
WEEK 6 - Target Audience, User Centred Design & Player Experience
How will I do this? MY PLAN
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User Centred Design
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Empathy Map
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Purpose of Design
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Target Audience
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Persona
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Journey Mapping
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These User Design techniques will allow me to think about how I'd like player's to feel during the game and most importantly how I'd like the game to impact them. Creating a persona will then allow me to take this research and refine it into a single (or multiple) user, and use this identity as the focal point for my design.
WHAT IS USER RESEARCH?
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User Research essentially focuses on understanding behaviours, demands, needs and motivations of the users. This research can be gathered through observation techniques, analysis and 'feedback methodologies'.
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As well as user wants and needs, pain points are important to consider too.
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Research can be split into two:
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Qualitative - Interviewing is a method which can help you understand the way users behave. This is usually through gathering non-numerical data such as opinions. This data can also involve my own opinion as this can influence research too.
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Quantitative - Surveys can help gather "measurable data" based on user habits etc. Surveys can be used to identify patterns and trends within a larger group. Drawbacks? This method of gathering data cannot "expose deeper human insights".
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The way we gather this research can also be split into two approaches, focusing on ones attitude and behaviour. (The kind of words and actions they use)
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“Research is creating new knowledge.”
– Neil Armstrong
Types of Data
Qualitative Data can include personal information and opinions, whereas Quantitative Data includes numbers and statistics.
User Research Methods: How do we do it?
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4 MAIN STAGES
During a projects four stages there are key methods to determine what's best for your user. This article clearly states the most important areas of user research which I have made into an information graphic as seen on the left. In order to design with the correct intentions in mind, It's essential to establish a target audience and know what we have to do to provide them with what they need.
"Choose only the relevant methods for your research"
WHERE DO I BEGIN?
Firstly we must discover what's relevant for our users. We are aware we'd like to make a gaming experience which encourages emotional and physical regulation, and create a space which users can go to in order to reflect and recharge. To identify who will benefit from this the most, we must firstly establish a target audience - from this we can then evaluate their life on a day to day basis by using techniques such as Journey and Empathy Mapping. Journey Mapping will allow us to establish crucial moments throughout the day and conclude where our game might fit in or be most useful. We can also establish how we'd like them to feel during the game, as well as what their thoughts might be. The testing stages will also be important in gathering feedback from our audience and making changes however, for now it's important to create personas and gather user research.
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User-Centred Design will be a great start - this way we can consider the wants and needs of our user and design something that they will actually need in their life.
USER-CENTRED DESIGN
“User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process.” - IDF - on user-centered design​
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RESEARCH LINK:
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Understand the pain points of users
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Discover the problem
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Understand the context around this problem
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Get close and personal with users
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A goal to achieve better products
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Maintain focus on the user
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PRINCIPLES TO KEEP IN MIND
"Let the user speak"
Understand their needs, talk to them, listen to their pain points and feedback.
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"Design for your users, not for you"
Never divert from what the data tells you.
THE PROCESS - Gather a deep understanding!
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Who are you designing for?
What problem do they have?
What is the context of this problem?
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Create a persona, journey maps, establish requirements (technical, team and user) - What is feasible for my team?
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TEST - Check requirements, evaluate the user experience, make iterations and improve. (Rapid prototyping)​
SUMMARY
To briefly summarise, to begin identifying my target audience I must use these methods to do so. This will involve taking into account how users might feel during the experience, and also considering what their problems and pain points are before hand so that we can create a gaming experience for people that need it the most.
UNDERSTANDING USER NEEDS
So what does the User exactly need?​
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During my research I came across a relevant model/hierarchy of User needs which I can use as reference to consider the Target Audience needs for my project. The hierarchy consists of 5 levels of user needs - a motivational theory in psychology. This theory is used to understand human motivations and puts human necessities on a hierarchy of needs.
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RESEARCH LINK:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4582571
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
What are the 5 levels?​
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Self-actualisation - desire to become the most that one can be
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Esteem - respect, self-esteem, strength, freedom etc
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Love and belonging - friendship, sense of connection etc
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Safety Needs - employment, resources, health
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Physiological needs - air, water, shelter, reproduction
HOW CAN THIS BE USED?​
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It's important to consider the needs of my User throughout the course of this project. Considering user needs can result in design conclusions and effect the development process of the game. It's essential to consider whats both accessible and inclusive and take into account environmental, social and ethical factors of design. Throughout Semester 1 and 2 I will be sure to consider the needs of my user and explore ways that these can be met. In terms of the direction of our project already, it seems we are providing players with the need for safety by considering safe spaces and environments, and ways to reduce feelings of anxiety or fear in similar emergency situations.
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THE DESIGN HIERARCHY​
The lower levels of the hierarchy provide foundation and need to be fulfilled before moving higher up the pyramid. This second hierarchy is the 'Design Hierarchy of Needs' made by Steven Bradley in 2010. Since Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it has been applied to many different scenarios - in this case, Design.
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This method can be used by Designers to approach and apply the theory of 'human motivation' to their products/outcomes. The pyramid is sectioned into 5 following levels:
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Functionality - The design must work and meet basic functional needs
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Reliability - Maintains stable and consistent performance
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Usability - Easy to understand and use. People can operate it without difficulty.
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Proficiency - Empowers people to do more and better. Expand on basic functionality - learn from it.
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Creativity - Intuitive interactions and satisfy creative needs.
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RESEARCH LINK:
https://www.bresslergroup.com/blog/design-defined-hierarchy-of-needs-product-design-principles/
HOW CAN THIS BE USED?​
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I can apply this hierarchy to my own User Research and understand the needs of my User. I can also put myself in the position of the User to consider my own needs. This will branch off into the following questions:
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Why is the User playing my game?
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To reduce feelings of anxiety, stress, overwhelm and panic
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To divert negative thoughts
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They need support in managing themselves and these feelings/sensations
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To cope in a stressful or overwhelming scenario
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What do they want from the experience?
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To feel comfortable and safe in their environment
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Distraction/escapism
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A place to divert them away from reality
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Playful and distracting gameplay experience
How can I ensure these needs/requirements are met?
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Provide them with the means to feel safe/comfortable
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Provide them with a visually engaging space
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Highly accessible and designed taking in consideration all means of human difference (Inclusive Design)
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Thorough research - to be able to provide these things, look at music, visuals, user resarch and understanding of human behaviour.
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OUR PROJECT GOALS
My teams project goals can be found here: Project Goals​
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Now that I have established clear Project Goals and an Essential Experience, it's time to take into account the kind of users that would benefit from this the most. In order to do so, I will be using the User Design methods I know to identify an appropriate target audience.
USER-CENTRED DESIGN
Below I have mapped out the desirability, visability and feasibility of my project - taking into consideration what the user desires and brief ways we can do this!​
DESIRABILITY
The purpose of our project is to provide players with an experience which eliminate feelings of anxiety or panic by engaging their senses. I will be designing this experience purposefully in order to do this, by using my research into music and sound to do. Combined with Kiera's research into safe spaces, we can provide people with an environment to regulate their emotions.​
FEASBILITY
In terms of feasibility, this year I will be working with one another teammate. We have agreed to create a concept which is accessible to people that are in need of this kind of support and to fulfil it's purpose, it must take advantage of game elements to keep users engaged. To establish who these people are, my next step will to create an Empathy Map to dive deeper into Player Experience - how do I want users to feel and what would I like them to do? From this I can identify who it's most suitable for.​
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VISIBILITY
Briefly, the visibility of this experience must consist of an engaging space/environment. The design must be attractive and must transport users to somewhere therapeutic. Ways to do this will include potential surround sound, binaural beats and captivating visuals.
PLAYER EXPERIENCE - EMPATHY MAP
To expand my User-Centred Design I have created an empathy map to establish 4 main factors of the experience. What the user will think, say, feel and do. These are vital aspects (some more than others!) and by having this written down I can refer back during the design process.​
Considering player experience...
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It's most important to take note of how I'd like players to feel during the experience. By creating an empathy map I have identified what I feel is most important. My essential experience helped me to map out the players thoughts and feelings especially, as this is a major part of our project.​
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How will we achieve this?
To design in line with this, a lot of user research and testing is necessary! To make the player feel and think these things, we must evaluate the ways we can encourage this. Most of our research already is linked to evoking certain emotions therefore this will be incredibly useful. In addition to this, we must talk to people to gain insight into what will make them feel this type of way.
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What will the User do?
It's essential for our user to be interacting in some way. However, it's important for them to be able to freely walk and observe around their space (whether thats physical or not) as our project goals focus on providing players with a space to feel free, at ease and relaxed. This means there mustn't be pressure or challenge.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DESIGN?
Emotional Regulation! My project goals and essential experience can be found within Phase 3 - and these sections outline the purpose of the gaming experience, and what it should provide to users.
WHAT'S MY DESIGN PURPOSE?
The design of my game will be tailored to meet my user research, project goals and essential experience. Before concluding on design decisions and research avenues, I will take User Research into consideration and remind myself of what my user desires.
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The main purpose of my gaming experience is to provide them with a space to relax, reflect and recharge.
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HOW? - By using game elements such as sound and visuals to captivate players. My research into Music Psychology will help me to compose sounds to evoke specific emotions and therefore make players feel a certain way. - This will encourage emotional regulation. The purpose is to make a difference, and to use music to make people feel more positive. Kiera's research into safe space and environments will also assist our design in achieving a space which does this also. Visuals will appeal and gameplay will be designed to encourage reflection whether thats during or after the experience.
MEETING MY BRIEF & GOALS
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Achieve Immersion
Specific game elements will help us achieve Immersion within this space. We will be looking into a range of different technology to do so as well as evaluating the importance of sound and spaces.
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Player Engagement
How will we keep players engaged? An element of curiosity will make players want to walk around and observe the space - we have yet to decide if this space is virtual or physical, but either way the elements will remain the same. Sound, visuals and interactions are important.
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Designing for our Users
The space must be a rendition of the users idea of a safe environment. Interviewing a diverse range of people, creating surveys and making questionnaires will allow us to gather suggestions and opinions from people. Using this data we can identify trends and patterns, and apply this to our design. A question we might ask could be "what items would your safe space consist of?".
TARGET AUDIENCE & PERSONA
How to Identify a Target Audience?
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During Year 2 of the program, I had to write an essay regarding a chosen brand for my option module 'Image and Branding'. I remember learning about understanding your 'target market' and how to do this. Below I will link an image I used to help me distinguish the 'Jordan' brands target market which I can use to broaden my knowledge of my own target audience.
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TARGET AUDIENCE
Using User Research and Design Methods, I have established a target audience which I feel would benefit the most from an experience we aim to achieve. Our project goals and essential experience are most suited to this audience and here's how I got to this conclusion. I began by mind-mapping who I am designing for and what's important to the user:
Identifying a Target Audience
MENTAL HEALTH
To begin, I mind-mapped different areas relevant to our project. I started with Mental Health and the aspects in which we want our game to impact e.g. anxiety, stress, panic and overwhelm. I then listed the locations you might find these feelings/emotions such as a school, workplace or doctors surgery. This helped to think about the kind of people that might be affected.
PAIN-POINTS: who is affected?
I then listed who I know are affected by these health factors such as youth, students, adult and elderly! Unfortunately, everyone. But I began to take a more personal route and thought about the kind of experiences I've had which might influence ideas. From this I was able to link it to what would have been beneficial in times of need.
REQUIREMENTS
What are the requirements?
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Highly accessible
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Meaningful
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Beneficial
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Appropriate
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Impactful
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Proven - must do what we say it should!
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
I took note of my personal experiences for example, anxiety in school and overwhelming situations.
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NEEDS
I then branched off into my needs and thought more about what could've helped during these times of need. This included an accessible quiet space, somewhere to keep me distracted and potentially even a game to distract in the workplace.
ACCESSIBILITY - INCLUSIVE DESIGN!
The experience we make will be targeted to a specific audience, however must be designed in a way that can be used by anyone! This means to design in respect to any forms of human difference. My research into Inclusive Design can be found here: Inclusive Design.
To summarise, the accessibility and usability of this gaming experience must be carefully considered in terms of location and distribution etc. Will it be a mobile game? Console?
SUMMARY
To summarise my brainstorm into a potential Target Audience, it's clear that this game must benefit those that are in need of support during times where they feel sensations of anxiety. These scenarios take place usually away from home, away from their comfort zones. To apply as much research into this as possible, it would be most impactful to focus on people around a similar age to me, and focus on people that I can access suggestions/feedback from! Also, this way I can apply personal experiences to my design to fulfil it's purpose.
PERSONA
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To finalise my User-Centred Design, I have put together a basic Persona for an individual which would benefit from playing our game. My teammate Kiera has also done her own research and formed a persona so that we can design according to a range of peoples specific needs.
Who is Emma?
My research above has enabled me to create this Persona - a general reflection of someone that would benefit from playing our game. Her goals, preferences, likes and dislikes were tailored to fit a 'student stereotype' and my own attributes were also applied to assist this as I am a student myself.
Emma is an 18 year old student who has just started University, and she is struggling to cope with the workload of first year as well as struggling with time management and anxiety.
HOW CAN I BENEFIT EMMA?
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The most important aspects of our essential experience are based on regulating emotions in those that feel sensations of anxiety and are in need of a space to recharge and reflect. However, the experience we design must be inclusive to everyone, and it can be interpreted in any way you like. The attributes of Emma are similar to those we are directing our game towards - she is a young student struggling with the workload and stress of education and therefore our game idea will be designed to fulfil her needs and support her with this.
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Kiera and I will take our persona designs and user research into account, focusing on personal experiences and gathering real stories to support our design. We are focusing mostly on students around the ages 16+ which we feel is an age where students would benefit from this the most.
WHAT ARE THE NEEDS OF THE USER? - MENTAL HEALTH
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Our project revolves around benefitting Mental Health. But in order to do this, it's important to consider what people need. During my Target Audience research I established my own needs which I am sure most people can relate to, especially in a working environment like school/university. Mental Health is a huge thing which people have begun to talk openly about more since the pandemic, providing people with reassurance that it's ok to have off days where you might lack motivation or want to speak to anyone. From my own perspective, I believe schools can have a huge negative impact on mental health whether that's due to workload, relationships or bullying and it's something that almost everyone experiences or recognises at some point during their lifetime. People struggle with opening up to each other or asking for the help they need and I'd like to take it upon myself to create something that allows them to reflect upon how they feel and evoke a bit of positivity/optimism within them.
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From the point of view of a 15 year old student at secondary school I would've loved a quiet space/room which could be booked out to sit, study or just wind down on my own or with company. A space that's more than just 4 blank walls and a chair! It would be great to create a space that doesn't seem daunting or make it obvious as to why you are in there. I can openly say during secondary school this is something I would've been embarrassed about - which needs to change. Even on University campuses I feel students will greatly appreciate an area they can escape to once in a while. (And even better, make this space game-like and interactive!)
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I read an interesting article regarding if students are supported or not, in terms of their mental health which has helped to support this decision. It includes statistics of mental illness and suicide rate too:
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THE NEEDS - MENTAL HEALTH
What do these students need?
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Support
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A place to escape
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Distraction
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Reflection time
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These User Needs are very similar to my Project Goals and elements of my Essential Experience, which I can combine to design a game which fulfils their needs and provides them with the support they require.
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HOW CAN I DO THIS?
The most important part in giving people a place to escape, is providing them with the means to do so. By engaging them, capturing their interest and requiring full focus. Throughout my research you can see that I have mentioned the term 'Immersion' which is based on a 'deep mental involvement in something'. Applying elements of Immersion to my game will ensure to keep players engaged and focused during gameplay, which satisfies their initial needs.
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I will further my research into Immersion which can be found here: Immersion Research.
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In addition to this, during Phase 2/3 I focused on using Music as both a self-care technique and therapy tool to promote wellbeing and evoke positive feelings. Sound is already an important component within games for multiple reasons so I can use this to my advantage and use original music in my project to manipulate the feelings of the listener/player and enhance player engagement.
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Lastly, allowing them to reflect is important. I can consider ways to encourage self-reflection and integrate this within the game. Examples include journalling, note-taking and even song-writing. My research into Music Therapy has influenced me to think more about how we can make players communicate their feelings through game-like interactions in relation to creating music and sound.
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NEXT STEPS
Journey Map a students day-to-day.
Journey Mapping
I have used the Journey Mapping technique to evaluate the behaviours of a student during their day-to-day in order to identify trends/patterns and also establish a time where our gaming experience might be useful!
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I firstly mapped out what a day looked like for me - as a student, I find myself overwhelmed with lots of work and responsibility which can sometimes be quite hard to manage. Using my own experience of this will help me to design something to benefit a wider range of people. I then used my own experience to influence Emma's Journey Map - according to her interests and hobbies.
EVALUATION:
A day in my life
Opportunities are highlighted green.
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From my journey map, you can see that I rarely leave enough time to relax! But other than that, there are a few times during the day where I would be able to take a seat and take time out to reflect and catch up with myself. These 'time-outs' are especially important as this could be prime time for a student to play our game or visit our space.
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EVALUATION:
'Gamified' Elements are highlighted green.
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Most students have to travel into University themselves, often via Bus or Walking. Students that take the bus every morning have the opportunity to pull out their mobile phone and play a short game, same for the journey home. Headphones could be use to keep them focused? This could be a great time to reflect on the day before or the day just gone. Maybe this game could act as a way to note down/journal what has happened during the day, or even create to do lists to plan ahead.
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Additionally, students often have an hour of two for a break during the day - this is a great time to catch up with friends and take a break from work. This could offer an opportunity for students to take a walk, play games together (collaboration/co-op) or individually as a form of relaxation and to distract a little from the stresses of work.
EVALUATION
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Emma has the opportunity to recharge throughout the day, but the support she needs may not be there. This is where we come in - our goal is to provide people with the support they need through a simple medium - games. Despite how simple or complex the interactions may be, we'd love for our project to help students feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed by their workload and responsibility of living alone etc.
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EVALUATION:
A day in Emmas Life
Opportunities are highlighted orange.
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Emma's day consists of university work similar to mine, however she has more time after University to focus on her hobbies and interests! Maybe the time after University is more appropriate to resort to our gaming experience - in order to reflect upon the day and to cope with the stress that the day may have led to. After University I find myself thinking too much about what I have to do, and to have something to help me cope with this would be useful.
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PLAN - What next?
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Now we have an established target audience, we must design in line with this and consider the user at all times. I will expand my research into sight and sound as these are two very significant aspects of our game and by using my music psychology research, I can generate ideas keeping these important elements in mind. Our project goals focus specifically on emotional regulation, therefore developing my knowledge into the mind and the way music can do this will be my main priority.
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Additionally, I will gather more User Research as the project progresses. I plan to conduct surveys to evaluate what kind of environments people would find most comforting, and then I can begin to think about gameplay and even potential interactions.
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TO DO
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More research into Immersion!
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Begin Project Ideation