The Road To “Meme… FUNCTORY”!
Design thinking is a valuable method in the start-up, business world. It is a process, made of five stages, aiming to help start-uppers get a better understanding of how they need to strategize about developing their idea. It not only carves a path to a clear development plan, but also helps detect any possible problems, make changes and redefine them. These five stages are ‘Empathise- Define- Ideate- Prototype- Test’. Though in the analysis below we followed this order, the procedure is not a non-linear one. During each stage you may need to proceed to another that fits better, that will help the process more. Here, we are explaining our ‘The Meme Factory’ story. How following these five steps we came to a complete start-up idea both in theory and real life.
STEP 1: EMPATHIZE
First, in order to carve a solid path in the start-up world, we had to find a common inspiration that would motivate us to search about and work on its weak points. So, as millennials and as young people that are in constant touch with the internet we always find new ways to communicate more actively through it. Memes are one of those ways of communication, maybe even the most familiar with the majority of the people at our age. We, as a team specifically, are fascinated by memes and we use them on a day-to-day basis to describe situations, feelings or just to joke around during our web interactions. We have, also, noticed many complications considering in what ways it was possible to use this mean of communication until now. Baring all these in mind, we decided that our way of thinking should stem from our times, from our habits, from our familiar surroundings for our start up to be useful and relatable thus making meme culture the core of our inspiration.
STEP 2: DEFINE
So what were those complications that we were talking about? What is the problem our start up would solve? Initially, we agreed that memes are everywhere around the internet and that is a statement. However, trying to find a specific meme is not always that easy, in spite of our massive exposure to a lot of memes a day and their variety. Many times a situation would remind us of a suitable meme, that we maybe had forgotten about until then or that we had not downloaded it to our computer the time we had come across it and when we tried to search it on google the results were almost always unrelated or unsuccessful. We investigated the web for a single tool, app or site that could offer a large database of memes and that would be specified in organizing and searching memes by categories or keywords. We found some sites and some apps, like 9GAG, that offer or use a variety of memes and viral content and we aimed to unravel aspects and ideas that would differentiate us from other services and that would help us clarify the problem in depth so as to find the perfect solution.
STEP 3: IDEATE
In the Design Thinking process, the Ideation stage often follows the first two stages, which are the “Empathize” stage and “Define” stage. Ideate is the stage that we generate the main idea of our start-up.
After taking into consideration both the results of the interviews on the “emphasize” stage and the results of the research for our possible competitors in the “Define” stage, we noticed that in the era of meme culture & social media communication there is no site or application specified exclusively in the area of memes. So, we decided to create an app, in which people, especially the younger ones, will be able to create easily and quickly their own meme. With the help of the brainstorming method, we had the idea of providing to the users a large database of memes that will be about domestic Greek habits and viral situations or TV-Programs. For instance, by using our app, teens can create their meme about “MasterChef” or “Survivor”, which are popular television shows. When we wrote down this idea, we also thought that it could be very cool to use hashtags, so that anyone can search a meme either by its theme, or its creator. Thus, it would be easy for users to have access in specified memes.
And how would you feel if you had created a meme, and then you noticed that you can’t store it? Our app has the solution, as it provides to users the option of saving their “handmade” meme.
At the end, after taking into account the requirements of our potential customers, we came up with the idea of creating the section of “Daily Meme”, in which users will be able to observe on a daily basis the best meme and learn more information about it.
STEP 4: PROTOTYPE
One of the best ways to gain insights in a “Design Thinking process” is to carry out some form of prototyping. “Prototype” is the stage, that we generate the image of our start-up company. We gain experience and interact with the potential costumers.
At First, we did some interviews with people from the target-group, in order to find out their preferences in the design of our app. After taking into consideration their responses, we tried to mix the costumers’ preferences with our creative ideas…. And the result is pretty cool. We decided to create a colorful application, which will not only deliver instant joy and fun to our users, but also make them start their day with happiness and optimism. The main colors are orange, yellow and red, which create a user-friendly environment and fulfills the need for serenity.
As our app is under construction, we created a web page, in which users will not only know everything about our application, but also familiarize with the “environment” of “The Meme Factory”. In fact, this site can be considered as a great stimulation or even a “screenshot” of the “Meme Application” (https://konkonstantina1.wixsite.com/thememefactory)
At the end, we noticed that a great number of our peers uses mostly the “Messenger” application for social-media communication, so we thought that it would have been a great idea to create a Messenger “Plug-in” for our project. Shhh! It’s coming super soon!
STEP 5: TEST
Having created various forms of prototypes, we came to the conclusion that the three-dimensional tube was our main tool. It captivates ones’ interest and as a result leads to better, more detailed feedback. We continued the testing process by conducting more interviews and furthermore, using our personal social media accounts to receive feedback by our peers. Our target group. Mostly, Instagram became a vital app in the process.
Features as ‘’polls’’ in stories helped testing become a fun game. Asking in an app called The Meme Factory… offering these and these services (explanation) would you prefer one thing or another. When it came to our interviews, we were seeking more detailed answers so we encouraged people to think of real life conditions. For instance, those who use group chats. How do they feel when they have the perfect meme for a conversation, but searching for it takes too long and the topic changes? With our Messenger plug-in this won’t be a problem anymore! It is quite important to say, that though some issues were highlighted, we were working on an already altered prototype (from the previous stage) and the changes we made were minor.
Following this thinking process brought us great results. A better understanding of how developing an idea works, of tackling problems and constantly rethinking aspects of our initial work. Processing every information with a new mindset; ‘Think outside of the box’! . Most importantly, we learned to really listen and understand. Work together for a shared creation. Our proudly made creation; ‘’The Meme Factory’’ start-up.
We are the “Meme Factory”!
Visit our web-site to familiarize with our services: https://konkonstantina1.wixsite.com/thememefactory
Find us on: Facebook & Instagram !
Νίκος Κοντομήτρος , Dikibo Kwnstantina, Michaella Nisioti are here to help you!
