Tales & Trials: Weaving Research with Riveting Narratives
We are team Treecko, a student capstone project group from the MHCI program at Carnegie Mellon University. We are partnered with Troutwood to find opportunities that empower individuals with tools and knowledge to plan and take control of their financial future.
Embarking on the exhilarating journey of user research is like setting off on a grand adventure, armed with curiosity and with a magnifying glass to unlock the secrets of user behavior. It’s true, this undertaking can be a winding path, stretching over days and nights, demanding every ounce of our patience and resilience. Like a marathon, it requires endurance, for it often feels like the finish line is just a mirage on the horizon. But, over the past four months of our research, we learnt that every step taken is a step closer to discovering a treasure trove of insights. Through countless interviews, surveys, and observations, we unearthed the hidden gems that reveal the inner workings of peoples’ minds. Each nugget of understanding brings a sense of triumph, like uncovering a buried treasure. User research, we quickly realized, is an adventure that leads to a pot of gold.
Once Upon a Study: Storytelling in Research Presentations
After our five sprints of research, it was now time for us to present our insights and possible design opportunities for our summer term — to our partners at Troutwood, our peers in the cohort, as well as the faculty and staff at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
As we worked through this, we realized that while actual research is all about the unadulterated truth, with its arsenal of facts, statistics, and raw data — presenting that research is an entirely different art form. It’s like a shift from being a diligent scientist to a master storyteller. The stage is set, the spotlight is on, and our audience eagerly awaits. Suddenly, explaining the dry numbers and complex research methodologies took a backseat as we tried to weave a narrative that captivates their hearts and minds with our key takeaways from the spring semester.
From one iteration to the next, we slowly became the architect of intrigue, crafting a storyline that leads the audience through the labyrinth of discovery. With each slide, we sprinkled a touch of humor, a dash of suspense, and a pinch of relatability. We recognized that engagement is the secret ingredient, and our goal is to make them lean in, hang on every word, and leave with a sense of wonder.
Playing the Money Game: Using Metaphors for Relatability
Using the metaphor of a game to introduce the topic of money helped us create a relatable connection with the audience. Learning the rules of this game means becoming more financially literate, complex financial concepts transform into levels to conquer and financial plans become strategic game plans.
The Plot Thickens: Insights and Opportunities
As we delved deeper into our research through our presentation, we brought in the voices and quotes of personal stories of people that we had interviewed over the past few months. The viewpoints, challenges and accomplishments that were spoken about in these exchanges served as a guiding compass in our quest to design for financial independence.
Emotions are both a barrier and a catalyst to changing financial behavior.
One of our first learnings was uncovering the deep-rooted emotions intertwined with their financial journeys. We recognized that addressing these emotions will take center stage in our design process, understanding that financial decisions are often driven by hopes, fears, and dreams.
Since students experience information overload when learning personal finance, we can re-design the language of money and deliver information in a relevant manner.
Secondly, we aim to convey financial knowledge in a manner that is both engaging and actionable, transcending the confines of dry information that currently creates a barrier to learning about managing money.
Momentum drives financial success.
Finally, we dived deep into the art of goal setting by breaking it down into incremental and achievable steps — tiny habits that can be seamlessly incorporated into users’ daily lives. We learnt that these seemingly inconsequential actions amass into a formidable force, propelling individuals closer to the coveted realm of financial independence.
Wrapping it Up: Tackling the Hard Questions
Our presentation ended with us thinking about, and collaborating on some hard-hitting and thought provoking questions: How can we foster trust and alleviate financial anxieties when socio-economic conditions are extremely dire and everything feels helpless? How can we ensure accessibility and affordability of this product for everyone?
As we navigate these uncharted waters, we are determined to bridge the gaps and provide a digital platform that truly meets the needs of all. The challenge is immense, but our resolve is unwavering. As we move into the design phase in the summer semester, we are excited to forge a path towards a future where financial well-being knows no boundaries.
What’s Next?
As the summer semester dawns upon us, our team is buzzing with excitement, ready to dive headfirst into a whirlwind of rapid ideation and design madness! Armed with creativity and fueled by iced coffees, we’re like a well-oiled brainstorming machine, concocting wild ideas and pushing boundaries with gusto.
The Five-Day Sprint: A Shot of Espresso for Creativity
Equipped with our learnings from the research sprints, we have now transitioned to a design sprint timeline (learn more about the GV Design Sprint!), through which we rapidly built and tested out our ideas. With every sprint, we hope to inch closer to perfection, refining our prototypes, and honing our ability to test these ideas rapidly. The weekly design sprint becomes a beacon of effectiveness, a heartbeat of continuous improvement, ensuring that innovation never rests. It’s a journey of perpetual growth, where each passing week brings the promise of new breakthroughs, and the cycle spins ever onward.
Testing our ideas out helps reveal the complex motivations that drive students to save or invest, which we could then tap into for further iterations of our design. We hope to design and identify the interactions that effortlessly nudge users towards habit formation, and incorporate learnings with curiosity on any missteps that left students disengaged. With each test, the puzzle pieces align, shaping a clearer picture of what drives users to adopt and embrace a product.
Compounding Innovation: The Intersection of Design & Engineering
Apart from navigating the flurry of design sprints, we also met with our graduate student peers at the Software Engineering Department who have also partnered with Troutwood. We embarked on an ideation session to identify a substantial amount of collaborative possibilities for the two teams.
Post our meeting, we recognized that user research and design serves as the voice of the user, whereas engineering helps us understand what ideas are feasible and realistic to take forward. This collaboration served as a starting point for all of us to sit back and think about the ways in which we can co-create to make a product that truly embodies and amplifies the vision of financial independence for all.
WELL, that’s all for now, and if you made it till here, thank you so much for reading! We can’t wait to share our learnings over the coming weeks as we jump into design — so stay tuned for more. :)
The work and knowledge gained from this project are only intended to be applicable to the company and context involved and there is no suggestion or indication that it may be useful or applicable to others. This project was conducted for educational purposes and is not intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge.
