Value Propositions: A Journey
As I wrote yesterday, last week we were tasked with writing the first drafts of a value proposition, a concise summary of our thesis idea that includes what it is, who it’s for, and how it’s different. We were given a template and an example that served as a place to start. It looked like this:
FOR (target audience)
WHO ARE/WANTS (need),
[PRODUCT NAME] IS A (specific market category)
THAT (key benefit).
UNLIKE (competition),
[PRODUCT NAME] IS (unique differentiator)
Example: FOR type enthusiasts WHO need to learn and use fonts, “TYPEY” IS A typeface encyclopedia THAT is enthusiast-generated. UNLIKE MyFonts, TYPEY is crowd-sourced and community-driven.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love a template literally for anything, and especially creative writing exercises. Sometimes you just need something to get you started! But I did find myself maybe following the template a little bit too closely, and feeling kind of limited. From a voice perspective, I guess I’m saying I wouldn’t have followed this structure myself, but it definitely helped to begin. Otherwise I probably would have stared at the screen for at least an hour longer.
So here’s my “favorite” version from last week — I even gave my product a (working) name!
VERSION 1:
Roundup is a messaging plugin for social media users who value healthy public discourse. Inspired by restorative justice, Roundup offers a conversational interface designed for empathy and respect in the exchange of ideas.
I think the biggest problem with this is that it’s not very clear how the thing would work, or how the interface exactly has been “designed for empathy and respect.” Since I’m still working on what those design features are exactly, and wanted to see if I could refine the specific problem I’m solving for a bit more and include it in the proposition. In Narratives and Interactivity this week, our instructor Noah lead each of us through 15-minute workshop sessions of our value propositions. I took a pass on this, because I felt like I hadn’t yet processed feedback from Thesis class, and wanted the chance to iterate independently (excuses? Fair). Listening to my classmates’ workshops though was extremely helpful on it’s own, and helped me to iterate more in class and after.
VERSION 2
Social media makes it easy to forget there are human beings on the other side of your feed. Inspired by restorative justice, Roundup is a messaging platform designed to elevate the qualities that make us human, not suppress them.
I like the first sentence (though I’d want to continue tweaking it a little) as a set-up. I think with this version (and version 1), “inspired by restorative justice” is maybe a little too vague. I need to decide if it will ultimately be necessary to include that, and whether it leads to too many questions about what restorative justice is that it distracts from what the product actually is (which could still use some work). I think this has generally been a challenge for me when talking about my project and continues to be something I’m working to answer.
