Generative Research Activity - Ms.A &Ms. B

I interviewed Ms.A and Ms.B for about 20 minutes per person to learn about their digital life.I found a lot of similarities of their priority and digital usage. First of all, both of them cannot live without family, friends and smart phone. I also agree that those are the most common needs of modern life. Secondly, they share 3 same digital usages among 4 they chose. Social network is extremely important, since they wake up with checking on it and go to bed after checking on it. Thirdly,I found that during their weekdays, they both like to watch news during noon while watch sales and entertainment programs during night.I guess they would love to have fun and enjoy their leisure time at the end of weekday as a reward to themselves. The different focus comes from their occupations. Ms.A is a student, single. Ms.B is a housewife with kids. It is easy to understand why they have different focus on digital content.

The interview process was fun and easy for both participants and researcher. It is potentially valuable, since the three charts demonstrate their priority and timeline of digital usages. The way to make it better is really depends on how we define the question we would like to ask.

Please see the picture as below:
Ms.A    Student    Single

Ms.B     Housewife with kids

Customer Journey Map

Empathize: Part 2- Empathy Map for a Target Consumer (Sandy)

Sandy is on the spot now. She is an Asian mom with 2 kids, working in America. According to my knowledge, I would describe her image in the following 6 dimensions.

1. What does she think and feel? She is very thoughtful about other people's feelings. There is an invisible antenna on her head to sense about people and relationships.

 — what really counts? She is conscious about affective tone. The beautiful well-designed commodities she uses, the organic food the family eat, the beautiful flowers in her backyard, the classic Chinese black tea she drinks, she is very content with these kind of things in her life.

 — major preoccupations? "Everybody is talking about starting their own business. Can I invest a little bit in some friends' business?" She thought. She doesn't really have such drive to be an entrepreneur. Yet, she cares about how to diversify her investment.

— worries & aspirations? Her kids are very important in her life. She wants to spend time with them to let them grow up happily. Yet she also worries about once kids went to college, she might feel alone.

2. What does she see? Life is simple. Or it could be simple.

— environment? She lives in a high-ranking school district. It's a nice and friendly neighborhood, although it is a little bit far from her office. Nothing much to complain. 

— friends? She has lots of friends at work. She belongs to an a mom community in her neighborhood. She usually gets together with her friends for shopping.

— what the market offers? Window shopping is always fun with accompany. But it is getting harder and harder to find the right things that fit her style. Online shopping is a good way to follow her sense and imagination. Besides, the promotion online is irresistible.

3. What does she say and do?

— attitude in public? She is nice and helpful to other people. She is also engaged in her community as a volunteer while needed.

— appearance? She has found her own style, and favorite brands to follow. No more blindness following the trends in her age. She knows what looks good on her and what does not.

— behavior towards others? Don't judge. Everybody has his/her own life. Try to understand people and his/her logic behind behavior could help to get along with him/her.

 

4. What does she hear? Good words, in most of the time. If there is any bad word, it's not my fault.

— what friends say? She is nice and warm friend to talk with. I enjoy spending time with her. She makes me feel relax. She is a information source, since people like to talk with her.

— what bosses say? She understands her tasks and people who she works with very well. But it seems like she is not ambitious enough in her career. 

— what influencers say? It is kind of hard to influence her. She can understand the point you say, but not necessarily agree with it. She will ask several people for suggestion, and making her own decision at the end. The influencers inspire her.

5. What are her pain points? Am I lack of drive in career? I just don't want to give myself a hard time.

— Fears? If someone is hiding something from her, she can sense it. It makes her feel nervous.

— Frustrations? She feels bad when everyone else is busy around her, while she is not. She will question herself about whether she should be as busy as others?

— Obstacles? She hates being the same with other people. She always tries to make a difference.

6. What does she hope to gain? Rich spirit experience. That's why she reads books and watches movies a lot.

— Wants/needs? Social bond is as important to her as self spirit improvement. Get along with friends and get suggestions & supports, while being helpful to them.

— Measures of success? Success is very subjective to her. It means being helpful to others,  having wonderful children, being happy and healthy.

— Obstacles? "Sometimes when I feel bad, I am not sure whether I can really take charge of my own happiness." She thoughts.

Empathize: Part 2- Empathy Map (About Ariel)

Let's talk about Ariel.

1. What does she think and feel? She is very logical about feelings... "Most engineer background guys do." She thoughts.

— what really counts? She has a family with 2 kids. A whole lot of things to do as a mom, a MBA student, a first-generation immigrant.

 

— major preoccupations? Find a job before graduate from MBA. And get the lottery of H1B work visa if lucky enough.

— worries & aspirations? She worries about there is not enough time to do the things she enjoys. Reading, watching movie, playing piano, accordion and guitar, salsa dancing, yoga, gaming, go diving with her husband in the sea... Her aspirations is to learn more about the world. History, music, place of interests, different cultures, religions...

2. What does she see? People see what himself is.

— environment? Nice and friendly neighborhood she lives. No pollution, no litters,  safe food, so far so good.

— friends? She miss her friends in China. She also needs to do some more networking here to make more friends. Feel free to say hi, she won't bite.

— what the market offers? High tech nowadays provides long distance communication tools such as Facetime, Skype, WeChat Application. It is much easier to make a long distance relationship than 20 years ago.

3. What does she say and do? Shut up and get it done.

— attitude in public? A professional lady is the image she wants.

— appearance? Still need to work on her fashion sense. Just try to look nice using the least time on that. You know, 2 kids' mom.

— behavior towards others? Modest and polite. But sometimes polite means not familiar with in other people's eyes. She really hates to bother people.

4. What does she hear? Everybody is unique.

— what friends say? She is nice and smart. But she doesn't speak as much as other women do.

— what bosses say? She is reliable and professional at work. She will put herself into different shoes to think the same problem.

— what influencers say? Influencer? Oh, come on. She is very quick to catch up what people are trying to say behind his/her words.

5. What are her pain points? Hate to talk about that. Because she wants a powerful image.

— Fears? Other people don't like her. "What I have done wrong?" She thoughts.

— Frustrations? When she was refused by others. That's why normally she don't ask.

— Obstacles? Be true and respectful to her feelings. Because she was ignore about her own feelings so long.

6. What does she hope to gain? Acceptance, respect, love.

— Wants/needs? Social bond and connections.

— Measures of success? Be an Expert in her field. Be respectful.

— Obstacles? Am I asking for too much?