User Research
Research Methods
Secondary Research, Competitive Analysis, Interview, Survey
With the growing privacy issue using digital technology, our team seeks to heavily research the space of digital communication. Privacy is becoming a huge issue using digital technology. Increasingly, the assumptions has to be made that all channels of communication can be hacked even when they are encrypted. However, what can’t be hacked is the knowledge in people’s brains (yet).
Secondary Research
Goal: We wanted to explore various embedded codes different cultural groups have adopted and can be only deciphered by the people who are involved.
We also wanted to better understand the process of communication due to the fact that it’s very dynamic. We felt as though it was important to learn about the development and effects of different methods of communication including things such as culture, time, and various channels. We first identified four implicit embedded codes that were gradually established within the cultural group overtime.
Lesbians in Burundi
Women in Burundi had to learn the community code themselves to be allowed into meetings.
Hobo Code
The rules and definitions of hobo code spread by word of mouth; there’s no written “rulebook” about what each code means.
Encryption
End-to-end encryption allows for messages or information shared to only be seen by the sender and the receiver.
Memes
Memes allow for a version of sense making to occur so that people can understand the world around them (politics, pop culture, etc.).
The findings inspired us, and we envision to create a mobile app that allows users to communicate via the use of established, agreed-upon meaning for visual content that only the communicating members involved can decipher.
Competitive Analysis
In order to have better understanding of “what makes a good communication APP“, we decided to use competitive analysis of the eight popular communication apps and identity overarching aesthetic or emotional qualities connected to each app based on the responds we got from survey and interviews.
Survey: The purpose of the survey is for us to understand what are popular communication platforms for young adults and why do they prefer certain applications over others.
Interviews: The purpose of the interviews was to further understand the thought process users have when interacting with different communication platforms.
Competitive Analysis
Users typically had a preferred communication app, but would accommodate for others
Customization
Multiple features, “one stop shop”
In-person communication informs digital communication behaviors