Team 310 initiated the user needs identification phase by conducting a comprehensive review of numerous existing products. From this pool, the team selected five distinctive weather station-related products for research purposes. We thoroughly read reviews from their selected product, ensuring a thorough examination of both positive and negative feedback. Through this review process, recurring user needs were identified and categorized as either latent or explicit.
With the identified user needs as a foundation, the team conducted a brainstorming session using Google Jamboard, generating an additional 100 potential needs. A detailed analysis of these needs revealed five distinct categories: Appearance, Safety, Functionality, Features, and Usability. Appearance was an important category to our team because we wanted the product to be more aesthetically pleasing than the mobile weather stations on the market and we wanted to incorporate the beauty of nature. The physical appearance of a product is an important factor when determining which product to buy, all mobile weather stations have the same features, therefore the best way to stand out is to be pleasing to the eye. Safety was important to our team because we wanted to ensure this product would be fit for anyone, including children. To ensure parents would want to purchase this item for their home, we wanted to include extra safety measures and keep safety as one of our top priorities. Functionality was also a priority because our team wanted to ensure that our product worked as intended, if not better. We agreed that there is nothing worse about spending time carefully choosing a product just for it to not function as intended or be difficult to use. Features were important to us because we wanted to provide some features not offered by similar products and ensure the best user experience. Lastly, Usability was important to our team because we wanted to advertise this product as “rated E for everyone”, our goal was to make the product as easy and safe to use while still fulfilling its overall purpose of being a mobile weather station.
Utilizing these categories, each “sticky note” need was organized and rated on a scale from one to three stars.
To progress in the design process, the team studied three distinct user stories focusing on Interaction Examples, Venues, and Stakeholder Interactions. This exploration provided invaluable insights into user needs and informed decisions regarding Hardware, Software, Interactivity & User Experience, Customization, Manufacturing, and Safety aspects of the product. This information gave our team a deeper understanding of user needs and the aspects we needed to implement into our final design.
A comprehensive overview of the Jamboard process, including both unorganized and organized user needs, is provided in the Appendix.