Over the past semester, having the opportunity to work on the Insight/Experience Audit and Prototype with my group has been a very eye-opening experience. Although there were many aspects of this project that gave me a better idea of what it means to be a marketer, two in particular really stood out: developing the persona and building the prototype.
Developing the persona at the start of the project was really beneficial to me because it helped me understand the purpose of marketing. We are not trying to find people who are willing to buy our product, but rather we are getting to know people on a deeper, more intimate level and gaining insights to create a better customer experience.
Initially, however, I did not approach this assignment in that way. When I first learned which room of the house our group was assigned (the bedroom), I actually began to generate ideas for a bedroom product. It was not until Professor Walls told our group that we should not worry about the product until we develop our persona that I stopped thinking about the product altogether and began to picture our persona, a middle-aged married couple, James and Mary Davis. Our group then shifted attention away from the prototype, and we completely immersed ourselves in the perspective of James and Mary and who they were as people.
After we developed a few assumptions and personal traits about James and Mary, we began our generative and quantitative research to confirm/reject our hypotheses and look for insights about enhancing our persona’s experience in this particular room of the house. The key insight we found across our research sample was that of noise disturbances caused by differing schedules and differing tastes in music, television programs, white noise, etc. Using this insight as a platform on which to generate product ideas, our group came up with separate dome speakers to be placed above the bed in order to prevent noise disturbances caused by alarm clocks and other sources of sound such as music and television.
Approaching the assignment by creating a persona before developing the prototype helped me to better understand the need for this product and how it can improve the bedroom experience of our persona. In addition, the building of the prototype was a very useful, interesting, and personally relevant experience.
What helped me understand products and prototypes the most was listening to the guest speaker, Jeff, speak about his knowledge of industrial design and his experience with building prototypes. In both of the two instances that Jeff guest lectured, I was introduced to topics I knew next to nothing about. The content of both of his presentations gave me a very clear understanding of what is attractive and desirable to consumers as well as the practical ways of achieving the aforementioned. I learned that sleek, simple, and straightforward products that achieve a desired goal are what customers need and find appealing. I also learned about the different approaches to building a prototype such as using objects as simple as paper, tape, and cardboard.
The experience of getting to build an actual prototype allowed our group to produce a physical, tangible manifestation of what we were thinking. It really opened my eyes to the possibility and feasibility of getting our invention on store shelves. One of the things I love about this class is the connections to what is outside the classroom, to the types of situations that companies and marketers face every day.
This assignment and this class as a whole gave me the opportunity to apply the theories I have been learning over the past three years and a chance to think the way a marketer would.
Not only did I gain a richer understanding about marketing by learning about developing a persona and building a prototype, but I also had an enjoyable experience and great interaction with my group, Professor Walls, as well as the entire class. Being able to complete this assignment with my group definitely contributed to my learning and enjoyment of the material because there was a clear consensus between us about what we were learning and why it was important for the assignment.
Practically speaking, having a group with which to share the weight and responsibility of this assignment helped lighten my load and feel a sense of cohesiveness and camaraderie. Luckily, all of my teammates were always willing to lend a helping hand and contribute to the success of this project. For example, Jaime Quintanilla was so flexible with his schedule and was willing to come to every single meeting even when he did not necessarily need to be there. Maggie Bang was wonderful with delegating tasks and making sure that the content of our presentations was up to par. Natasha Immaraj was also really helpful with coming up with ideas especially with building the prototype.
In addition, I enjoyed the feedback and interaction with Professor Walls and the rest of the class which occurred in the process of updating our progress as well as giving our final presentation. I thought that breaking the presentation into parts allowed Professor Walls to track our progress and give us feedback which helped us come up with a much more refined and better final product.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project and class as a whole because I have learned so much about what it takes to launch a product that actually adheres to the needs of consumers and creates a valuable experience for them. There is so much more than what meets the eye when looking at a product on a store shelf. When I look back on all of the research and constant probing and digging through the data to find one valuable insight, I have a much greater appreciation for the work that marketers and industrial designers do and undergo. I sincerely hope that Professor Walls continues to assign The Insight/Experience Audit and Prototype in future classes because it truly is a very valuable and enjoyable project.
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