A pet daycare proposal for
A pet daycare proposal for
A pet daycare proposal for
A pet daycare proposal for
xplo
xplo is a brand where we create fun and adventurous experiences for families to explore local neighborhoods and to get to know the people that make these communities. In the day and age of global culture, xplo strives to enhance the local experience - so that children can make fond memories of their childhood and where they grew up!
The problem
The social, economic, cultural, and built characteristics of children's neighborhoods lay down important, sometimes life-long foundations for children's development (Minh, 2017). While children are unique and develop at their own pace, the cultural influence on their development is clearly considerable.
Through our research, we found out that a healthy relationship with your neighborhood right through your childhood can make a big impact on one’s life. This, coupled with the revival of smaller communities were the problem that we were trying to address.
Scope and constraints
Context: We started with the problem of gentrification of neighbourhood’s and then the project led us to the revival of local neighbourhoods by increasing community engagement by creating unique physical experiences for children and their families that enhance their relationship with their communities and improve social interaction.
Content:
User-Centered Research – Interviews, Questionnaires, Worksheets.
Synthesis and analysis Tools – Market research (2*2 matrix, SWOT, Porter’s 5 forces), Stakeholders maps, Affinization, Personas, Empathy map.
Ideation Tools - User scenario and storytelling, Business model generation(Creative matrix, Value v/s difficulty, ZAG, Swot, ABCQ), value proposition canvas.
Prototype -Branding, App development(Figma), Mockup 3-d model, and physical model.
Feedback / Iterate - Taking feedback from users.
Subject: Families with children of age 8+, Teachers, local community leaders.
Location: United States of America.
Timeline: 10 weeks.
Roles and responsibilities
xplo was a result of a project group project, where we turned our little ideas and concepts into a business. We worked in a group of three people. We made a RACI matrix of all the activities and decision-making to be undertaken in the project. I was responsible and accountable for Research, Proofreading, organizing resources, managing meeting agenda, keeping track of weekly progress and deliverables.
Application
xplo kit can be offered in schools and on field trips as a part of the school curriculum to educate children on culture and places. The mobile application can be played in groups with friends, family, or even individually. Making xplo a solution to travel locally. The brand can be picked up by any Local community/authority which needs revival.
Research methodology
We started by creating a survey for parents and teachers to understand the users through a general demographic aspect. We asked them about their experiences related to family travels, their association with their communities, and their children’s field trips
We then moved on to in-person virtual interviews focusing on the same areas while trying to identify their pain points and needs. We also created a little worksheet for kids to learn what they think, what they enjoy, and so on. They even sent us some really cute photographs that they like. The surveys, interviews, and worksheets were chosen because there was an opportunity to engage families in the preservation of the culture and history of a neighborhood and this research method helped us understand their involvement with the community and their experiences related to local travel and culture.
The product
The xplo experience includes 2 components -
1.)A physical kit and
2.)An application that provides an extended experience with additional features
The process
Discover
In the first phase of the diamond, we tried to understand our problem and users. Our primary stakeholders were school children native to the community as well as neighboring communities. Other stakeholders include parents who are looking for unique travel experiences with their children, teachers who are interested in adopting creative teaching methods to engage with their students
And the local community leaders who want to increase their cultural engagement with people and are looking for new ways to do the same. We took this further by drawing a stakeholder map that helped us understand the various actors involved in creating value for our purpose.We further defined our user groups through the chart below. This helped us understand the intersecting needs and offerings of each group that we could use as opportunity areas through the concept ideation.The interviews with these stakeholders were recorded with their permission and transcribed onto sticky notes. After conducting interviews with each user group, Miro board was used to collaborate.We set aside 45-60 minutes to summarise the grouping and the insights on each of our sessions. We created name tags and sticky notes for each participant in advance to organise the data more efficiently.After gathering data we synthesed it by affinitizing them into themes
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As we started our interviews we noticed that one of our user groups being kids (age 8+)it was very difficult to get insights from them through zoom interviews or even in-person interviews. Their minds would wander off in the process of getting to know them or their travel experience, some of them were shy, some of them were more expressive than others. To solve this problem we decided to instead make a worksheet for them and asked them to share their pictures from their travel experiences to understand their gains and pains. This turned out to be a success as it was a little project for them which they enjoyed doing. For us, It was a challenge but also a fun experience to interpret these worksheet and use them to create a solution.
Define
The discover process helped us create empathy maps for our 4 user groups - the parents, kids, teachers, and community leaders. We identified 3 key personas for kids and parents, and 1 persona for teachers and community leaders through these maps. A few things that stood out as we went through the interviews
Families are looking for immersive experiences, that are hands-on and not entirely digital
These are unique times and teachers are looking for creative ways to engage their students
The community leaders are focused on encouraging interaction amongst diverse groups and communities
And kids just want to go out and have fun! Through these insights, we started developing initial ideas and concepts and refining our solution through, value proposition canvas, ABCQ, SWOT analysis, and business model canvas.
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Empathy map working wall
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Develop
In the second diamond, we started developing initial ideas and concepts and refining our solution through an ABCQ, value proposition canvas, and Business model canvas. This was also where xplo was starting to take shape with our branding and app development and user scenarios. We divided our user scenarios into 3 key offerings that we aim to provide. The first one is The Game where the goal of the customers is to explore their neighborhood, Savannah in this case. One of the assumptions we made is that they found our game kit at Target. The 2nd key offering is “learning for children”. This user scenario helped us create a learning experience through the game for kids using this app. The third user scenario - The community. We used this scenario to imagine an extension of our services from one community to another.
Deliver
In the final phase of the diamond, we tested our solution with a family in the park this helped us in perfecting our product we rejected a few details and changed a few to improve the product based on the feedback. We reached a full circle when we started developing our sales pitch and financials. Our story is very close to our heart and we strongly believe in creating a strong relationship with the community that you grow up in and xplo is a result of that belief. The application, the kit the experience, branding, sales, and marketing were all an outcome of applying the principles of project planning and implementation critical to forming a profitable and successful new business entity.
