A case study: How I ran a workshop with a cross-cultural group of designers to design a mobile App

Objective: Defining existing problems of the current App

Overview

I ran a co-design workshop to test my research findings. The purpose of this co-design workshop was to collect feedback and gain insights from all the stakeholders (students, developers, designers) regarding the SydneySydneyUni App. It aimed to 1) discover end-users’ pain points and needs regarding the existing mobile app Sydney Uni, 2) identify shared values and goals of all the stakeholders, and 3) explore more feasible and value-adding functional ideas based on the feedback and suggestions from participants for the new app. I am presenting all the details here. Feel free to use this as a case example. You can also try and plan your co-design workshops accordingly.

When and Where

When: One weekend day

Where: A quiet meeting room

Time duration: 2.5 hours workshop, 30 mins pizza and chatting, and followed by a survey

Workshop Agenda

Before entering into the room, a survey was sent out to collect information about participants. This was to gain a general picture about the participants' cultural backgrounds and design knowledge; as well as to assist the secondary research in terms of students' favourable apps.

In the workshop, introduction and warm-up section took about 10 mins, design exercises for identifying shared values and goals took about 1 hour 25 mins. At the end, the share-out and feedback section took about 15 mins.

Outcomes

Organising a two-hour co-design workshop with both international and domestic students, one developer of the SydneyUni App, I successfully discovered needs and pain points of end-users (students), identified values from creators’ perspectives effectively, and productively analysed data, synthesised insights to define the existing problems. For example, sociability, time efficiency, career development, ethics and morals are mostly cared about values; App's creators mostly value profit-cost efficiency and time efforts. The results were taken back to the SydneyUni App development team and applied for preparing the new App for both iOS and Android. The new App was launched on 9th December 2019, it is available to download at Apple Store and Google Play

Process

The design context of the workshop was to improve the life and study experiences of students at the University of Sydney by way of improving the current SydneyUni Mobile App. Six participants - three from Asian countries (China and Vietnam) and three locals from Sydney, attended the App workshop. The author was the facilitator for the workshop, and prior to commencement, basic ethnographic information was sought via survey to elicit a general picture of their design knowledge and perception A question enquired as to the three mobile Apps frequently used, including the embodiment of Analogy method. Analysis of the Apps’ feedback enabled the collection of the various countries' cultures and preferences of the participants via platforms.

At the beginning of the workshop, international students were mixed-cultural paired with local participants into three groups, and given more attention during the workshop to encourage high engagements in a cross-cultural group. This approach is the embodiment of the practice of Benevolent Paternalism Leadership (Lu et al., 2018). Additionally, four phases that would be frequently used in this workshop, Wayfinding+, Services+, Timetable+, Idea pool, were defined and pinned on the whiteboard. These languages were raised according to Secondary Research before the workshop regarding students’ daily life and needs on campus.

After a drawing exercise to quickly involve everybody (designers and non-designers) into design activities, the first exercise was sharing three frustrating moments in relation to study and life experience at the University of Sydney based on What-Why-How, which was included in Story Mining method. This exercise was to know their major concerns, such as “hard to find a job as an international student”, “confused about my timetable”, “hard to find a dining place”. Based on these concerns, the next exercise was to give them tasks and let them complete on the current App, such as “find out the next class”, “apply for a job”. Participants wrote down their navigation steps and difficulties during their journey on the App, which recruited the User Journey method. Then, Collage was employed; participants chose the most relevant activities on the pictures which can represent their campus life. Needs and pain points regarding the current App were defined by summarising and evaluating their stories.

Collage

Besides as a major source of gaining cultural knowledge, Analogy method was also used for generating stories and understanding their needs and pain points better. For example, Chinese Facebook users want to get more involved in local social life. Another exercise was Card Sort. Given all the existing platforms (inc. websites and mobile Apps of the University of Sydney), participants ranked these platforms according to use frequencies, and explained why. This approach helped prioritise the needs and pain points.

Card Sorting Affinity Diagram

At the end of the workshop, the App developer was asked to share his feedback and concerns from the perspective of product creation and development. This was a reflection step regarding students’ needs and suggestions, which contributed to values identification of development team.

After the workshop, Affinity diagram and Empathy Mapping were applied to identify shared values and goals, analyse and synthesise data. Employing the process model and methods successfully achieved the expected workshop’s outcomes:

1) three identified shared values

Time Efficiency
Sociability
Ethics & Morals

2) one shared goals

Improve students study and life experience via the Sydney Uni Mobile App

3) four design problems:

How might we design the App which allows students to find any services or information related to study, career, health and administrations quickly?
How might we design the App which allows students to find a place conveniently?
How might we design the App which allows students to find an event easily?
How might we create an App which makes students feel customised and useful?

Benevolent Paternalism Leadership References:

Aritz, J., & Walker, R. C. (2014). Leadership Styles in Multicultural Groups: Americans and East Asians Working Together. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(1), 72–92. https://doiorg.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/10.1177/2329488413516211

Lu, L., Li, F., Leung, K., Savani, K., & Morris, M. W. (2018). When can culturally diverse teams be more creative? The role of leaders’ benevolent paternalism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(4), 402–415. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/10.1002/job.2238