The ideating process
Undertaking my DA project has been no simple feat and of course, came with many components I had to think about and organise before even beginning to form my ideas. The concept I decided to run with came about by reflecting on my personal experiences and conversing with friends and family to find something I was passionate about. In module one: the ideating process, this came in the form of ‘Thinking.’ In the beginning, before I even knew what I wanted to create I formed a list of ideas I was interested in and could potentially see myself developing into a larger project. Here I wrote a blog post, listing each idea and explaining the ‘why’ I was interested in them and believed them to be a good project.
As a starting point, I noticed a pattern in the way I was thinking, as all but one idea incorporated social media marketing as part of the end result of the project. Thinking in the future, to me wanting to have my own social media marketing business, this seemed like a perfect place to start. From then on, I had had a conversation with a friend about missing going out during lockdown and how we can’t wait to get back onto the party scene, conveniently during the time I was attempting to narrow down what I wanted to finalise as a project. This led me back to my list where I had drinking game written with a question mark next to it and from there I was sold. I had obviously some excitement about being back in the ‘drinking culture’ post lockdown and was passionate about forming my own brand and incorporating social media into my work so it seemed like the perfect option. The next step was generating a problem statement where I evaluated the idea further and really brainstormed the crux of partying and alcohol. I know that sounds like it really can’t be that deep, but I discovered that it wasn’t the act of drinking that I was excited for because reality is I can do that whenever, but it was the environment and culture surrounding drinking that I craved in isolation. Meaning, I was missing going out to dinner with friends, dressing up, dancing to live music, and laughing and swapping stories with mates all while enjoying a few drinks. So, I now had my idea and knew I wanted to create a product that would encourage that culture in a safe way all while using alcohol to add to the fun. My statement led me to identify an issue and explain how I was going to address it and why it was important.
After this, the next stage was narrowing down my audience through observation. I knew I wanted to target my product to a younger generation of 18 to 28-year old’s even though my idea wasn’t limited to anyone. Purely, because I’m 19 and therefore I fit perfectly into my target market and was able to form my audience around my friends and I, knowing what we enjoy and relate to. So, I created a google form and published it to my Facebook, Twitter and was also shared by friends (i.e. Exactly within my target audience!). In it was 6 questions asking for the age bracket, rough category in society, likes and dislikes about this kind of game and what was important when engaging with a product like mine, from my surveying audience. As a result, I was met with 57 responses, which suited perfectly to the details of my initial concept; as my game was targeted to those of ‘feminine nature’ and 78.9% of those who completed it were female, whilst 50.9% of the surveyed individuals were also aged 18-24. 36.8% were also under 18, which I only included as they will be the next generation of pupils to enter my intended audience and therefore their contribution was crucial in order to understand the needs and wants of both my present and future market. This helped me to better determine my audience and what they wanted from my product.
Next, to better define my audience and project structure, I developed a mood board for my DA in order to have a clear direction in where I wanted my product to fit in the market and the environment its use is intended for. This acted as a constant reminder of the overall goal of my DA and allowed me to use it to brainstorm further opportunities from it. In addition to my mood board, I also created a starter pack of my product using the information gathered in my survey about my audience. Here, I utilised tutorial content stating, ‘user needs + user insights + user starter pack = defining.’ Which was demonstrated through the incorporation of data from my survey to define user needs and insights, which I then put into practice in my project. This explicitly defined my intended user and allowed me to tailor the card game to likes and dislikes that fit into this characterised persona.
Lastly, comes the ideating stage in this module. Here was the beginning of my product and where details were finalised for my DA. It also allowed me to ensure my problem statement become actionable in what I was creating and that I was correctly addressing my goals of this assignment. In this stage, I developed my list of game card questions and worked out the logistics of how to play the game, the materials needed and what was required of me to provide an end result. Continuing into now, I have just finalised the colour scheme for my product and began designing the individual cards utilising online resources to keep the motion of creation going.
Throughout the whole ideating module, my project has come together really well, and I am pleased with the progress I’ve made so far. I still have a lot more to develop, yet I hope to have a finished drinking game in my cupboard in the very near future for me to play with friend’s and satisfy my craving to be immersed in drinking culture once again! Follow my Twitter @LaurenKingsto11 and keep an eye out for more blog posts documenting my progress and journey <3