20/4/26 - 25/7/26 (Week 1 - Week 14)
Choong Yee Leng || 0381980
Minor Project || Bachelor Degree in Creative Media ||
Taylor’s University
Full Compilation
TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Instructions
2. Work Process
3. Submission
4. Feedback
5. Reflection
INSTRUCTIONS
Document 1.1 Module Information
WORK PROCESS
Task 1: Empathy Stage
In the empathy stage, we're expected to gather insights from the b40 woman
entrepreneurs by interviewing them. Before interviewing them, we prepared the
interview questions by separating the targeted group into
b40 woman entrepreneurs who sell online/ offline. We then translate the
prepared questions into BM to smoothen the interview process since many of
them are more comfortable with BM.
Figure 2.1 Interview questions
After interviewing 4 b40 woman entrepreneurs, we found out that the
targeted group we set earlier does not differentiate the user group well,
since all of them engage in social media platform more or less. Thus, we
decided to address our user group as b40 woman entrepreneurs who provide services/ sell products. After these, we continue carrying out 2 more interviews with these user
groups.
After transforming the interview audios into transcripts, we start
collecting findings by building an affinity diagram in
FigJam.
Figure 2.2 Affinity diagram
Task 2: Define & Ideate Stage
After gathering the findings, we transformed them into actionable insights
and identified the users' key concerns. In the Define stage, we clearly
outlined these concerns and established solution directions that directly
address each identified issue.
Figure 2.3 Problem statement & HMW questions
In Ideate stage, we adopt the Crazy 8 ideation. All members are given 8
minutes to sketch ideas based on the defined problem.
Solutions that are ideated can be categorized as:
- Workshop/ courses that help to develop their skills
- Applications that help in promoting businesses
- Applications/ tools that help in business management
- Venue provided for them to enhance their business exposure
- Additional human recourses
- Business system innovation (chain business)
We finalized these ideations into 3 solutions that address the main concerns
like limited customer reach and digital literacy:
- Business hunting apps
- Marketplace
- Digital skills training workshop
Task 3: Prototype & Testing
After finalizing our solution, a business-hunting app, we moved on to the
prototyping stage. To make the workflow more efficient, we divided the
team based on our areas of specialization. The three UI/UX design students
focused on designing the app prototype in Figma, while the two animation
students worked on producing the promotional video.
Before designing the interface in Figma, we first developed the
information architecture and user flow, applying the principles we had
learned in our UX/UI specialization courses. This allowed us to organize
the app's content, define the navigation, and ensure that the overall user
journey and app logic were clear and functional before moving into the
visual design stage.
Figure 2.5 Architecture Information
Figure 2.6 User Flow
We named the apps MEKAR, which means blooming in Malay, indicate that the
b40 woman entrepreneurs are blooming in their entrepreneur career. We also
set the colour palette, logo of the apps and the typography system before
proceeding to the prototype process.
Figure 2.5 logo and UI kits
In the testing stage, we've designed 3 tasks for the user to complete to
ensure that the main feature in our apps works well with them. However, the
testing is not smooth as expected which some main features are confusing and
not noticeable to the user:
-
Header section in “Job Details” wasn't clearly separated from the about
section.
- Capital estimator lacks sufficient visibility.
-
“Cancelled Order” button and reason of cancellation is not visible enough.
- The “By Time” feature seems awkward and unnecessary.
We then make another refinement based on the testing insight.
SUBMISSION
Final Slides Submission:
Week 1: Project brief
Week 2: Questions should be arranged in a more natural way, avoid asking
questions that directly leads to financial concerns (less sensitive).
Week 3: Questions are refined and good to go
Week 4: Its good to change the target user group. The affinity diagram should
be created by gathering insights (similarities and differences) between the
interviewees, then connect between the insights. Problem statements and HMW
questions are good to go.
Week 5: Task 1 submission
Week 6: Task 2 submission brief
Week 8: Business hunting apps is a good idea, but we still need to figure out
how does it get sustained and approach to our target users.
Week 9: Create an architecture information and user flow for both customer and merchant, the apps prototype Do not need to include the customer side.
Week 10: Minimum 3-5 participants from each targeted group for testing
Week 11: Use STARK in figma to check the apps accessibility, and colour wheel to create a colour palette.
Week 12: Describe why you choose this colour scheme, change the user pronouns to client/merchant, messages caption change to chat, make the text larger.
Week 13: Add drop shadow for the box and change the background colour in login page. Put the Mekar at home page. Change the display information in the order page to job name instead of job ID.
Week 14: Create chart to summarize the 3 user testing insight instead of presenting it individually.
REFLECTION
This module was highly practical and valuable because it simulated a real-world design project with an actual client–designer relationship. It gave us the opportunity to experience all five stages of the Design Thinking process through hands-on practice, making the learning experience much more meaningful than simply studying the concepts in class.
One of my biggest takeaways is that the Design Thinking process has become a framework that I will continue to apply in future design projects. It has changed the way I approach problem-solving by reminding me to understand the problem thoroughly before thinking about solutions.
Among the five stages, the Empathy and Define stages took the most time, but I realized they were also the most important because they laid the foundation for the entire project. These stages helped us identify the real needs and challenges of our target users, preventing us from wasting time, effort, and resources on solutions that did not address the actual problem. With a clear understanding of the users, we were much more confident during the Ideate stage because our ideas were based on research rather than assumptions.
I also found the Testing stage particularly meaningful. Even after we had developed our solution, we returned to our target users to gather their feedback and validate whether the app met their needs. In a way, the Design Thinking process came full circle, we began by engaging with the users to understand their problems and ended by engaging with them again to evaluate our solution. This reinforced the importance of user feedback and reminded me that good design is an ongoing, iterative process rather than a one-time outcome.
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