WHAT PROBLEM DID YOU IDENTIFY?
Throughout our research we identified quite a few problems... most of which, with more research, we realized had already been solved somewhere along the line.
At the start, after deciding on focusing on the past (a theme which we drew from our collection of photographs) we found out that most of the history surrounding our city actually took place outside the city centre, and very few young people actually know the extent of the interesting things beyond Leeds city centre.
After this we decided to have our problem as...
"Students in Leeds do not know what is beyond the city centre"
Following our crit, we decided to completely re-evaluate our problem, we were told it was unfeasable... too broad if you will.
We then decided to narrow down our target audience, after some primary research we found out it was mainly first year students that didn't know what was out there... especially things which relate to their courses (events, attractions, exhibitions... galleries).
We therefore decided that a more appropriate problem would be...
"1st year students at Leeds College Of Art do not know about relevant activities in Leeds"
WHAT EVIDENCE DID YOU FIND TO SUPPORT YOUR DECISIONS?
We all went off and did our seperate research, some of us working in pairs. We investigated what was already out there to inform people of the attractions available to them.
We found a range of different websites, such as Leeds City Council and another campaign called "Leeds, Live it, Love it" which all provided the relevant information but were far too broad, including things which would never interest our target audience.
A lot of what we found was so spread out amongst useless information about the city, we found there was a gap in the market to advertise directly to our students as to what was relevant to them.
We also went to the tourist office, where we found very much the same thing. A broad range of information, but nothing specific.
We also sent out questionnaires with appropriate questions to a range of students over a range of courses.
From this we found out that it was mainly first year students who knew less about the attractions, we also found out that if it was there in an easy format, they would be highly interested in finding out more about the city for an art student.
WHAT METHODS DID YOU USE TO GATHER YOUR EVIDENCE AND WHAT FORMS DID IT TAKE?
Primary
For our primary research we produced a couple of questionnaires which we spread out equally over all the courses in the college.
For our first problem... this was our questionnaire;
1. HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN LEEDS?
1-12 months 1-2 years 2-3 years 3 years or more
2. WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN INTERESTS?
music art film animals literature sport science food
3. WHAT IS YOUR WEEKLY BUDGET INVOLVING LEASURE?
£1-10 £10-20 £20-30 £30-40 £40-50 £50 plus
4. WHAT IS YOUR MAIN MEANS OF TRANSPORT IN AND AROUND LEEDS?
bus walk cycle car taxi train
5. HOW OFTEN DO YOU LEAVE THE CITY CENTRE?
daily weekly monthly never
6. HAVE YOU HEARD OF THESE PLACES?
Harewood House Temple Newsam Kirkstall Abbey Headingley Castle
West Indian Center Thackary Medical Museum Tropical World
7. HAVE YOU BEEN TO ANY OF THE PLACES LISTED ABOVE?
yes no
We found from this that it was mainly first year students who knew the least about these attractions, it was also in that bracket the people who never actually left the city centre (which is what we predicted/makes sense).
This helped us identify our final problem.
Our second questionnaire was far more specific, only targeted at first year students around the college, finding out that if they had the information put in front of them... they would take notice.
We needed to find a way of communicating these attractions in a way which would attract the students.
Secondary
We visited a range of websites over the course of the research, finding mainly that Leeds City Council and Leeds, Live it, Love it were the two which had the most relative information... however spread out and unclear.
We also visited the tourist office, picking up a vast number of leaflets and flyers... all relating to our chosen topic.
WHAT METHODS OF RESEARCH DID YOU FIND MOST USEFUL AND WHY?
I found that all of the research we compiled as a team was useful in different ways... for example, it was our initial secondary research which got us on to topic... followed by some primary research to further that and establish our target audience... and then some more secondary for the information we put together as our final solution to the problems.
All in all, I think it was our questionnaires which put us on the right track to both finding a problem and solving it. It also helped me find out a lot more about some of the other students in the college who we would never have approached without the questionnaire.
HOW DID THESE INFORM YOUR RESPONSES TO THE PROBLEM?
The results of the both the primary and the secondary research helped us identify that, although the information was out there for students to read, not enough of them knew where/how to access it as most of it was highly un-clear and littered amongst un-relevant information.
It helped us establish that the people we really needed to target were the first-year students, and what they needed was an easy way to access information relevant to their seperate courses.
We also found out that the way they most accessed information was through facebook and emails... which is what we built our solution on.
FACEBOOK PAGE:
STUDENT UNION EMAIL TO ALL FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
NEW COLLEGE NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING 'NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY' ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE
WHAT METHODS DID YOU ENCOUNTER AS PROBLEMATIC?
In all group-work there are going to be problems. One we found mainly was not being specific enough about allocating tasks, a lot of us came up with the same research... from the same places. This, however did confirm the problem, but also seemed like we wasted a bit of time on the same thing.
There were also issues with different styles and ideas, likes and dislikes and coming to a comprimise between us on what we were to do/research/solve.
HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THIS?
At the beginning we separated and came up with our own research, although a lot of the information pointed in a very similar direction, it was very useful in establishing a problem.
And although we did all have different ideas and styles, we tried to comprimise and come up with constructive criticism where we could to all agree on what we were doing. Not one decision was made without the whole group being there, in that aspect I feel we worked well as a team.
WHAT RESEARCH COULD YOU HAVE CARRIED OUT WHICH WOULD HAVE PROVED MORE USEFUL?
I would have liked to research more into different ways to get our message accross, maybe even make our own website... however I do think the facebook group will appeal really well.
I would also have liked to research into different art courses in different unis across Leeds (met, uni) and stretched both the questionnaires and the groups to them as well, but this could be done in the future.
We could also have gone to a lot of the galleries around the city and found out more quantitative facts there about the amount of students who actually visit...
LIST 5 THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNT ABOUT THE DESIGN PROCESS OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS...
- When working in a group, you have to communicate everything you do with the rest of the group... all of the design decisions
- The actual design solution comes a lot easier to you when you've researched a lot into a subject.
- Working in a group is difficult, especially when everyone has such different styles, but when you listen to others ideas, you further your own by adding aspects of theirs.
- Using a range of different research techniques is a lot more beneficial than you may think!
- Having a lot more time to do research based work adds a lot of quality to the ideas.
LIST 5 THINGS YOU WILL DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
- I feel we needed a lot more quantitative research in our body of work.
- Although we did all meet very regularly, I feel we could have made more effort outside of college hours to collect our thoughts and ideas as a group.
- I would have liked to further my development in the actual design of the poster... even though my job was designing the photoshop page and getting into contact with the student union, i would have liked to have more to do with the designing of the flyer/poster.
- I would have liked to get into contact with the Leeds, Live it, Love it and the city council people to find out more about their campaigns to give access to students to these attractions.
- I would liked to have talked further with students in the college, taken more time to find out more about what they would like out of our service.
