Queens College Design

Scenario: You’re thinking of changing something about your appearance. You want to know if it’s a good idea to dye your hair green.

Tasks: 

1. Find an unpersonalized answer to your question.

2. Check the latest message from your friend in the chatroom.

3. Filter your options

4. Find a personalized answer to your question.

People don't like discreditable information.

Solution: Take answers from creditable sites like .gov, .org, or company Q&A.

Some people like to try new things and hear other perspectives.

Solution: Provide a variety of answers and perspectives.

People don't like to fill out a whole bunch of questions.

Solution: Ask the 5 most important questions.

People like to research on different sites and platforms.

Solution: Provide direct links to exact answers and/or extra info to a variety of sites and sources.

Some people wouldn't really trust an app that makes decisions for them because they feel it doesn't actually know them.

Solution: Ask a good amount of initial questions OR ask for a lot of permissions to track habits.

People like to ask their friends and family for their thoughts and suggestions.

How might we help individuals make decisions more easily

and faster so that they will be more productive while being

confident of their decisions?

Success looks like people getting answers quickly and thoroughly

so that they can start and continue making progress in different

User Interview:

1. How old are you?

2. What do you do for a living?

3. Do you use Android or IOS devices? Which products from them do you use?

4. How often do you search for apps on the Google Play Store or App Store?

5. How often do you buy apps from the Google Play Store or App Store?

6. Which category of applications do you usually search for?

7. Do you like to use Lifestyle types of applications? (Meditation and Self help, workout/fitness, Tools and utilities) Which Lifestyle apps do you have and like to use?

8. What is the difficulty level of making decisions for yourself? (Do you find it easy or hard to make decisions? Does it take a long time to make a decision?)

9. Do you prefer to have more options or less options when making a decision? Why?

10. How often do you look up answers to your questions on the internet to determine a decision?

11. Which platforms do you use? (ex. Google, Quora, Reddit, Quizlet)

12. Do you find these platforms helpful?

13. Which one do you tend to do more: Asking other people about a decision you should make or going to the web for answers? 

14. Do you believe social media has an impact on your decision making? Why do you think that is?

15. Can you walk me through your decision making process?

16. Would you be open to an app that helps you make decisions based on your own preferences? Why or why not?

Expert Interview:

1. What do you do for a living?

2. What is the difficulty level for making decisions for yourself?

3. How hard do you think it is for a typical human to make an educated decision for themselves? Why?

4. Do you believe that more options are better for people’s decision making process or less options? Why?

5. How often do patients come to you for insight on a specific decision they have to make?

6. How do you feel about people seeking answers online for decisions they have to make?

7. Is there a difference between seeking answers from actual people in your life compared to online? Are there any pros or cons between them?

8. Do you believe social media has an impact on people’s decision making?

9. Do you believe spending less time making a decision is beneficial? Why is that?

10. Can you walk me through your decision making process?

1.Age + Occupation

2. Do you go shop for groceries in person or use a service? Why? 3. How often do you shop?

4. Are you on a certain diet? What is it? 5. Do you get fresh food vs. Premade? Why? 6. At the end of the week do you purge your fridge? Why? 7. Do you ever keep food past the expiration date? Why? 8. Do you use a food compost at all? Why? 9. Would you consider buying soon to be expired food at a discount? Why? 10. How can supermarkets help with food waste? 11. Do you keep track of how fresh your food is once you buy it?

12. When you're buying food, how often do you check the expiration date?

What do you want to learn about, related to this topic?

What the individual does with their food waste and find out how we can improve that situation. Target audience:

20+ Write down five areas that you could ask about to help you learn about the topic. 

Fresh food vs. Premade food

How often they buy food

As I was deciding which app I wanted to create, I couldn’t help but realize the limitless options that I had.  Too many options if I must say.  That idea got me thinking about how when humans have more options, it’s harder for them to make a decision. When they have a few select options, it’s easier to pick one because with less options, there’s less feelings of uncertainty. From that, I came up with the idea of making an app to narrow down your options. 

This app will have various categories pertaining to the decisions you make in life from what you wear to what your career might entail. When you click on one of these categories, a question one by one will come up to ask about your preferences in each area. For example, if you don’t know what to wear on a certain day, some questions might ask about your mood, the weather status, what type of event or place you are heading to, and how do you want others to perceive you that day. In return, it will give a few options of clothing styles/choices to choose from.  This will narrow down your choices and make it easier for you to get on with your day.