Project brief
Kontinentalist was curious if their potential product idea could be the right solution for their target users. The idea: a product where anyone can engage in data storytelling, easy to access, create and share their data storytelling piece. Holding this beautiful idea in mind, their primary goal was to understand the needs and pain points of their target users in creating data storytelling. This would inform their direction in the product ideation - whom they need to design for and what type of solutions they will offer.
User research plan
Aimed at enabling users to craft an engaging data storytelling piece in a more accessible manner, 55 Minutes designed research questions that helped Kontinentalist validate their assumptions and answer their questions about their target user profiles.
Research questions
55 Minutes asked major research questions as below:
- What is the current process of target users to communicate data with their target audience and what are major pain points in the current process to craft and communicate their data?
- What are the goals of target users to achieve with communication of data?
- What prevents target users from achieving their goals in their work flow/ the process of communicating and publishing content using data?
To answer these research questions, we planned two rounds of user interviews that explored the target user groups as well as the major pain points from the specific user groups.
1st round user interviews
In the first round we talked to 10 participants who were:
- Researchers in academia
- Researchers in local public organisations
- Data and communication experts in global non profit organisations
- Data storytelling professionals (startups and freelancers)
A 60-minute interview via Zoom was conducted and each participant was asked to share their screens to walk through their current work flow. Looking at their work flow, we tried to identify where their current pain points lie in their own context, especially when they need to communicate their data with others. Overall, the current process is a long and complex journey involving various levels of expert and software tools until they receive the final outcome. Some profiles among participants’ groups didn’t create a data storytelling piece themselves due to the current workflow and system.
2nd round user interviews
Kontinentalist then asked “what-if” questions. What if non-professional data storytellers wanted to create and share interesting storytelling to the public directly and confidently, without having to engage experts or use too many tools in data storytelling?
In the second round, we talked to five participants, zooming into:
- Communication/media specialists in non-profit organisations
- Researchers in academia
This helped us identify their specific needs by understanding their current behaviours and motivations when they needed to communicate their stories with data.
Overall, the two rounds of interviews helped us discover qualitative insights about how the solution could be shaped with How Might We (HMW) questions. Below are our qualitative insights and HMW questions.
⚫ Help users reduce the time it takes to create content
Looking at all profiles, the key value proposition addressed is time and efficiency to produce outcomes faster and easier with good quality content outcome.
How might Kontinentalist help non-professionals in data storytelling create a good quality data storytelling piece faster and easier?
⬚ Do not create an entirely new pipeline
It wouldn’t be easy if the solution is forceful for users to change their everyday habits / mental model. The solution should fit in users’ current workflow in their current pipeline. At the organisational level, the final data storytelling piece is required to integrate with their current website/IT system.
How might Kontinentalist design a solution that supports users’ current workflow and system?
▲ Go beyond the template solutions
Researchers in academia are experimental and want something beyond the existing template solutions (e.g. Wordpress and Canva).
How might Kontinentalist provide a unique solution that does not overlap with existing solutions?
Below are the three major personas synthesised from two rounds of user interview outcomes that represent the target user profiles of Kontinentalist’s product idea.
