The Preview
Questions to ponder before the big reveal.
If you aren’t caught up on my journey so far, then start here: The Final Year.
Hey, thanks for being here! My name is Courtney, a senior in the Digital Media program at Maryville University, who studies remotely from Oregon. The digital media major encompasses a cross between the worlds of graphic design and marketing. I am making my way through my final year of school and currently working on the grand finale project of all projects, The Capstone. The capstone is a milestone for seniors where you highlight your skillset in a project of your choice. The design topic I chose is branding, which is where I hope my career takes me after graduation. My project, Studio Blend, is building a brand identity for a third-wave coffee bar in the middle of an art studio space with the underlying theme of community. This project will showcase my branding, color, conceptualization, and organization skills. I have made it through ideation, research, main design, and peer reviews and am officially down to just user testing and revising for the final touches.
User Testing
User testing is a key piece in design to ensure that your messaging is effective for the public and that the design itself is appealing to your target market and audience as well. It’s a pivotal point of design where you near your launching point, but helps to fill the stop gap between designer and consumer. My user testing was focused on the perception and reception of the brand and assuring overall clarity in what the brand does.
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With user testing finding a small group within your target audience is pivotal to ensure the success of the testing. I honed in on the coffee market for my group of three: Jessica, Erica, and Hannah.
• Jessica, 31, is a barista and up-and-coming coffee trainer at a local third-wave coffee shop who takes on coffee education as a core hobby.
• Erica, 30, is newly a stay-at-home mom but has 9 years of coffee industry under her belt from barista, management, wholesale, and roasting.
• Hannah, 25, has worked in the coffee industry for 5 years now with her last year as a cafe lead and coffee trainer at a local third-wave coffee shop.
Conducting User Testing
For my user testing, I conducted separate interviews with each of the participants to gather intel on how they experienced the brand and its assets as designed. We took time to go through each piece and discuss any feedback they had, but my core questions were aligned more with brand takeaways than format.
1. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being very clear, and 1 being very unclear:
Are the services offered clear?
2. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being very clear, and 1 being very unclear: How well does the design communicate the services offered?
3. What would you change about the overall experience?
4. Would you visit this brand? Why or why not?
5. Does the design make you feel a certain way about the brand?
6. What makes the brand stand out to you?
7. Is there anything about the designs that confuse you?
8. Did the brand offer a unique perspective compared to your experiences?
9. Would you follow this brand on social media?
10. What do you like least about the brand?
Conclusions
Broad:
The overall takeaway for me was that the design decisions achieved the goal of projecting the underlying themes of openness and community. Each tester mentioned numerous times that this was a place that felt approachable, exciting and drew them in to find out more.
Specific:
Throughout much of the process, I found that the design aesthetic was really working for each of the testers. There were minor details, legibility, or format that each one would point out for suggestions on improvement, but overall many of these are minor adjustments to make through revision. I was pleasantly surprised to find each tester felt like this brand was something unique to what they had experienced and that it was filling a market gap that was much needed in this sphere.
Revisions:
From here I will be focusing on fine detail work in legibility, layout, and ensuring the necessary information is upheld in each design to put the final touches into the work to bring this home.
