2. Problem
Who: Javier, a citizen of Madrid, Spain who has just completed a graduate
degree in the United States, a creative artist who makes creative web-based
software that enables communication and creation, started his own company in
the US but was forced to go back to Spain due to visa regulations and is trying
to build a company around his creative software in Spain and the US.
Needs to: capitalize on his creative software products so he can build a
company based on his ideals / values.
Additional insights: Visa issues and regulations have disrupted angel
investment opportunites and have introducted a risk factor without predictable
outcomes.
4. Create prototypes of ideas for
solutions to the problem
Prototype 1:
i. the most practical idea (one that could be easily implemented)
Create web based demos to show how Javier’s creative
and social software products can be used by private
industry
The idea here is to “redecorate” Javier’s social and creative software in order
to market a clear business use case and benefit
Along with the redecoration some marketing demos are made so that he can
present a focused business use case in a short amount of time
We formulated an idea where we would rename a business focused version of
this application named “First Floor”. First Floor is like adding a floor of meeting
rooms to your company. We wanted to try out a visual metaphor for a hallway
with meeting rooms. We wanted to emphasize the message / business benefit
of the software by stressing that meetings don’t have to be a waste of time,
they can be a way to produce work using this collaborative creative software.
7. Prototype 1: testing
I tested this prototype with a content manager at a web company, a web developer, and an IT director
at a larger organization. These people might make decisions about what types of web applications
their company buys and uses. These people may also influence those types of decisions and have
used some type of web based collaboration / social tools in the past.
Responses and feedback insights:
- highlight how this app is different from hangouts / other social / meeting and conference tools
- receptive to the hallway metaphor, is different from other collaborative apps
- looking for feature matches and cost comparisons with other software
- Asking about pricing / price model first
- wanting to know how it will perform
- quality of the video demos would influence decision to use
- if the company did not already use these types of apps they probably won’t use it
- like the benefit of capturing artifacts during meetings and making them available for download
- noticed the info about the meetings and asked about it, what type of info would you see
- they would test usability with similar tools
- thought format of demo was standard / consistent with modern web apps
8. Create prototypes of ideas for
solutions to the problem
Prototype 2:
i. the most practical idea (one that could be easily implemented)
Build a subscription model into all products
The idea here is to build a subscription model into all apps. I expanded this
idea to explore the easiest way by which a paywall can be added to a website /
added to creative content so someone can generate revenue from it.
I developed a prototype for “Add a $cription”, a service that allows anyone to
get money from a webpage. I developed this idea from interviews with the
concept of “Javier needs to capitalize off of his creative products” with a comic
book artist I was talking with. I contemplated how “artists need to captitalize off
of their creative products” and being able to easily charge for their content
already on the internet. The comic book artist already had a website for his
comics, what if he wanted to add a paywall to it in the easiest way possible? I
asked a few people what is the most effort they would go through to try and
collect money from their web page? I then tried to make something that would
allow someone with no technical knowledge to do this.
11. Prototype 2: testing
I tested this idea with a mom who has had a blog before, the comic book artist, and a friend who was
at our house. I also discussed ideas of how creative people can capitalize from their creative output
(emphasis on the internet and device applications) with a few visual artists.
Responses and feedback insights:
- would be interesting to see who would pay for your web page
- what if you could charge very small amounts like $.10?
- seems very easy to set up, but gets complicated in management
- do you need all the managment? what is the absolute minimum
- what if I don’t know my address
- what if it’s blogspot?
- would want to see if other people make money from it / and with what, would want examples
- I don’t know if my stuff is worth paying for / doubts you could make money
