user research: AIGA
Following Lippincott's direction, I was involved in a team at AIGA, the professional association for design, that conducted a user research study to see what members' pain points were with the current join process, why they lapsed, and also to determine what the members valued and were hoping to get out of their membership dues.
After gathering our sample (members and non-members of diverse personas), we asked for consent to conduct interviews, played interactive games, card sort ranking, and spoke with attendees at national conferences and events. Examples of questions asked are “what is design to you?”, “what makes design important?”, and "what has been your career trajectory?". This helped us in understanding their unique situations and to gain empathy for the participants. We found the following themes in their desires:
The findings were synthesized and presented to the entire national staff and 75 local chapters with a brief slide deck; a few of those slides are pictured below:
After gathering our sample (members and non-members of diverse personas), we asked for consent to conduct interviews, played interactive games, card sort ranking, and spoke with attendees at national conferences and events. Examples of questions asked are “what is design to you?”, “what makes design important?”, and "what has been your career trajectory?". This helped us in understanding their unique situations and to gain empathy for the participants. We found the following themes in their desires:
- DEFINING DESIGN
- IDENTITY
- INSPIRATION
- WANTS/NEEDS
- EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
- AIGA AS A BRAND
- COMMUNITY
The findings were synthesized and presented to the entire national staff and 75 local chapters with a brief slide deck; a few of those slides are pictured below: