alc journal / nomo research
TRANSCRIPT
Where'sAtif?Presents
Alc Journal / NoMoA tool that tracks the user's drinking through the night and indicates when to stop.
Research QuestionHow do people behave around
drinking/alcohol?
Recruitment Survey
87 people answered
Do you have a smartphone?
Do you ever drink too much?
43 left
87 left
Do you use tracking apps?
18 leftWould you like to help?
13 left
100% of pool
57% of pool
37% of pool
44% of pool
Only 14% of the pool matched our criteria.
We initially missed important questions such as the person's name.
Almost everyone drinks too much on occasion. Affirmative answers to this didn't mean they were the people we were looking for.
Age question ended up being arbitrary.
HARDSHIPS &LEARNING!
Interviews
InterviewsCamille, age 26, student
"I would say about 4 drinks..strong beers or wine."
"[The goal is] to have somefun with my friends. I likedrinking. I like the taste of it. It helps me talk and just talk to people in general. It makes memore social."
"I don't really check it [my phone] when I'm out with people. Maybe if I'm waiting."
"No, I don't think I really have to stop drinking[in regard to AlcJournal]."
Taylor, age 20, student
"[I drink] probably oncemaybe twice, if that[a week]. Probablyone to three [drinks]."
"I wouldn't say it gets me drunk, but enough to mellow out my social inhibitions. And to get drunk, maybe, six drinks."
"The main goal to the drinking is to decrease the inhibitive quality of myself and talk freely."
"I use Mint and I use Daytum a little bit. Not regularly, because it's a pain in the ass to put them in."
"No." [in regards to entering drinksinto AlcJournal]
InterviewsHailey, age 26, public relations
"Including drink athome, I'd say I go out4 days a week."
"I usually keep myphone in front of me,so I'm always checking it."
"I've used Lose It.. and the other one.. My Fitness Pal. I updated the apps every time I consumed something."
"Yeah, I would definitely use it because there are times when you meet up with your friends after work, you haven't had dinner.. there are pitchers of things and you have to go to work the next day. It would help."
Noelle, age 21, student
"It varies, but [I drink]probably twice a week..a beer or a glass of wine."
"[The goal is to] loosen upa bit. I'm kind of shy so it helps me loosenup a bit."
"It's hard to know when to stop sometimes.I have had too much to drink."
"I think that would be cool to have something so I could keep track and not rely on other people. Maybe something on my phone."
InterviewsEmilio, age 21, student
"Last time I drank too muchwas in June.."
"Maybe if I'm not having agood time, I'll be checking myphone out of boredom, out of social awkwardness"
"I don't really track my diet or workouts."
"I'm usually the one on that end [who tells friends to stop drinking]. I'm the voiceof reason."
"[AlcJournal] would be a good idea. Especially for people that are driving maybe."
Taryn, age 20, student
"I always check my phone when I'm drinking because I'm in a long-distance relationship."
"I'll usually drink about 4-6 drinks, which will get me drunk, but still have fun."
"When I stop having fun and start feeling dizzy, I know I've reached my limit."
"I would definitely use an app that would tell me my limit."
Some people didn't talk much
We lost sound on two of our interviews.
Asking non-leading questions is hard.
Only certain people are willing to manually input data into an app. What incentives exist to make them do it?
In the survey, we forgot to ask to what extent people use tracking apps, or drink.
HARDSHIPS &LEARNING!
App Reviews
Fitocracy, My Fitness Pal
Period Tracker, Gulp
Calorie Counter, Water Your Body, Mint
Lose It, BAC Alcohol Calc, Tipple
There were no direct competitors. Each app only had a few things to do with our idea.
People need to really care about the goal if they're going to do anything.
Style matters, as well as the flow.
We should automate as much as we can.
Pay attention to non-standard users.
HARDSHIPS &LEARNING!
Don't overwhelm the user with too many non-essential functions.
Users like to see their data represented visually.
HARDSHIPS &LEARNING!
Personas
there's atif
Persona #2
Internship at a small company
18-24
Student
easily finds new / better products
chill / relaxed
distracted by texting
wants to know how to drink
texts a lot
uses android
needs to feel smart
doesn't know much about alcohol
habitual web / comp nerds
lives on campus
uses Facebook on phone
uses Twitter on phone
PC user
wants to stop blacking out
wants to learn to drink
prefers: usability / speed
using at night (8pm - 2am)
will use app at home, drinking with friends
connected to 4G at all times
drinks once a week
tech savvy
heavy smart phone user
not too much money, but enough to buy a couple of beer a week
has a fake id
mac-users. apple geeks
female
in college (18-21)
uses phone for everything
at a friend's house / party
drinks a lot
occasional web/comp users
jumps to latest trendy products
still living off of parents money, able to spend a lot on drinks
wants to brag about tracked drinks
party animal
foursquare
easily bored
urban big cities, no car, can get more drunk
stumble upon
current with slang
uses product mostly at night
Persona #3
Male
Post college (21-30)
Just married/in a relationship
No kids
Urban, city type
Makes 40k +
Big company, big money
Business/financial worker
Works at large corporation
Tech savvy
Web is second nature
Uses newest safari
Lion or mountain lion
iPhone
Mac (1-2 yrs old)
Super fast Internet
Watches tv online
Gets news online
Loyal to products that he uses and keeps up with latest updates
Uses financial tracking app
And pays with phone
Uses app when drinking
Checks phone when out
Uses app at bars
Uses app on the weekends
Persona #1
Personas: Raw Clusters
Stephen, The Rarely Drinking Vomiter21 years oldStudying Computer Science at Rutgers. Lives on campus.Has an internship at a small company in the areaWants to become a successful entrepreneur.Not rich, but has enough money from his job to buy a couple of beers every week.Tech Savvy. Android / PC user. Trusts technology.Heavy smartphone user.Texts a lot. Distracted by texting while using other apps.Mostly goes out to friends houses.Only drinks about once a week, but often goes overboard.Relaxed, generally happy.Needs to feel smart.Hates feeling embarrassed.Wants to know how to drink properly.Prefers usability to style.
Jane, The Party Animalin college19 yrs. oldstill lives off parent's money, able to spend a lot of drinksApple userlives in urban environment without caroccasional web/computer usereasily bored, party-animalcurrent with latest slanguses smart phone for everythingjumps to latest product trendsuses: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Stumbleupondrinks 4 times a week at friend's houses & partieswants to brag about tracking drinks
Max Davis, The Doesn't Want To Settle Down But Is Engaged Anyway Guy
26 years old.Graduated from UCLA, and moved to NY to pursue career in Public Relations.Works 50–70 hours a week, and has been at Sally Fischer PR for almost 3 years. Makes $60k per year.Recently engaged.Can be aggressive.Needs to feel in control.Web and mobile are second nature. He uses his phone to get all of his information and entertainment.Goes to Happy Hour and bars after work/on the weekend to catch up with friends and relieve the stress of the work week.Before he was engaged he partied a lot, and often lost control. Now that he is getting married, he wants to learn his limit.
We made a lot of assumptions.
The interviews helped us figure out characteristics of our user base.
Different people = different clusters.
The more specific, the better.
That's a lot of post-its.
HARDSHIPS &LEARNING!
Key Findings
Research can prove your idea wrong.
Less people than we thought would be interested in our initial idea. :(
The goal is the most effective incentive.
People won't necessarily check their phones when they're out drinking.
LEARNING!
Design Considerations
People won't work for us. Find a way to automate the app.
Keep the interface & functionality simple.
Keep in mind the frequency at which people check their phones when designing the flow.
LEARNING!
Open QuestionsNext Steps
What can we make that fits into the way people behave around drinking?
We learned people mostly use their phones while waiting for friends. What can we make that takes advantage of this?
Next Step: Rethink the concept based on what we've learned. Either tweak it or do something else in the same space.
LEARNING!