What problem did you identify? During this brief, our group made the decision to look at 'how to care for your guinea pig'. It was intended to inform first time buyers on how to correctly look after their newly purchased pet. The audience was therefore most likely going to be parent and child, so we needed to look into how to effectively solve the problem of delivering our message to both of these age groups. This was coming from the perspective that we would be selling our product within major stores such as Pets at Home.
What evidence did you find to support your decisions? We found that guinea pigs were an extremely popular first pet within the UK, making up 1.5% of the pet population overall, being more widely owned than smaller animals such as hamsters. We gathered numerous leaflets on guinea pig care, all of which were extremely formal and crammed with a load of information. We therefore wanted to make something that was functional and interactive, but still informative. Research into guinea pig carriers presented us with a bit of a boring market. Creating some form of transportation for the pet, that was different to anything already out there, therefore seemed like an interesting task.
When transporting a newly purchased pet from the shop, the child would normally sit with the box on their lap. From this, we felt that on the journey home, this was a great time to feed information to the owner. The child would be able to interact with the information placed on the box whilst travelling back. We also found out that guinea pigs are very sensitive to changes in the smell of their surroundings. They become very uncomfortable if they cannot smell anything familiar. The box could therefore act as this familiar thing, that could be placed in their pen as a bedding area after their journey.
Primary - At the start of the project, I created a survey to gather a general overview of pets that left me with numerical data. Although the response rate was quite low, it gave me somewhere to start. Fortunately, this led me into delving further and undergoing a small open-ended interview with one of the participants.
Secondary - In order to gather more information, the internet was used quite a lot as unfortunately the library had no books on guinea pig care. The internet was used in order to sift through data, including the UK pet census, as well as specific information on guinea pig care assigned to me by the group. This was also a helpful method in finding work and artists that could influence our decisions.
(categorise your research using terms primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative)
What methods of research did you find useful and why? Secondary research informed our work a lot more than anything else. Unfortunately, from the beginning, we were aware that no one on our course owned a guinea pig, we also didn't know of anyone that did. This made things quite difficult when it came to collecting primary research about this specific pet. As surveys are notable for having an extremely low response rate, something that is so specific, such as guinea pig care, is something that isn't going to create a lot of results. Ross was able to visit Pets at Home and gather some first hand data for our group however.
Secondary research online and through leaflets was therefore our main source of information, be this through trusted websites, such as the RSPCA or pet charities, or general sites that provide first-hand tips on how to care for your guinea pig.
How did these inform your response to your problem? Once all the research was gathered, we were able to make decisions on what would be seen as the most important need-to-know areas. We created headings that particular areas of care would go under. This included guinea pig behaviour, breed, what your guinea pig can eat, the first two weeks with your guinea pig and priorities of care. These categories were also informed by the net of the box, as what we could put on there was evidently dependent on size and the number of faces. This allowed each member of the group to go away with a category, research further and come up with some designs.
What methods did you encounter as problematic? During Fred's workshop, we were to put together both qualitative and quantitative statements about our 'how to'. These were then to be categorised into primary and secondary, including method and material. Unfortunately, some of the statements were going to be impossible for us to explore and research, for example the percentage vitamin C intake needed for a guinea pig. Evidently, within a guinea pig itself, or the ability to carry out quite extensive lab experiments, this isn't something we could find out in any other way but via the internet. It was mainly when it came down to primary research for this task that we struggled. Time meant that we were unable to visit vets or pet shop assistants or anything like that, therefore it led to a lot of research being carried out online.
What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful? If time or travel wasn't an issue, I would have loved to have been able to visit a vets or a couple of pet shops. Unfortunately due to transport, time and money issues, this was unable to come about. Whilst Ross was able to visit Pets at Home nearby where he lived, it would have been much more beneficial for myself to have been able to visit somewhere myself, in order to collect leaflets, tips from professionals and also to have a look at pet carriers already on the market.
Five things that I have learnt about the design process over the last two weeks:
1. When working as a group, clashes within design tastes is inevitable. You need to think about what is realistically going to work best when it comes to solving the problem, which requires compromise.
2. When looking at info graphics, a lot of research is needed beforehand. Surveys are very useful when it comes to providing statistics and data that is perfect for this, however they hold a large number of disadvantages including low response rate and vague phrasing which may cause confusion or misinterpretation of the question. Statistics are also something that weren't necessarily suited to answering our 'how to'.
3. Design process must be repeated quite a lot in order to find a happy medium. The group had to come together a lot in order to make decisions that we were all ok about, concerning fonts, colour scheme and so on. When we first showed our designs to the group, every member had a different idea in mind, therefore we were to go away and design around the strongest result.
4. Communication is key.
5. It best to get all your ideas down on paper. By doing so, we were able to fix a lot of problems that we encountered, as well as getting the best out of our 'how to'. Having something visual allows the group to get a better understanding of what type of thing you want to achieve/produce.
Five things I would do differently next time:
1. Produce a larger range of designs to present to my group towards the beginning of the project so that there is more of a visual variety of pieces.
2. The construction of the box. Hopefully if we were faced with this situation next time we would have been able to make a better job of the prototype. In an ideal situation we would have had the opportunity to print straight onto the box itself.
3. Made the product a little less informative and a bit more entertaining.
4. Produce the final printed version in a selection of colours in order to get a better understanding of what works best.
5. Better my understanding of Illustrator so that I was more capable of producing the things that I wanted to produce.
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