Exploration and Contextualisation.
In this phase, the team used various methods and data collection techniques to gather insight on the case owner’s lifestyle, preferences, struggles and routines. This phase aimed to explore and define the context in which the intended product shall be designed for.
To kick-off this phase, an interview with the assigned participant was conducted to introduce her to the team and for the team to better understand her specific needs. Then, upon completion of the interview, additional research was done to further expand the team’s knowledge on various topics that were identified in a thematic analysis of the interview.
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Interview Methods
To conduct a structured and efficient interview, the team agreed on some methods which could be employed. Two of the team members were actively listening to the interview, out of which one was asking questions to the participants. The rest of the team was focused on visual note-taking duties, which would later visually support the transcript.
Another method employed by the team was analyzing the nonverbal cues. This proved to be especially useful since the baby was also present at the interview. By having one member observing, the maternal-child relationship could be assessed.
Additionally, the interview was semistructured, meaning that the team prepared some main questions and topics to touch upon during the interview, but the answers to the question would mainly guide the follow up questions and remarks. The questions were mainly open ended to provide long and justified answers for the mother, and eventually more follow up questions from the group. The question sheet and interview protocol can be found in Appendix.
During the interview selected group members were tasked with making visual notes on what was said in the interview. These notes could aid the group documenting and identifying certain pain points the user had and design opportunities the group could pursue.
Visual Notes
Figure 1.1: Group member 1 observed multiple aspects of Maria's motherhood experience with subjects of Morning person, the dog and the babies relationships and Maria's love for the weekend.
Figure 1.2: The second group member noted subjects of Maria's active lifestyle with the gym, her desire to make home made baby meals and the importance of movement to keep the baby asleep.
" I mean, pregnancy for everyone is different. So sometimes you hear those horror stories that everything was bad and I didn't have that experience."
The Interview.
The interview aimed to get to know the participant and her life and gain insights into the unique experience of maternity. The insights collected are further supported by literature research covering the key topics discussed during the interview.
The interview was carried out in person at the University of Twente, which allowed open discussion and easy interaction with the participant. Thanks to the organization prior to the meeting with the mother, the interview was efficient, leading the group to useful information. The privacy and information consent was discussed and agreed from both parties before the meeting, creating a safe environment for the interview. Written consent was given to record and take notes during the interview. The transcript of the full interview can be found below.
Thematic Analysis
To better gather insights, a thematic analysis was conducted by coding the interview into different themes (Figure 1.3). From these themes, some key quotes were identified (Figure 1.4) to better contextualize Maria’s needs and map her unique experience.
The themes were identified in the transcript through the use of inductive coding. This means that the codes were established whilst analysing the transcript of the interview. This method was chosen as opposed to pre-established codes as it provided a more explorative approach. As a team, we believed that this allowed as to analyse the participant’s context in greater detail.
Identifying Themes
After the interview the group decided to visually represent the main themes of the interview into a graphic. This would help to clearly show the possible directions the group could take.
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Figure 1.3: Visual that represents the overall themes discussed in the interview and ones that the user addressed as possible design paths.
Summary:
The main directions that the client prefaced as being opportunities for products and designs were as follows:
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The overall maternity experience
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Nutrition of the baby
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Breastfeeding
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Free time
These themes are just a select few of the multiple we were able to gather throughout the first interview.
Quote Identification
From the themed graphic the group decided to group certain quotes from the user to further specify and categorise our findings.
Figure 1.4: A visual representation of quotations from the interview that correlate to the certain themes discussed.
Summary:
Although these visuals aided the group heavily in finding the opportunities to look further into, the group felt more information from the user was needed to decide on a concrete direction.
The interview has been further visualised by the user journey map. On the map, the main activities of the participants had been selected and further associated with the main pain points. This activity help the group find the opportunities in which the group could work upon.
This graph can clearly highlight the user's high and low points of her usual day with cleaning, feeding the baby, putting the baby to bed all being on the extreme ends of the spectrum.
User Mapping
Figure 1.5: Mapping a typical day of the case owner.
The interview allowed the team to get to know the participant, setting an important milestone in the project. The participant in question is a radiant young mother, with a lot of energy in her life who was experiencing a positive maternity. The return back to work seemed not to worry her, especially given the fact that she was ready for the changing of routine. The main concerns were directed towards everyday’s organizations and daily tasks, which with the coming of the baby, drastically changes what was the normal routine of the parents. However it was not identified as a major problem as the close relatives of the parents are available and helpful towards them.
When asking about her current products and how suited they are to her needs, she mentioned that if she has a need, there is already an existing product. Because of this, she did not have many problems with the current products that she owns. She also stated that she prefers not to buy too many things due to sustainability concerns.
Moreover, there were a few topics which the group found particularly interesting to explore further. First of which is the fact that at the time of the interview, she was preparing to return to work. Even though she had no concerns about this, it was though that this may provide an opportunity to design something for her that can be utilised more long-term. Another topic which the team wanted to look in to was the baby’s switch to solid foods and the fact that the participant would like to make her own baby food.
Discussion
Breastfeeding
The broad topic of breastfeeding was found to be an issue for the user. Privacy, ease of packing and transporting equipment and cleaning were just a few of the issues raised in the interview.
Overview of Findings:
Findings showed how breast milk presents, in most cases, all the necessary nutrients for the early growth of the baby, while the instant formula, although very useful for short term situations, is not as nutritious as breast milk. Studies further show how breast milk expressed in the evening/night presents much more melatonin compared to the one expressed in the morning.
Maternity Leave and return to work as a mother.
At the time of the interview, the user was preparing to return to work. She prefaced that she was unsure and anxious about the challenges she would face upon this return and so the group believed there to be a possible opportunity to aid the user in this transition back to work.
Overview of Findings :
With respect to the return to work, research was conducted to understand and empathize with her possible experiences the following meeting with the participant. By making use of a broad research question about maternity (What research has been done on the transition from maternity leave to returning to work?), we aimed to gather varying insights on the topic by reviewing three articles that were selected during the literature search report.
Findings highlighted the varied, personal nature of returning back to work, affected by the different life situations. One study explored how mothers describe their return though the use of metaphors. This specific one resulted quite useful to the team since quite a similar method was employed during the following phase of codesining.
Long car journeys with the infant.
The user often transports the child in her car however the journey to her parents house was longer than the recommended sitting time for infants. She was unsure if there was a solution to this problem and so the group looked deeper into this subject.
Overview of Findings:
Firstly, it was found in a large range of sources that babies are not recommended to be in car seats no longer than a couple hours. Long extended time in car seats is known to cause flat head syndrome, and more severely SIDS (Sudden Death Syndrome). In general due to the fragile structure of a young baby, parents must be extremely cautious when handling them and leaving them to rest as their body structure can deform and change just under their weight.
Food and making it yourself.
Food and nutrition for the baby was a important subject for the mother and she preferred to make everything on her own. Although a healthier and safer choice for the baby the group wanted to look into the benefits and negatives of home cooked baby food and what works for other mothers.
Overview of Findings:
It was found through in depth source analysis that home made food is an effective and more controllable way of providing nutrients to the child. By doing so mother's can control what their child has and insures that they do not consume any harmful chemicals that could negatively impact the babies health.
Planning and Organisation.
It was found that the mother always had an extremely busy schedule and generally busy lifestyle. Although she had tried organisational systems none had really worked for her before. This lead to some further research on how planning and overall organisation could benefit a new mother.
Findings:
Drawing from secondary research and personal research a it was found that motherhood planning and organisation can effect a diverse range of factors when it comes to raising a child. One of the main points found was the inclusion of the partner and the importance of combining their efforts to spread the load of raising a child. This planning between parents could be a possible opportunity to look into.
Literature Review
At this stage in the project the group had accumulated a significant amount of primary and secondary research on each possible design opportunity/direction. However, the group struggled to deicide on which direction at the moment of the literature review so for this task the group decided to look further into sources surrounding the return to work. Although the participant did not have concerns about this, the group wanted to foreshadow the possible experience she may have to aid during the further phases of the project.
The purpose of this Literature review allowed the group to collate a small group of reputable sources that could provide reliable knowledge that the group could utilise when moving forward with a solid concept.
The idea was that this could be used to guide the co-design in phase two and open up discussion points relating to either of the selected two focal directions; privacy when breastfeeding, and the transition from maternity leave to work.
The graph included sections such as the user's actions, feelings, struggles throughout the day and what we could improve in each section of the day.
Figure 1.6: The graph filled out by a group member to provide an example for the user to fill out.
Figure 1.8: The graph filled out by the user describing her work day.
User's Working day.
User's Day off.
Example.
Figure 1.7: The graph filled out by the user describing her days off.
Day Maps
Upon completion of the literature research, it was realised that more input was required from the participant. Due to the subjective nature of maternal experiences, no literature research could foreground specific needs of the user. Therefore, a ‘day map’ template was sent to the case owner (Figure 1.6).
This was done after she had returned to work, so that more data about her new experience could be collected. She was asked to fill the template in twice, once during a working day (Figure 1.7), and another at a day at home (Figure 1.8). This way shifts in her routine could be compared, and pain points could be identified.
Following the first phase of the project the group was able to gather enough primary and secondary data/ research to use for the up coming co design sessions in phase 2. The next stage of the project would enable the group to explore design oppurtunities with the client and work together towards a final design product.
What now?
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