Introduction

Portfolio
User Inspired Design MUO-E3005, 2015
Lauri Kkel, lauri.kakela@aalto.fi
Aarne Leinonen, aarne.leinonen@aalto.fi
Tuomas Puttonen, tuomas.puttonen@aalto.fi
Lindsay Simmonds, lindsay.simmonds@aalto.fi
The target of our UID project was to help young people
to choose their future. We quickly limited the scope
to include only career and educational decisions that
the young people face. We made interviews with two
school counselors and a focus group session with the
kids aged 14-15. The total allocated time of the team
was 73 man-days. We came up with a concept that

Tuomas

Lauri

could revolutionize the passive school counseling

classes by turning them into a more meaningful and
active search of a persons own interests.
This portfolio contains of 6 artefact cards, 4 letter
cards, 3 task cards and 1 introduction card. The format
of this portfolio mimics the solutions we propose: a
board with informative content and given tasks. As a
reader you should first read the artefact cards and the
letter cards and then engage with the tasks cards.
An artefact card contains a picture of the artefact, a
short description and our reflection on it. A task card
contains a small task that will enhance the interaction
with the given information.

Lindsay

All Artefacts can be found in digital format from a dropbox folder. Link: bit.ly/1GtApYE

Aarne

Week 1 / Defining the topic

Invitation
As one of the first things during our process we
designed this Invitation to our Human Centered Design
research for school counsellors and teachers. Our
initial research question shown revealed to the test
candidates was How can we provide teenagers with
better tools for choosing their own future? The idea
was to use the snowball method; we thought that
through teachers and counsellors we could efficiently
reach groups of students as well.

We chose the flyer format as it could work as a paper

version, but also as an email attachment that the
teachers could share in their mailing lists, or as a
facebook post. The illustration on the first page
was chosen to provoke emotions both in teachers
and students, without being dramatic or accusing
counselors of the problems. In this artefact we first
time thought about the consent and confidentiality of
the underaged students.

Making the invitation was a piece of cake compared to breaking the experience
machine.

Reflections

Aarne

Lauri

Lindsay

Tuomas

The task itself was quite light to deal with. We were struggling more with the process that lead to the
result: during the first week we already had to frame what we would be working on for the rest of the
course. After getting over that stress, the invitation was fairly easy to conduct.
It was interesting how all the groups in this course picked so different topics. I wonder how much did
the topics and outcomes reflect ourselves?
The start was really fast. Still assembling the pieces of the course outline and already blasting full on
with the team project.

Comment

Week 2 / Codesign

Codesign Workshop Activity

We used the Codesign activity to investigate the
problem area and gain inspiration for our solution. We
took a blended HCD and CD approach to determine
the existing limitations on grade 7-8 students
abilities to make decisions on their future career and
education. Following on from our interviews with
career counsellors, we also wanted to meet students
and find out about their experiences with the school
career counselling program. This was done to discover
their needs, wants and challenges in relation to the

After the students finished the

card sorting activity Lauri and
Tuomas discussed the results
with them, asking them to tell
more about their decisions.

program. Ultimately the students will be the end

users of our design solution, and we need to pay
attention to their needs while designing our solution.
Because the students are currently in the process of
making a decision, we related to them as experts in
their field and vital collaborators in this stage of our
design research. We used the codesign sessions to
help us understand the problems that our solution
should solve and to start to imagine what is needed: a
new product, service, or program?

Our card sorting board with image/text cards placed by

students. (Categories: hopes, ecouragement, fears, expectations.
Clockwise from top left).

Our group discussed which codesign method would

best answer our research questions. We considered
card sorting, collage, a drawing/writing activity.
We ultimately decided on a card sort activity that
consisted of a collection of selected images and
word cards, plus blank post-it notes, for sorting into
categories. This provided the students with images
and words to work with as well as an opportunity to
express their own ideas on the notes. In addition to
the cards, we planned and prepared a board for the
students to place the cards onto. We divided it into

Reflections

Our card sorting board prototype helped us to determine

that the four sorting categories
we chose were relevant to the
image themes we developed.

four parts with one theme word (hopes, expectations,

fears, encouragement) in each quadrant. To determine
what words to put on the board, we made a shortlist
of themes based on the kinds of questions we
wanted to explore during the activity. We then made
a prototype, tested it by placing post-its with our
card sort themes words and then chose the final
four categories. On a pragmatic note, because the
workshops were only 45 minutes long, we thought that
providing pre-made images to the students would
make efficient use of time.

Aarne

Lauri

Lindsay

Tuomas

what worked:
dual interviews of students who were either friends or knew each other allowed them to have
discussions and comfort giving us an opportunity to ask more questions.
Pictures and writing/drawing on post-its resonated w/participants and generated more discussion,
text not so much.
what didnt work:
Group of four with two pairs of friends had a power dynamic that was difficult to navigate, discussion
wasnt open and free, resulting in fewer quality responses.
Sessions were quite short for us to get in-depth responses. We werent able to get into questions
about positive and negative influences (pressures) of family and friends. In terms of length of time and
the students attention span they were suitable length of time, but perhaps a follow-up one-on-one
interview after analysing the results to investigate the problems more in-depth.
what we learned:
We dont know how much the images we provided influenced the students responses
what wed do differently:
more workshops and only done in pairs and follow-up with one-on-one interviews

Comment

Week 3 / Research Analysis

The Story
The blended HCD and CD workshop with the 9th
graders gave us an understanding of what kind of
situation and emotional state these young students
are in that they suddenly have to make a long lasting
decision about their future. Now we needed to translate
the raw qualitative data we generated in such a way
that would visually communicate the most important
findings we did, and enable us to export this
information to others in an engaging way.

Our notes from the sessions were translated into sticky

notes which we then sorted using affinity diagramming
to achieve a broader understanding of the data and
the themes that they contained. We ended up with
three major categories: information, influences and
decision making. Upon reflection and discussions
within the team we then agreed on elements that we
felt resonated the strongest with the research and
then translated them into design arguments.

caption
Left: we used affinity diagraming to determine three themes in our
research: information, influences and making decisions. Above, left:
to begin our research analysis we compiled all our data and put
key points on post-its. Following this we categorised and coded our
post-its and reassembled them into major themes. Above, right:
Once we had our themes we crafted and illustrated Wilmas story.

caption

TIn the story we emphasized the emotional side of the

students journey, while at the same time embedding
these agreed elements into the script. We wanted a
piece that promoted an high empathic connection
with the viewers. We chose to use a combination of a
stop-motion style slide show. This was overlaid with
narration to cover the chronological aspect of the
process and with the combination of individual slides
and narration to get a personal connection to our

Reflections

main character, Wilma. Wilma is a 9th grader who has

strong but competing interests for careers. Because of
this she has a hard time choosing between two study
options. We portrayed this dilemma in the story using
different activities and influences that contribute to
her problem. Most importantly, the story was designed
in this way to best describe the internal feelings such
as joy, a sense of discovery, and the frustration and
anxiety Vilma goes through during her journey.

Aarne

Lauri

Lindsay

Tuomas

Designing Wilma was harder than expected. We needed a tricky combination in terms of the school
system forcing her to choose between vocational and high school, but also a realistic palette of
interests and personality for our audience to easily relate to.
Being emotionally touched by our own story was new to me. Now reflecting on that moment I realize
how important it is to make an emotional bond if you are trying to impact somebodys mind and
behavior.
As an illustration technique, using the post-its in a very honest way worked well for our idea. It was
a good choice to show our hands in the pictures. It made our strytelling voice stronger, without
interupting the audiences immersion in the story too much.

Comment

STUDENT CAREER/EDUCATION DECISION PROCESS

Thinking: Responsibility,
role as a guide/facilitator

Hard to find placements

for the students
System: Class career
education lectures 2x week
in grades 7, 8 and 9
Information is scattered across various platforms

STAKEHOLDERS

Lack of useful resources for student Counsellors

HOBBIES & CLASSES

ACTIVITY

COUNSELLING CLASSES

Exploring

Weekly lectures

Discovering strengths/
weaknesses

Possibilities

Gaining knowledge
Failing
DOING

Learning about the

structure of the studies

TET

Working in a real situation

Experiencing workplaces

FACE-TO-FACE COUNSELLING

Discussing about
personal strengths
Expressing personal
interests and goals

Possible alternatives

Visitor talks
Excursions

Following instincts
Developing own
insights and ideas
about working and
careers

Yellow = critical issues

PERSONAL EXPLORATION

Surfing University/Institute
websites

Exploring careers via media

imagining
Trying out different career
roles

TALKING TO PARENTS

Asking opinions
Talking on dinner table
Parents parenting

Exchanging information

TALKING TO RELATIVES

Interviewing what they do

and how did they end up
there
Trying to get information
from special relatives
Getting insights about
weekly life, pros and cons

TALKING TO FRIENDS

REGISTERING THE DECISION

Share information

Juggling many tasks/

decisions
Following procedures

Sympathizing together

Application process
Signing life away
After 3 years realise theyve
made a mistake, they
change career direction

Im not alone

Is this the right decision?

Anxiety

Anxiety
Confused

Compare options

Share stories about TET

Dinner talks
Listening to stories (adult
to adult)

Not thinking about careers

Having fun
THINKING

Just another subject

Waste of time

Counseling classes just

stack all lukio-careers into
a single option and focus
on amis-careers

I need to study more

This wasnt for me

Great to be out of school

This is helpful

Now I know better

Where is all the information?

Information is too formal

How are they influencing

me? Positively or negatively

Quite a lot of options

Complex sites
Wow. I didnt know I could
study this

Am I good enough?
Excited about future

The info websites only have

school advertisement, and no
real experience or reviews
Excitement

Bored
Sense of impending doom

Dread

Inspired

Confused

FEELING

I dont want to be here

Confused
Pushed

Inspired
Reluctant

This is too hard

Lost

Pressured: Everyone wants

you to be perfect.

Overwhelmed or feeling the

lack of information

Supported
Fear

Student counselors share

specific information and
broad scope on about the
options.
Reshaping the website

Parent population getting

more involved in sharing/
transferring knowledge

COUNSELLING & WORK PLACEMENT/EXPERIENCE

Give Kids lots of
opportunities to try new
skills
OPPORTUNITIES

Mechanisms that convey

realistic career/educational
opportunities

Overhaul the way content is

delivered
Utilise Alumni networks
Deliver content in exciting/
engaging format

Get more relevant

workplaces that reflect
interests
Is the program useful?
Improve program or adapt.

Compassion
Comforted

Insecure

Companionship

Excitement
sense of accomplishment

SHARING WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS

Student counselors should
tell more specific and
broad about the options.
Inspire students to connect
with counsellors more
often than now.

Express new viewpoints

Comparison and reflection
on other views
Contacts and references

Friends give suggestions

Co-exploration
Challenging eachother

Offering information in
coherent, structured way

Week 4 / Concept development

Future road map of how to

continue
What if kids could change
their career direction
more easily?
Follow-up w/specific
career info.
Changes to the system
how and when students
choose

Decision-making Process Chart

We combined all of our knowledge about a young
students decision-making process into a single
process chart. Each activity that a young student
currently engages in was divided into three categories:
Doing, Thinking and Feeling. Also, some stakeholder
activities were listed for the counselling/education
system. These were based on our interviews with
the school counsellors. In addition, we identified
opportunities for each category and listed them.
We chose a process chart because it offered us the
most holistic depiction of what happens before making
the decision about ones career. Our chart has aspects
of a user journey map but it is at a more abstract level.
Unlike a linear process, the decision-making process

The skull and crossbones became our symbol for

Decison Day. It represented the sense of impending doom the students feel about choosing a
career path.

Reflections

of a young student is not chronological. We show the

activities as separate, but in reality they can and do
overlap during the years.
The chart clearly visualised both the aspects of the
students decision-making process: those that we
knew and those that we didnt know. We were able
to pinpoint our fuzzy bits of information to certain
activities. By making this chart it became clear to us
which activities most strongly impact decisions, and as
a result gave us some insights improving the situation.
Visualising the phases or activities turned out to be
difficult. Because of that the outcome was not very
visual, it served more as an information matrix.

We reused the post-its from our affinity diagram in our first draft of the process chart.

Aarne

Lauri

Lindsay

Tuomas

Deciding what kind of chart we wanted was hard. Everybody had their preferences varying from
personas to user journey map. Sketching few alternatives helped us to decide what chart would be the
most helpful. Still I feel that we did not get the perfect one. Seeing more charts and variations could
help to realize all the possibilities.
The chart revealed two sets of missing information: how the parents and relatives think and feel
about the process. Although I was aware that we didnt have data from this group, seeing the gaps
on the chart was a strong visual reminder. This raised my awareness of the areas that I would likely
have to make assumptions about the young students. It would have been very helpful to our concept
development to arrange interviews, or a codesign session, with the parents and relatives.

Comment

Week 5 / Defining the concept

Image
This simple picture represents the goal of our
concept: a young person can collect little pieces of
information, put them together and reflect on those
in order to see some glimpses for ones future. The
kid is actively building his own board and starts to
see his dream job. The picture is intended to work in
a poster.
Our team started brainstorming by drawing a picture
per post-it. By working closely we got inspired by
each others ideas. The post-it size ensured that the
ideas would be simple enough. The final picture was
produced with a palette of different medias such as
vector drawing, 3D modeling and rendering.

Reflections

Aarne

Lauri

Lindsay

Tuomas

Simplifying the concept in a single picture can be helpful. The idea can be communicated much easier
when there is a simple picture that captures the essence of the idea. This task was much like making an
advertisement for the concept.
We were a bit too focused on this strong metaphor of a mirror, so the image might be a bit obscure for
a first-time viewer. However, Its a strong message for someone who knows a bit of our concept.

Comment

Week 6 / Presentation

Proposal
We propose a new communication manner between
the student and the counselor. In our concept the
student becomes an active agent by building a board
of his or hers own career research. The expanding
board is them working as a communication tool
between the student and the counselor.

The challenge in this artefact was to convey all

the main points of the quite detailed package. We
essentially ended up with three different artifacts to
empathize with the students and how our concept
would work in the school system. describing the
concept: a storyboard, a service map and a UI demo.

The service map worked as an addition to

the story, giving a more detailed timeline and
defining the points of interaction.

Sketching the story.

The storyboard works as an emotional grounding for

the audience. We chose a method similar but slightly
stripped from the week 3 returnable, the story, having
illustrations backed up with narration. The process of
using the Building Blocks in teaching had a repetitive,
circular element to it so this was also visualized in the
illustration.
The service map had a different objective. It was
intended for portraying how our concept would

Reflections

fit with the education system and how it would

be implemented into the curriculum. It also
demonstrated the workload of a counsellor and a
student.
The third artifact for the proposal was a UI demo. Even
though we had designed the concept so that it could
be used with existing platforms such as Trello and
Pinterest, We visualized what would a dream UI for
this kind of a concept be.

Aarne

Lauri

Lindsay

Tuomas

Even though we dropped several important themes and drivers from our concept in order to avoid a
swiss-army-knife solution, it still remains quite complex. Hovewer, with pragmatic work we managed to
get the complex package seem quite convincing - or thats what I think at least.
In my opinion we went too far in suggesting a new specific platform when there are plenty of those in the
market. Understanding what it means to design, code and maintain a completely new communication
platform, I would avoid it to the very last. The strengths of our concept were in its adaptiveness and
openness. By making only suggestions about potential platform, the idea could scale quicker. In the end
it is not the platform that makes the difference but the supported behavior of the people.

Comment