Minor Project
Experiential Design Task 3
WEEK 05 - Week 07 (22.05.2025 - 05.06.2025)
NAME: Chai Wei Yi
I.D: 0369561
COURSE: Application Design 2 / Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media
GROUP: Class 01 Sec 01
Experiential Design/ Bachelor of Creative Media/Taylor's UniversityTask 3: Project MVP Prototype
PROJECT
In the first week, our lecturer Mr. Mike introduced the module and presented seven different real-world client projects for us to choose from. We were instructed to form groups and select one project that we would work on throughout the semester. My team, Group 9, consists of seven members. After a group discussion, we decided to work on the Yubari Self-Watering Pot project, in collaboration with the client company Expedio.
Week 2
This week, we finalized our team members and roles. We also watched the recorded lecture uploaded to myTimes, which helped us gain a clearer understanding of the project goals, assessment criteria, and what is expected of us. This preparation allowed us to approach our upcoming client meeting with more clarity and direction.
Week 3
We had our first online meeting with the client via Microsoft Teams. During this session, the client shared valuable insights into their expectations, explained how the Yubari product works, and outlined the direction they hope to see from our team. They also provided us with a slide deck that will serve as a guide throughout the project.
One key point highlighted by the client was that their current focus is not on boosting product sales, but rather on building a strong and emotionally connected brand community. Unlike brands such as Pop Mart or Labubu, Yubari does not have a character-based intellectual property or a rich narrative world. Therefore, our challenge is to discover an emotional angle that can foster genuine user engagement and loyalty. The client encouraged us to explore how other brands build meaningful connections with their audiences—through emotional storytelling, interactive social media, and consistent community engagement strategies.
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| Fig 2.1 research ,Week 3 |
After the initial briefing, our team proceeded to the contextual research phase. We analyzed Yubari’s branding strategy, including its tone of voice, visual identity, product strengths, and target audience. This research aimed to help us better understand the brand’s current positioning and its potential to form emotional connections with users.
For my individual contribution, I focused on examining Yubari’s brand direction and image, core values, color palette, unique selling proposition (USP), and target demographic. This allowed me to explore potential emotional hooks and community-building opportunities that align with the brand's identity.
During class, Mr. Mike reviewed our findings and provided constructive feedback. He noted that many of our insights overlapped and encouraged us to delve deeper—particularly into successful case studies of brand communities—to uncover what drives long-term engagement and loyalty. He also advised us to start thinking beyond the product itself, and to explore creative strategies that position Yubari as a lifestyle brand. Additionally, we were reminded to consider ways to educate the public and increase awareness about the concept of a self-watering pot.
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| Fig 2.4 Gucci ,Week 4 |
Week 4:
Deepening Research & Initial Persona Development
This week, Mr. Mike provided further guidance on our project direction. He emphasized the importance of going beyond surface-level branding analysis to understand why people stay engaged in a brand’s community. He encouraged us to look into how established brands foster long-term loyalty—whether through emotionally driven storytelling, creative online content, or interactive engagement strategies.
While I focused on refining the written content and preparing for our next steps, the rest of the team worked on developing user personas and drafting both survey questions and interview prompts. Our goal was to better understand Yubari’s potential audience from multiple angles. We identified three key user archetypes:
- Young individuals setting up their first homes
- Women running their own businesses
- Gen Z users seeking lifestyle alignment
Week 5:
Persona Refinement & Survey Planning
Mr. Mike reviewed our initial persona drafts and pointed out that the first persona (a mother) needed clearer differentiation. He advised that each persona should represent a distinct identity. Based on this feedback, we revised the first persona to better reflect the “young home-nester” category.
As a team, we also agreed on the distribution ratio of our target demographics:
- 60% Gen Z
- 20% young home-nesters
- 20% female entrepreneurs
We were reminded that our survey questions should be tailored to these three personas. After gathering feedback from the team, we finalized a draft of the survey and submitted it for Mr. Mike’s review.
I was responsible for refining the survey questions based on the feedback and ensuring the tone and structure aligned with each persona’s mindset. I also helped update the consultation log (Week 3–5) and clearly outlined the finalized target audience in our shared Google Docs.
Week 6:
Survey Finalization & Feedback Integration
Mr. Mike reviewed our initial survey and gave helpful feedback. He reminded us that the main purpose of the survey was to support the development of a targeted promotional campaign that resonates with our three user personas and drives purchase interest in Yubari. He also provided examples for each section of the survey to guide us in refining the content.
Using his input, we carefully revised the questions, selected only the most relevant ones, and made sure each set addressed a specific user group. Once finalized, we compiled the questions into a Google Form and began preparing for data collection.
During the survey distribution phase, our goal was to gather responses that aligned with our target audience: 60% Gen Z, 20% Nesters (ages 35–50), and 20% Early Millennials (ages 31–45).
As a Gen Z respondent myself, I took the lead in driving participation within this group by leveraging my personal networks. I shared the survey with my family, encouraging them to forward it to individuals in the relevant age ranges, and distributed it among my classmates to broaden Gen Z representation.
Through these outreach efforts, we ensured a balanced and diverse sample, allowing us to collect meaningful feedback that would inform and strengthen subsequent product design decisions.
Week 8
In the insight discovery phase, I contributed to organizing and analyzing the survey data. From the responses, I assisted the team in identifying and summarizing five key findings that revealed important patterns in user needs and behaviors. These insights provided a strong foundation for shaping our design direction and promotional strategies.
During the "Discovery Category" phase, our team collaboratively categorized the survey feedback into meaningful themes. I was actively involved in this process, helping to identify and refine key categories such as the quality of “Me Time” experiences, the influence of visual content, style preferences, product purchase motivations, and prevailing social media trends.
Week 9
Mr. Mike provided us with a briefing on the required content for the final presentation. Following this, we began developing both the user journey map and the customer journey map to guide and structure our design tasks. At the same time, we prepared a Gantt chart to monitor our progress and ensure timely completion of deliverables leading up to the final presentation.
Week 10
Task 2: Idea Execution
Week 11
Mr. Mike briefed us on the required content for the final presentation. At this stage, we started working on both the user journey map and the customer journey map, using them to plan out the design tasks. We also began preparing a Gantt chart to track our progress leading up to the final presentation.
Gantt chart link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HO2S14EZL8WBHIl8fbvTo4waTWS-UEvyS0xfmG7auXo/edit?gid=1115838130#gid=1115838130
Week 12
Mr. Mike pointed out that our visual direction was still unclear and advised us to brainstorm guiding keywords for the project. After discussion, we identified “simple,” “calm,” and “playful” as Yubari’s core descriptors. He encouraged us to design with these principles in mind and suggested creating a poster to help solidify and communicate the visual direction more clearly.
After the session, our team moved on to discussing the color scheme. We explored several green-toned palettes and presented them for review. A voting session was held, and we finalized the palette that received the majority of votes as our chosen direction.
Once the project requirements were fully confirmed, my team and I began systematically refining the app’s functional modules, ensuring that each feature aligned with both user needs and the overall project direction. Drawing on insights from prior user research and persona analysis, we identified the app’s core design goal: to help users intuitively “overview their current emotional state and the mood of the day,” establishing this as the key entry point for mood management and feedback.
With this goal in mind, we began detailed interface design and feature planning, focusing on simple and expressive visual elements to enable users to easily and quickly reflect and record their emotions. We also considered the smoothness of the user experience and intuitive interaction during the design process, striving to create a mood tracking module that is both beautiful and practical, laying a solid foundation for subsequent functional expansion.
After receiving this feedback, Mr. Mike advised us to first standardize and unify the app’s visual style before moving into development. His guidance highlighted the importance of visual consistency in strengthening both the user experience and the overall professionalism of the brand. In response, we planned to develop detailed visual design specifications covering key elements such as color, typography, icons, and interface layout, ensuring that subsequent development would be supported by clear and cohesive standards.
Week 13
Since unifying the visual style was the priority, my teammates and I created a colorless version of the design to focus on refining the layout and functional structure. This approach allowed us to validate the logic of the interface framework and the fluidity of user interactions before finalizing visual elements, establishing a solid foundation for later coloring and detailed optimization.
We made several revisions and optimizations to the completed sections of the project, while also refining the unfinished components to enhance overall quality and functional completeness. Through continuous iteration, we worked to ensure smoother interactions, greater attention to detail, and a more coordinated overall experience.
Week 14
This week, our focus was on designing the interactive experience of the app’s “emotion-to-plant lighting feedback” feature. We created lighting colors and transition effects that correspond to different emotions—such as happiness, sadness, anger, and neutrality—ensuring that the visual feedback accurately reflected the user’s emotional state. In addition, we planned advanced design solutions that unlock more nuanced emotions, such as anxiety and calmness, as the user progresses. This approach enriched emotional expression while keeping the experience intuitive. Throughout the process, we emphasized smooth interaction flow and immersive visual presentation, aiming to deliver an emotional interaction module that is both engaging and aesthetically refined.
In response to the team's request for a unified visual style, we made detailed adjustments to the application's color usage, focusing on standardizing and unifying the color application of each interface module to ensure a more harmonious and consistent color combination. This secondary coloring work not only optimized the overall visual effect, but also enhanced the professionalism of the interface and user experience.
WEEK 15
Task 3: Final Presentation
YUBARI G3 | Final Presentation
REFLECTION
Throughout this project, I came to deeply appreciate the importance of teamwork and systematic planning. In the early stages, we invested significant effort in clarifying requirements and identifying target users by developing detailed personas and questionnaires. This groundwork provided a strong foundation for the design process. However, once we entered the actual design phase, insufficient emphasis on a unified visual style led to inconsistencies in color schemes, which affected the overall visual quality and user experience.
After receiving feedback from my instructor, I realized that design is not only about refining interface elements but also about adopting a holistic perspective. Establishing clear and consistent visual standards is crucial for ensuring a professional and cohesive look across the application. To address this, we first created a colorless version to focus on optimizing the structure and interaction flow, then systematically standardized the color schemes across modules. This iterative process significantly improved the product’s completeness and visual harmony.
Additionally, the cycle of revisions highlighted the importance of close communication, timely feedback, and effective collaboration within a team. By aligning efforts, we were able to minimize duplication of work and improve overall efficiency. Moving forward, I will place greater emphasis on upfront planning, developing clear design standards and workflows from the start to ensure smoother and more consistent project execution.
Overall, this project has provided me with valuable hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of the complete design process—from user research to visual refinement and iterative improvement. It has also strengthened my teamwork and design thinking skills. I aim to continue building on these experiences to further enhance my professionalism and efficiency in future design work.
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