Concept Validation — Focus Group Findings
Who: 6 teens at various locations
Where: Waterfront Mall
Buttons are old school
The girls acted as if buttons were an old convention, or in some way distasteful. They reacted to our button questions as if we were designing more of a cell phone than a device that would be fun for them to use.
Changing colors adds real value
Girls were most excited about the idea that the device would be a customizable digital fashion accessory. This made them really curious to try the device.
Small = good
Of the three prototypes, the girls most preferred the tiniest of the three. Even if it would have a prohibitively small screen, if any at all, the girls were most in favor of the most petite device possible.
Music broadcast is intriguing
The girls were intrigued by the idea that they could show other girls what they were listening to at any time. It didn't seem as much about closeness as it just did about learning about new music.
Privacy would be important
While girls were interested in sharing what they were doing, they also brought up that there are just going to be some times you don't feel like telling the world what you're listening to. Any broadcast system would also have to be able to limit others' awareness of your music.
Yin-yang form got some “ooohs”
The sharing interaction between yin-yangs was very pleasing to the teens. They were really excited to try this for themselves. This would be a key selling point for the device.
Necklace was nice, but include other places
While girls were interested in the idea of wearing the player around the neck, they were more interested in holding it in other locations -- on a pocketbook, on the waist, and on the wrist as a bracelet.
Screen on side
We received two suggestions to place the screen on the side rather than the front face. Removing any display and controls from the device front would more fully allow it to resemble jewelry. But we ultimately disregarded this suggestion as integrating controls and a display onto the side created an unpleasantly hard-to-use experience with a screen that was really too small to be read.
Held form very differently
We could not nearly predict how girls would naturally hold the teardrop shape. They held it with either side facing towards them, and at the small and wide side. Any devide that could claim 1-hand use would need to be flexible enough to allow for easy playing from all those different angles.
Personal color preferences are tantamount
Girls wanted to be able to choose the colors for the device. They resisted the notion that the device would display colors representing some interpretation of the music they were listening to.
No “pulsing” to beat
The girls also resisted the idea that the device would respond the the music they were listening to by pulsing, or by using the display lights to match the beat. They didn't understand any benefits from this feature.
Birthstones got mixed emotions
While Claire's jewelry would employ customizations like birthstones, the girls resisted this kind of customization on their mp3 players. It might be that they were interpreting this as a sophisiticated device.
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