
New Prime Digital Academy Welcome Gift
Project Overview
As a solo UX/UI designer and researcher, I created a new welcome gift prototype for Full-Stack Prime students that would be practical and beneficial to them throughout their time in the Prime program.
My Role: UX/UI designer and researcher.
Timeline: 1 Week.
Methods
Directed Storytelling (User Interviews), User Research, Lo-Fi Prototyping, Moderated Evaluation Sessions (In-Person and Remote), and Empathy Mapping.
Tools
Figma, Office 365, Microsoft Word, Parallels Desktop, Keynote and Zoom.
Defining The Problem
Current Welcome Gift
Due to the intense pace, hybrid structure and high expectations of the Prime Full-Stack immersive learning program, busy and goal oriented students need a practical welcome gift that will benefit them throughout their time at Prime.
New students receive a t-shirt, a Prime logo sticker, and a pen.
Is This Welcome Gift Adaquet for The Price of Prime Program?
Gifts are meant to create a sense of belonging and caring to a person or community. What about practicality and the benefits the gift gives?

Prime Digital Academy T-shirt
Understanding The Needs of Full-Stack Prime Students
What Students Say
"I'd prefer a practical welcome gift such as a computer mouse."
"I lost my (Prime) shirt and didn't feel comfortable wearing it."
Desierablity Survey

Fly on The Wall Observations

Key Insights: Students use classroom whiteboards as a workspace, there are many tangled cables on the floor, students use trackpads instead of a computer mouse.
Result: The Mini Whiteboard is most popular.
Lo-Fi Concept: Mini Whiteboard with Marker

This is the first Lo-Fi concept design that served as the precursor to an iterated physical prototype.
Iteration and Evaluation

This is the first physical prototype that was created based on the results of the desirability survey. This version includes a smaller Prime Digital Academy logo to maintain a feeling of inclusivity while also maximizing the available space. This prototype would be evaluated by Full-Stack students.
The Evaluation Process
Full-Stack students evaluated the physical prototype based on iteraction followed up by questions written to gain addtional insight.
Participant Quotes
“Whiteboards are always good for notes.”
“I would use it to make a to-do list for each day.”
“Just having a whiteboard and marker lets me get it down and out of my head.”
Physical Prototype Positivity Ratings
To document participant positivity regarding the physical prototype, a rating scale was created from 1-10, with 1 being not very positive to 10 being very positive.
Participant 1: 7
Participant 2: 7.5
Participant 3: 9
Next Steps
Refine and iterate on the physical prototype.
Conduct additional evaluation sessions.
Pitch the mini whiteboard with marker welcome gift concept to Prime leadership.
Students Invest into The Prime Program; Invest Back Into Their Sucess!
When new students join Prime Digital Academy, they receive welcome gifts.
Students invest their time and money into the Prime program.
Prime Digital Academy should invest into the success of their students with a practical mini whiteboard with a marker over a dull t-shirt.

