Problem
Lots of college students are unsatisfied because they lack knowledge of computers and are unsure about their needs.
In China, many students buy their first personal computers before entering college; however, some of them lack certain knowledge of computers. Meanwhile, most existing methods of learning about computers have significant flaws.
Solution
4 simple steps to help students identify their essential needs and make informed choices without jargon.
Survey
Over 80% of college Students highly rely on untrustworthy platforms when choosing computers.
I conducted a survey in which all the participants were freshmen in college. The survey revealed that over 80% of the students make their final decision for a computer based on recommendations from acquaintances, an Ask-Answer community called Zhihu, or other students' online forums. Additionally, more than half of the respondents expressed the opinion that these methods of gathering information are of only moderate or no reference value at all.
User Interviews
Over 60% students are not satisfied with thier computer choices!
Interview Questions
- How satisfied are you with the overall performance of your personal computer?
- Do you find that your personal computer meets all of your needs, or are there any areas where it falls short?
- Have you ever had any technical issues with your personal computer?
- How frequently do you use your personal computer, and for what purposes?
- Have you made any recent upgrades or modifications to your personal computer, and if so, what were they?
I interviewed around 20 participants, mainly freshmen in college who had recently purchased their first personal computers. The majority of them expressed dissatisfaction with their computers. I collected all the main points discussed during the interviews and compiled them into a brainstorming graph.
Main Insight Ⅰ
Most college students are unsure about their essential needs for computers
Since most users purchase computers before entering college, they are uncertain about their essential needs (such as general performance) for computers. Additionally, many users have a limited understanding of how to match different configurations. Moreover, users' essential needs are often influenced by their choice of major, but many of them lack clarity regarding this aspect.
Main Insight Ⅱ
Learning computer knowledge is difficult and time-consuming, especially when the available information channels are neither reliable nor easily understood.
Recommendations from Zhihu and other student forums:
1. May be unreliable and may contain heavy personal preference instead of objective suggestions.
2. May involve too many professional terms, such as names of specific configurations. Therefore, readers may loose interests or get confused.
3. May be too long and contain too many details, and thus readers may not be patient enough to finish reading them.
During Acquisition stage ( making the purchase)
Based on the interviews, the majority of participants made their purchases on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Jingdong. However, the interfaces of Taobao and JD do not assist in the final decision-making process.
These pages often exaggerate the product's advantages, although some features like single-handed opening and closing have minimal impact on the user experience. Additionally, all the configurations are displayed uniformly, which can cause users to overlook important details. Consequently, it becomes challenging to identify specific shortcomings of the products.
Main Insight Ⅲ
There are multiple factors that can cause a bad user experience, many of which are difficult to notice.
All satisfied users resemble one another, each unsatisfied user is unsatisfied in its own way.
Their computers have fit performance ( fit CPU, memory, hard disks) that can run smoothly.
They are satisfied with their computers’ portability and using comfort level ( mainly determined by weight, size, cooling system, and battery).
Especially for designers, they are satisfied with the screen displays ( mainly determined by Gamut, ppi, brightness and contrast).
They have expectations for some flaws.
Losing any checkmarks may make users unsatisfied with their computers！
Computers' using experience is influnced by 4 major configurations.
From Needs to Strategy
Identify their essential needs and make informed choices without jargons!
Final Design
Finished
Thank you for your visit!
If you have any further questions, please contact me through Email xx19@iu.edu or we can just have a casual coffee chat 
on any topics you like !
Thank you for your visit!
Let's get in touch!
LinkedIn
812-802-4238
xiaoxiaoxu0710@gmail.com