Exam Your Assumptions With User Research!

Initially, I set the target persona as postgraduate students aged 20-25, but during my research, I found that this scope was too broad and had some problems. Firstly, why is the age limited in this range? In fact, postgraduates may not be limited to this age range, and undergraduates and PhD students may also be in this age range. Secondly, why must it be postgraduate, and why are undergraduate and PhD students not in the target range?

Through the interviews, I find that many people have the need to find a partner, but the most urgent need is from new students who are studying in Hong Kong from the Mainland, including undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral students, and exchange students. Since they are new to Hong Kong, they have a strong desire to go out and explore the city. However, as they have not been in Hong Kong for a long time, they have not yet established a stable social circle, nor have they known the local interest groups, so they need a platform to meet their needs. Therefore, I select this group as my target persona.

During the interview, I find that the existing platform does not meet the users’ needs very well and that there is a demand for a specific platform. By mapping out the user’s current journey map and story map, I find room for improvement, define a problem statement, and decide the content and function requirements, which provide the basis for subsequent solutions and data collection. Background information can be found here.