Project 3

Interview design + Questions

To start off, I designed two sets of questions to learn more about the perspective of the two key stakeholders: the gift giver and the receiver.

I was able to interview 5 college students.

Questions for Givers

Can you tell me about the last time you gave a gift? What was it for? Who did you give it to?

Can you tell me how you picked out the gift to give? What did you do?

What are three emotions that come to mind when you think of giving a gift to someone?

Can you list out three criteria you look for when giving a gift? (budget, personalized, etc)

What do you think is the hardest part of picking out a gift?

Questions for Receivers

Tell me about the last time you received a gift.

What kinds of gifts do you generally like to receive? It could be a physical gift or even an act of kindness. Why?

What was the best gift you ever received or gave?

Finding 1: The idea of a “good” gift is subjective

During my interviews I noticed that everyone has their own subjective options of what a “good gift” is. For some people it's a physical object that is either meaningful or useful, for others it's an experience or a memory. But at the end of the day, everyone hopes to give something that the other person will actually like.

Finding 2: Uncertainty during the gift selection process

Based on my interview results, I mapped out the emotions users may feel during the process of picking out a gift, trying to understand their motivations, concerns, and experience.

Gift Giver Perspective:

I concluded that when it comes to gift giving, people struggle with:
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Picking the right gift
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The idea of a “good” gift varies from person to person (useful vs. meaningful).

Emotional Impact
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Givers feel stress and anxiety due to fear of disappointing the recipient

Challenges
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Spend hours browsing in person/online, lack of confidence in knowing the recipient’s preferences

Key Insight: The pressure to find the 'perfect' gift, can make what should be a joyful experience into a stressful and mentally exhausting task.‍

Which leds to the question...

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How Might We...
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Improve the experience of people picking out the “perfect” gift, building confidence and making the process less stressful?

Brainstorming Ideas

I quickly sketched out 4 potentials ideas all aimed at helping users during the gift picking process. Then I got some feedback from the users regarding each of the ideas.
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Gift Recommendation with a Subtle Quiz

Pros:
- "It will be good for gift suggestions"
‍- "I can see the quiz becoming a trend, not just for finding gift ideas but just taking it for fun
- "Knowing the type of gift receiver the other person is makes it more personalized"

Cons:
- "How feasible is this?"
- "How 'subtle' will this be?"

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This or That: Gift Picking edition

Pros:
- It makes the process more fun
- A gamified experience

Cons:
- "It will ruin the suprise"
- "It's unnecessary, I would rather just ask the recipient what they want"
- Risk of overemphasizing the "game" aspect, potentially distracting from the core goal of thoughtful gift giving.

Guided Moodboarding

Pros:
- Allows customization based on the recipient's personality, interests, or preferences
- Help gift givers organize their ideas
- Can be shared with others and make it collaborative
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Cons:
- Concerns that the platform is challenging to navigate if they’re unfamiliar with moodboarding.
- Too many options could lead to decision fatigue.

Wishlist Collab

Pros:
- Its simple and gets the job done
- Will gift something the recipient truly wants
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Cons:
- It's similar to a lot of existing solutions

I decided to test the gift recommendation feature using a subtle quiz, as it stood out as the most unique concept among the four ideas. Feedback indicated that people appreciated having a tool to assist with gift suggestions; the key challenge was determining the right medium. To explore this further, I created a quick low-fidelity prototype to bring the idea to life and gather initial reactions from users.

Inspirations

An experience that resonates with younger people: Connecting Gifts with Personality Types

I thought of using a quiz to determine one’s preferences because from my interviews, I noticed that gift preferences can be grouped into distinct categories. Some people tend to favor practical or useful items, while others are drawn to sentimental gifts that hold personal meaning or evoke cherished memories.

So, with online personality quizzes being popular on social media among younger audiences as a fun way for people to learn more about each other, I believe that I can use this trend to create an engaging experience.

Assumption before user testing:
By using elements of personalization and social interaction, I imagine users to not only discover thoughtful gift ideas but also share their quiz results with friends, starting conversations and connections.

Lo fi Wireframes

For the quiz questions, I used AI to help generate some questions for concept testing. My goal was to get feedback from the users of how they felt about questions and the overall the idea of using a quiz to help give gift suggestions.

For the "gift personality types," I drew inspiration from the 16Personalities framework and supplemented it with research and articles exploring the connection between personality traits and gift giving preferences. This combination helped me create 4 distinct categories that align with common personality characteristics.

Here are the resources/research used:
https://www.16personalities.com/articles/we-love-to-give-gifts-but-perhaps-to-different-degrees
https://www.16personalities.com/articles/the-16personalities-gift-guide-gift-ideas-for-every-personality-type

Testing and Iterating

Removing the quiz

After testing, users felt the quizzes were unsuitable for meaningful gift giving due to concerns about relationship dynamics, limited use cases, lengthy processes, and the risk of ruining the surprise.

Concerns

‍"I don't see myself sending the quiz to someone I'm close with or even to an acquaintance"

"Only scenario I can see the quiz being use is for secret santa"

"The process felt very long, having to customize a quiz and then sending it to your friend"

"I feel like it will ruin the suprise if I send it to them, how would you guarantee the quiz is subtle?"

Potential

"I think the gift suggestion is useful...if only there is a way for it to be more accurate"

"The different categories of the type of gifts can help with coming up with ideas. Some of the more clear categories include physical gifts compared to an experience like dining or going somewhere"

Before

After

New Approach:
For the next iterations, instead of using a quiz, the system will recommend items based on the information provided by the gift giver about the recipient. Then, based on the information the user provides about their recipient, the system will suggest a "gift personality" to that person, adding personalization to the gift picking process.

Pros:
Shorten process, more personalize, preserves the suprise element

Users felt that the information they had to fill out was tedious
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Before

User Feedback:
- “Can some of this be optional?”
- "It feels like a lot of fill out"

After

Changes made:
- Make the design of the questionnaires more appealing. - Use visuals and change it to a guided step by step process with a progress bar.

More guidance on gift selection features
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Before

User Feedback:
- “Does it take my budget into account?”

After

Changes made:
- Filter by budget and key words/ideas inputed by the user themselves
- Save gift ideas for easy comparison
- Users can "dislike" ideas for the algorithm to learn what is not wanted

Improving accuracy + more personalization
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Before

User Feedback:
- Skeptical of how accurate the system can determine the type of gift the receiver will like
- Can incorprate MBTI type to boost confidence in the result

After

Changes made:
- Users can pick what type of gift they think their recipient will like or what type of gift they want to give
- If they are not sure and know their recipient's MBTI, then they can use that as a suggestion/reference.

Takeaways

Next Steps: I recognize that there are still many improvements I can make to this project, such as refining the algorithm that matches user provided information to recommended items for more accurate and meaningful suggestions. Additionally, I could enhance the "gift personality" feature by incorporating a broader range of attributes, such as lifestyle preferences, hobbies, or current trends, to make the recommendations feel more tailored and thoughtful.

What I learned: But, through this project, I was able to get hands on experience in quickly building and testing out an idea, learning that it might not always work as intended. With actual user feedback testing, I gained valuable insights into the importance of iterating based on real world perspectives, identifying gaps in the design, and refining solutions to better meet user needs. While the quiz idea initially felt promising, it didn’t resonate with many users, showing the importance of iterative design and early user engagement.

GiftMatch

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