Prototype and test
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Rodrigo Borges prototyped and tested two Twitter novel ideas: 1) "The Intern", a comedic Mexican-style novel about an intern dealing with workplace problems told through Twitter. 2) "What If", an informative novel sharing a female ad executive's work stories and website references to inspire creativity. He gathered feedback from 3 people who felt humor could engage youth but references were more useful. They suggested improvements like reducing tweets per chapter, making the executive an intern, and developing a more challenging idea. Borges learned testing prototypes challenges assumptions and prevents wasting effort on weak ideas. He would consider a more challenging idea or using the prototypes to empathize and define by talking to many students.
Prototype and test
- 1. Prototype and Test Exercise Rodrigo Borges
- 2. Summary Problem statement Chosen idea/Idea development Sample posts (1/2) Test Reflextion
- 3. NEEDS A WAY TO BECAUSE Stakeholder A pragmatic, result-oriented, degree-holding advertising, curious, creative, enthusiastic entrepreneur Need Find young workers that are more independent, pro-active, participatory and self-educated Insight The way colleges prepare students is work- oriented, but not in a good way because the colleges are not encouraging them to think Problem statement
- 4. Chosen idea Idea development OpenaTwitteraccountsuportedbyafictionalcharacterthat facesalotof problemsthatdemandoutoftheboxsolutions.CreateaTwitter-novel. I thought of a low cost solution that could be original and still reach a lot of people. The novel would have to be a little funny and play with everyday issues. It would be a way to entertain and still share a message of the value of creative thinking. I chose to create two prototypes based in one idea. Two Twitter novels: one with a comedy approach and other more informative, with lots of references to websites. 4 weeks is the period I intend to write the chosen novel. Of course, if it’s a hit I can think of writing a few weeks more. TheIntern Mexican style novel. The Intern (main character) suffers a lot because of his poor childhood and humble origin. Still he has to figure out ways to develop his abilities in order to keep his new job. He'll have to deal with the boss that doesn't care, the other intern (the evil one), his romantic match (a simple country girl who wants him to succeed but can't do very much about it), his mentor (the oldest and the maddest guy in the company) and great cast. Whatif The main character is an entrepreneur woman who leads a team of creatives in an ad agency. She shares her difficulties in a Twitter account. In this way she will also share her references, impressions, plans and strategies to inspire her team to think in out of the box solutions for the agency.
- 5. The Intern - Sample posts The Intern @theintern jul 27th Morning, no clouds in the sky. Vicenzo Inacio Canuto Echeberria (VICE) finally got a job 5 months after he had got out of college. Not easy. The Intern @theintern jul 27th Ice cream. Bullying. Videogame. Spiderman. Superman. Batman. Bullying. Porn. That’s pretty much it. The Intern @theintern jul 27th Collegeyearswerenotthatbad,youknow?Goodteachers,nicebathrooms. Everything was as perfect as could be. But something was missing. The Intern @theintern jul 27th In the office, VICE is introduced to his desk. That’s the place where he will answer to client calls. Obviously, complaint calls in most. The Intern @theintern jul 27th VICE wasn’t the best at job interviews. Whenever he faced a situation in which he had to deal with problems out of the box he would freeze. The Intern @theintern jul 27th Any advice before starting? Don’t take it personally. The Intern @theintern jul 27th It wasn’t a nice thing to see. VICE stuttered, had a sudden memory lost and behaved like a 4 year old. But that was all in the past. The Intern @theintern jul 27th After 2 calls VICE is already traumatized. He was trying to be professional, but the clients weren’t trying. The Intern @theintern jul 27th He had a job now. Yes, sir. The fact that his dad got it for him wasn’t a problem. Was it? No, no. The Intern @theintern jul 27th Pause for coffee and give a thought on life. Was that it? 5 months to get a job, 1 day to give up. In the middle of his musings... The Intern @theintern jul 27th As VICE enters the building in which he will work for the next 5 months his life passes through his eyes. The Intern @theintern jul 27th … Jake shows up: hi, jack ass. Great, shitty job and bullying. At least something familiar in this new work life. END OF CHAPTER 1
- 6. What if - Sample posts What if @whatif jul 27th Hi, my name is Hannah and I work in advertising. I manage a team of creatives and opened this Twitter account for a reason. What if @whatif jul 27th I will share some stories about our work relations with our interns. Of course, I’ll use different names in the real stories. What if @whatif jul 27th ThefactisthatIwanttohelpnewprofessionalstobeinshapebythetime theyenterinthebusiness. What if @whatif jul 27th While I do that I’ll also share some websites I think can help the youngsters begin with the right foot. Like this one: 99u.com/ What if @whatif jul 27th Unfortunately, colleges seem not to be getting exactly what we need in a good copywriter or art director. What if @whatif jul 27th My intent is not only to share advertising websites but any website that can help new workers to embrace creativity. What if @whatif jul 27th Some young workers arrive in the office with that feeling that they already know everything, seen every ad, understood the formula. What if @whatif jul 27th I hope I can interact with followers (if I have any) and we can discuss new ways of work and develop fresh ideas. What if @whatif jul 27th Well the fact is that there is no formula. In creative work we have to keep the mind opened and know that… What if @whatif jul 27th Get ready to change the world. What if @whatif jul 27th … there’s always something new to learn. beforetheywerefamous.org/ What if @whatif jul 27th I’ll try to do the same. END OF CHAPTER 1 WI WI WI WI WI WI WI WI WI WI WI WI
- 7. Test What worked What could be improved Questions Ideas I submitted the texts of both Twitter profiles to the person I interviewed in the Empathize and Define exercise and also to 2 young workers in the advertising business. Although I talked to 3 different people I decided to gather their impressions without naming the 3 of them. You can read a summary of their points of view on this slide. - The idea of writing to a big number of people without having to pay for it is nice. - People can interact and that’s great. - I have never thought of using Twitter in that way. - I prefer the profile that shares website links. Seems more useful to the kids. - Humor is a good way to get to people. - Young kids are on Twitter. It’s nice to play in their field. - “The Intern” novel could be funnier. - Maybe less tweets by chapter. - “What if” novel would be more interesting if the main character were an intern. - I guess “What if” should not be so obviously a novel. Hannah could be a character that doesn’t really know if anyone is reading what she writes. She could be a more real character that way. I mean she isn’t writing to anyone but herself. That way people would really believe in her. - Have you thought of opening other social media accounts to support the novel, like Instagram or Vine? (Answer: yes but not in the beginning of the plot.) - Do you think comedy really works in such a situation? I mean it’s a serious matter. (Answer: I guess it works. We have to catch the kids attention. That’s an easy way I have to admit it.) - What’s going up on the next chapters? (Answer: you’ll have to wait from a word of our sponsors.) - Maybe you should make a funny novel with references and mix the best of both. - Isn’t video an option? Short Youtube videos could work. - I guess the ideia is great but I don’t see it as strong as I initially thought it would be. Maybe you could consider developing one of your other ideas. A more challenging one.
- 8. Reflection a.Whatyoulearnedbytestingyourprototypes? It’s really positive to get to know other people’s opinion on something that was initially only inside your head. Of course it’s a great way of challenge your certainties. It prevents you of wasting your time and effort – and money in other cases. b.Whatyouwoulddonextifyouweretocontinueworkingontheproject? Maybe I should jump to a more challenging idea. I know that this is only an exercise but perhaps other ideas would be more effective. Nevertheless I guess this prototype could work as a “empathize and define” exercise because it would allow me to talk to a great number of students and young workers. That way I would be able to listen to different ideas, impressions and points of view. Who knows what great ideas could come up with that?
- 9. Prototype and Test Exercise Rodrigo Borges