One design thinking tool that we used for our work-in-progress design thinking process was the empathy map. We used an empathy map as according to interaction-design.org, it will help us understand our user’s needs while we develop a deeper understanding of the persons we are designing for (Dam and Teo, 2020). We decided to do some research prior to conducting a survey among our target audience. According to Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), ‘cybercrime cases accounted for 18.6% of overall crime in 2018’ (CSA, 2019). A survey conducted by the CSA found that only 35 percent of respondents aged 15 years old and above could identify a strong password (CSA, 2019). Furthermore, the survey found that ‘close to half (48 percent) of respondents had experienced at least one cyber incident in the past 12 months’ (CSA, 2019). The survey we conducted with 60 respondents aged 17-27 found that cyber security was not taken very seriously as ‘it feels like it will not happen’ to them. The survey also found that current cyber security campaigns are not engaging enough to have a lasting impression on our target audience.
Getting our primary and secondary research done was important as it helped us narrow down the various problems that our target audience could be facing. It also helped to identify the needs of our target audience – an important stepping stone for the future design thinking stages.
From this research, we defined the problem that our target audience had was lack of knowledge of cyber threat preventive measures. Hence we came up with our problem statement: ‘In this Digital Era, youths aged 17 – 27 with an active online presence are at risk of cyber-threats such as data breaches. Though aware of the threats, they are not knowledgeable of the preventive measures to protect themselves against such risks.’
It was interesting to find out that even though our target audience is known as the ‘internet generation’ and are quite tech-savvy, they are still susceptible to such cyber threats. The problem statement helped to steer us in a clear direction so we would not go off track in the next stage – ideation.
We decided to focus on interactivity as from the survey we conducted, our target audience mentioned that the current campaigns were not engaging enough. Rather than just focusing on social media, we wanted to use various platforms. Hence we decided to go with interactivity on social media, a website and youtube videos.
The good thing about the ideation stage is that there is no right or wrong for our ideas. I feel that this lets everyone speak up without being afraid that their idea might seem stupid and who knows? Perhaps that the ideas that each individual suggested could be insightful. Also the ideation stage helps us to have a few backup plans if our prototypes were to fail, so we would not have to go back to square one all again.
At the prototype stage, we came up with the interactive website, youtube videos and social media platforms. We discussed the plot and made storyboards for the youtube videos, planned the layout of how our content would look like across the various social media platforms and discussed the sort of interactivity was going to be on the website. Although we have yet to test it out, the team got feedback from each other on what could be improved.
Throughout the project, we went through multiple iterations of every stage. Having our process planned out step by step helped us to see the bigger picture clearer and it was more straightforward. Design thinking is a useful communications tool and I do feel that it increases productivity with the use of the five stages.
Dam, FR. and Teo, YS. 2020, Empathy Map – why and how to use it, interaction design.org, viewed 10 March 2020, <https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/empathy-map-why-and-how-to-use-it>
Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) 2019, Singapore Cyber Landscape 2018, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, Singapore.
Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) 2019, CSA’s 2018 Survey Shows That Cybersecurity Awareness Remains High, Though Adoption of Cybersecurity Practices Needs to Be Improved, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), viewed 10 March 2020, <https://www.csa.gov.sg/news/press-releases/csa-public-awareness-survey-2018>
CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION ASSIGNMENT 3 BLOG 