Secondary research
First of all, the ICI Montreuil manufactory is part of a group of 7 manufactories created and managed by the company Make ICI. Each manufactory operates as a Tiers-lieu of production and provides spaces adapted to residents who have a variety of skills. We find in each manufactory craftsmen, artists, creators, designers, start-ups, independents who form a community of 200 residents per year. ICI Montreuil is the first manufactory of the company and it is the cradle of this project.
The values of ICI Montreuil are sharing, support, solidarity in a mainly artisanal environment. The manufactory acts as a springboard for entrepreneurs who wish to start or continue their activity and then be able to obtain their own workspace and their own workshop. Within the manufactory, each artisan has the opportunity to share their know-how and skills with other residents to collaborate on projects, have new perspectives and obtain job opportunities while being part of the community of the same place.
The organization within ICI Montreuil works according to all of the community of 74 residents/year and the staff, themselves responsible for the development and evolution of the place as well as its proper functioning.
Each resident of the manufactory has access to it with a subscription system. There are 4 subscriptions available, in particular the large subscription which gives access to all the shared machines of the place (wood, metal, digital manufacturing, design, other know-how), a personal storage space, a workspace (office , workbench,) and access to the place 7 days a week. The other subscriptions are more restrictive concerning access to the machine and access to the place. The private workshop gives the right to a partitioned space within the place.
User insights
Communication between residents and staff is essential in the place to ensure its proper functioning and everyone’s business. I conducted interviews and filed a survey to understand what were the difficulties encountered by residents in terms of verbal communication and communication through digital tools.
- First of all, 80% of them consider having an operational communication with the other residents in the manufactory compared to them.
- Then, 30% of them are not satisfied with their communication with the staff, particularly in relation to the fact that they only meet them very rarely.
- Then, 30% of them are not satisfied with their communication with the staff, particularly in relation to the fact that they only meet them very rarely.
Until recently, ICI Montreuil used 2 digital tools:
- the first for communication in the form of a channel, conversation groups and chat to communicate on several subjects (Slack).
- The second for administrative management (Link).
These two tools are now replaced by a single tool which must ensure these two functions: Jamespot. In addition, Jamespot aims to centralize information relating to the 7 Make ICI manufactories.
Then, 70% of them let me know that they were satisfied with the functioning of Slack and the related communication, but 85% of them do not adhere to the new Jamespot tool either because they have not did not want to install it despite what it matters, either because they were lost in the face of the most information relating to the 200 residents and the fact of knowing what is happening elsewhere did not matter to them.
Persona & Problem statement
I created a persona based on my user insights :
Paul Ribout is a 38-year-old craftsman who has lived at ICI Montreuil for 2 years and who has needs regarding his work, in particular being able to share his know-how and skills with the community to develop and gain new perspectives on their business. However, frustrations occur to him such as his communication with the staff which he considers incomplete and which presents gaps, lack of information which seems essential to him in relation to his situation and his work. He is also frustrated and lost with the large flow of information circulating on the 3 different digital tools.
Based on these insights, research and persona, I defined the problem of my subject
Solution Pitch & Features prioritization
The features that I will necessarily apply to my solution are the following :
- Open access to general information related to ICI Montreuil
- Give the possibility of professional opportunities
- Create a public profile shared with the entire community
Context of use
I imagined a context of use for my solution in the situation of Paul Ribout which takes place in two parts :
- First, at the beginning of the day before starting his working day, Paul Ribout needs to have the information that interests him, which concerns his workspace and the ICI Montreuil community.
- Secondly, he needs to plan his business for the coming months. To do this, he needs to be aware of the projects proposed to ICI Montreuil by the staff and by the other craftsmen in order to propose a possible collaboration.
Brand attributes
Moodboard
My moodboard based on the graphic charter and values of ICI Montreuil around the adjectives:
Creative
Local
Handmade
Share
Style Guide
The style guide applied to my solution uses the codes of the graphic charter implemented by the company with yellow as the primary color, Sans Serif typography and an icon library. I added to these predefined elements a functional green color and some icons.
Name & Logo
The project is named L’Util, a pun between “l’outil” and “utile” in French. I chose this name to remind that the primary function of this tool is secondary to everyone’s work, but it gives them access to the necessary information when needed.
L’Util is a native app developed internally by the company to focus its needs above all on its uniqueness of operation without having to depend on digital tools unsuited to its structure.
High fidelity Prototype
The Hi fi prototype is composed by three main steps :
- The Homepage
- The project grant
- The profile page
If u want to check my prototype on Figma please click here
Menu :
- Homepage
- The Project Grant
- Reservation schedule
Homepage :
- Profile button
Messaging (including the agenda, the directory, the staff contact and a chat system by conversation groups or personal conversation)
- Today’s program
- Pre-selected information reminders
- 5 sections: Reports, maintenance, common tasks, upcoming events, upcoming training. Each contains cards with the corresponding status/date/title.
- Each section can be rearranged in the desired order and adapted with a drag and drop system.
- If there is a lack of interest in certain information, the sections can open and close.
- A reminder on each card can be activated and added to the “Reminders” section.
- The cards open in overlay to read the associated content.
- A “report a problem” button is accessible to communicate urgently on an issue concerning the health of the place and its residents.
Project grant :
- Choice of the manufactory concerned
- List of projects proposed by following the profile of the person
- Selection of the project and development of information: Description, Contact person, know-how implemented.
- Possibility to apply and exit the application to contact the person directly.
- Ability to add a reminder
Profile :
- Public profile shared with the whole community (Name, Know-how/profession, contact, Manufactory of residence, website and project photos)
- Personal profile for administrative management (room or machine reservations, exchanges with staff, personal documents)
- Access to “My applications”
My Applications :
- List of the various applications made with their current status
- Ability to rearrange them as needed
Usability & Desirability insights :
During my tests with users, the adjectives used to describe this digital tool were:
- Fluent
- Clear
- Personalized
- Dynamic
They found it useful and necessary to have developed this solution in several stages depending on their situation. They also expressed to me the need to implement a solution of this type within their workspace.
Next steps :
To conclude my research and open up new perspectives, I can say that I have noticed among users a need to centralize information within the manufactory itself before wanting to extend it to all manufactories. If each manufactory has its own tool adapted to these needs, one can imagine that L’Util could have a defined role adapted to each of the 7 manufactures.
The next steps I would like to do are:
- Develop the contact book and make it accessible to the entire community of 200 residents to share, exchange and collaborate by meeting
- Adapt the tool to other manufacturies so as not to rely on a single mode of operation
- Bring more personalization in the choice of information received.
- Develop a Desktop version especially for the reservation schedule.
