Tools: Mind Mapping     Challenge: I work at a newspaper with a wide distribution but with some financial problems  as we increasingly lose subscribers every year. Most of our subscribers are 50+ and aging. To  tackle with this problem our CEO wanted us to see what we could develop for our younger  audiences. Our team agreed we have a wicked problem on our hands; the financial situation  for most newspapers are dwindling as times are changing and more people have begun  getting their news via other media than the traditionally printed press. Moreover, if we were  to make a product for younger people (ages 8-13) we would also have to get their parents  on board. A product designed for younger people will still have to be bought by adults for  the children as most children cannot afford subscription services. There are also legal issues  to take into consideration when dealing with youngsters – the produced articles and  eventual advertisements directed to them have to be tastefully and legally conducted while  still being compelling to the younger audience.    We visualized our situation and what we could possibly create to bring a bigger interest to  our printed services for younger people. We came up with a few solutions, such as news  apps in for smart phones, but for this assignments sake I will focus primarily on the Junior  Newspaper idea that we came up with. We have a broad expertise on making newspapers  with a successful and strong brand so we wanted to see if we could learn from our past  experiences and bring them on board for a new paper designed for children. Admittedly  none of us are children any more so we had to understand that audience better. We  conducted interviews with 23 children of ages 8-13 along with their parents to see what kind  of paper they would be willing to subscribe to.     We asked them about how interested in the news they were, where they get their news  from, on what platforms they search for news and if there are any other products paper- related that they think are missing in today’s market. Is there any topic in particular they talk  to their friends but not their parents about?    Selection: The next step for us to sort out our thoughts and findings was to create a mind  map of all the data we collected from the interviews and observations with the children and  their parents. As Marian Moore explained in the course’s third week, the goal of mind  mapping is to establish criteria for the What If idea generation phase.    Application: We laid out all of our gathered material in our conference hall. It is well lit with  nice windows and a great coffee machine along with comfortable chairs and tables. We  thought it would be important to establish our “yard sale” in a comfortable environment

where our invitees would feel comfortable discussing ours and their own insights. We  invited team members from our company: a few journalists, article editors, sales personnel,  graphics designers, a couple of IT:s and our CEO. After lunch we invited them over to come  have a look at our findings that we had placed on the far wall and handed them a stack of  sticky-notes and notepads. We divided them into groups of 4 and asked them to pick out any  piece of information they deemed good or interesting and asked them to clump them  together on their own section on the wall. We let them take their time and go through each  other’s notes and have them piece everything together in their own time, it took  approximately half an hour for each group to have assembled their own “good clusters”.   The sticky-notes that weren’t up to scratch in our people’s minds we laid out around the  good clusters on the wall.    Insight: Our attendees recognized that our interviewed children didn’t really read news. The  reasoned they didn’t read news but they did hear them and did talk about them. The insight  was the reason children didn’t read news per say is that there is no children’s newspaper  around and that this would be something worth testing in a small testing environment –  would children be interested in reading news if there was news directed and written in a  language understandable by them? They did indeed talk about the news with friends and  their parents but most news outlets are catered for an older audience with a wider and  more mature and harder to understand vocabulary.     Another insight was that children spend time talking to their friends about things happening  around their home towns. They want to know what happens nearby so they can participate  in fun activities such as concerts, festivals, sports events. They also talk about fun facts about  animals and nature, and the human body. Insight: children want to read about happenings  around their towns, about animals and nature and information about the human body.    Approach: I’d like to think that the statement that our company has financial trouble ergo  we need to bring in more young people into the fold is too narrow. The problem is wicked  and much larger than that I think. We should try to lay down a more flexible what is to see  what can be done to battle our newspapers dwindling subscribers. Maybe the pricing is  wrong – maybe the platform needs to be moved even more to electronic versions of the  paper? We have an e-version of our paper but would it be wiser to raise the cost of that and  focus more on the development of digital news instead if the market is increasingly  becoming more digital? Are we letting too few advertisements in the paper to cover our  costs? There are many questions and it’d be wise to have a better understanding of the  problem before trying to innovate something new to bolster the finances of the company.    Notes: A few sceptics insisted the children wouldn’t read newspapers even if they were  catered for them as children nowadays don’t “do anything but use their mobile phones”. We

took note of this as it is an important aspect to consider. If we were to implement our idea  and test if would it be clever to test it as an online edition rather than a paper product?


Tools : Mind Mapping Challenge : I work at a newspaper with a wide distribution but with some financial problems as we increasingly lose subscribers every year . Most of our subscribers are 50 + and aging . To tackle with this problem our CEO wanted us to see what we could develop for our younger audiences . Our team agreed we have a wicked problem on our hands ; the financial situation for most newspapers are dwindling as times are changing and more people have begun getting their news via other media than the traditionally printed press . Moreover , if we were to make a product for younger people ( ages 8 - 13 ) we would also have to get their parents on board . A product designed for younger people will still have to be bought by adults for the children as most children can not afford subscription services . There are also legal issues to take into consideration when dealing with youngsters – the produced articles and eventual advertisements directed to them have to be tastefully and legally conducted while still being compelling to the younger audience . We visualized our situation and what we could possibly create to bring a bigger interest to our printed services for younger people . We came up with a few solutions , such as news apps in for smart phones , but for this assignments sake I will focus primarily on the Junior Newspaper idea that we came up with . We have a broad expertise on making newspapers with a successful and strong brand so we wanted to see if we could learn from our past experiences and bring them on board for a new paper designed for children . Admittedly none of us are children any more so we had to understand that audience better . We conducted interviews with 23 children of ages 8 - 13 along with their parents to see what kind of paper they would be willing to subscribe to . We asked them about how interested in the news they were , where they get their news from , on what platforms they search for news and if there are any other products paper- related that they think are missing in today ’s market . Is there any topic in particular they talk to their friends but not their parents about ? Selection : The next step for us to sort out our thoughts and findings was to create a mind map of all the data we collected from the interviews and observations with the children and their parents . As Marian Moore explained in the course ’s third week , the goal of mind mapping is to establish criteria for the What If idea generation phase . Application : We laid out all of our gathered material in our conference hall . It is well lit with nice windows and a great coffee machine along with comfortable chairs and tables . We thought it would be important to establish our “ yard sale ” in a comfortable environment where our invitees would feel comfortable discussing ours and their own insights . We invited team members from our company : a few journalists , article editors , sales personnel , graphics designers , a couple of IT : s and our CEO . After lunch we invited them over to come have a look at our findings that we had placed on the far wall and handed them a stack of sticky - notes and notepads . We divided them into groups of 4 and asked them to pick out any piece of information they deemed good or interesting and asked them to clump them together on their own section on the wall . We let them take their time and go through each other ’s notes and have them piece everything together in their own time , it took approximately half an hour for each group to have assembled their own “ good clusters ” . The sticky - notes that were n’t up to scratch in our people ’s minds we laid out around the good clusters on the wall . Insight : Our attendees recognized that our interviewed children did n’t really read news . The reasoned they did n’t read news but they did hear them and did talk about them . The insight was the reason children did n’t read news per say is that there is no children ’s newspaper around and that this would be something worth testing in a small testing environment – would children be interested in reading news if there was news directed and written in a language understandable by them ? They did indeed talk about the news with friends and their parents but most news outlets are catered for an older audience with a wider and more mature and harder to understand vocabulary . Another insight was that children spend time talking to their friends about things happening around their home towns . They want to know what happens nearby so they can participate in fun activities such as concerts , festivals , sports events . They also talk about fun facts about animals and nature , and the human body . Insight : children want to read about happenings around their towns , about animals and nature and information about the human body . Approach : I ’d like to think that the statement that our company has financial trouble ergo we need to bring in more young people into the fold is too narrow . The problem is wicked and much larger than that I think . We should try to lay down a more flexible what is to see what can be done to battle our newspapers dwindling subscribers . Maybe the pricing is wrong – maybe the platform needs to be moved even more to electronic versions of the paper ? We have an e - version of our paper but would it be wiser to raise the cost of that and focus more on the development of digital news instead if the market is increasingly becoming more digital ? Are we letting too few advertisements in the paper to cover our costs ? There are many questions and it ’d be wise to have a better understanding of the problem before trying to innovate something new to bolster the finances of the company . Notes : A few sceptics insisted the children would n’t read newspapers even if they were catered for them as children nowadays do n’t “ do anything but use their mobile phones ” . We took note of this as it is an important aspect to consider . If we were to implement our idea and test if would it be clever to test it as an online edition rather than a paper product ?