Challenge

I am a fresh-graduate seeking employment in my home country and I have an interest in graphic  designing although I did not study this field. A few weeks ago, around the same time that I started this  course, a close family member who is the founder of an online fashion store was telling me that she was  facing a lack of online sales and she did not know why. As I have a lot of free time on my hands, I  decided that I could assist her by analyzing her social media profiles and revising the current online  marketing campaign in an attempt to increase brand awareness. The challenge of boosting online sales  through social media marketing was a new concept to me as I have limited work experience in this field  and my graphic design skills are purely self-taught.

Selection

The tool I selected to overcome my challenge is Visualization. Given the nature of the challenge at hand,  I believe this is an appropriate design thinking tool as it will conceptualize the visual appearance of her  social media profiles. Visualization is a tool used to create a shared understanding of the problem by  way of tangible and concrete methods such as pictures and maps.

Application

I started my project by doing research on various advertising techniques used by companies to gain  more traction on their social media profiles, specifically fashion brands that are thriving in the domestic  market. I came to realize that it was necessary to make the brand’s profiles more visually appealing and  minimalistic, rather than its current layout which seemed overwhelming and uncoordinated. I also  noticed that competing brands uploaded content far more frequently. These seemed to be the key areas  that the brand needed to focus on and I was ready to conceptualize some content.

I requested that she should send me some photographs of her products so that I could draft some social  media content which she could then upload on her profile if she approved. This was to test my  assumption that the lack of content-planning and infrequent uploading of content was reducing  awareness and therefore hindering online sales growth for the company.

Her previous content was made weekly and was not fitted to any pre-planned layout. Therefore, instead  of only showing her each picture individually, I decided to also combine it on a grid so that she could  visualize how her profile would look to viewers once all the content was uploaded. I first showed a few  people various grids and layouts that I created and asked them “which grid is most visually appealing to  you?”, “what fashion brand’s social media content has prompted you to purchase their product(s)?” and  “in your opinion, what type of content markets the product best?”

By incorporating their feedback, I then curated a few grids to give her a variety of options that she could  upload daily if approved of. Image 1 is how the Instagram profile previously looked and Image 2 is a grid  layout I made that showcased how my content will look over time.

Image 1            Image 2

Insight & Approach

Visualization proved to be an extremely successful tool for this project as it made her realize the type of  content that needed to be uploaded to create more online brand awareness. By uploading the content  that I curated, online sales through social media gradually began to increase over the last few weeks.  The results of my project proposal proved that the assumptions regarding the lack of online sales were  in fact true. I am now a freelance social media content creator for her company and I oversee the entire  social media campaign for the brand.

Combining the content in the form of a grid which displayed the potential layout of the profile deemed  to be most convincing. I believe it is because these planned layouts helped to graphically see the  changes that could be made to enhance the brand’s image. In other words, it drew a link between “what  is” and “what if” for the brand. This course has made me realize the importance of visualization so that  one can prepare ahead of time and has also shown me how I can present my ideas in a more effective  and convincing manner.  I find myself using visualization as a tool far more frequently now and hope to  use it, as well as other design thinking tools, to aid my decision making when I enter the workforce.


Challenge I am a fresh - graduate seeking employment in my home country and I have an interest in graphic designing although I did not study this field . A few weeks ago , around the same time that I started this course , a close family member who is the founder of an online fashion store was telling me that she was facing a lack of online sales and she did not know why . As I have a lot of free time on my hands , I decided that I could assist her by analyzing her social media profiles and revising the current online marketing campaign in an attempt to increase brand awareness . The challenge of boosting online sales through social media marketing was a new concept to me as I have limited work experience in this field and my graphic design skills are purely self - taught . Selection The tool I selected to overcome my challenge is Visualization . Given the nature of the challenge at hand , I believe this is an appropriate design thinking tool as it will conceptualize the visual appearance of her social media profiles . Visualization is a tool used to create a shared understanding of the problem by way of tangible and concrete methods such as pictures and maps . Application I started my project by doing research on various advertising techniques used by companies to gain more traction on their social media profiles , specifically fashion brands that are thriving in the domestic market . I came to realize that it was necessary to make the brand ’s profiles more visually appealing and minimalistic , rather than its current layout which seemed overwhelming and uncoordinated . I also noticed that competing brands uploaded content far more frequently . These seemed to be the key areas that the brand needed to focus on and I was ready to conceptualize some content . I requested that she should send me some photographs of her products so that I could draft some social media content which she could then upload on her profile if she approved . This was to test my assumption that the lack of content - planning and infrequent uploading of content was reducing awareness and therefore hindering online sales growth for the company . Her previous content was made weekly and was not fitted to any pre - planned layout . Therefore , instead of only showing her each picture individually , I decided to also combine it on a grid so that she could visualize how her profile would look to viewers once all the content was uploaded . I first showed a few people various grids and layouts that I created and asked them “ which grid is most visually appealing to you ? ” , “ what fashion brand ’s social media content has prompted you to purchase their product(s ) ? ” and “ in your opinion , what type of content markets the product best ? ” By incorporating their feedback , I then curated a few grids to give her a variety of options that she could upload daily if approved of . Image 1 is how the Instagram profile previously looked and Image 2 is a grid layout I made that showcased how my content will look over time . Image 1 Image 2 Insight & Approach Visualization proved to be an extremely successful tool for this project as it made her realize the type of content that needed to be uploaded to create more online brand awareness . By uploading the content that I curated , online sales through social media gradually began to increase over the last few weeks . The results of my project proposal proved that the assumptions regarding the lack of online sales were in fact true . I am now a freelance social media content creator for her company and I oversee the entire social media campaign for the brand . Combining the content in the form of a grid which displayed the potential layout of the profile deemed to be most convincing . I believe it is because these planned layouts helped to graphically see the changes that could be made to enhance the brand ’s image . In other words , it drew a link between “ what is ” and “ what if ” for the brand . This course has made me realize the importance of visualization so that one can prepare ahead of time and has also shown me how I can present my ideas in a more effective and convincing manner . I find myself using visualization as a tool far more frequently now and hope to use it , as well as other design thinking tools , to aid my decision making when I enter the workforce .