Studio Updates Week 4

Summary from Survey and Interview

So during the weekend, our team decided to summarise the survey and the interview from the Kaichou's boss. I have attached the summary for both the survey results and interview answers.

The survey results were summarised by Harshitta

The interview answers were summarised by me

Stakeholder Summary

Using all this information, our other teammate, Yue, went and summarise the stakeholder needs.

Students who use lockers

Majorly 3D design students use them
Mostly diploma students (3DD, music, fashion, dance) use them
They need lockers because class materials are required for the next day or to store items they do not always need but they need to have on hand (e.g toiletries, clothes, shoes for performances) or instruments or books
They generally rent lockers for 1 year or 1 semester
They feel like lockers are spacious enough for their needs
Not necessarily pain points, but would be a gain point for them
- They would be into the idea of having more study spots near their lockers.
- They would be into the idea of being able to decorate the lockers
Pain points:
- Lockers are expensive
- Lockers could be at more convenient locations
- Lockers could be a bit wider and use a different lock
- Locker measurements should be stated on the booking website for more clarity
- They get lost looking for their locker – a map/ location guide to indicate their locker’s location would be useful
- Booking a locker and being allocated it takes too long
- Refund process could be quicker
- They would prefer to choose which locker they get (whether its on top or bottom) for accessibility

Student who don't use lockers

Reasons students do not use lockers is because
- They do not need to use them (do not carry a lot of materials)
- They live close by the school
- The lockers are too small for what they would need
- The price isn’t worth the space provided
Things that would incline them to use lockers
- If it was free/cheaper/ assigned locker system
- If it is protected well/secure
- If they were more spacious
- If they were available on all floors
- If they were able to customise it
Pain points:
- If they need it but find it is too expensive: They have to lug their materials with them to school everyday

Locker Manufactures

The gist is that the schools will outsource all locker rental related services to Rent-A-Locker to handle
They can custom make lockers based on the school’s needs and requirements
They do not handle where the lockers are located– the school would tell them where they want the lockers located and the locker service staff would only give advisory on whether the location would be appropriate (e.g if there would be enough space or if there are any obstructions etc)
They do not do much maintenance with the lockers because the current locker material is meant to require little maintenance
They do not care about graffiti/ stickers on the locker, that’s more of a concern on the school’s end. Even if there are complaints from the school they can just remove stickers and such easily so it’s not a big problem.
NAFA lockers are only more expensive compared to other schools because they are newly bought
Pain points:
- Dealing with unreasonable customers
- Recouping costs (they are recouping the manufacturing fees)
- Currently lockers are seeing less use because students carry do not carry as much books or materials to need lockers, so they would earn less from the rental fees
- If the place that they are told to place the lockers have obstructions, they cannot put it down (the school will have to figure out a different location)

Idea Generation

Using all this information, we start to head into the ideation phase to see what we could improve and add to our service design. Below was the list of ideas we were discussing:

Ability to choose locker position (Above/below) for people with disabilities, shorter, etc
Lockers in classroom
Exact Dimensions of Lockers
Shorter Locker Rental Period
Multipurpose Locker usage -- could be rented for long periods or rented for short periods via an app
Use of QR-code to assist with booking
App/website Connected to NAFA S3 app
Chatbot FAQ on the site
Introduction of sharing locker and cost with friends
Booking Layout like cinema showing location and top/bottom lockers to book
Locker Rental Period: 1 week, I month, I semester, 1 year
Locker rental can be extended
QR-code to book directly on the spot
integrates with existing systems like our school’s active directory. Use APIs so applications can seamlessly connect and communicate in a way that’s safe and secure.

Prsentation on Tuesday

With that preparation, we used it to prepare for the presentation. We had to present our findings to the class and explain the context of our project and go through our proposed solution. We only had an hour to rush it out in class so it was a tight finish but overall it went well. We were pretty thorough in our slides and concise in our presentation. We were told to explain a bit more in the context and further concise our presentation. The link to our presentation slide for that day is below:

Interview Result from Admin

We finally manged to get the answer from the school student care centre. The answer to the question is below:

1. Rationale and Decision-Making Process

What are some factors or considerations that led to the implementation of lockers? (Any specific problems that occurred?)

Students requested for a safe space to leave their bulky art material in school.

2. Student Needs and Preferences

How did you gather information about students' preferences and needs for lockers?

We look at what they major in. For Music students, they usually need just a small locker for their textbooks, whereas for 3DD and FA students, they need a bigger locker for their material.

3. Space and Logistics

What considerations were taken into account regarding available space, hallway traffic, and accessibility?

Available space and compliance to fire hazard safety.

Would it be feasible to add rentable lockers in the classroom? If so why have they not been implemented?

No, lockers are to be placed at visible locations where every students have access to.

4. Security and Safety

Were there any concerns about locker security or incidents that influenced the decision-making process?

Yes. We made sure the locks on the lockers are secure and placed in visible area to deter people from vandalising the lockers.

5. Implementation Challenges

Were there any challenges encountered during the implementation of the locker system? If so, how were they addressed?

Yes. Special arrangement were made for visibly impaired students.

6. Staff Involvement

Were school staff involved in the decision-making process regarding lockers? If yes, how?

Yes, approvals have to be granted by the management.

Were there any concerns or feedback from the stakeholders that influenced the final decision?

7. Maintenance and Upkeep

Can you share details about how lockers are maintained and managed on an ongoing basis?

All lockers are managed by our external locker vendor

8. Cost and Budgeting

Were there any cost-related factors that influenced the decision-making process?

No. The lockers were rented to us on contract basis.

9. Future Plans and Feedback

Have you received any feedback from students, or staff that has led to adjustments or improvements to the locker system? In the past yes that our lockers were old and dirty.

We have disposed all old lockers and changed to new ones in Jul 2023.

Overall, the answer were not helpful as most of the information was already privy to us through our other interview. We did ask for clarification on the special arrangements were made for the visibly impaired students. She answer that the School of Music bought cabinets for the visibly impaired students. Therefore, we decided that our service have to act independently from the school due to their desire to not want more responsibility on managing lockers. We took this in consideration for our service design.

Feedback on Thursday

After the presentation on Tuesday, we decided to discuss more on our idea and better plan out our service design, We decided to update our service blueprint with the information we had aquired. Below i our updated service blueprint.

As we discussed our idea more, I think we started to think about some of the finer details that was more specifically related to the product side of the design. Details such as the type of lock, the battery, the cost of manufacturing etc. We also did think of what regulations we needed to inform student of for the usage of the lockers.

With this confusion, we approach the teacher with our questions. What they feedback was that currently our research my have gone too well and hence why we started looking at the finer details of thing from a manufacturer's point of view. We were asked to switched our focus away from what the manufacturers needs and wants, but instead focus on what the students want. Hence we were given the suggestion of simply focusing on how we can make a service that already utilize the lockers that were found in school. As from our research, we have seen that the students overall have been happy with the lockers but clearly it was the communication between the locker manufacturers and students that were experiencing gaps.

Personal Reflection

I think that this week was very focused on our end towards the start of creating a proper solution for our service design. The surprise presentation did throw my group and many others off guard as we were kind of not expecting it. But I am grateful for my team for pushing through and creating a focused and concise presentation. Obviously there will be improvements made for the presentation next Tuesday. But overall we all were on the same page on our idea. Through the feedback from the lecturers on Thursday, we were able to narrow down our focus and see where our service design should be focused on, lest we strain ourselves for the next few weeks before submission. During the weekends and Monday, we plan to work on our presentation and script for Tuesday as we are the second group of that day.