Our role was to design a system level framework which would lay out the different interactions that the product would facilitate between these stakeholders – the eventual aim being to make education more accessible to students in remote areas who are removed from mainstream education centers. This framework would become the basis of developing top level features of the web service in order for technology development to start.

User research was carried out in a small town in central India where a pilot program supported by Cisco was being run by student entrepreneurs. Ethnographic research was the key tool to understand user realities and bring that understanding to bear on product development. The system was designed to leverage social networks and user generated content over time.

Storyboards were developed to demonstrate possible journeys of the product in use. These scenarios covered the entire spectrum of short, medium and long term manifestations of the product.

The concept presentation played a crucial role in aligning different Cisco offices globally and mobilizing internal support across for product development to start. The project is currently in the technology development phase.

Spectranet is one of India’s first and largest broadband providers with services ranging from corporate and retail internet, cable TV solutions and Value Added Services.

Spectranet was launching a unique wireless internet service across India and wanted a rich understanding of who the users for this service would be, their internet and mobile usage patterns and their motivations for using this service. They also wanted to build a user-centered website that would be a key piece of their marketing strategy.

Spectranet engaged Quicksand in a user research + web design project for the website for the wireless broadband line of business. The project was executed over 3 months from research to website go-live and consisted of the following phases:

1. User Research: We segmented internet users into 8 archetypes based on their”

a) Intensity Of Internet Access : How much they used internet

b) Variety Of Internet Usage : How diverse was their internet use patterns (only Email on one end and Email + Torrents + MMOPRG + Social Media on the other)

c) Mobility Of Internet Usage : Were they always connected and logged online through their office / at home / while travelling / over phone or did they just have one access location.

Out of these 8 personas, we selected 6 that fit Spectranet’s core target group and identified representative users for each of these 6 archetypes. We then visited these users in their natural environment and had extended discussions with them around their internet usage, their device ecosystems, their perceptions on brands, their latent needs and their decision making process when choosing a broadband service provider.

2. Synthesized User Needs: Based on this research, we presented insights to Spectranet along dimensions such as internet usage, usage on the go, device ecosystems etc. Also we recommended certain types of tariff plans to maximize uptake.

3. Prototypes: We created high-fidelity wire-frames for the website based on our user research and the information needs of the users. With the technology back-end and the provisioning systems for this wireless internet service still under development,  the project presented an opportunity to influence & introduce features that could be incorporated in the service. The design process therefore ended up being highly iterative and participative.

4. Visual Design: Our design team, working with the brand brief that had been newly developed at Spectranet, created the visual design for the website.

The research subjects were inspirational user profiles from the cities of Surat & Mumbai who had unusual & out-of-the-ordinary information needs. Quicksand worked alongside Google’s user experience group from Mountain View, California and their product R&D teams from Bangalore, India.

The research also got cited in a recent conference – Serious Play 2008 (click here to access article)

(project details withheld as falling under an NDA)