1. Collaboration Research Project
By the Design Thinkers

2. “Design for All is achieved not by stereotypical user properties and functional roles, but by accommodating the actual users’ behaviour”
-C. Stray

3. Brief Summary
The goal of this project is to create a platform/medium to increase student-to-student collaborations within a University and College setting. This is in order to elevate an individuals experience and skills, by exposing them to teams of different working skills in order to mimic real-world working atmosphere and bolster their résumé.

4. Target Audience Segmentation Assumption
Entrepreneurs (5,3,4,2,4 = 18)
Alumni (2,3,3,1,3 = 12)
Final Rating:
Collaborators (5,4,5,2,5 = 21)
Freelancers (2,2,3,2,3 = 12)
Uni Projects (3,3,4,0,5 = 15)
1) Personal Projects
Personal Projects (4,5,5,3,5 = 22)
2) Collaborators
3) Entrepreneurs
4) Uni projects
6) Freelancers
5) Alumni
Opportunity to Collaborate (1-5) Willing to Use it (1-5) Usefulness (1-5)
Financial Benefit (1-5)Non-Financial Benefit (1-5)

5. Value Proposition Canvas: Students
Tasks:
Find People
Write Brief
Decide Budget
Promote
Network
Interviews
Confirm Availabilities
Assign Tasks
Pains:
Bad Quality Project
Financial Loss
Incomplete Projects
Lack of Skills
Ruined Reputation
Trust Issues
Gains:
Money
Networking
Experience
Exposure
Portfolio
Skills

6. Value Proposition Canvas: Personal Projects
Tasks:
Find People
Write Brief
Decide Budget
Personal Goals
Network
Assign Tasks
Brainstorm Ideas
Interviews
Pains:
Lack of Guidance
Lack of Motivation
Bad Quality Project
Financial Loss
Incomplete Projects
Lack of Skills
Ruined Reputation
Trust Issues
Gains:
Money
Networking
Experience
Exposure
Portfolio
Outsider's Perspective
Fresh Ideas
Learning from others
Independence

7. “I am currently applying for jobs, and have found that companies are looking at both my university work, and personal projects. I have technical skills that I have learnt both internally and externally, therefore a platform to showcase both sides would be great.”
- Tomas, Graphic Design

8. Value Proposition Canvas: Collaborators
Tasks:
Combine Opinions
Develop Ideas
Delegate Tasks
Time Management
Interviews
Promote
Clarify Roles
Decide Budget
Pains:
Difficult Individuals
Difficulty with scheduling
Lack of Communication
Bad Quality Project
Financial Loss
Incomplete Projects
Lack of Skills
Balance in Ideas
Gains:
Money
Networking
Experience
Exposure
Team working skills
Abundance of ideas
Get task done

9. - Clara, Fine Art Foundation
“Collaboration is essential, it’s good to take something away from university other than a degree. It would keep us connected and benefit us in the working environment. The networking experience would help us in the long run.”
- Clara, Fine Art Foundation

10. Value Proposition Canvas: Entrepreneurs
Pains:
Bad Quality Project
Financial Loss
Incomplete Projects
Lack of Skills
Ruined Reputation
Lack of Trust
Lack of Reliability
Lack of Time
Difficult Individuals
Gains:
Money
Networking
Experience
Exposure
Confidence
Fresh Ideas
Financial Savings
Competitive Advantage
Development of company
Tasks:
NDA Agreements
Interviews
Portfolio Review
Brainstorm Meeting
Write Business Plan
Assign Tasks
Budgeting
Promote

11. - Scott, Fine Art Foundation
“All of the collaboration I have done previously is through word of mouth, and through friends. It would be perfect for my practice to connect people.”
- Scott, Fine Art Foundation

12. Conclusion
Product:
Collaboration Platform
We created a Value Proposition Canvas for our top 3 target audience segments, Collaborators, Entrepreneurs, and Personal Projects. We also created one for students in general. All of these segments had many things in common that would affect them negatively and positively. These Value Proposition Canvases were based on our assumptions, and then validated with quotes we found through our interviews. We then came up with possible Gain Creators and Pain Relievers, in response to the student feedback.
Pain Relievers:
Reviews
Terms and Conditions
Insurance Policy
Verified Users
Chat Function
Gain Creators:
Social Events
Ratings System
CV Builder
Portfolio Image Gallery
Job Opportunities

13. Empathy Map Assumption: Students
Think & Feel:
Reputation
Resume
Portfolio building
Social life
Grades
Money
Future
Say & Do:
Positive in order to collab
Optimise their positive results
Social life
Social Media
Hear:
Parents pressuring to get good grades and good job
Friends being distracting
Friends who encourage and inspire
Professor adding stress
See:
Friends and Professors working
Social media and Advertising
Competition not advertised
Job environments
Different faculties
Workshops

14. Empathy Map: Personal Projects
Think & Feel:
Reputation
Personal Benefit
Job Prospect
Gaining Experience
Networking
Money
Future
Say & Do:
Optimistic
Observant
Social life
Social Media
Extrovert
Hear:
Others in similar position
Parents adding pressure
Friends who encourage
Millennials saying ‘You can do anything’
See:
Inspiration
Social media and Advertising
Friends and Colleagues working
People being unmotivated
People supporting each other

15. - Daisy, Interdisciplinary Masters; Gender Without Borders
“Often students are young or still developing their networking skills, so it can be intimidating to approach people. Teachers do encourage it, but don’t provide you with the tools to do it.”
- Daisy, Interdisciplinary Masters; Gender Without Borders

16. Empathy Map: Collaborators
Think & Feel:
Reputation
Successful project
Worrying about roles
Opinion differences/confliction
Money
Future
Say & Do:
Optimistic to collaborate
Social extroverted
Social media
Confidence
Hear:
Social media
Motivation from competitors
Folks are involved
Professor adding stress
See:
Colleagues/competitors
Social media and Advertising
Peers competing for grades
Different faculties
Competitive people/lazy people
Working hard/not

17. “For many students money will always be an issue
“For many students money will always be an issue. Everyone has different strengths, and are in need of different skills throughout the university. A collaboration platform would allow them to share these skills.”
- Tomas, Graphic Design

18. Empathy Map: Entrepreneurs
Think & Feel:
Reputation
Branding
Hungry for Ideas
Financial Matters
Company
Future
Say & Do:
Skeptical
Opportunists
Promoting
Social Media
Hear:
Prospective employees
Friends progressing
Folks pressuring
Influencers motivating
Worrying about responsibilities
See:
Competitors
What others are achieving
Lazy People
Job Competition

19. - Stephanie, Alumni & Staff Member
“It would be useful if there was a way to link all of the departments. Especially since there is a gap that needs to be bridged. As you make new connections, new ideas pop up for projects.”
- Stephanie, Alumni & Staff Member

20. Conclusion
We decided to create an empathy map for our top 3 audience segments, and for students in general. This explores what they think & feel, see, hear, say & do. We found that they all had similar outcomes. They were all strongly influenced by their surroundings such as peers, friends, and social media.

21. Target Audience Segmentation
Entrepreneurs
Alumni
Uni Projects
Final Rating:
Freelancers
Personal Projects
1) Personal Projects
2) Uni Projects
3) Entrepreneurs
After some revision, we realised having collaborators as a segment would be redundant, plus as a group they are too small. With that in mind it clarifies that creating a collaboration platform is useful since this segment is almost non-existent, yet needed.
4) Alumni
5) Freelancers

22. Target Audience Research
Trends of Collaboration in University
Collaboration of University students has been increasing worldwide
The Benefits of University Students’ Collaboration
Learn to balance of collaborative and individual work
Upskill teamwork and communication skill
Determine an area of interest
Start their careers as academic researcher for non-economic benefits or economic benefits
Ready to join into future career industries
“The collaborative program provides students with the opportunity to shape the development of medical tech innovations with large companies, and they get a first-hand look at the process, gaining valuable knowledge and experience that employers seek in future employees.”
-Bioengineering Professor John DesJardins of at Clemson University

23. Target Audience Research
University
Industry
Industrial collaboration
UK research-intensive universities have become increasingly ‘enterprising’ in terms of research commercialization, technology licensing and transfer, and other ways of engaging with the business enterprises and industry.
Why industries collaborate with students
“The relationship with the university is valuable for two reasons: as a way of promoting new ways of approaching the development of our products but also being able to support students on Masters projects, which then makes them more employable for us if we need to increase staff”
- Chief engineer Alessandro Picarelli in Dallara Automobili

24. Target Audience Research
What type of cooperation between companies and universities will become more relevant in future?

25. Target Audience Research
Figures of KU students
13,628 undergraduate/foundation-level students
and 3,919 postgraduate students
15,065 full-time students and 2,482 part-time students
15,460 home/EU students and 2,087 overseas students
Location
Kingston Hill
Knights Park
Penrhyn Road
Roehampton Vale
Grand Total
Total
6074
2628
8520
1172
18394

26. Conclusion
Collaboration of University students has been increasing worldwide due to various reasons. With companies and institutions it is usually do to being offered internships, jobs, working on joint research, or aiding them with their thesis. Collaboration with industries is beneficial as it provides real life experience. We also found through our research the amount of students studying at kingston university, specifically each campus. This will benefit us as we will know how many people our initial product will reach.
“The fact of the matter remains that collaborations provide stretching intellectual challenges, can enhance reputations and potential revenue streams for universities but these benefits are only available to those who are able to seize these opportunities.” - Dr Sara Jones, City University London

27. Competition: Slack
Slack is an interconnected app that allows in app messaging, integrated in app applications and it is indexed plus searchable
Launched 2013
6 million users
16000 users when it launched
9 million weekly active users
Worth 5 billion reported valuation
Slack is an app used in order to streamline workflow within a team and reduce miscommunication. This app has become widely popular because it integrates other applications, into one and is user friendly that makes it very popular and allows notification editing and robust tools.

29. Competition: Quirky
Quirky is an app used by inventors, creating a community to enhance and contribute to an invention. Then Quirky chooses inventions to manufacture
Launched 2009
1,236,198 users
16000 users when it launched
4000 new product submission weekly
Quirky is used to promote and develop inventions. This application isn’t necessarily used for collaboration but to get community input and suggestions. This platform works to include and incorporate the original inventors as well as including people who had input in the invention get financially included if the product is chosen and manufactured.

31. Competition: Hightail
Hightail has two features, file sharing and a creative collaboration feature.
Launched 2004
Has an average rating, not very popular
Hightail has two features, the first feature is easy file sharing of large files and notifications clarifying collection. The second feature is “creative collaboration,” that streamlines team reviews with simple piecemeal feedback on team projects. This means hightail essentially cuts out the middleman and uses intuitive messaging and note making online.

33. Competition: Flowdock
Flowdock is an website that also allows users to use a mobile app on the go, instant messaging and video chat
Launched 2009
Founded in Finland
Subscription fee starting at $3 per month
Has over 80 pre-built integrations
Can be used in both English and Finnish
Flowdock is a communication tool primarily used to boost teamwork. It has a chat feature and group inbox which enables everyone to be involved. It also includes a log for all of the teams work. It has a homepage where users can comment and interact with each others projects.

35. Competition: Monday.com
Monday.com is an app that is aimed towards making teamwork easier.
Founded 2012, Launched 2014
Starting from $29 per month
150,000 users
Used by large scale companies such as Adidas, Uber, Samsung, Saatchi Art
Based in Tel Aviv, Israel
Monday.com is a platform used to keep all team members in the loop. There is a central board where they can add comments, view a timetable, and track everything the team is working on. Clients can also be added to the board, where they can view it as a guest and track your progress. This is more of an organizational website, rather than to find other people to collaborate with.

37. Conclusion
As a conclusion all these competitors have similar qualities in the sense that they promote better communication rather than collaboration itself. These tools are to be used by already formed teams in need of a platform that eliminates lack of communication and misunderstanding.
The only platform that is similar to the project goal is quirky but even then the similarities are slight. Quirky is promoting inventions rather than collaboration.
There is no scarcity of apps focusing on communication between teams, but there is a scarcity that promotes collaboration on a large scale, especially between students.

38. How to Legalize Terms and Conditions:
Would bind the users to the contract. Can get free templates online. Would create rules within the app.
Creative Commons:
Provides free and simple copyright licenses. There are four types of licence; Attribution, ShareAlike, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives.
Allows creatives to share and use work, and also receive input, while still being protected.
Licence cannot be revoked. You can cancel the licence, but work previously used cannot be retrieved.
Others may profit from your work.
Non-Disclosure Agreement:
A legal agreement that binds two parties to share confidential/sensitive information.
Can be one way or mutual.
Can stop people from stealing business ideas
Can have a time limit on it if not enforced properly

39. Payment Method Time-for-Time:
Some users may value the experience and connections more than money. Looking good on their cv, plus benefiting them in a review system.
Money:
Various different in app payment methods such as paypal, google wallet, and venmo. An amount and budget would have to be set in advance.
Community Expectation:
If the community has a good reputation, people will be more willing to offer their help for nothing in exchange, as they could trust to get help in the future too.
Bartering:
Bartering is the exchange of goods that does not require money but an agreement between two parties to exchange a good or service

40. Quantitative Research Questions
Which year are you in?
1st
2nd
3rd
Postgrads
Which course are you taking?
Type box...
Are you collaborating at the moment?
Yes No
With whom are you collaborating?
Friend
Peer
Other ...
Would you collaborate?
Yes No
If so, would it be;
Personal Project
Uni Project
Other ...
Would you consider yourself an;
Introvert
Extrovert

41. Conclusion
As a conclusion, we have identified that there is a gap in the market concerning promotion of collaboration. Concerning trends, collaboration is on the rise and will only grow in importance and value.
From our research we can confidently state that we are on the right track, and our best interest are in students and collaborators alike.