Segment: The online roleplaying community of artists
For my segment, I've chosen online artists in the 18-30 range, mostly college-educated females who roleplay online. After running some casual polls on Twitter, I gathered that 69% have been in the community for over 4 years, 40% perceived the community as growing larger, and 68% desired a place where they could post art, chat, and roleplay, like the website I'm trying to create.My Findings
Those who voted 'yes' on my poll asking if they were interested in my product ended up being the ones I interviewed, since I knew they would have an unmet need. What I found is people are primarily dissatisfied with the outdated features of the website they currently use to post art on, Deviantart, and they are reminded of this when the website fails them with technical issues. Because the website is over 15 years old and many are longtime users, they know at this point there's not much to really google- there is no hope. So, they take to complaining to friends and followers on social media. After a few years, DeviantArt added a function that allowed users to post drafted artwork onto a cloud server. It uses newer HTML coding, but when the user chooses to upload their draft, it gets converted to the old, ugly HTML the main site uses, leading to hair-pullingly ugly formatting.
Conclusions
Because my segment is young and millennial, they're interested in ethical, modern, visually appealing platforms, and what they've been given to work with is certainly not that. If I choose to move forward with my website, I'm 99% sure I'll need to consult with a graphic designer and programmer ( I actually already know a few in this community already!) to help not make this website an ugly baby. If I do end up charging for premium memberships, I believe allowing attractive customization options for one's profile will definitely sell.
Hey Haley! It shows just how serious you are about this seeing as you made a poll to collect votes and everything. You’re right about saying that in order to attract an artistic customer base, you’ll have to make the platform itself visually pleasing. Artists go to aesthetics like moths to a flame. It’d be nice to have a creative interface as unique as the work posted on it instead of one that looks bland. Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
ReplyDeleteHaley,
ReplyDeleteYoure ability to distinguish this segment and use the information to understand what characteristics are specific to that segment. You also already have your foot in the door which also shows you have a true understanding of the concept and the needs youre dealing with.