Hi! My name is Clara McDaniel. I am an Undergraduate Computer Science student at Virginia Tech. I am studying software design, UX design, and I am involved in research projects aimed to assist in computer mediated empathy.
Scroll down to see my work!
Advertisement Strategy Recommendation Application to Improve Effectiveness in Marketing Targeting College Students
A Journey Toward Better Marketing
This project was a semester long endeavor in UX Design to improve the work practices of marketers in the modern-day digital advertisement environment. The goal of the advertisement strategy recommendation system is to provide data on recent trends found on the short-form video sharing application, TikTok. This service includes comprehensive information on these recommended trends, as well as a list of possible influencers who are most likely to work with the user. All of these recommendations are filtered based on the user's preferences on the audience they want to reach, as well as the characteristics of their business.
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This was an effort to introduce veteran marketers to the quickly growing and changing trends, as well as to supply an efficient replacement for extensive trend research for even the most modern marketing agent. This system benefits everyone from small businesses to large corporations, working towards a large decrease in time spent on deciding on advertisement templates, and instead allowing time for focus on quality and creativity of the advertisement itself.
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This indirectly leads to a better experience for TikTok users by supplying more entertaining and interesting advertisements that do not interrupt the current session of relaxation. Not only does the tool assist marketers in finding the most beneficial influencer, but also offers up and coming influencers a unique and effective networking tool for reaching the marketers that their audience will most prefer.
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To learn more about the project, observe some of the wireframes, contextual analysis diagrams, and storyboards used for development, as well as the reports made throughout the design process.
Wireframes
This is a look into a possible design when the application is implemented. Some features displayed demonstrate the preference filtering process, trend recommendation, influencer networking, and data analytics report.
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The main goal of the wireframe design is to make first-time use as easy as possible due to the fact that the target users are older in age. A simple chatting system and recommendation process are implemented, as well as clear descriptions and color separation to assist in visual association and comprehension.
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Contextual Analysis
Contextual Analysis was performed in order to get a better initial understanding of the marketing work domain and its needs. Five interviews in total were performed with marketers and TikTok users alike. Broad questions were asked in order to get a real and unique perspective of the marketing and advertisement experience. Answers and observations were collected and organized in order to create a larger and interconnected picture of what this application needed to posses. Artifacts from this process can be found below.
Work Activity Diagram
Design Informing Model
Storyboards
Three storyboards in total were illustrated to target three separate design perspectives: ecological, emotional, and interaction. Each of these were made to get a better understanding of the work roles of marketers and what features may assist in their daily tasks. Analyzing the three separate perspectives allowed for a thorough analysis of the entire experience, as well as the application's long-lasting effect on numerous types of users.
Ecological Storyboard
Emotional Storyboard
Interaction Storyboard
Research Reports
VT Squirrels Website
A Influencer Endeavour
The VT Squirrels website started as a simple idea for my Intro to Web Design Capstone. It was one of the first times I had ever coded, and facing the long path to being good at website design and programming was daunting. Theidea was too good not to implement, so I looked past my faults and dove in head first!
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The initial concept started from a fun game between me and my friends on campus. Virginia Tech is rampant with squirrels with very unique personalities, so it was only natural to start capturing these moments on our phones. An entire group chat was formed where these photos were exchanged and captioned with entertaining phrases, resulting in hilarious discussions. I wanted to archive these moments, and I felt like it was a concept the rest of the campus would enjoy as well. As a result, I started creating!
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I started to brainstorm what design elements I wanted this website to possess. The primary emotion this website needed to portray was " childish fun". This immediately brought up memories of my elementary school computer class, when Word Art and Microsoft Paint were the foundations of many creative and fun memories. I instantly knew this was the type of aesthetic VT Squirrels needed.
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With CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, I implemented an archive of all the squirrels pictures and captions I possessed, as well as a horizontal scrolling gradient across the site to imitate the changing seasons of Virginia Tech . I then used Word Art and Microsoft Paint to create the other necessary assets for the website such as trees flowers, and the site header. I then implemented a hovering mechanism over the squirrel photos in order to preserve their captions without interrupting the simplistic and nostalgic aspect of the website. I also added in some photos of the beautiful campus itself in order to convey what a wonderful place Virginia Tech is down to its buildings and squirrels.
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I kept this site open publicly for around six months with a custom domain and collected pictures and captions from people all across the Virginia Tech Campus through an Instagram account for the website. Unfortunately, this domain had to be given up due to lack of personal fund. However, you can still view the site in the video below!
While this website definitely shows my inexperience with website design at the time, it serves as a great memory in my journey to learning more about one of my passions. I hope that passion is shown to you as well, and I look forward to possibly recreating this site with more experience in the future.
Let's Work Together :)