The Ideal Experience of Coming Out to the Parents
How might we deliver research insights? Have you ever tried using a magazine as a medium, which has the power to resonate strongly with readers through visual impact? Designers, in particular, can experience strong emotional fluctuations and be inspired, which tends to make them more creative and discover more design opportunities.
Six designers from different design fields conducted a contextual inquiry focusing on the coming-out experience within the LGBTQ community.
We employed a combination of methods to collect both quantitative and qualitative data, including: Observation, Interviews, Cultural Probes.
We observed and interacted with the LGBTQ community in four different settings: an LGBT Church, a Gay Kickball Activity, a Gay Bar, and an event at the LGBT Center. The primary objectives of our observations were to document activities, record environmental settings, and note behavioral patterns within these diverse scenarios. Additionally, these interactions aimed to identify potential participants for subsequent interview activities.
We identified stakeholders and interviewed 26 individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds to gather their coming-out stories and emotions. We developed six types of questions and utilized multiple lenses to collect as many narratives as possible.
Close Question: The participnats and answer in yes/no.
Problem Question: Identify challenges or problems the participants have faced, helping elicit information about the needs and pain points.
Heart Question: Aimed at eliciting emotional responses, are particularly useful for understanding personal impacts and emotional journeys.
Future Question: Focus on aspirations, hopes, and plans, gathering insights about what they look forward to, or expect to change in the future.
Brain Question: Challenge the participants to think critically and analytically. The participants are able to give more info in depth after thinking.
This is our favorite research method: We established a large-scale installation on the streets to engage the public as part of our research, simultaneously collecting both quantitative and qualitative data.
We began by prototyping the installation—a large, heart-shaped structure assembled from many boxes. Some boxes included collectors for questionnaires and voting by participants. We incorporated fun games on each side to gather data from passersby. These games were designed to be inclusive and open to the general public, not exclusively for the LGBT community. They also aimed to collect ideas and stories about coming out to parents. Fortunately, we were able to gather many insightful notes from the perspectives of parents.
We collected over 800 data points, which were then meticulously processed using the Affinitization method. This method utilizes a color-coded system—Yellow, Blue, Pink, Green—to organize and synthesize data effectively:
The methodology for Affinitization is Yellow-Blue-Pink-Green:
Yellow: Each yellow sticky note records a single data point, such as personal observations or direct quotes from interviews.
Blue: Blue sticky notes aggregate related yellow notes under a common theme. These are written in the first person, as if the interviewer is speaking directly to the reader.
Pink: Pink sticky notes synthesize the insights from the blue notes. The key theme of each Pink note should be immediately evident without needing to refer back to the Blue notes. The language used in Pink notes reflects the customer’s voice.
Green: Green sticky notes represent the highest level of affinity, summarizing the themes outlined in the Pink notes. While they may also adopt the customer’s voice, they tend to be more general. Each Green note captures a significant aspect of the user story. Typically, an effective affinity diagram will feature five to eight Green notes, helping to segment the information for easier reference and analysis.
we identified six highest-level affinity categories from which we developed a comprehensive framework.
During the delivery phase, we explored multiple methods for disseminating our research findings:
Videos, with their non-stop pace, can make it challenging for users to connect the dots.
Websites are becoming faster-paced as modern users spend less and less time on a single page.
Magazines, however, allow users to read at their own pace without pressure, entirely dependent on their mood. This leads to less interaction but more engagement, making magazines a highly engaging medium.
The text itself carries powerful communicative ability, but it often requires extensive narrative to convey a point and resonate with users. In contrast, photographs can inherently tell a story and evoke emotions. Combining text with visuals can unleash a unique magic. We ultimately chose magazines as our medium due to their rich visual content, which proved to be highly effective in engaging users.
