Lansing Makers Network
Evaluate the Lansing Makers Network website and program to help align their goals with user interaction.
Gathered data of current and potential members through interviews and a survey.
The picture below shows the results of an interview conducted with a couple of current members at the L.M.N. What was discovered was that a majority of the members are relatively new to the program. Being curious and having a sense of a community is a value that the L.M.N. members find particularly important.
The second data set is from another interview conducted with a student at the University which is located near the Lansing Makers Network. Prior to the interview the student has never heard about the L.M.N. Also, the student has interest in expressing their creativity by involving themselves in photography and art which would align with the value that the LMN members have. To add, the student often engages with social media which can potentially be a way that the L.M.N. can advertise in to help spread awareness of the program.
Along with the interviews, I conducted a survey to further validate the background information needed to understand more about people who are a part of the L.MN. What was found from the survey is that being creative and using social media are common themes that seem to come up repeatedly. The L.M.N. should make more of an effort to expand their social media presence and find ways to express the creativity that these individuals have.
A big representation of the Lansing Makers Network is their website. Having a well-constructed website allows for good user interaction while also meeting the goals that the L.M.N. has to increase and diversify members. I conducted a heuristic review and added some advice on improvements that could be made.
Heuristic Review of L.M.N. Website
After all the research that was done I propotyped a flyer poster for a future event that the Lansing Makers Network could use as a way to promote their program in helping to gain and diversify their membership which is their main goal for the program. I suggested that these flyers be put up in and around the neighboring areas especially at Michigan State University because they have over 50,000 diverse students.
At the end of the project I met with one of the head operations lead at the Lansing Makers Network and another member to get feedback. They were impressed with the research and solutions that I have given them. This helped them to apply these findings towards continually trying to improve their program.