“Cartooneering”

Software products are becoming more and more complex and extensive in their range of functions. Functions that previously could only be provided by large data centers now run smoothly on a smartphone in your pocket. This tempts you to simply incorporate more features into your product because it is technically feasible. This change requires you to keep an overview and concentrate on the essentials. A clear vision at the beginning of a project is essential to align everyone involved with a common goal: “We want to develop exactly this product”. However, finding a common vision is often easier said than done.

Imagine a project to develop a digital marketplace:

• The customer wants impressive features such as personalized offers and detailed analytics to increase user engagement.
  
• The developers, on the other hand, place a high value on the ease of maintenance and scalability of the marketplace to ensure long-term stability.
• At the same time, the sellers demand easy product management on the marketplace.
• The buyers, on the other hand, expect intuitive operation and a quick checkout process.

In such complex discussions with vague requirements and different stakeholders, conflicts often arise because everyone has their own priorities.

Insufficiently developed visions lead to massive problems in the later development process. Let's take the example of the digital marketplace again: Suppose rarely used but complex-to-implement statistical functions have been developed, while essential functions such as push notifications for important events are missing. If the implemented features do not meet the needs of the users, costs for changes and improvements will arise. These can be avoided if the right vision and direction are pursued from the outset.

This is precisely where Cartooneering comes in. By using sophisticated personas and vivid comics, we create a shared understanding of users and problem areas. This promotes a common view of the product to be developed and enables the creation of clear and intuitive usage scenarios. The result is a communicable story for your product right from the start, which can also be used for team onboarding.

Cartooneering is an effective solution for uniting stakeholders and developing a shared vision. Instead of relying on long specifications and lots of text, we focus on visual and comprehensible representations. This not only makes it easier to understand, but also to continuously develop the product vision, ensuring that target groups and core purposes are always clear.

“Cartooneering” at a glance

Goals

• ·Clarity about the target group and their needs: By using sophisticated personas and lively comics, all participants get a clear picture of the target group and their needs. This helps to focus the development on the most important user requirements.
• Rapid identification of your product vision: “Cartooneering” enables a quick and comprehensible definition of the product vision. This makes the development process more efficient and targeted.
  
• Common understanding between all stakeholders, clients and the development team: The visual and narrative presentation of the product vision reduces misunderstandings and creates a common understanding. This promotes collaboration and minimizes conflicts.
  
• Write your product's story: With “Cartooneering”, you develop a communicable story of your product that can be used not only for marketing and public relations, but also for onboarding new team members. This story gives your product a tangible identity and makes it easier to communicate the vision to the outside world.
  
  

Method

• Basic idea as a prerequisite: Starting with “Cartooneering” requires a basic idea for your product.
  
• Creating personas and scenarios: We design personas and scenarios for you, which are presented in the form of comics. We then refine these together with you in iterative steps.
• Workshops for refinement: Do you have too little detail or too many different opinions? No problem! We offer you a one-day workshop to specify and refine your product idea.
  
  

Results

• Detailed personas: You will receive detailed personas representing the most important user groups of your product.
• The created personas can be seamlessly integrated into our AI-based personas for chatting. This allows you to engage in a continuous dialog with your personas. Read more about the advantages and possible uses of our virtual IESE personas under “AI Personas”.
  
• Detailed scenario descriptions: We create comprehensive scenario descriptions for your software that illustrate the benefits of your product.
• Visualizations in the form of comics: Your product vision is visualized in lively comics that present complex ideas in a simple and illustrative way.
• Roadmap for product implementation: We provide you with a clear implementation roadmap that defines the next steps and milestones.