The working routines of the people at Fontys TQ - User Research
Last updated
Last updated
Used Research Methods:
Relevant Research Questions:
How do the inhabitants of the TQ experience their current working days in the given environment?
The last step of the Discovery phase was to validate to what extent my findings during the Library study apply to the users of the TQ building. By doing this validation I was able to specify what is the awareness of the building occupants on topics like frequent downtime (effective breaks) for better productivity, and connection between the surrounding environment and people's well-being. Moreover, I explored what is the occupant's opinion on their creative thinking, what strategies they apply to get into the creative mindset, etc. In the following article, I would explain the process and general outcomes of this research.
The goal of this research was to:
Discover the routines of the people at Fontys Strijp TQ Building
Discover the different needs the occupants of the TQ Building have in connection to creativity, mind rest, and the surrounding environment
The approach to reaching those goals was to perform both surveys (quantitive information) and interviews/focus groups (qualitative information). I used the findings of Library Research Report as a guiding direction for information gain.
The potential target group of Fontys TQ Building inhabitants includes administration workers, teachers, and students. I excluded the building visitors from the research, as only frequent users of the Building could have an opinion of their working day in that specific location.
Both the survey and the Interview script were created following a similar structure of question topics. Below I have listed the main topics and have given clarification on the insight the question was intended to provide:
Personal Information The section gained information on the participant's role at the Building, field of work, and frequency of visiting the location. The information was used to differentiate and find patterns in the following answers.
Daily Work Routine at the Building That section was exploring the archetypes, eagerness for social interaction, and the different feelings and experiences when working at a location vs at home. The information was used to understand what type of interaction and working setup the occupants have and what they would prefer to have in the future.
Concentration and Breaks That final section evaluated the awareness of the users about the importance and proper usage of breaks during the working day. Moreover, it covered the strategies the inhabitants use to get into a working mood / creative mindset or overcome a creative block. Last but not least, their awareness of the effects of the surrounding environment was evaluated. In addition, the preferred location of working at the building, and personalization of the working space preferences (if any) were also covered.
In terms of specific questions, the survey used a structure of multiple-choice, scale options, and open questions to gain the needed information. survey questions link: Survey Questions
The interview template was structured from the broader topic to the in-depth detail. The interview would begin with the interviewee talking about their day. After that, I would ask specific questions so that I could gain the needed information. full interview script link: Interview Template
Personal Information
In terms of spreading out the survey, I used both digital and in-person methods. As a result, the survey got 53 responses from all 3 floors (different fields) and covered both workers and students which was enough to gain the needed conclusions (this would be further explained in the next chapter)
The survey had more student respondents (40 students, and 13 workers). However, the interviews were conducted with individual interviews for the workers (5 teachers in total) and students as focus groups only (2 focus groups), so that I could still gain enough insight into the teachers' experiences. Both research methods gathered students and workers, who have different fields and experiences.
Daily Work Routine at the Building
Some of the highlights were:
There are many people at TQ that prefer to stay at their desks all day long, but almost as many need to frequently move around.
People have given the reasoning behind their emotions while at the building:
Motivation - People experience quite some motivation and enjoy the buzz of the building because it gives a productive atmosphere. However, (4.1) people feel a motivational atmosphere - mainly because the floor is dedicated to the Media students, but the space is not that creative looking.
Positive (Happy) - People are happy because of the many communication opportunities, the light space, and the energy of the people at TQ.
Negative (Unhappy) - People are unhappy with the noise. It is bad for presentation and they find it quite annoying. People avoid doing focus work because of the loud levels. Moreover, people were unhappy with the "lifeless and professional, bland" atmosphere (a finding I have discovered previously in The TQ Building Problems)
People who have experienced working in R10 have mentioned that they miss the rest area there and the silence given from the classrooms.
Concentration and Breaks That final section evaluated the awareness of the users about the importance and proper usage of breaks during the working day. Moreover, it covered the strategies the inhabitants use to get into a working mood / creative mindset or overcome a creative block. Last but not least, their awareness of the effects of the surrounding environment was evaluated. In addition, the preferred location of working at the building, and personalization of the working space preferences (if any) were also covered.
Based on the findings people do acknowledge that a break is a time to disconnect from work. Examples of breaks given were: going for a walk, eating watching smth, going for coffee, to the WC doing something they like, do both. The break frequency varies, some people prefer many breaks while others prefer to have one break a day. Overall, people at TQ acknowledge the need for breaks and take them when needed.
The preferred types of breaks were both effective and unproductive. That meant effective breaks needed to be stimulated students. Social interaction is a preferred choice by a significant amount of people, as people use their time at the building to be social. Whenever stuck on a task, people have a preference to do a social interaction or change location.
As a strategy to get into a productive state, different approaches are used. Some people use the Reward system with breaks or timer techniques like Pomodoro. For others, a quiet space is enough. A big part of people does not need any techniques.
As for location, many people use group tables because of the need for team collaboration and the better motivation they feel when being around others. Some, though, force themselves in order to be part of their group even though they prefer to work in a more silent area. Depending on the person, the surrounding environment as a factor varies, however, noise levels were negatively mentioned on multiple occasions.
One of the most surprising findings was that people are searching for social interaction when on location. This insight turned out to be contrasting with the finding given to me initially, where the users of the building were mentioned as not interacting enough. Also, it seemed that people mind the noise in open spaces a lot more than I anticipated.
Those findings would be mentioned further as they became an important part of the future phases.
Even though I still had not defined a specific problem and target group, the results of the Discover Phase had shown potential problems at the TQ Building, that are connected to productivity, effective mind rest, and users' well-being. Therefore, I could already iterate on the Design Challenge. The redefined challenge was the following:
"Design an innovative Interactive experience to enable users of the Strijp TQ Fontys Building in need of a momentary break to have an accessible way of getting an effective mind rest in the goal of boosting their productivity and overall well-being during their time at the building."
Although this design challenge was not precise enough yet (as the specific problem and target group was not defined) it was included in the Project Plan because it provided a more accurate overview of the way the project was heading towards.
As visible, the types of answers did not have only one leading direction. That was expectable as the building has a broad selection of occupants. My next step was to use those differentiating answers and find patterns in order to define a concrete problem and target group.
A concise overview of the findings is listed below. Fuller summaries could be found in the attachments: and #interviews
