Service Design (MA)
Chao Dai
Project 'Next' focuses on the topic of studying abroad and is committed to building a connection between overseas students and applicants to reduce the problem of the information gap.
This project is not only our final project in RCA but also a Start-up business in our near future. our team has developed it through social media to be in contact with a large audience of potential users and worked closely with users to develop the service in an innovative way and have already attracted investment and revenue for the service.
As the team leader of "NEXT", Chao has been using the service design methods as a management tool. In particular, he is good at leveraging progress of projects through subtle insight into human nature -- insight into users to develop strategies, insight into stakeholders to integrate resources, and insight into team members to manage the team.
He advocates flexibility above the bottom line, using the real world as a playground for viable innovation.
He has almost zero tolerance for ugly things, and be good at making good-looking things sell better.
background — Nearly 700,000 Chinese students go abroad every year. Because of the fear caused by different cultures, policies, and educational systems, only in the application process, they will spend more than ten times costs compared with European students. Therefore, we consider helping Chinese applicants who want to study abroad connect with overseas students, so as to reduce the information gap.
persona & journey-Yuan Yuan — Now，let's turn our perspective to a Chinese student—Yuan Yuan, who is a typical Chinese student. We made a customer journey about the application process of YuanYuan to find the time and scenario that she can use to obtain information. We found some fragmentary times could be utilized.
persona & journey-Jun Shu — Jun Shu who is now studying in London just has real experience of studying and living aboard. He is a very ideal knowledge sharer for Yuan Yuan. After interviewing many overseas students, we formed a journey of Jun Shu’s study aboard cycle. This group has a relatively high life pursuit. Their impression of a wonderful experience comes frequently from the atmosphere. In addition, most of them live alone or solitary, there are scenes where they can naturally use voice products.
insights — So here, COMPANION as a keyword might be an opportunity. However, if we only consider connecting them, such a platform is too thin to be broken down. we need to form a very strong bond with the supply side, that is, overseas students. We believe that the idea of connecting the two parties through an accompanying audio service with atmospheres is reliable. As a companion product, we want to help students connect to the right people and then to the information.
mission & platform overview — After in-depth research of this group, we finally created NEXT which is an audio social field platform as a comfortable chatting environment. This is the user growth system. There are three layers of our platform, “public room” as a foundation only allows multi-user voice chat. Compared with a one-to-one conversation with a stranger, the user will feel less stress, which makes it a high-frequency behavior. The middle layer is for private chat and the top layer we call it ‘superstar room’.
chat room — We use multiple pictures moving slowly layer by layer to make a visual phase difference instead of video. Therefore, the cost of the development and requirement of internet speed and devices will be much lower.
main pages — Next is not just about audio and conversation, it's also about sunshine, stars, bonfires and neon lights, etc. Because it's an unusual service that incorporates the environment into the chatting interface, such as ‘seaside campfire’, ‘deep alley cafe’, and ‘old fashion train’ etc. At the same time, space skins are also an important part of the achievement system and business model.
key data in prototype — One of our team members, as a knowledge sharer, to publish content about studying abroad on TikTok. We have successfully accumulated over 97,000 followers in three months and gained nearly 10,000 valuable comments. We directed some TikTok fans into our WeChat group. In the last four weeks, we organized 10 activities for different ways of conversation with 181 users participated. In order to complete the prototype of a business closed-loop(MVP), we generated actual revenue through the three additional services after the activities we hold. our conversion rate is approximately 10%, among them, the conversion rate of high customer transaction service achieved 3.8% in the circumstance of no professional sales.
vision — The user data generated by the platform may provide support for consulting services in traveling, interior decoration, or educational innovation in the future, similar to the model of Tsudaya books of Japan. In addition, it may become an important entry point for some Live Action Role Playing games, audio and video services, or VR applications in the future, so they are also our important stakeholders. Of course, the vision of NEXT is forming a new way of transferring knowledge.
seed capital — Finally, we would like to express our great regards to an SD classmate - Jerry Jin. Although we have not considered funding yet. we are very thankful to Jerry for offering us the seed capital in the current undesirable capital market.
Next-video
Nearly 700,000 Chinese students go abroad every year. Because of the fear caused by different cultures, policies, and educational systems, only in the application process, they will spend more than ten times costs compared with European students.
Therefore, we consider helping Chinese applicants who want to study abroad connect with overseas students, so as to reduce the information gap.
Therefore, we need to form a very strong bond with the supply side, that is, overseas students.
After in-depth research of these groups, we finally created NEXT which is an audio social field platform.
Next is not just about audio and conversation, it's also about sunshine, stars, bonfires and neon lights, etc. Because it's an unusual service that incorporates the environment into the chatting interface.
Here, applicants can get accurate tacit information about study aboard, on the other hand, overseas students can also get a sense of achievement, personal brand building, and additional income. What's more important is to achieve these goals through a high-frequency and fun way of information interaction.
We believe that chatting is the most common entertainment activity of human beings, and this activity is valuable and worth exploring.
Therefore, we consider helping Chinese applicants who want to study abroad connect with overseas students, so as to reduce the information gap.
Therefore, we need to form a very strong bond with the supply side, that is, overseas students.
After in-depth research of these groups, we finally created NEXT which is an audio social field platform.
Next is not just about audio and conversation, it's also about sunshine, stars, bonfires and neon lights, etc. Because it's an unusual service that incorporates the environment into the chatting interface.
Here, applicants can get accurate tacit information about study aboard, on the other hand, overseas students can also get a sense of achievement, personal brand building, and additional income. What's more important is to achieve these goals through a high-frequency and fun way of information interaction.
We believe that chatting is the most common entertainment activity of human beings, and this activity is valuable and worth exploring.