Mage to Master
Everywhere we look there is a social network. Between people gathering at coffee shops to students at the school, there are social networks existing and thriving all around us.
GOAL
As part of this course, we were tasked with developing a concept for implementing and creating a new social network in Savannah.
CHALLENGE
The one stipulation about this social network was that it needed to be non-digital, in a world that thrives on social media and digital content.
As a group, we chose the direction of gaming culture because it was the most interesting for us and we did not know much about this culture.
We named our service 'Mage to Master'.
DEFINITIONS
Through previous experience and research on various definitions of social networks, we developed our own definition of a social network.
A social network is a structure of independent agents connected through a medium(s), generating connections/access to more groups, organizations, and other individual agents.
DESIGN MODEL
The Hexagon Design Model illustrates the design process in six steps: Discover, Examine, Solidify, Imagine, Go!, and Nurture. This model demonstrates that
you can start anywhere in the model, yet you must return to Discover to being to fully understand your project.
Nurture (N)
Imagine (I)
Go! (G)
Examine (E)
Discover (D)
Solidify (S)
D
E
RESEARCH
Morning Star (Location1)
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Local comics and games store
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Tournament going on while we visited
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Interviewed two people at this location
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Primary function to sell games, comics, etc.
The Guild Hall (Location2)
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New local establishment
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Memberships offered at this location
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Sells games and other gaming needs, specifically board and card games
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Can check out video game consoles and return the to front desk
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Also offers special services
Examine
Examine
Social network
(Collaboration between veterans and enthusiast of magic game)
Morning star
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Likes strategy games, so prefers playing magic.
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There are different types of gamers, but people normally stick to one type of gaming.
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We have people of different age group coming in and playing magic here.
Guild
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People buy a large deck of magic cards, to trade for what they need.
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They even buy large deck to build a deck as well.
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Starting out on magic is not particularly hard.
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There are lot of options to just jump in.
SEGMENTATION
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Why this tool: Because of the diverse user base associated with comics and gaming as well as within each individual game, we felt it is necessary to identify broad user archetypes before developing specific personas.
Conclusion: The below segmentation helped us compare the user goals and needs based on the way they consume current offerings. We decided to focus on Casuals, Elders, Strategists, and New player.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
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Why these tools: we analyzed our competitors and potential competitors to see what services were currently being offered and how we fit into the market.
We used four different tools to understand our competitors: SWOT, Five Force Analysis, Strategy Canvas, and Offering Analysis.
SWOT: Examining our entire idea and potential market as a whole, we saw there were a variety of strengths and opportunities to take advantage of in creating our social network.
Strengths
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Local customers
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Interpresonal connection
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Knowledgable employees
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Employees are customers
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Global community
Weaknesses
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Cliques
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Stereotypes
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Reclusivity of individuals
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Segmented and Loyal customer bases
Opportunities
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Growing economy in coastal Georgia region
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Constant influx new merchandise to business
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Fantasy going mainstream
Threats
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Digital content
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Aging game (Magic)
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New and other games like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Hero Clix
Porter’s Five Force Analysis: This helped to examine the current landscape of the the sector that we are considering entering. We examined the power held by buyers and suppliers over the industry as well as the threat of substitutes.
New Entrants:
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The Guild
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Digital Apps
Buyers:
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Have the choices to buy new decks or to play with what they have.
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Loyal to certain shops
Suppliers:
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Set rules
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Release decks
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Modern tournaments
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require purchasing new deck
Substitutes:
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Bars
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Sporting Events
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Coffee Shops
Competetive
Rivalry
Threats
Threats
Power
Power
We found the attractiveness of this sector to be higher than average, due to weak competitive rivalry between existing shops but held down by strong supplier and buyer power.
Competitive rivalry
Threat of entry
Threats of substitutes
Suppliers power
Buyer power
Attractiveness of service sector
Low
Low
Gentile
Low
Low
Gentile
Intense
High
High
Intense
High
High
Strategy Canvas: To further examine the existing local market, we mapped the quality of offerings of existing businesses, where 0 means the business does not include that offering and 10 means they deliver that offering exceptionally well.
Identifying blue oceans: The gaps between business offerings in the strategy canvas indicate “blue oceans.” These are areas where the market is lacking and is ripe for innovation.
Magic App
Offering Analysis: We examined our competitors based on five of the offerings featured in the Strategy canvas. Each competitor has a ranking of their services which is represented in the spider diagrams.
The Guild
Morning Star
Comics & More
Game Stop
Big Box Retail
Mage to Master
Mage to Master Vs Competitors
VALUE PROPOSITION
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I
For entry level players who are interested in learning how to play Magic the Gathering, Mage to Master helps players get started with the game. Unlike traditional comic shops that only sell generic starter decks and provide less formalized friend to friend aid, we link new and veteran players through a mentorship program in addition to providing new players with strong decks.
Tag Line: “Learn Magic the strategic way.”
True Line: “Providing customers with the knowledge to play Magic the Gathering.”
SERVICE PACKAGE
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D
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BUSINESS CANVAS
PERSONA
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I
The Casual
@ITGuy49
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This is Josh
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27 years old
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Works in IT industry for 3-5 years
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Earns about $65,000
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Single and looking
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Enjoys reading Marvel comic books
The Elder
@CptnMerica7
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This is Carl
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67 years old
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Walmart Greeter for 3 years
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Former fulltime accountant
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Married for 40 years
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One son, no grandchildren
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Retired
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Earns about $65k with pension and current pay
The Newbie
@TuffGuy90
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This is Peter
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24 years old
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Likes Video Games
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Graduated college 2 years ago
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Living with his parents since
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Just moved to Sav
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Girlfriends lives in ATL
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Works at airport Enterprise
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Very optimistic
The Strategist
@FireSrcress
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This is Elle
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32 years old
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$42k per year
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Math teacher
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Married for 5 years
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Husband plays WOW as well as D&D
BRAND
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We used Marty Neumeier’s Zag's 17 principles to further refocus our brand as a whole. Through this process, we learned more about our brand and what we could possibly add or subtract to differentiate us from others.
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PROTOTYPING
SALES PITCH
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We wanted our sales pitch to be slightly comedic as to draw in more of a younger base to sustain our business. We wanted to bring fun into Magic the Gathering so that our users are constantly having fun with their mentors and socializing with others who have the same interests.
CONCLUSION
Overall it was a big challenge, designing a non-digital service. There are more dimensions to deal with, which we couldn't touch due to time restriction. If I had more time I would have gone back to research and done in-depth interviews and come to our analysis. Even branding can be expanded as well.
Learnings: I learned lot of analysis tools and as a designer this was the first time I looked at the different aspects of designing a service. It's complex and that makes it interesting as well.
Books read/referred: Zag by Marty Neumeier, Design Thinking by Thomas Lockwood, Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder.
Team: Nicole Andrews, John Gray Parker, and Jagriti Kumar