Spellbound

Startup Challenge / Business of Design Project @ California College of the Arts / Instructor: Christopher Ireland, Elizabeth Glenewinkle, Katy Mogul / Team Member: Kyu Hee Keogh, Hee Min Jee, Sophia Bai, Dafnee Zambrano

Project Brief

Spellbound is a Startup Challenge project for the Business of Design class at CCA. The goal is to conceive and create a product-oriented company that is unique and compelling enough to please potential investors. The process included identifying the users, conducting research into market segments and existing technology, defining the business model, creating brand identity, developing the marketing strategy and tactics, prototyping and user testing, etc. Our goal is to create a virtual reality meeting platform that will save all the single souls from horrible first dates, by utilizing cutting edge Virtual Reality and 3D Scanning technology.

Group Brainstorm

Decision

We are a team of designers who are experts in social interactions and desire to create a bridge between our current reality and a new virtual dimension. We have all been through the dating scene, hoping to find good ones out of a sea of bad dates, risking our time and money and giving personal information to strangers. We want to change first dates so that they are risk-free, but just as real as in-person interactions.. and a little more magical.

Pain Points

How many bad dates have you ever had?

After endless swiping, chatting, guessing, you end up with...

a terrifying in-person first date.

Value Proposition

Spellbound makes first dates as easy as video chatting, but unlike a simple video chat, you and your date can share a magical, immersive shared experience. If the date goes well, then you can jump into meeting your date in real life! If you feel like you are no longer interested in your date, getting out of it is so easy. Just press the easy exit button, and you have nothing to lose.

Rapid Prototyping and User Testing

We tested 6 potential users with Google Cardboard Virtual Reality goggles. We had two settings inside the VR screen and had the participants test both.

Setting A was using the goggles to see through a cell phone's camera. Participants can walk around and interact with the surroundings. We wanted to observe how people feel while looking through the goggles and how they perceive the virtual space.

Setting B was using existing VR environments. We had scenes such as beach, woods, and the interior of someone’s RV. Then we asked the participants to imagine themselves having a deep conversation with someone in that environment.

Feedback

- All six of them had strong reactions to how immersive the VR goggles were. Everyone said it was believable, and they could easily imagine talking to somebody within the VR environment, some of them even tried to grab things.

- One participant perceived the room setting as “quiet”, she was submerged enough to block out all the studio noise., even though the studio we were testing in was noisy. One referred the experience as the movie “The Matrix”.

- Four of the participants said they prefer meeting their date in the VR setting - they felt that the first date would be safer easier, more romantic, exotic, etc.

- One participant said she would love to have this if she is in a long distance relationship but not for the first date.

Persona

Let’s meet Steven, an engineer, gamer, and single. He uses an online dating site to find potential matches but he is a bit nervous to go on a first date. He is a nice guy, but our Steven is a busy professional, so he has to be somewhat practical. He doesn’t want the pressure that comes with a first date. Also, he is concerned about meeting a psycho who might stalk him. Well it is a bit extreme, but it happens.

Steven

Age: 27

Occupation: Engineer

Residency: Mountain View, CA

Education: Bachelor’s degree

Dating apps I use: Tinder

Marital status: Single

I am…

Shy at first, ambivert,

What I am doing with my life…

Concentrate on work, Labs, Cooking, Video games

Motivation:

I want to meet people and hopefully, find someone special.
I like in-person interaction than endless chatting or a phone call.

Frustrations:

Don’t want to put much effort on first dates
I am not comfortable giving out my personal info to a potentially bad date.
I want quick exit without being rude.
I hate awkward first dates.

Market Research

Competitor Analysis

Selected Partner

We are partnering with all the leading dating sites so Spellbound will be a click away from anyone looking for a first date.

Business Model

Revenue Model

Our research suggests that there are approximately 50 million people looking for dates online. By being first to the market, Spellbound hopes to attract the majority of users.

Sites like Tinder and Match.com have been using the magic of modern technology for years to match up singles, but the game has taken to a whole new level with the rise of the virtual reality technology, a new wave of VR platforms have joined the wave led by Spellbound.

Industry analyst firm CCS Insight has just published a report – Augmented and Virtual Reality Device Sales Forecast for 2016-2018. We hope to ride the wave of Virtual Reality growth, which is predicted to rise from 2.5 million devices sold this year to 24 million by 2018.