First impressions count. This also applies to welcome letters for new residents – especially when it comes to a pastoral offer that is intended to appeal to the most diverse target groups. Find out how we developed an effective concept for the letter to new residents of the pastoral area of Zug within one day.
The pastoral area of Zug was dissatisfied with its letter to new residents. An effective concept to get in touch with new residents was needed. But how can you contact new residents effectively and efficiently at the same time? How do you even get their contact details? To answer these questions, the pastoral area commissioned us with a clear goal: to develop an effective welcome concept for new residents in one day.
To create the new concept, we conducted a concept sprint. A concept sprint is a five-step design process starting with the rough visualiazations of ideas and ending with testing a matured concept with real users. We started the first step of the concep-sprint, also called the "Map"- stage. To do so, we invited specific subjec matter experts and engaged in a combination of so called lightning-decision-jams and lightning-talks. This allowed us to gain relevant expert knowledge within an hour, identifying the most important levers for achieving our goal and generating a first set of solution ideas. In the second step, the "Sketch"-phase, we used the insights from the previous phase to create concrete and visualized solution concepts whereas various sprint methods gave us inspiration. In the third step, the "Decide"-phase, we used some initially defined target criteria to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each solution design and decided on the winning idea. In stage 4, the design-stage, we created a prototype of the winning concept, which we then tested with potential readers as a last step in the concpet sprint. The user feedback gathered in this fifth and final step, the "Test"-step was directly integrated in the concept and built the last stepping stone to the new welcome concept.
Fig. 1: Extract of the draft solutions.
The result of the concept sprint included two postcards that quickly leave a positive impact through a personal touch. A special shape makes the postcards look interesting and quickly stand out from other letters and cards. Pictures from the village reinforce the local character – something that new residents aprpeciated in particular. In summary, the new way of contacting new residents by means of a postcard gave the pastoral area of Zug an efficient and impactful method to get in touch with newcomers.
