Data Collection

Survey Results

Following our Google Forms survey we found that most (88%) of our interviewees were young in age (18-24) , so as a result had access to some sort of printer. However, there is still a sizable portion of this demographic that still rely on either another person's printer or a type of printing service for their print jobs. This is a huge find for our cause, and really affirms our ability for the niche even with the young demographic.

Another particularly important statistic was the radio questions " In general do you think there is an accessible and convenient mode of third part printing? " In which there was an overwhelming 'no' response totaling to about 72% in our survey. Not only does this affirm our project, but also says that there is an unfilled hole in the market's immediate idea of a mobile printing service.

Although we do acknowledge that there is certain things that at first glance dismisses the idea that an printing application would work. A statistic in our survey showed that 68% of people would be more inclined to print from a browser than a mobile device. However, there are workarounds to this We could have browser support, in addition to supportive mobile functions that currently is unavailable in the market that really eases the use of mobile printing. This is problem we will continue to monitor and address in the future.

Interview Results

Each of our team members Interviewed a person in help of our primary Research. Below, is our results of the interviews:

Topic 1: Identify Where and Why People Print

Do you currently have a functioning printer at home?

Esther Park Interviewee: yes
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : yes
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: yes
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: No

On a scale of 1-5 how satisfied are you with the reliability of your printer? (Extra question: Why?)

Esther Park Interviewee: Freshman year when I first got it, it was a 5. But now (3rd year using it) it’s a 3.5 because it’s not printing color properly anymore and it’s also printing things more slowly, especially when it’s double sided.
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : 4
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: 1
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: 0

Do you see yourself buying a printer or upgrading your printer in the near future? Why?

Esther Park Interviewee: No, because they’re expensive
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : I will likely purchase a printer for myself in the future just because it’s more convenient to have one in my home office.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: Yes, it takes like five minutes to print one page so I get frustrated when i’m printing more than one page.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: No, everything is digitized now.

What was the reason behind your last print job?

- Esther Park Interviewee: Printing out an equation sheet for an exam
- Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : I was printing photos for a student organization.
- Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: I wanted to fill out some forms for a doctor’s appointment.
- Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Mmmm, College Photography Class

Did you ever find yourself needing a printer despite lacking access to one?

Esther Park Interviewee: No
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : Yes
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: yes
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Yes, Of course.

Topic 2: Identify how people print regularly

How do you print, if you do not have a printer at home?

- Esther Park Interviewee: N/A
- Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : I ask my mom to print something out for me at her job if we do not have any more ink or paper left. At school I would not have this issue since we have access to printers.
- Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: Oh okay, so i ask my mum or sister to print it for me when they go out.
- Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Ask my mom, or a friend.

How often do you have to print items on a weekly basis?

Esther Park Interviewee: Once bi-weekly
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : Not very often.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: Not that often
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Less than once a week.

Do you have access to printing services outside of your home? Does that influence how often you print?

Esther Park Interviewee: Yes I have access; no it does not influence how often I print
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : Yes I do have access to printers outside my home but it definitely is more inconvenient for me since I typically like to have the papers I want to print immediately.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: No i don’t know where I can print outside of my house so I try to avoid printing unless i absolutely have to.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: I have adjacent friends that are down to let me print for them. Also Shops that do that kind of thing for us.

If you had to use external sources for printing, what influences your decision to use one service over another? (Ex: cost, quality of print job, color printing, etc.)

Esther Park Interviewee: Location/distance, how easy it is, cost
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : I would only use other sources due to accessibility and my need to use colored ink. Although I do have colored ink at home, my ink appears less reliable so I prefer using other sources.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: I don't have any but if I did, I will definitely go for the closest and fastest place.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Definitely quality, secondarily cost

How often do you find yourself printing something on behalf of someone else?
- Esther Park Interviewee: Not often
- Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : Not so often but I would say I print something every other week for someone else.
- Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: A few times, i’m the only one who can connect to the printer at our house, so they usually ask me to print for them.
- Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Mmmm not often, maybe once or twice bi-monthly?

Topic 3: Identify how people are using printing services

Have you ever used printing services before? If yes, where do you go to print? (i.e. Rutgers computer lab, Staples)

Esther Park Interviewee: Yes, Rutgers
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : I’ve gone to Staples to print flyers for an event since they have color and can print items in bulk. Rutgers computer labs have also been very reliable.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: When I was in school I went to the library or computer lab to print.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: My Uni offers photocopying services, and has a dark room to develop my photos

Does it require you to use an app or website to print?

Esther Park Interviewee: None because it was automatically connected to printers (she used Rutgers printing services pre-Covid)
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : Staples required a USB I think? Rutgers had computers onsite.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: No we used our id cards to swipe for it.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Nah you kinda just walk in and show your ID

On a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent) how would you rate the app/website in terms of usability and aesthetics? (Is it easy to use/navigate?)

Esther Park Interviewee: N/A
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : For Rutgers printing services (my experiences are based on being in-person), I would say 5. OIT staff were helpful with wireless printing and using the onsite computers never gave me any issue.
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: I would rate it as a 4, it was easy to print. I don’t know about aesthetics, maybe a 2 or 3 the colors were not that good looking.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee: N/a

What are some inconveniences that you have encountered when trying to print from outside of your home?

- Esther Park Interviewee: (this is pre-Covid when there was no curbside pickup) When I’m not able to swipe my RUID card at the printer; when I print something and realize I printed the wrong thing and have to go back to the printer and print again; having to walk/take the bus to a place that has printers at Rutgers (even in snow and rain)
- Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : I am unable to access the papers immediately
- Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: Sometimes when i want to print something, there would be a line because someone is printing a textbook and it’s rush hour so a lot of students also want to print at the same time.
- Juancho Munoz Interviewee: Time to get to destination, combined with the wait for the print job at the job itself.

Do you experience any frustrations with the printing process/service that you use. If so, can you explain or list out the frustrations?

Esther Park Interviewee: I don’t have frustrations. I only have the inconveniences that I mentioned earlier.
Abhiram Kolal Interviewee : N/A
Chetanna Egwuonwu Interviewee: My printer at home is slow to print things with. Sometimes it takes up to five minutes just to start printing. I don’t have any other place to go print because of Covid and everything closing down.
Juancho Munoz Interviewee : The only frustration is the wait. For the most part, other than that, maybe a consistent user interface would be nice.

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