Digital and Social Media Communication | Task 2
13/05/26 - 7/06/26 [ Week 4 - Week 7 ]
Nicco Chew Jin Xun (0366563)
Digital and Social Media Communication | Bachelor of Design (Hons) In Creative Media | Taylor's University
Tutor: Mr. Goh
Table of contents
1. Instructions
3. Feedback
4. Reflection
Instructions
Task 2: Empathy, Mapping & Persona
Project / Process Work
Google Drive Link:
Building on the previous research, our group developed
three user personas based on Pestle & Mortar Clothing's
target audience. As the brand primarily targets urban
Malaysian males aged between 18 and 35, we created personas
representing different age groups, occupations, and income
levels to better reflect the diversity of its customer
base.
The three personas included - Haziq Danial, 20 – Male, university student majoring in Business
- Jason Chew, 28 – Male, UX Designer at a mid-sized tech company in KL Sentral
- Fariz Azman, 35 – Male, Marketing Director at a brand strategy agency in Petaling Jaya
Each
persona was further developed by identifying their goals,
motivations, challenges, purchasing habits, social media
usage, preferred content formats, and communication
preferences.
Through this exercise, we gained a better understanding of
how different customer segments engage with the brand. For
example, younger consumers are generally more attracted to
short-form content, product drops, and social media trends,
whereas working professionals tend to place greater value on
product quality, craftsmanship, brand storytelling, and
long-term brand loyalty. Developing these personas also
provided a stronger foundation for the next stage of the
project, particularly when creating the empathy map and
planning the social media content strategy.
Final User Persona Report
Week 6 Group Meeting Progress
The three personas included
- Haziq Danial, 20 – Male, university student majoring in Business
- Jason Chew, 28 – Male, UX Designer at a mid-sized tech company in KL Sentral
- Fariz Azman, 35 – Male, Marketing Director at a brand strategy agency in Petaling Jaya
Through this exercise, we gained a better understanding of how different customer segments engage with the brand. For example, younger consumers are generally more attracted to short-form content, product drops, and social media trends, whereas working professionals tend to place greater value on product quality, craftsmanship, brand storytelling, and long-term brand loyalty. Developing these personas also provided a stronger foundation for the next stage of the project, particularly when creating the empathy map and planning the social media content strategy.
Although there was no physical class this week due to the public holiday, our group continued working on Task 2 by holding an online discussion to review our overall progress and plan the remaining tasks.
During the meeting, we confirmed the submission timeline, redistributed the outstanding sections among the four group members, and reviewed the draft report together. We also refined several parts of the document by removing repetitive examples, reorganising the content, and improving the overall clarity and flow of our writing.
In terms of the brand analysis, we further strengthened our discussion by incorporating competitor references, including Futuremade and Place of Birth, to provide a broader comparison of PMC's market positioning. We also revised the user behaviour analysis, highlighting that customers interested in premium-priced apparel are more likely to visit physical stores to examine the materials, fit, and quality before making a purchase.
For the content strategy, our group decided to prioritise Instagram and TikTok as the primary communication platforms. At this stage, we focused on refining our key insights and social media strategy to ensure they aligned with PMC's target audience before proceeding with the content planning stage.
Although there was no physical class this week due to the public holiday, our group continued working on Task 2 by holding an online discussion to review our overall progress and plan the remaining tasks.
During the meeting, we confirmed the submission timeline, redistributed the outstanding sections among the four group members, and reviewed the draft report together. We also refined several parts of the document by removing repetitive examples, reorganising the content, and improving the overall clarity and flow of our writing.
In terms of the brand analysis, we further strengthened our discussion by incorporating competitor references, including Futuremade and Place of Birth, to provide a broader comparison of PMC's market positioning. We also revised the user behaviour analysis, highlighting that customers interested in premium-priced apparel are more likely to visit physical stores to examine the materials, fit, and quality before making a purchase.
For the content strategy, our group decided to prioritise Instagram and TikTok as the primary communication platforms. At this stage, we focused on refining our key insights and social media strategy to ensure they aligned with PMC's target audience before proceeding with the content planning stage.
Following the completion of our three user personas, we selected Jason Chew as the primary persona to develop the empathy map after discussing our options with Mr. Max. Compared to the other personas, Jason better represents PMC's current premium positioning and the type of audience the brand aims to engage.
As a 28-year-old UX designer based in Kuala Lumpur, Jason values thoughtful design, quality craftsmanship, and authentic brand stories. His interests closely align with PMC's premium rebranding, making him the most suitable persona for shaping our communication strategy. In comparison, Haziq's purchasing behaviour is more budget-conscious and trend-driven, while Fariz's priorities are centred on brand loyalty and membership benefits, making both personas less relevant to the campaign direction we intended to develop.
After confirming Jason as our primary persona, we created an empathy map to better understand his thoughts, emotions, behaviours, influences, and decision-making process when interacting with PMC. This exercise allowed us to move beyond basic demographic information and gain a deeper understanding of his motivations, frustrations, and expectations towards the brand.
From the empathy mapping process, we discovered that Jason is willing to invest in premium products, provided that the brand clearly communicates the value behind its pricing. As a result, we concluded that PMC's social media content should place greater emphasis on craftsmanship, material quality, behind-the-scenes production, founder stories, meaningful collaborations, and detailed product storytelling. These insights became the foundation for developing our content strategy in the following stage of the project.
Final Empathy Map
Following the completion of our three user personas, we selected Jason Chew as the primary persona to develop the empathy map after discussing our options with Mr. Max. Compared to the other personas, Jason better represents PMC's current premium positioning and the type of audience the brand aims to engage.
As a 28-year-old UX designer based in Kuala Lumpur, Jason values thoughtful design, quality craftsmanship, and authentic brand stories. His interests closely align with PMC's premium rebranding, making him the most suitable persona for shaping our communication strategy. In comparison, Haziq's purchasing behaviour is more budget-conscious and trend-driven, while Fariz's priorities are centred on brand loyalty and membership benefits, making both personas less relevant to the campaign direction we intended to develop.
After confirming Jason as our primary persona, we created an empathy map to better understand his thoughts, emotions, behaviours, influences, and decision-making process when interacting with PMC. This exercise allowed us to move beyond basic demographic information and gain a deeper understanding of his motivations, frustrations, and expectations towards the brand.
From the empathy mapping process, we discovered that Jason is willing to invest in premium products, provided that the brand clearly communicates the value behind its pricing. As a result, we concluded that PMC's social media content should place greater emphasis on craftsmanship, material quality, behind-the-scenes production, founder stories, meaningful collaborations, and detailed product storytelling. These insights became the foundation for developing our content strategy in the following stage of the project.
Feedback
Week 5 (20/05/26)
General Feedback:
This week, Mr. Max introduced Task 2, which focuses on developing user personas and empathy maps as the foundation for the upcoming content planning. During the class, our group created three user personas based on Pestle & Mortar Clothing's target audience, each representing different customer characteristics and lifestyles. After reviewing our work, Mr. Max selected one persona that best represented the brand's target audience, which we then used to develop the empathy map in the following stage.
Specific Feedback:
After reviewing our user personas, Mr. Max pointed out that the three profiles were still too similar and lacked clear distinctions in terms of their motivations and expectations towards the brand. He advised us to further refine each persona by giving them a more specific focus instead of differentiating them only by age. For example, the youngest persona should be driven by PMC's brand story, culture, and heritage, while the second persona should place greater value on visual design, garment quality, and craftsmanship. As for the oldest persona, the emphasis should be on long-term brand loyalty, membership privileges, and exclusive rewards. His feedback helped us better differentiate each persona, ensuring that they represented distinct customer needs and behaviours for the next stage of the project.
Week 6 (27/05/26)
General Feedback:
Mr. Max explained that our campaign insight needed to go beyond simply stating that Pestle & Mortar Clothing (PMC) needs more content. Instead, he encouraged us to identify a more meaningful communication problem. He suggested that the campaign should focus on helping audiences understand the value behind PMC's premium rebrand by highlighting its craftsmanship, design philosophy, and local heritage. This would enable the brand to better justify its higher price point while maintaining an authentic connection with its Malaysian identity.
Specific Feedback:
After reviewing our refined user personas, Mr. Max commented that the overall quality had improved significantly and agreed that Jason was the strongest persona to use for our empathy map. As a creative professional who appreciates thoughtful design, quality craftsmanship, and cultural authenticity, Jason closely represents PMC's core target audience. Based on his feedback, our group decided to use Jason as the primary persona, allowing us to establish a clearer campaign direction centred on brand storytelling, craftsmanship, material quality, design process, meaningful collaborations, and Malaysian cultural identity. This feedback also reinforced the importance of creating content that communicates the value behind PMC's premium positioning rather than relying on generic promotional content.
Week 7 (03/06/26)
General Feedback:
This week, Mr. Martin emphasised the importance of planning a social media campaign strategically rather than simply scheduling posts. He explained that the content should follow a clear campaign journey throughout the month, gradually guiding the audience from awareness to education, engagement, action, and finally a campaign recap. He also highlighted that every decision, including the choice of social media platform and posting schedule, should be supported by audience insights and campaign objectives to ensure that each post contributes to the overall strategy.
Specific Feedback:
During the consultation, Mr. Martin reviewed our social media planning and advised us to treat the content calendar as a comprehensive campaign proposal instead of a basic posting schedule. He explained that every post should have a clearly defined purpose, including its objective, target audience, platform, posting time, call-to-action, content direction, and visual approach. He also reminded us not to begin designing the social media posts before finalising the content calendar, as the campaign strategy, content pillars, and weekly flow should guide the design process. This feedback helped our group understand the importance of establishing a strong content strategy first, ensuring that every post has a clear role in supporting the overall campaign objectives.
Reflection
Throughout Weeks 5 to 7, I developed a better understanding of how user research influences content strategy. Instead of immediately creating social media content, our group first spent time refining user personas, developing an empathy map, and planning a content calendar. This process helped me realise that effective campaigns begin with understanding the audience's behaviours, motivations, and expectations before making any design decisions. Working collaboratively also allowed us to discuss different perspectives and refine our ideas based on Mr. Max's feedback.
From these weeks, I learned that developing a strong campaign requires much more than producing visually appealing content. User personas, empathy mapping, and content planning all play an important role in ensuring that the campaign addresses the needs of its target audience. I also found that every piece of content should support an overall communication objective rather than exist independently. This experience strengthened my understanding of strategic planning and showed me how research, audience insight, and content structure work together to create a more effective and meaningful campaign.
From these weeks, I learned that developing a strong campaign requires much more than producing visually appealing content. User personas, empathy mapping, and content planning all play an important role in ensuring that the campaign addresses the needs of its target audience. I also found that every piece of content should support an overall communication objective rather than exist independently. This experience strengthened my understanding of strategic planning and showed me how research, audience insight, and content structure work together to create a more effective and meaningful campaign.
Comments
Post a Comment