Distilling Complex Stories and Solving for Innovative Solutions

Conifer’s project with McGraw-Hill demonstrates our ability to distill complex stories into meaningful visualizations. We develop frameworks that enable companies to have inspiring conversations. The poster Conifer created was such a powerful tool, that several key members of the McGraw team requested their own copy. Conifer’s presentation at the workshop motivated McGraw-Hill to take action and start solving for innovative solutions immediately.

Multi-faceted Research Approach

In 2006, McGraw-Hill approached Conifer with a puzzling dilemma. Despite increased college enrollment, textbook sales were decreasing. McGraw-Hill was becoming less central to the consumption of educational materials both in terms of sales of actual textbooks and the way students interfaced with both texts and study materials. Conifer discovered that all of McGraw-Hill’s previous research had centered on professors who were both the “authorities” and the textbook authors. Observational research with students had not been done before. Conifer’s team journeyed back to the freshman dorms to follow students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, at both large universities and small colleges, and 2 and 4-year schools, over the course of an entire semester. We designed and employed a multi-faceted approach utilizing student-written blogs and photographs, as well as a self-confessional audio call-in called Moments of Truth. These self-documentary methods uncovered study and text-taking emotional hot buttons, helping reveal the current role of textbook within a larger set of experiences.

Challenging Assumptions that Inspire Innovation

After uncovering four distinct types of students, our team visually modeled what the studying process looked like, being careful to reflect that the way students interacted with study materials shifted throughout the semester. Conifer boldly challenged long-held assumptions concerning what a textbook can do, igniting the McGraw-Hill team. Conifer armed McGraw-Hill with tools for leveraging both different learning styles and modern technology, enabling them to have the conversations necessary to inspire innovation.