Overview:

I was given the opportunity to design a mobile application concept to fit the requirements of the end-user who was also a fellow classmate. The application was user-centered focused and set to be completed over a span of 1 week. I started off gathering key information through user research, then moved onto exploring wireframe and prototype options with the help of multiple hand sketches, user flow charts, and usability testing. 

As I had 1 week to complete this project and was working solely, I had to make sure I grasped the understanding of the user-centered design and to remember the goals of the application throughout the entire process. With the timeline I was given to complete the project, some steps that included testing the prototype made it a bit challenging as I had access to only a few participants, but at the end, my findings helped me tremendously.

Project goal:

The first step into this project was identifying the problem and what I can create to solve the problem. After a casual discussion with my end-user- Jaelen, I figured out the goal of the application and did a further user interview to make sure there were several tasks within the application that would have to be completed. After finalizing and prioritizing what problems I needed to help Jaelen with, I generated a problem statement and scenario to illustrate why and how my application would help Jaelen. ‍

Duration:

1 Week sprint

Team:

Jacqueline Ma

Project Type:

Concept

Tools:

Figma, Mural, Whimsical, Zoom, pen, paper, whiteboard, Google Slides

Methods:

user interviews, user persona, user tasks, user flows, wireframing, prototyping

Problem Statement:

Jaelen spends too much time and effort searching for new tv shows/ movies that he is interested in watching. He gets impatient and frustrated from the endless scrolling. Since he has access to multiple streaming services, it makes it even harder for him to decide what to watch.‍

Scenario: 

Jaelen is a full-time student. With the free time he has, he likes to spend it watching movies and tv shows. He has access to a wide range of streaming services and gets overwhelmed with the recommendations they throw at him. He finds himself getting frustrated from the endless scrolling. Jaelen wants to be able to devote more of his limited free time on watching movies and not searching what to watch next.

With my concept ready to take the next step, I created a user flow on creately.com to draw out steps Jaelen will need to go through in order to complete his goal. This helped me map out the steps and get a clearer understanding of what I needed to include in the application in order to have a successful outcome. The user flow chart had to solve the following three goals: 

1. Create an account/ profile 
2. Select a desired media to watch
3. Turn on notification for recommendations to be receive on the go 

I then created the following user flow chart: 

Wireframing:

With a clear understanding of the process moving throughout the app from start to goals completed, I started hand sketching the following wireframes on a dry erase board to learn it’s flow before moving to digital wireframes: 

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With my hand sketches down, I then moved onto the following digital wireframes which were created through the program:

Prototype + Usability Testing:

Click or view below for prototype

With the digital wireframes, I moved onto digital prototyping (also created on . I then had 5 different participants complete the 3 tasks I have listed in my user flow chart. The usability test played a big role in testing the success of my prototype. This part of the process helped me identify what changes I needed to make to move forward. At this stage, I had very informative feedback which prompted me to make the following revisions to make the experience on the application easier to get through: 

1. Change of confusion layout because functionality was more important than a fancy looking layout
2. Eliminate extra buttons that were useless
3. Create an entirely new screen that served as the “home screen” in order for users to be able to keep track of all the important functions they need in the application 

After making the final adjustments to my application, I finally had the chance to test the prototype with my most important user- Jaelen. He was quite surprised at what I came up with and completed all 3 tasks I’ve asked of him to complete (the original same 3 goals listed in user flow). The last adjustment I added into the prototype was adding color to the notification button which was unnecessary during this phase. The reason why I decided to add a bit of color last minute was to give users a colorful feedback once they completed task # 3: “Turn on notification for recommendations to be received on the go”. 

After completing this project to the best of my abilities, I had the chance to present my process. Towards the end, I listed the following important conclusions:

Since there was a time constraint, if I had more time I would add the following: 

1. Interactive features- users of the app can share what they’re watching with others
2. Add ratings features- users can rate the media they watch on the app
3. Create a homepage- other than the profile, users can see what others are watching

Next Steps

I also had the chance to reflect on my mistakes through many trial and errors and learned the following from my experience: 

1. Keep it simple to confuse users 
2. To not assume what I know translates to every user
3. Not stray away/ get carried away from the main goals an app is meant to achieve 
4. Always keep intuitive design in mind 
5. Functionality is the most important

As my first UX Design project came to an end, I believe this experience has taught me a lot in how important every little step is to creating a prototype that is understood in human-centered design applications. The tools and methods adapted to complete this project was quite successful and gave me much insight on how to not only understand my own thought process but others as well.