Mark Pragides

HERE’S THE GIST:

Our client was Jill Salzman, founder of The Founding Moms, a business development service for female entrepreneurs. She came to my team because she wanted to increase the number of her online members. Our user research dictated that we seek to increase her conversion rate by developing her brand. As a result, my team’s solution was to provide a library of features to faciliate growth and mentorships within her userbase, along with redesigning her website. Our solutions were highly regarded by our client who plans to eventually implement them.

SO WHAT’S THE FOUNDING MOMS?

So here’s the deal. The Founding Moms is a business development service whose main objective is to help women, especially mothers, become better entrepreneurs. The Founding Moms (FM) helps to grow their business by providing their members with the right information, resources, education, connections, and mentorship. The FM Community is at the heart of it all, the circle where the members share and support each on both online and offline channels.

THAT’S COOL, BUT WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE?

I’m glad you asked. So when Jill came to my team, she expressed concern over her considerable lack of online (paid) members, especially since her (free) membership was growing well. As a result, our problem statement was…

GREAT! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH.

SURVEYS

For starters, we conducted a survey to non-members and members, and collected quantifiable data on their behavior and practices as businesspeople.

We found that the users who come to The Founding Moms are older, stable women looking for guidance in pushing their businesses further.

We also found that the users of the Founding Moms believe it is a great community resource, but this is not apparent to non-users.

And female entrepreneurs are looking for credible, nurturing people to confide in their business concerns.

USER INTERVIEWS

Additionally, we interviewed non-members and members of The Founding Moms to determine their values and experiences as businesspeople, and how that may or may not have connected them to our client.

I really like when I see websites with star or plus ratings because it gives them credibility and I feel more comfortable reaching out to them.
– Sarah, Non-user

As a business owner, it [The Founding Moms] told me that I have to look outside to take it further. The meetups were too inconsistent for me.
– Katheryn, Former Member

Founding Moms gave me the confidence and direction I needed to publish my book and formalize my business.
– Kim, Member

ANALYSIS TIME! WHAT DID THIS ALL TELL YOU?

KEY INSIGHTS

Quite a lot, really! After our research provided us with an abundance of quantitative and qualitative data, we organized and narrowed down our data through affinity mapping and arrived the following key insights:

1. Users love Jill and view her as the “brand”.
2. They see a disconnect from the “online” Jill with the “in-person” Jill (but accept the difference).
3. Some non-users that are first introduced to the Founding Moms website appreciate the informal tone, but find the persona as “over the top”.
4. The FM Community (Forum/MeetUps) is not clearly represented to new visitors on the Founding Moms website and are often used separately by users.

CORE VALUES

Based on these key insights, we determined that the core values of the users are as follows:

USER-CENTERED CASE

Ultimately, what we were able to conclude about the value being offered to their users is that The Founding Moms is…

OKAY, HOTSHOT. WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN STRATEGY?

Alright, alright. Once it became clear that the users of The Founding Moms were receiving a core value as a byproduct that our client wasn’t actively promoting, it also became apparent that our design solution would likely ask our client Jill to pivot considerably from her current business model.

As a result, we strove to make certain that our design principles and ideation tools we used were not only reflective of our users, but that our solution was also feasible by Jill’s means of operations.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

From these values, we established the following design principles for our potential solution:

1. incorporate the Founding Moms Community into the brand.
2. strike a balance between the “online” and “in-person” Jill persona.
3. encourage cross-pollination across the Forum and meet-ups.

PERSONAS

We determined from our interviewees that our users could be identified as one of three different stages: A non-user, a user, and experienced user. As a result, we adapted our research participants into the following personas:

DESIGN STUDIO

We used the personas during a rapid-fire ideation session with another group to create potential solutions, focusing on how the solution would be applicable to users regardless of which persona they represent.

AND…WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN SOLUTION?

Our design ideation sessions made it clear that our solution would need to have long-term applications, and we ultimately came to the following two-part solution.

SO HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT BUILDING OUT THIS OUT?

It sure wasn’t easy. Our solution involved a lot of moving parts, but we wanted to make sure we didn’t lose sight of the sense of community the solution was supposed to provide its users.

That said, we worked out our solution through concept sketching. I contributed a lot at this stage by drawing out rough experience maps that illustrate the value proposition in our solution.

WHAT ABOUT USER TESTING? HOW’D YOU VALIDATE THIS?

Once we created sufficient mockups and experience maps of our solution, we user-tested our concepts with people within the user demographic of The Founding Moms. We received the following results:

BRING IT ON HOME! WHAT ARE YOUR FINAL DELIVERABLES?

Based on the results of the user-tests, the final deliverables were my greatest contribution to the project. I assisted in constructing the following design artifacts to be used when we presented our solution to Jill.

I created the chart for the entire Founding Moms Library. This highlighted the new features we’d introduce, who would use it, and how they would benefit both the users and business.

I also created the Community page on The Founding Mom’s website, which introduced one of our new concepts (FM Evenings) and emphasizes the sense of community within the business.

I helped to create the Experience map to coincide with the Founding Moms Library. It used the personas we made to give a visual representation of how a non-user would become an experienced member due to our library.

VIEW FINAL PROTOTYPE

WHAT WERE THE FINAL RESULTS OF YOUR PROJECT?
NEXT STEPS?

Jill Salzman was very receptive to both of our solutions. Regarding the UI design of her website, she was initially apprehensive about the adjusting her brand image, but she was onboard when we presented how it was directly reflective of her users’ insights. With the FM Library, Jill saw the potential in the majority of its features, citing its feasibility for her team. She plans to implement both solutions as a long-term project for The Founding Moms.

Based on our overall feedback, our next steps would be to flesh out the details for the various offerings in the FM Library. I would present their specific value to the user in the form of service blueprints. I would also work on creating a more high-fidelity prototype that presents more of the with features within the FM Library. Ultimately, our solution–with its longevity–is highly adaptive and will be as adjusted as the value of users evolve.

HERE’S THE GIST:

The business we designed for was Graham Cracker Comics, which is the largest comic book store chain in the Midwest. We approached the business with the intent to bring in more regular customers. Our on-site research and business analysis led us to a solution that focused on a celebration on comic book properties through participatory events. We ultimately came to build a service design model that presented how these store events would encourage return vistors and more engagement from both the consumers and staff.

SO WHAT’S GRAHAM CRACKER COMICS?

Geek central. Okay, that’s a stereotype. But really, Graham Cracker Comics is the largest comic book store chain in the Midwest. There are over eleven stores in the state of Illinois itself, with the Chicago Loop location as our research location. As a specialty store, its main supply is comic books, graphic novels, manga, and all sorts of pop culture merchandise.

THAT’S COOL, BUT WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE?

Good question. The greater objective of this project was to offer a service solution for a brick-and-morter store. After looking into the history of Graham Cracker Comics, we determined our problem statement is as follows:

GREAT! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH.

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRIES and USER INTERVIEWS

Naturally, designing a service model led us to do extensive research at a physical Graham Cracker Comics store. One of our main tools of research was to conduct contextual inquires of the business itself. We questioned the staff and customers, and observed their actions, taking note of their behavior each other and with the store itself.

Our other main research tool was to conduct in-depth user interviews with the customers and employees. We asked them to give us their stories, inquiring about their hobbies, behavioral patterns, and personal values. Some key quotes that we pulled were…

“I got into comics from watching Batman and Justice League.”
– Female Customer, 19

“I really like how the customers and staff here are all so passionate.”
– Male Customer, 20

“I found a larger fandom community outside of the shop that always led me back.”
– Male Customer, 25

“I think an industry implosion is coming again soon. There have been so many superhero movies coming out, that they’re now commanding the comic book industry. When the popularity of the movies crashes, and it already is, the comic books will too.”
– General Manager, 25 years experience

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Additionally, my team compared Graham Cracker Comics with other comic book stores in the state. What we found was that the store was unique in the industry because…

1. Their target audience is the generalist comic book reader, not the niche consumer.
2. They focus largely on mainstream comics, as opposed to rare gems.
3. The business practice is geared more towards increasing market share.
4. The stock is very large and is maintained through a store network.

ANALYSIS TIME! WHAT DID ALL THIS TELL YOU?

KEY INSIGHTS

To be frank, loads and loads of raw data. To look through it all, we organized the information into an affinity map, making categories and seeing how everything connected. This allowed us to dissect the following key insights:

1. Different generations of fans get interested in comics through different avenues.
2. The first goal of the customer is to further immerse in the character and community.>
3. People will find their own level of engagement to fit their specific desires.
4. The store foot traffic is most dependent on location and movie industry.

OKAY, HOTSHOT. WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN STRATEGY?

For starters, we realized that due to the time limit of our project, we wouldn’t have the time to build out a high-fidelity prototype of our service solution. As a result, we realized that our solution would be reliant on visual design artifacts as our final deliverables.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

That said, it was essential that we had solid design principles to minimum “jumping the shark” during our design sprints. After much analysis, those principles were as follows:

1. Encourages comic book community involvement.
2. Permit customers to learn more about their favorite characters/properties.>
3. Allow users to engage with other avenues within the comic book franchises.

CONCEPT SKETCHES

During our initial ideation sessions, I took the task of drawing up concept sketches of potential visual artifacts and scenarios that adhere to our design principles. Some of which include…

1. Digital/print marketing assets.
2. Novelty items.>
3. Rough storyboards of a store event.

AND…WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN SOLUTION?

We came to the concensus of combining our small-scale solutions into a more holistic, more serviceable solution, and our design solution ultimately came down to this:

WHAT ABOUT USER TESTING? HOW’D YOU VALIDATE THIS?

It was a little tricky. We took our concepts and ran them through a series of usability tests with a number of potential users. We asked them to run through certain tasks and to offer feedback at the end. We received the following results:

BRING IT ON HOME! WHAT ARE YOUR FINAL DELIVERABLES?

As I had alluded to earlier, this project’s final deliverables were going to be heavy with the visual design artifacts. In this case, because it’s a service-oriented design, we chose to create a user experience map and a service blueprint to present our final solution, which I helped to create.

The user experience map was made to outline how our users’ mental and emotional states as they move through the events of our service.

The service blueprint demonstrate how the events of the service solution would be developed and operated, while presenting it’s usability and corresponding actions of our users.

FINAL STORYBOARDS

My biggest contribution, however, was in creating the following storyboards to fully illustrate our solution in the form of a user journey and the value that it provides.

WHAT WERE THE FINAL RESULTS OF YOUR PROJECT? NEXT STEPS?

Our presentation was well-received for staying grounded in our design principles and user insights. Our final deliverables helped immensely in detailing just how our design solution would work from a business and user standpoint. Special notice was given to my storyboards, which got everyone into the mindset of the user.

Some points of constructive criticism we received was that our solution had a good framework, but the details within were not as clearcut as they could’ve been. On that note, the lack of a high-fidelity prototype and respective user tests put the solution’s viablity into question. Had we had more time for the project, I would have worked to build more high-fidelity mockups of our solution, and run a beta test of an actual event for us to prototype.

HERE’S THE GIST:

The Moxy Hotel is a boutique hotel of Mariott International, and our objective for the project was to design a communal-based solution that would help young business travelers stay at the hotel. Though our user research, our insights led us to conceive a solution that combined an app with a service design to maximize the users’ service satisfaction. The solution we presented was the Moxy Local (an app that connected you to food and entertainment) and Moxy Business (a hotel suite specifically for business). My biggest contribution was presenting my final storyboards.

SO WHAT’S THE MOXY HOTEL?

Short answer, Hipster Central. Long answer, The Moxy Hotel is a boutique hotel branded under Mariott International. It was made to appeal to millennials and offers hospitality in form of a late-night bar, and party-focused amenities to appeal to the younger crowd.

It’s current CEO is Arne Sorenson.

THAT’S COOL, BUT WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE?

So here’s the scoop: Mariott International’s research says that Millennials gather in public to schmooze, work, and drink. Sorenson sees an opportunity here and gave our design team the following problem to solve:

GREAT! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH.

SURVEYS

We used Google Forms to build user surveys that allow us to quantify the traveling habits of Millennials and young business travelers.

We found that the majority of users do believe that making connections with others is important when traveling for buisness.

We also found that a large portion of business travelers typically make it a habit of trying out local eateries when in the area.

USER INTERVIEWS

I and my team went to the Marriott Hotel among other lodges and hostels to make contextual observations and conduct interviews with the guests. We also conducted interviews with people in our social networks to learn about their hotel living experiences and their corresponding routines:

“I like to be in my own world because traveling is so dynamic.”
– Kim

“I would rather do my own research [when finding restaurants] because people are generally bad at estimating my needs and desires.”
– Steven

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Additionally, we compared the differences and similarities of other hotels to see where their practices stand and the value they provide for the user as opposed to the Moxy Hotel.

ANALYSIS TIME! WHAT DID ALL THIS TELL YOU?

KEY INSIGHTS

More than we expected, I can tell you that. We dissected a lot of user data that seemed to originate from several topics. To organize this information, I helped to construct our data into an affinity map to determine trends and brainstorm possible solutions. These were the key insights I derived:

1. When they are constrained by time and location, hotel guests will use hotel options out of convenience.
2. People become stressed when they feel they don’t have control over their routines.>
3. People favor lodging experiences where they feel at home, autonomous, and comfortable.
4. People are motivated by incentives and a feeling of value.
5. When it comes to socializing, individuals’ attitudes towards this will change depending on the circumstances and their emotions/feelings.

CORE VALUES

Through synthesizing these insights, we determined the following were the core values of our users:

OKAY, HOTSHOT. WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN STRATEGY?

Well, as you can probably tell, our key insights are pretty varied and numerous. The only constant we knew was that our design had to apply to each insight in some fashion. As a result, we conducted a number of design techniques and workshops in order to narrow our design into a more actionable solution.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

We took the core values and reconstructed them into the following design principles:

1. Give users a sense of control over their hotel experience.
2. Create a sense of comfort for hotel users.>
3. Provide users with an authentic experience on their own terms.
4. Be customizable to fit the needs of users.
5. Make users feel valued.
6. Provide consistency between the user’s online and in-person experience.

PERSONAS

We also created three personas of hotel guests based on the key insights we derived from of our interviewees to help ideate our solution.

DESIGN STUDIO

With our design principles and personas guiding us, it was time to start coming up with ideas. To do so, we chose to conduct a design studio and worked with another team in a rapid ideation session. We eventually came up with 16 viable concepts to choose from.

PRIORITIZING/REFINING

We created a numerical system to rate these concepts, keeping user needs and business needs in mind. We then prioritized the concepts by their ratings.

Based on results of our prioritization map, we found that the highest ranking of our concepts had the common thread of room service, food acquisition, and engaging with the local community. These would eventually serve as the foundation of our design solution.

AND…WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN SOLUTION?

My team consolidated the key takeways from our design studio, and at long last, we finally developed a cohesive and holistic service solution that satisfied our design principles. The service we designed is a two-fold solution:

CONCEPT SKETCHING

As the main sketcher and visual designer, I sketched some basic interface designs and artifacts for the Moxy Local platform. In addition, I drew up a blueprint of the room design for the Moxy Business.

WHAT ABOUT USER TESTING? HOW’D YOU VALIDATE THIS?

Using the aforementioned concept sketches and design artifacts as a reflection of our solution, my team connected with a number of users within The Moxy Hotel’s demographic and pitched our idea. We received the following feedback:

BRING IT ON HOME! WHAT ARE YOUR FINAL DELIVERABLES?

After assessing the results of the our usability testing, we realized that we needed more comprehensive users flows to test and present our solution. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to create high fidelity prototypes and experience maps within the project’s duration.

To combat this issue, we used high-fidelity mockups and storyboards as an alternative presentation of our final deliverables.

FINAL STORYBOARDS

The storyboards were my greatest contribution for this project, which served to outline the user journey, and ultimately communiate the user value of our service solution.

WHAT WERE THE FINAL RESULTS OF YOUR PROJECT? NEXT STEPS?

Even with the visual design limitations, our final presentation of our solution was largely successful. We were able to communicate how both parts of our solutions were essential for enhancing the user’s experience.

As for next steps, I focus on developing the logistics of our design solution. Some key points that I would improve upon if given more time would be in creating more extensive service blueprints and journey maps for The Moxy Business to show how the solution would be built. I would also create a high-fidelity prototype of the Moxy Local platform an how it coincides with the Moxy Business. But most importantly, I would conduct more substantiative usability testing in order to validate our solution.

HERE’S THE GIST:

The main objective of this project was to redesign an existing e-commerce store to better reflect the needs of the user and business. I selected the Museum of Contemporary Art for this project, a museum whose speciality is in exhibiting unconventional pieces, that also offer work through their online gift store. I determined through my user research that customers were engaged with the store environment itself, and I sought to replicate this experience through my design solution. My final presentation provided a prototype of my redesign for their e-commerce website.

SO WHAT’S THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART?

As the name suggests, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is a contemporary art museum in downtown, Chicago. Its mission is to promote the works of up-and-coming young artists, and provide a space to contemplate modern art and culture. They specialize in promoting unique and onthodox artwork, and their onsite/online gift shop provides souvenirs of their exhibits.

THAT’S COOL, BUT WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE?

Well, the MCA’s brand identity is very much solidified in its expression of the unique and unconventional. And to it’s credit, that extends to the interface design of their e-commerce website:

As our subsequent research determined, there weren’t as many sales through their e-commerce website as opposed to their onsite store. Based on this information, I established the following problem statement:

How am I going to design the MCA’s e-commerce site so that it increases online sales while meeting the goals of the users, the brand, and the business?

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GREAT! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH.

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRIES and USER INTERVIEWS

Being that this business is an art museum, I determined early on that onsite research would be crucial to this project. As a result, I visited the MCA in person, their gift shop in particular, to learn more about how they operate.

I first conducted contextual inquires within the gift shop, taking notes about the store’s layout, their product displays, and how customers make purchases. I found that the MCA’s store is bi-level, with products arranged in a circular fashion. This led to customers browsing the store in a similarly roundabout way, and based on talks with the staff, this was inline with the MCA’s branding of uniqueness.

The second main research tool I used was user interviews. I first engaged with the MCA’s employees, learning more about their role in the business and the store’s history. Likewise, I conducted interviews some of their customers, inquiring about their shopping habits, hobbies, and their relationship to the store.

“I wouldn’t really use the website; I’m just interested in browsing the store.”
– Customer

“We’re an international and localized voice.”
– Employee

“I usually never shop for myself. I mostly just shop for gifts for other people.”
– Customer

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ANALYSIS TIME! WHAT DID ALL THIS TELL YOU?

OBSERVATIONS & KEY INSIGHTS

Following my research, I then compiled my findings into an affinity map, carefully noting any correlating trends between the customers and the museum’s staff. By threading these observations about the MCA’s store with the data about the users, I discovered a variety of key insights. Most prominently, that the users were engaging with the store itself as opposed to any particular products, as if deliberately taking the role of an observer.

Observations

• Emphasis on a “unique” store layout.
• People are initially drawn to the unfamiliar aesthetic.
• For those who have seen it, the confusing website design turns people off.

Key Insights

• The store’s merchandise doesn’t always reflect the desires of the shopper.
• The store itself is the experience.
• People don’t want to commit too much right away in what they don’t understand.

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OKAY, HOTSHOT. WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN STRATEGY?

As you can see, these were some truthfully enlightening insights I gained about the user’s relationship towards the MCA. The next step for me was to translate these insights into design principles that could be applied to an e-commerce design solution.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Before moving ahead to the solution, I established the following design principles:

1. Emulate the in-person experience of shopping at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
2. Replicate the curiosity and wonder found in the actual store.
3. Retain the MCA’s business goal of supporting young, diverse, and emerging artists.

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AND…WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN SOLUTION?

The key takeaway from my research was that users enter the gift shop not necessarily to shop for anything specific, but experience the store as its own entity. Linking this insight with my design principles, I came to the following solution:

Envision an e-commerce website that simulates the experience of entering the real store and making a purchase, while mimicking the MCA’s promotional endeavors.

CONCEPT SKETCHING

I began by drawing up a couple of concept sketches to illustrate how to best convert the physical store experience to a website interface. Some of the more prominent ideas include an immersive introduction page, an art gallery-style layout, a sidebar with a scrollable center, and pop-up screens to invoke depth.

BUILDING THE SITEMAP

To reconstruct the website’s information architecture, I sampled products that are currently on the MCA’s website and user-tested them via card sorting. Some of the product categories include “Art Objects”, “Books”, “Gifts”, and “Houseware”.

THE USER JOURNEY

With the concept sketches of the website and the sitemap setting up the foundation, I then made a user journey flow to envision how a user would navigate the website.

WIREFRAMES

The final preliminary design artifacts I built, and what would eventually be used for usability testing, are a series of wireframes that conceptualize all the aforementioned design assets. These were soon constructed into a prototype.

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WHAT ABOUT USER TESTING? HOW’D YOU VALIDATE THIS?

When handling usability testing, my approach was to take the prototype and run it though a number of beta testers. Specifically, testers that have not been to the store before. I had them perform basic tasks and observed their actions, resulting in the following insights:

Positives

• Navigation went exceeding well.
• Landing page was well received.
• High learnability.

Negatives

• Validation issues during the shopping process.
• Users felt distrustful due to a lack of presence from other users.
• Restrictive user flow.

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BRING IT ON HOME! WHAT ARE YOUR FINAL DELIVERABLES?

Now that I had relevant usability testing results for which to improve the design, my final step of my project was to create a high-fidelity prototype of my redesigned e-commerce website. The key changes I made to the prototype was to simultaneously loosen up and increase confirmation responses in the user flow. This ranged from applying a style guide, adding user reviews to the products, and visibly showing progression for the user during purchases. The resulting prototype was presented as my final deliverable.

VIEW FINAL PROTOTYPE

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WHAT WERE THE FINAL RESULTS OF YOUR PROJECT? NEXT STEPS?

My redesign for the MCA’s e-commerce platform recieved a positive reception for addressing both the needs of the users and the business needs of the museum. The visual design also left a strong impact for being reflective of the MCA’s brand identity while improving upon its navigation issues.

One point of improvement that could be made was in creating a persona of the artists that the MCA actively promotes and applying it towards the user flow. As the MCA has such a niche user, I agreed that addressing this “secondary user” would prove beneficial to both the user and business.

If I were to return to this project, one essential improvement I would make would be in applying responsive website design to my prototype. To that extent, I would take a mobile-first approach and redesign the platform to fit the UI standards for Material Design and Human Interface design. Overall, I see vast room for enhancing the visual design of my final prototype.

HERE’S THE GIST:

This project’s objective was to design a mobile application for one of my peers, with a focus on applying the Double Diamond design model. The problem to solve was to help the user who has moved to a new area connect with locals and establish friendships. After conducting user research, pulling user insights, concept testing and usability testing, I designed Buddy Up as my solution. The app’s main value is that is focuses on raising the user’s comfort level and familiarity for those who generally have difficulty socializing. A working prototype is my final deliverable.

HOW DID THIS PROJECT BEGIN?

The basis of this project was to conduct a preliminary interview with one of my colleagues. Through this interview, I would then discover a problem the interviewee had and design a solution for it. The only parameter for the solution was that it had to be a mobile application.

THAT’S COOL, BUT WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE?

Through this interview, I found that my colleague moved quite a lot, and from what she discussed, she had troubling connecting with new people and making friends as a result. As an frugal adult, she wanted the process of meeting the locals and building friendships to be easier. Based on this information, I came to the following problem statement:

GREAT! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH.

USER INTERVIEWS

I conducted interviews to determine the process of how people made their current friends, and their approach to making new friends. I also emphasized in these interviews what sort of qualities people value in their friends, and what serves as the foundation for their most meaningful relationships.

“When handling a social event for the first time, I’m kind of shy and it’s hard to introduce myself because I’ve always had someone to talk to.”
– Kelly R.

“My current friends are generally open-minded, fun and tend to be more extroverted than me, with my introverted friends having more common interests with me.”
– Bianca H.

“I don’t spend too much time online making friends because I like to treat my friends equally, and the online anonimity steers me away.”
– Bert T.

ANALYSIS TIME! WHAT DID ALL THIS TELL YOU?

OBSERVATIONS & KEY INSIGHTS

I compiled the results of my research into an affinity map, then analyzed the data to find key trends, relationships, observations, and inferences for which to base my design solution. In doing so, I discovered a number of insights which revealed that the problem at hand stemed more from the user’s personality type rather than physical distance or age.

OKAY, HOTSHOT. WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN STRATEGY?

Well, now that I had a sufficient amount of broad user insights to guide my design process, the next step was to use this information to formulate an tangible mobile application. To achieve this, I converted my insights into actionable design principles for which to base my solution.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

I consolidated my key insights into the following design principles:

1. Remove as much of the sense of unfamiliarity as possible.
2. The platform should be accessible to users who struggle with socializing.
3. Allow for a way to incorporate pre-existing friends into the experience.

AND…WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN SOLUTION?

It became apparent that the core value I was going to provide for the user was a remedy for fear. As the user’s main obstruction was their own uncertainty, I chose to build a design solution that focused on alleviating this problem:

CONCEPT SKETCHING

The first step in building out this solution was through concept sketches. In addition to laying out the general interface, it was a means of finding out what elements would align to our design principles, such as how the user would connect with a “buddy”, and possible parameters the user can set to match their comfort level.

INITIAL PROTOTYPE

As a proof of concept, I designed a variety of wireframes, screens, and mockups and built them into an initial prototype that focuses on how the mobile application should operate.

VIEW INITIAL PROTOTYPE

WHAT ABOUT USER TESTING? HOW’D YOU VALIDATE THIS?

Naturally, an application is only as good as the people who use it. I used this initial prototype and conducted usability tests with a number of beta users who’ve had similar experiences to my colleague. I asked them to perform basic tasks, observed their behavior, and determined the following problems and solutions.

PROBLEMS

Issues that were discovered include:

1. There was no way to verify potential friends with real-time messaging.
2. Scanning multiple users at once put pressure on the user’s selection process, which made connections feel too impersonal.
3. The option for establishing group events was met with hesitation.

SOLUTIONS

I addressed these problems with the following changes:

1. One-on-one communication was implemented.
2. A “meetup” service was added for being less socially demanding than an “event” service.
3. I switched to a communications-driven interface to turn the user experience from being group-focused to individual-focused.

BRING IT ON HOME! WHAT ARE YOUR FINAL DELIVERABLES?

After reiterating the design to better emphasize meaningful connections through individualized connectivity, I improved upon the initial prototype by building a higher fidelity prototype that has a more defined information architecture, style guide, and accessibility. This prototype was presented as my final deliverable.

VIEW FINAL PROTOTYPE

WHAT WERE THE FINAL RESULTS OF YOUR PROJECT? NEXT STEPS?

The final presentation of my “Buddy Up” mobile application design was met with a largely positive reception for addressing a problem I had identified of the user. My colleague in particular responded favorably to my final prototype, having attuned herself to the app’s interface fairly quickly.

Some of the suggestions I received for improvement included the possibility of importing a pre-existing social media profile to maximize the user’s authenticity. They also mentioned formatting the “buddy system” into a request-based operation to ease the user’s reservations, as well as adding language that the user’s demographic can resonate with. Streamlining the user flow was a key point to improve upon.

There were a few points in the design that I would’ve done differently. For one, I would’ve designed the application to adhere more towards responsive web design. I also saw an oversight in addressing the user’s financial restrictions and an opportunity for a rewards incentive for “buddies”. Ultimately, my next step towards advancing my “Buddy Up” application would be to research and incorporate the nuances of human relationships into my design’s overall framework.