Competitive Analysis & Initial Research

​The project began on February 1, 2018 with the founder introducing his concept for the platform and the MVP deadline of less than 2 months away! Since then, the team and I have been on weekly sprints working to transform this concept into a beautiful, functional product whose functionality is deeply rooted in solving customer needs. We want it to feel intuitive and effortless to users, despite the tight development deadline. I rolled up my sleeves and learned as much about the industry as possible, conducting competitive analysis, target audience research, and research into current market solutions, ​all of which I will post when I can.

User Interviews

I wrote a user research plan that included formative and summative objectives, recruitment, setting, and procedure information, a consent form, a demographics questionnaire, and interview questions. I conducted three user interviews with small franchise and start-up owners at this early stage so that user needs, goals, and pain points directly from members of our target audience, would steer the project every step of the way. Interview transcripts, customer insights, and research analysis summaries, will be added. 

The thing I’m most scared of is..."

It can be really difficult sometimes."

I had a bad experience last year, and I never want that to happen again."

Personas, Scenarios, Site Map, & User Flows

I translated the users' wants, needs, and experiences with relevant competitors that were described during my in-person interviews, into personas and scenarios. These drove how we narrowed down the core features of the application for our MVP, and subsequently, the  development of a site map and user flows.

Functional Specs

As a team, driven by our customer insights, personas, and scenarios, we developed functional specifications defining the following in great detail:

• Application summary
• Stakeholder information
• Business model
• Application features
• Front-facing website
• User registration, login, and every customer interaction with the product
• Use cases and edge cases to consider 

Wireframes, wireframes, and more wireframes!

Now that we had defined the structure of the application and I created user flows that were approved, it was time for me to actually put pen on paper and start sketching how our application exists visually. My pen scribbles turned to passionate mouse clicks in Adobe XD, as I designed approximately 90 wireframe screens. Our extremely quick timeline meant that developers needed to begin development work almost simultaneously as I was designing! Therefore, my wireframes were fairly high-fidelity and large in number so that each possible interaction with the interface could be approved by project management, and the developers (who outnumber me) could all have instructions to get started, before I spent time on high-fidelity visual design. I connected the wireframe screens within Adobe XD so that an interactive prototype with workable buttons and navigation could demonstrate all the possible interactions and user journeys. This was extremely handy for getting quick comments on usability from the team members and being able to make speedy changes based on feedback.

The most challenging aspect of the wireframe design stage (and somehow my favorite), was figuring out how our complicated tagging and document upload system would work with a commenting capability. Many design iterations later, we finally landed on a system that has proven effective in preliminary user tests. Head-scratching, allowing myself to experiment with all kinds of possible solutions (good and bad!), and researching current UI solutions and best practices, were especially important during this stage. 

Visual Design

As I was finalizing the wireframes, I began thinking about the visual design of the application and the brand as a whole. I created two simple branding board variations with a few logo and color palette options. I used the winning designs (based on office feedback) to create high-fidelity mockups for 10 of the most important UI screens, in order to display how the branding looks when implemented into the existing interface designs. 

Current Progress

We are currently racing towards the finish line. We are in the process of finalizing minor interaction details, finishing development, and implementing the visual design elements. Once the developers have generally completed development, I  will conduct usability tests using a user test plan I have written. The user test plan includes tasks for the users to execute, and quantitative and qualitative metrics that I will analyze. Based on analysis of user screen recordings and thoughtful listening to the real-time verbal commentaries from the users during these tests, I aim to rapidly identify problems with the platform and make fast changes on areas that need improvement, before the product goes live.