Personas
Before proceeding with a features inventory, its necessary to briefly review who are the the ItchList users: they are among the 150 million strong Millennials who are strongly passionate about the whole social media movement. They are making life choices based on a broader definition of success and one that is more attuned to experiences than material goods. Within this multitude, the ItchList team provided me with 3 main user personas:
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Since this will be the first development of the app, I chose to base my research and consequent design on Raunak, whom (because of his busy lifestyle), gives us the opportunity to look into a slow approach to the app.
In this scenario, I can start from scratch to investigate how to develop a couple of flows to eventually satisfy his novice needs.
User Journey Map
To better investigate the psychology behind the procrastination attitude of many potential users, lets now explore the user journey of Raunak, how he would discover the app, and his touch points:
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Features Inventory
After combining the features already available on the website, the insights form the user journey and the ones from a January 2016 survey I compiled a list of features:
Features prioritization
Since the ItchList is still currently in it’s beta release, it is wise to map out the metrics of all these features to establish their fit within the business model.
At this point its possible to proceed with a features prioritization list using the MoSCoW method:
For obvious reasons, under “must have” I listed all the features that are already present on the website, including them in the app will shed light on their mobile usability. In addition to these, it should be wise to add all the ones under “should have”, in order to address most of the users observations collected during the survey.
For the remaining possible features I suggested a road map that will schedule future implementations according to current ItchList development plan:
App Map
Combining the features from “must have” and “should have” lists, I created a first app map that shows the first basic Information architecture. This will serve as a structure to create the first low fidelity prototype:
Following the user journey previously showcased I then devised Raunak’s first user flow to accomplish a couple of basic tasks: creating an account, his first itch, and immediately share it socially:
According to the user journey previously showed, a second flow will be performed later in the day, when Raunak will start receiving notifications of cheers and comments about his itch. Under suggestion of a user, he will create a deadline to become more motivated to start his boxing classes:
Wireframes and Paper Prototype
In order to speed up the prototyping process, and due to the fact that I had worked remotely, I first sketched all the wireframes for the main screens which I later combined using the marvelapp. By doing so, I obtained a sort of digital paper prototype that I could share with the ItchList team for internal iterations.
Iterations
After a few iterations I started collecting notes:
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After making all the necessary revisions and fine tuning the paper screens, I created a first set of high fidelity screens for the two flows previously developed, trying to fulfill most of the 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design by Jakob Nielsen:
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Iterations
Iterations notes and design implications
Most users found dealing with the two prototypes quite hassle free and intuitive, a few pointed out the need of having the “trending itches” more prominent but they also appreciated how fast the itch creation process is.
Design implications:
- The search screen will be modified to accommodate a slider instead of category tabs for faster browsing,
- The “trending itches” element will be included as part of the categories slider.
Visual designs details
Like in other similar situations, the occasion for designing an app from scratch brings up some design evaluations of the pre-existing design,
in this case I focussed on the following:
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High Fidelity Prototypes
After collecting some user feedbacks I proceeded to revise the two clickable prototypes for Raunak's flows:
Flow #1: looking for a itch > Itch creation > Itch share
Flow #2: receiving comments notification > replying to comment > deadline creation for the itch created in flow #1
Working remotely for a startup it’s been an interesting and formative experience. Due to the time difference, I had to revise my workflow and challenge assumptions which UX designers and researchers alike tend to have when working in distributed teams. I think the early stages of a startup can be seen like living proofs that UX research doesn’t always have to be expensive or particularly sophisticated.
Next steps
As typically in the UX process, the ItchList prototypes are still currently being tested and revised to gather precious data and continue the improvement cycle.
In my opinion, the choice of which feature to implement in the near future will be strategically important. Strengthening the backend department to support the development of the geo location features will be crucial to attract angel investors and potential partnerships.
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