Interaction Design Capstone Project
Whew! Well here I am at the end of my eight course Interaction Design Specialization. I wish I could say it’s been easy, but … nothing worth doing is easy, right?! Ha, ha. With two kids and a full time job this was a tough specialization to accomplish. But accomplish it I did.
I’d like to give you a little background on my motivations and passions before we jump into the capstone project. Let’s dive into the reason I do what I do. My biggest motivation is life is to make people smile. My outlet for bringing people joy is through interface design. I specialize in UI/UX design. I am absolutely fascinated by human behavior and what affects our emotional states. Why are some people happy and others sad? How can people in the same situation experience it in different ways. I know that’s pretty heady stuff but we can affect positive change in tiny ways.
For example, I just recently bought a new car. It has this amazingly handy little feature that allows me to close all the windows once I am out of the car. How may times have you had to get back into your car to roll the windows up? Happens to me all the time. I am halfway across the parking lot when I realize, oh shoot, my youngest left the window open. Now instead of having to walk all the way back to the car, unlock it, get in, turn it on, and roll up the window, I just hit a little button on the key remote and … whalaa … all the windows roll up. That brings a smile to my face. Even if I am having a tough day, that little piece of technology lifts my spirits and gives me hope. It makes me happy. My life might be in ruins but at least my car windows are rolled up 😊.
I want to bring that little piece of joy to users all around the world. I want them to use my designs and smile. I want to bring seamlessness into an otherwise chaotic world.
And now, back to the reason for this post.
As a part of my final week in the interaction design specialization course I was asked to describe the creative process behind my capstone project prototype. How did I get from a to z? And why did I do what I did?
Here you will see the evolution of my project, from the user observations, to the final prototype.
Step 1: Needfinding & Obervations
Finding a need might be the toughest part of the project. This is the foundation for everything that comes after. For my observations, I used something I was familiar with … going to the movies. My family loves to go to the theater to see movies. Sometimes it is the only time we all get to be together. It is a wonderful experience and something that should be fun. That being said I observed people at the theater. I was specifically looking for breakdown opportunities. Something that could be done better or faster or easier. Oh, before I forget, I was required to pick a brief or topic to center my design on. I picked a Time brief. So my observations were centered around time and it’s affect on the movie experience.
After my observations I came up with my point of view. This is a statement that encapsulates the goal of my design.
Movie goers need a relaxing, stress-free, fun way to get to their movie on time without needing to know the current time and/or the movie start time.
Step 2: Storyboards, Paper Prototypes, & Mockups
After creating my point of view, I started on the storyboards, paper prototypes and mockups. I thought that a unique and intuitive way to address time as it relates to movies was to show people a countdown until movie start. Instead of showing the movie start time, which can sometimes be abstract, let’s relate the time to now. The app will calculate when you should leave for the movies based on arrival time, location, theater location, traffic conditions, weather conditions, and transportation type.
I also had a very ambitious idea of allowing users to order food online. How cool would it be to order your snacks and drinks ahead of time? When you get to the theater your food would be waiting in your assigned seat. Awesome! Unfortunately, as the design progressed, I had to cut this app feature due to time constraints.
I added an additional feature during mockups that allows users to coordinate the movie with friends. You automatically send your friends or family a text message with the movie time, movie location, seat numbers and scan code. All you have to do is pick from your list of contacts. The app does the rest.
Step 3: Design Heuristics, User Feedback
Users, users, users. This is where the rubber meets the road. The most impactful feedback I got was on the homepage. There was a lot of confusion around reminders. It was a simple function but the way it was initially presented was unfriendly. Based on the heuristics and user feedback I redesigned the homepage to provide more clarity. I think it worked out really well. In addition, I setup my a/b user testing to be focused on the home page and its usability.
Step 4: Final Prototype
I created my final prototype in Adobe Xd. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I learned so much about users while going through this process. Feedback and understanding is a crucial element in creating an intuitive design.
In conclusion ... I really hope that you enjoyed reading about my interaction design journey as much as I enjoyed taking it. You are an amazing person. Enjoy your life. And keep smiling!