ICTE2002 A1 BLOG

The aim of the brief is to incorporate a much needed ‘recycling’ section, that also features the chance for users to also learn how to recycle while expressing their creativity.

SPRINT DAY 1- “MAPPING OUT THE PROBLEM”

To begin the sprint process in regard to finding and creating a solution for the My Local Services app, it was important to first understand what the problem was with the app. Upon first use of the app, it was evident that not a lot of thought or planning had been put into it. Links didn’t work, elements were all over the place and it was not aesthetically pleasing at all.

The first step was to first highlight potential goals as well as identifying sprint questions, assumptions, and the ‘how might we’ questions. I didn’t have sticky notes so I wrote all of them down on one sheet of paper.

Next, I identified the main goal as being established as a reliable source of information for users to create a more sustainable future. The secondary goal was identified as encouraging the community to creatively recycle with the correct information.

After that, I mapped out the user journey, and added the ‘how might we’ questions underneath the ‘using’ section, as I think the questions will impact the user’s way of using the app.

SPRINT DAY 2- “SKETCHING”

In order to prepare for the sketching process in day 2, I first brainstormed potential ideas for the app solution, keeping the goals, sprint and ‘how might we’ questions in mind. I tried to do this brainstorm in 5 minutes to prevent getting too carried away.

Next was to set a 5 minute timer and complete the crazy 8’s. In this I quickly drew out 8 potential concepts that could be used in the final sketching process.

Lastly, I took the concept that I thought was the strongest from the crazy 8’s and tried to translate the concept across 3 panels to be used in the 3rd day of the sprint.

SPRINT DAY 3-

To begin the 3rd day I firstly reviewed the sketches for the recycling part to assess what would be good and bad to use or remove from the concept.

After that, I used sticky notes to map out what I thought the full user journey would look like for the storyboard.

Using the sticky notes from the user journey map, underneath each one I drew what I thought that section of the app would look like. I made sure to also annotate it to properly articulate my ideas.

To finish day 3 I used the storyboard to create rough wireframe layouts to be used in prototyping for day 4. Overall, I wasn’t too pleased with the initial layouts, however I was open to altering and changing some things for the prototype.

DAY 4 — “PROTOTYPING”

I initially tried to follow the original layout of the wireframes by using them as the base in Figma and just inserting the required media, however I ended up disliking how simultaneously busy and boring the design looked. I felt like there was too much white space, and the asymmetrical layout of the elements on some screens was meant to be visually dynamic, but ended up looking unorganised.

For the final prototype in Figma, I chose to stray away from the initial wireframes a bit, in order to generate a more cohesive and user-friendly app.

The refinements I did included changing the background colour to an off-white/grey, to prevent the screens from looking too stark, and to use negative space more efficiently.

I also added in message bubbles for the verbally-heavy sections of the design to prevent the user from being overwhelmed by the amount of information. I also thought this was a kid-friendly way to position information in an easy and legible way.

DAY 5 — USER TESTING

To gain better insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the app, user testing is a crucial step in the 5 day sprint process.

All users were provided with a link to the Figma prototype, and were all asked the same questions in regard to app’s function and design.

Questions:

• Is the app too hard or too simple to use?
• What did you struggle with the most?
• Is the app too hard or too simple to use?
• Could you see yourself using this app?
• What could be improved?

In regard to the feedback from user #1, I took into consideration the feedback about how the yellow bin and “not sure what to recycle?” button lead to the same page, and removed the function of the yellow bin leading to the same section as the “not sure what to recycle?” button to reduce repetitiveness.

I also added in the link from the bin symbol in the navigation bar to the “Your Bins” page to prevent users from having to go all the way back to the homepage.

In regard to user #2’s feedback, I tried adding in the labels underneath the navigation bar symbols, however I felt like it made the section too cluttered, so I opted to leave them out. The user also commented on having a white logo on a red background, however when I went back to experiment with that change, I noticed it had already been done on the “Get Creative” page.

Overall, I didn’t make any aesthetic changes with the prototype, as I found that the functionality of the app received more beneficial feedback.