Case Study: Redesigning Snapchat (Pt.1- Research)
Snapchat is Gen Z’s “livingroom” but it’s cluttered and confusing.
The Snapchat app launched in 2011 with the core function of sending disappearing images, hence the name. This remains the core of it’s digital personality.
“Snap Inc. is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.”
Snapchat remains the 5th most popular chatting app world-wide and the 9th most popular social media company globally.
The purpose of redesigning the Snapchat app was to streamline and refocus the user’s attention on the camera and sharing features without losing the functionality that pro-users have come to expect.
Approach:
Change what needs to be changed to improve the comprehension and experience, but not more.
How do I identify the key information and experience?
I started by reviewing the app to diagnose visible and hidden issues that might affect user experience. Relying on user interviews and observations, this formed the foundation of the redesign.
Being a former Snapchat Lens Creator, I am also familiar with Snapchat’s business model and wanted to incorporate this knowledge. My aim was to balance the user’s experience with realities of advertising model that keeps snapchat viable.
Heuristic Evaluation :
During the user interview process, many heuristic issues were discovered. Almost all of them were related to the complexity of the app.
Results of User Interviews & Heurisitic Evaluation:
My interviews were conducted in Europe, where Snapchat is not commonly used. These user’s are not highly interested in the app and the design is confusing to them when compared to familiar apps like Instagram or Whatsapp. Participants were between 22 & 34 years of age.
The Community page:
4/6 users were not a big fan of the community page with its ads but this is a key business aspect of Snapchat, so I choose not to redesign this. Users were also confused by the icon of the community page, often assuming this was the friends list. Users did not usually watch the creator content.
The Main Camera
On the Main-camera, 4/6 participants were confused on the extra camera options and 6/6 people said they were overwhelmed by the options and were not likely to use them. 2/6 clicked the wrong button to take an image and 1/6 did not notice that they had succesfully taken an image. More than one user mentioned that they expected the profile to appear when swiping down, not a search function.
The Chat Page:
In the chat page, new user’s (4/4) did not understand the chat icons and their meanings. Some assumed even assumed that the red square indicated an error instead of the intented meaning : “a photo was sent to you”. The replay icon was taken as a retry icon.
User-flow Evaluation
The interview revealed that most users felt overwelhmed by the design of Snapchat and were not able to navigate the many features with confidence. In order to create more inuitive flow, I first identified the typical user-flow and what elements could be changed.
Conclusion:
I am a personal fan of Snapchat, using the app regularly to talk and share with my friends unlike on any other social platform that I use. The amount of options and functions that go unused and undiscovered in Snapchat is something that became apparent to me while working as a Social Augmented Reality developer, creating social media filters. In order to improve the app, I conducted user interviews and heuristic evaluations. The main take-aways of these were that even the core function, the main camera, is shockingly unclear. Some user’s did not even notice taking an image. It is cluttered and overwhelming for first time users.
Now that some issues have been defined, an improvement must be made!
Find out what the redesign looks like in Part 2.
