EasyPhone: my Interaction Design Capstone Project
Last year, I decided to enroll in the Interaction Design Specialization Course organized by the University of California San Diego via Coursera. The best way to get a degree in UX Design AND practice my English skills!
The final part of this course is a 10-week module designed to implement theoretical learning on a real project. In this article, I will present the different stages of my project: EasyPhone, an application designed for seniors. I hope that will please you!
NEEDFINDING
Many times, I observed elder people around me struggling with their mobile phone and asking for help on simple features. At the beginning of the project, my question was: how can I help seniors adopt new behaviors and face this technical change? This question brought me to a second one: what should the mobile interface of my grandma look like?
I interviewed 3 seniors from 75 to 88 and asked them to follow one scenario using the same mobile phone. They had to call me, listen to a vocal message, send me a SMS, take a picture and send it to me, no matter how. I observed many pain points and usability issues, something had to be done about it!
IDEATION & SOLUTION
There are a lot of design opportunities to help seniors make a better use of their mobile phone: create a simpler interface for the phone’s main functions, propose customized solutions depending on user’s category (beginner/average/advanced), adapt the interface to user’s physical condition.
From the interviews, I thought about the design opportunities and pulled out a huge list of potential actions. That done, I had to find what kind of solution I would suggest. A training program? A launcher application?
I looked for existing solutions in both areas to see what the market was offering. I found some existing solutions, I asked seniors around me if they had heard about it. No one had. That’s why I decided to create my own solution: EasyPhone, a launcher mobile application designed for seniors.
STORYBOARDS & PAPER PROTOTYPE
Based on my needfinding observations and design opportunities, different storyboards and a paper prototype were created.
Storyboards are an interesting way to visualize how the solution could meet the needs of certain users.
The paper prototype was a “quick” way to show what the screens and features might look like and start the iteration process with user tests.
At that point I realised I would have to focus on a few functions of the phone. I could not develop all screens of the phone for the Capstone project.
PROTOTYPING
After the general idea was created as a paper prototype, I started designing wireframes. They quickly turned into 44 colorful mock-ups!
I used Marvelapp.com to design and create the interactive prototype. It was a very user friendly experience, thanks to them.
You can access the final prototype here (try it on your smartphone!).
IMPORTANT — Not all screens of the app have been designed. If you want to explore it, you can: follow the set-up process, explore the Home screen, make a phone call to BILL, make a video call to BILL, edit BILL’S contact info, explore Help and Settings features.
ITERATION PROCESS
The prototype was tested several times in 4 weeks. The iteration process requires a lot of patience!
- The paper prototype was first tested with a single user to capture major breakdowns and overall feeling.
- Next, the Wireframe prototype was tested with peers using Jakob Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation method, to highlight usability issues and to think about how to improve them. Significant changes have been made to the prototype.
- Once these modifications were implemented, I wrote a test protocol and tested the prototype in person with two users aged 69 and 71.
- After a fourth series of modifications, I tested an A / B version of the application. This was done online on usertesting.com with 4 users aged 50 to 64. The tests were recorded on video.
Users did not encounter any major difficulty during the last tests. They completed all the tasks easily and quickly. The pain points were mostly related to wording issues, lack of explanations or unprecise test instructions.
The application was well received by users who found it very useful. 3 of the 4 users expressed the wish to use the app for them, their spouse or their parents. 4 on 4 would recommend the app with a high rate!
VIDEO PROMOTION
Our last mission was to create a promotional video for our product. I had real fun doing it!
CONCLUSION
This Interaction Design specialization represents months of theoretical courses, dozens of tests and assignments, and a very busy final project. I am proud to have accomplished all this alongside my professional activities. It was a hell of a trip!
I would like to thank Coursera and the University of California San Diego for giving access to distance specializations, Professor Klemmer and the various speakers of the course for the quality of contents, as well as the other students for their time.
