Punctual. — How the app that helps manage your time came into existence.
I created an iOS app called Punctual for my Interaction Design Capstone project to reinvent the way we look at and perceive time. Punctual was completed over a duration of 10 weeks where I initially observed and interviewed people to find more insight into how I could reinvent time, which was followed by coming up with ideas based off of what I observed the following week. I brainstormed multiple areas of time that could be changed and decided I wanted to help people be more punctual. I came up with a point of view on how time is perceived and how it can be changed to benefit users; With good planning in place, no one should have to be late.
While using my app I wanted to address the following user needs: I wanted users to be able to use Punctual to help them reach places on time, be ready for pickups, appointments, and meetings (Figure 1 & 2). I basically wanted to take the worry and stress associated with being on time out of their lives. Instead of having users look at time and stress out I wanted to invent a way in which users could be notified of time and be conscious of their schedules with ease in a stress free, relaxed manner.
The solution to this problem was Punctual — an app that allows users to manage appointments, schedules and pickups without being late or forgetting. Users are able to schedule pickups or appointments and create future notifications of when they need to leave to meet a ride or pick up their kids from school or simply make it in time for a yoga class at the gym (Figure 3 & 4). The key features of the app that allow for this to occur are, integration with google maps which allows the app to calculate routes and disruptions along the route to account for changes in the duration of your trip if you are supposed to get some where or track your friend’s location in real time so you know how much time you have to grab a snack before you have to head out or a last minute outfit change. The result? Always encountering a happy friend since you never make them wait for you or happy kids that don’t have to wait in the school yard to be picked up after a long day — BUT, overall a happier YOU because things are always on schedule and your life is one step closer to being stress free.
To make all of this possible I had to make several design decisions to make Punctual a quality product and in order to do this I looked at the design of many existing apps that had similar functions and features and tried to identify the gaps, which I could fix to make a better product. As part of the design process I took my point of view and created storyboards to generate use case scenarios for different users and worked on creating low-fidelity prototypes to test out my point of view. During the design process I tried to incorporate as many native iOS features and functions as I could so that iOS users could easily navigate through my app and understand how to use it.
The next step was to have my peers review my work and provide valuable feedback which I used to improve my prototype. My design went through multiple iterations as feedback was received and with each revision the app looked a little better, and looked like it was taking shape into a product that would benefit users. In the more preliminary stages of the app the app showed your friend’s image and underneath showed all of their information followed by a dropdown option for notifications (Figure 5) but by the end of the process I opted to go for a version where the app showed your friends image along with a map location for their address and their address which could be opened up in google maps while the notification options opened up in a new page (Figure 6).
At this point I had a plan in place and was finally ready to start creating screens for my app prototype. The next few weeks were dedicated to testing the app and then implementing feedback and doing A/B testing to get a more thorough understanding of the product. The results of user testing were incredible and the experience taught me so much! I learnt things about how users interact with products and what comes naturally and what requires more thought and how my thought process of how they would interact with the app was sometimes very different then what I had envisioned. User Testing enabled me to make changes to the app such that the app was easier to use and they picked up small things that I had overlooked. Some of the feedback I received from users included, changes in wording to make sections more easily understandable, allowing for flexibility in options, tweaks in the way it looked and functionality suggestions.
The experience of creating this app was very rewarding as I was able to go step-by-step through the process and receive feedback at every point, which really went a long way in shaping the app. Creating Punctual has taught me a lot and has enabled me to strengthen my design skills.
Check out the demo for Punctual and let me know your thoughts!
