The first week of UX prototyping class taught by Professor Julie Kientz kicked off with an introduction to paper prototypes. Essentially, paper prototypes are a low-cost, effective, and fast way to test out initial concepts.
Our first challenge is to develop a system that combines a smart watch and a smart phone and develop a product concept of a paired app that involves synchronization of data between the two smart devices.
I started my ideation process by looking at existing smart watch applications, thinking about what types of applications I would use specifically on a smart watch since an iPhone could do almost everything that a smart watch can, and listing out several ideas, including a to-do list, navigation, and more.
I decided to go with the flight reminder first, even making a paper prototype of the watch and phone with its screens.
After testing it out, I decided it was too similar to what Delta Airline offers now, so I started over (yay for lo-fi prototypes and not being attached) and began ideating more and thought about my hobbies, including cooking. Cooking and checking the recipe was always a hassle — you had a lot of things in your hands, or your hands may be dirty — there’s no time to swipe around on your phone.
That’s when I got the idea of a culinary app — recipe bot. It syncs the recipes you find online or in the app, then it gives you step by step instructions on your watch, including a timer and voice interaction.
After creating this application as a paper prototype and remaking a less bulky watch (after two iterations), I conducted a usability test with three tasks.
The three tasks were
- Get instructions to make grilled chicken breast that you saved earlier
- Get instructions to make 2 recipes, egg and toast
- Get instructions directly from the browser to make grilled chicken breast
As I took notes, I asked the participant to think out loud and voice out any concerns or thoughts she had while doing the tasks. Overall, the app was effective because the participant did not make a lot of errors and liked it a lot.
Good and cute app! Would want to use it when cooking because I won’t want to touch my phone while touching raw meats. Very convenient!
-Participant
In class, I also received feedback from three peers after I presented my idea to them.
Here’s what they liked:
- convenience that the app provides
- can see reviews from other people
- ability to rate and comment on recipe
- incorporated timer & voice interaction
Some of the key improvements I would make on my next iteration based on testing and feedback are listed below.
- add an indicator for the user to go back to previous step
- change the dot progress bar on top to fractions instead, because there might be more than 5 steps and the bar would be too small to see
- change wording of “make” or change to an icon that represents “show on watch” for clarity
- option to make own recipe in the plan meal tab
- ability to watch tutorials/steps of how to make recipe on watch
Video: https://youtu.be/12xiffe64JI
