Coursera Interaction Design Capstone Project
Coursera.org offers a 8 course specialization in Interaction Design, culminating in a 10 week capstone project. My capstone project focused on the design brief change… Specifically, how can a mobile application be designed to get users to change their behaviour? Here is my journey…
Step 1: Needfinding
The first step was to figure out: what do users want? My background is in ergonomics, and I wanted to motivate computer workers to be more healthy at their desks. Specifically, take more breaks! But what motivates people to do this?
In order to find out, I interviewed and observed three people working at their computers. I found out that people are motivated in different ways. Some people want to take social breaks and are motivated by others. Some people want to take productive breaks, by exercising or grabbing a coffee. I found out that there is no one solution, and that my app would need to tailor to both individual, and social motivations.
Step 2: Ideation
Once I knew what would motivate people to take breaks, I needed to brainstorm how to design this into a mobile interface. This was done through the development of storyboards and paper prototypes. I created storyboards exploring two different ideas: one with an individual focus, and one with a social focus. I figured that these could be adapted and possibly merged in the future.
Step 3: Heuristic Evaluation
Now that I had storyboards and paper prototypes, it was time to get some feedback. I conducted a Skype session with a classmate and we performed a heuristic evaluation of each others prototypes. This was a great way to identify obvious issues and make quick fixes prior to performing user testing. The evaluation ensured that I had fixed all major issues and could focus on the details I might not notice. He had some great suggestions about missing features (e.g. a back button!) and how to streamline the design.
Step 4: Prototype
Now the fun begins! I started to create my prototype by building out a few screens in powerpoint, and then developed the rest online.
I created an electronic protoype using InVision. This took some time! I created each page as an image file in powerpoint, and then imported them to InVision.
I decided to merge my two designs into one, so there were a large number of pages to build out. My first prototype included a section for personal alarms and also a social component where users can search for, add, and then request breaks with their friends. It included a capability to create a calendar and view friend’s calendars, as well as internal messaging.
Step 5: User Feedback
Once I had a design I was happy with, I conducted two rounds of user testing. The first round consisted of in-person testing with two colleagues. They provided me with great feedback, and allowed me to make refinements prior to round 2.
In round 2 I wanted to test a specific design element. Specifically, do users like having the capability to click directly on a calendar to send a break request, or would they prefer a separate button? Unfortunately this did not go as planned, as my users took an unexpected route to complete my tasks. However, I learned a valuable lesson about the importance of thinking through the test scenarios and providing detailed instructions. And even though it didn’t go as planned, I got the feedback I wanted through their general comments, and determined that it would be beneficial to build in the capability to click directly on a calendar in order to make changes and send requests.
Final Thoughts
My design evolved in a few ways through this process. First of all, I thought this was going to be a desktop application, so I had a lot of ideas about incorporating ergonomics and postural guidance. However, this did not make much sense in a mobile app.
Once I shifted my mindset to the mobile platform things started to come together. I saw the value in gathering user feedback from the start, and using users to refine my design as I went. I understood that I had to design for a range of users, which is why it made sense to merge my design ideas into one. The user testing was critical to the success of the design. I know what I would like in a mobile app, but I do not represent everyone! This exercise was a valuable opportunity to develop my skills and expand them to a new domain.
Here is my final design:https://invis.io/3BA81W17F