I followed one dream: to study this subject and to do it with an American University.
I designed this app prototype during the Capstone project of the 8-course Interaction Design Specialization by University of San Diego California, on Coursera.
Capstone project main focus is to design a prototype of an app addressing some of user needs within one of three briefs provided that were Time, Change and Glance. I focused my attention on TIME
Needfinding
I chose the topic of time management Time and started to interview people. I wanted to know how people interact with time and rlated tools everyday: do they use a night clock? A wearable watch? A wall calendar? A notebook? A paper block notes? A mobile phone or a laptop?
During needfinding process I came with a bunch of user needs but commonly covered with 4 tools: a clock, a calendar, a to do list, alarms. People feel confortable with paper, wall calendars, wearable watch and smartphone and normally use a lot of different and separated tools to accomplish time management. I had the idea of an ALL In One App with all the useful tool inside and with a preforming dashboard.
I aimed to design an app that uses technology to facilitate users to manage time in an everyday life and in particular that makes more easy the interaction .
Core concept
The core concept was to create an unique and integrated tool; an ALL in ONE app, that can cover the main part of user needs in daily time management.
The idea in to use only one app well integrated in funcions instead of using different tools.
The interaction can be touch but even vocal so you can ask to your app and use the functionality with hands free. ( You can ask What time is it? Set the alarm clock! And tell the to do list or the notes)
This tool aim to become your time assistant and I called it: tim&you.
In only one tool you have all the tools integrated and interoperating on with the other even external to the app itself ( as email calendards other lists) . In only one dashboard you find the actual time management at a glance.
In addition I gave him a voice and a second way of interacting with you for all that situations in which you need an hands free usage of the app.
Furthermore, the ability to share lists or calendars with others gives to the app the social face.
Paper prototyping
I started with paper prototypes. I loved draw and it makes me feel confident in see the story…
Paper prototyping is extremely useful technique. It helps quickly explore possible outcomes.I used it with fun and even in other phases of the project
Evaluation of prototype
On the next step my brand new prototype went to three stages of evaluation:
1. Heuristic evaluation using Jacob Nielsen’s Ten Usability Heuristics, made with kind help of my peers.
2. In-person usability testing.
3. Remote unmoderated usability testing.
In two latter studies I did use services, which impressed me much.
Remote unmoderated usability testing with UserTesting
For remote usability testing four free test sessions at UserTesting.com were kindly provided for Capstone students. I did split these sessions in 2 groups, each with 2 participants, to be able to conduct an A/B test. First group was exposed to my initial design, and the second group was exposed to the alternative design, which I created after in-person usability testing. With A/B test I wanted to check that the alternative design performs better than initial one.
The most fascinating impression while using UserTesting.com was to me the speed of finding participants. My tasks were taken within minutes after I placed the order. This was really impressive. This is a massive possibility to test hypotheses quickly and move on fast.
Redesign
During the test sessions I was more conscious that the visual design was not attractive…Unfortunately I Used a tree version of a tool very limited for doing the app prototype. I had no time to redoing the complete app and I modified the one I initially developed. On the other side the testing demonstrate that users appreciated the app and its easiness of use and all where very curious to see the final app fully developed…(this made me very happy J and confident).
There are a lot of improvments to do
In any case I did my best for the time I had.. I designed a name and a Logo for the APP.
Proof of concept
During the tests I asked all participants the same question: Would you recommend this app to others? Most of them answered: YES. For me that was a proof of the concept that one tool like the one I designed could facilitate people time management task.
Final prototype
See my final prototype: https://invis.io/JCA85KHNW
I would like to thank prof. Scott Klemmer, prof. Elizabeth Gerber, prof. Jacob O. Wobbrock and all my peer students for this amazing experience. It was my pleasure to study with you and to learn from you. Thank you for this course online: I am a full worker and I did it at night…if it were not in this form it would be unsustainable for me. Thank you!
