“WALKIES” App— Rapid Prototyping Project
an iterative design process
On the week beginning the 30th of November I was engaging in conversation with one of my fellow colleagues and found that she was faced with this particular problem.
“ Michael I’m so busy at the moment and I’m about to get even busier. I just can’t seem to find enough time to walk my dog”
It was clearly evident that Kira had a problem that she needed solving and that’s what we’ve set out to do.
Objective
Create an Interactive Paper Prototype App in three days, that solves Kira’s problem.
Tools
- User Interviews
- Synthesising Research
- Story Boarding
- User flow
- Wire Flows — Paper Protyping
- POP — Usable Paper Protoyping uploaded to a Mobile Platform
User Interviews
“It’s all about people their activities and the context of those activities” Stephen P. Andersen
- Prepare unbiased opened ended interview questions
- Conduct an effective user interview (Active Listening)
- Analyse results
The objective of the first initial user interview was to determine how the problem existed. Focusing on in depth questioning and further probing to ensure we uncovered pain points and strong motivations that were linked to Kira’s problem. There were no assumptions made. This research by way of feedback continued throughout the process of solving Kira’s problem; validating ideas, all part of the iterative design process.
Synthesing research
“get the problem right before you get the right design”
We came to a conclusion and was able to clearly articulate the problem from analyzing those findings of the conversation.
The Problem
Kira needed more flexibility and support in her life and more time so she could give Duke the regular exercise he needs as a growing puppy.
The Solution
Is to find a suitable, trustworthy dog lover who enjoys spending time with dogs and taking them on various activities which support good health.
Sketching — Visual Communication
Moving towards a workable and effective solution….
Storyboard
To help Visualise the problem and the solution into everyday life. This also helped visualise the user experience in an emotional context.
User Flow
The happy path….
From synthesised research I was able to determine a basic user flow that would quickly take Kira from a point of discovery to confirmation that another user that would share that responsbility of walking her dog. This would demonstrate the ease in which she could make choices through different pages and decision points. This user Flow was designed in mind with the problem that Kira was facing and to incorporate main elements, ease, speed, and the flexibility to change decisions.
Competitive Analysis
There were two main players in the market place that were offering a similar service both leaning towards a paid service rather than a community based application that would link like minded individuals together for free. This is where we have decided to innovate in this space.
Wag walking is a dog walking app in the united states that links paid dog walkers to consumers in the united states for a fee.
Pawshake is about different services provided to pet owners ranging from boarding, walking and house sitting pets.
We used these basic principles to determine how usable their interfaces were.
- Learnability
- Efficiencey
- Memorability
- User Satifcation
- Error management
Through both applications I integrated some designs into WALKIES, but it was clearly evident that to do get from point A to B (confirmation of a walk) it could be completed in less steps with less errors and being able to back track (push the back button) was not evident in some cases
Standard features on both were Geo Mapping, this was incorpareted into the prototypes home screen.
User Interface Flows — Paper Prototyping
The Paper Prototype that was developed allowed us to create and test the user interface quickly and cheaply. This would in in turn help substantiate the iterative design process so we could recieve usability feedback early.
Immediately after protoyping these designs on paper I decided to upload my protoype on POP so Kira would have the opportunity to interact with theApp.
Usability Feedback
Overall Kira was really happy with Usability and how simple it was. However there were two main areas of opportunity
The Problem
- Security — this was to added to help alleviate concerns of having a stranger in her back yard.
- Usability — there were certain elements that she clicked on and they didn’t link anywhere.
The Solution (Respectively)
- Was to Intergrate a “Meet and Greet” with the Walker before giving any details. I also reminded Kira that all the Walkers were reviewed. She was delighted with this idea.
- Added usability elements that allowed key pieces of information to be entered so she can customise her experience with the WALKIES App.
Insights
Being my first project and achieved in a such short period of time, I throughly enjoyed the process and adapted my learnings through iterative design as quickly as I could, to ensure I could obtain further feedback. I learned that time management was of the essence and it was important to place mini deadlines on tasks which ensured the timely completetion of the next. I understood very clearly for the “get-go” that focusing on the problem and delving deep into this area was the key to uncovering important motivations and emotions.
Next Steps
I’d love to see an application like this a part of a community because it brings people together. Further user testing and feedback with people with similar problems which in turn, I would hope would uncover more usability opportunities and the chance to introduce new ideas to incorporate into WALKIES.
