Rethinking AI-powered Productivity apps: Squadron, a Bootcamp Project
Continuing my journey as a UX/UI Design Student at Ironhack Berlin, I was tasked with my fifth project, titled “Internet of Things”.
The task was to select a one of the four briefs available, and I decided to go for one oriented towards AI-powered Productivity.
The selected brief featured a pre-existing User Persona, whom the solution would be designed for.
I actually wanted to empathize better with the Persona. That’s why I decided to write some fictional yet relatable quotes.
Additional to a User Persona, the brief also featured some Research Insights:
But before we continue, I must reveal something first.
This project was projected to last 5 days, or 7 days at most. We were expected to fulfill our selected Briefs in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, I selected a different Brief at the beginning of the project, one which I couldn’t empathize much.
It was regarding Health Wearables and Smartwatch screen prototyping.
Although I am a Fitness enthusiast myself, I was quite a newbie in all smartwatch related. Questions like “How does the machine track the wearer’s pulses?”, “Do people really sleep with the gadgets on?”, “What if they have a big finger and can’t scroll the touch screen properly?” arised. Yet the most pressing one was “Does anybody in class have a smartwatch I can borrow? I need to have some reference!”.
It was a very confusing time indeed, and being deep in the project’s fifth day, I was still wondering how to design the screens.
It wasn’t until I saw a classmate’s presentation about an AI-driven Productivity solution that I came to a moment of realization:
We tend to personify computer-based solutions trying to provide us with help to a problem.
We’ve seen it before with Microsoft Office’s Clippy, for instance.
And in that Friday noon I decided to switch Briefs and sacrifice the remaining weekend to design a bold yet cohesive solution.
As per time constraints and a clear understanding of the User Persona, I took an Hypothesis-based approach, focusing on practicality.
Hypothesis
“Users value AI assistant tools that feel natural, mimicking a human team interaction.”
The solution proposed should be:
- Easier to assimilate.
People intuitively solve issues and complex tasks by working among peers or leading a team. - User-Friendly above Practical.
There is already a huge pool of digital solutions that offer practicality and performance. But are they user-friendly enough to appeal to the end user? - Low to Medium Tech-Savviness oriented.
An expert user is invested in sorting out the best solutions for their productivity needs. For the sake of this project, we should focus on the User Persona‘s existing skillset.
Ideation
I then decided to come up with a creative approach:
If users value a personified solution for productivity, why not offer them a Team instead?
Naturally, a team would consist of specialized individuals focusing on a set of tasks each. This would mean that, instead of “summoning” a very powerful AI and asking for it to help with our lives, gathering a team of skilled and reliable AI “squad members” to help us with a myriad of tasks!
In the midst of the project, I came up with the name Squadron.
Designing the Flow
I quickly sketched flows to put my ideas into paper.
The main elements taken from this Lofi sketch are:
Bottom Navigation
Squad, Overview and Profile. No more, no less.
Squad Page
Browse your Squad members and interact with them, link them to your other apps, set up new Squad members.
Overview Page
With interactive parts, featuring messages from your Squad members! Take a look at your calendar, have a quick check at your emails, and more.
Squad Chat
Your Squad member is implemented to feel as a real-life helper, and will chat with you whenever you need it, providing conversational AI solutions.
Profile Page
To review your permissions, get help or review your settings.
Prototype
Concept Testing
Fairly, I was running out of time at some point. Luckily, I had someone to test this prototype with, with similar characteristics to our Persona, John.
Key Learnings
Taking into account that this is a project with educational purposes, I can say I learned a lot regarding the value of empathizing with the user, time management and adaptability skills.
Next Steps
I would of course loved to implement further features before the deadline. These are:
Improve UI Color Coding
For users to better understand the visual hierarchy and for accessibility concerns.
Implement: Add Squad Bot Screen
It was unfortunately not implemented due to time constraints.
Implement: Voice Command Prototyping
A feature within the Brief requirements. The current prototype is not clear enough about the AI voice prompting.
Conclusion
It was very exciting to prototype the solution, working in a high-pressure scenario due to the deadline.
I feel that it is necessary for us as UX/UI Designers to “choose our battles” whenever we can to best apply our design potential and satisfy the user’s and stakeholder’s needs.
And yes, this is just an educational project, but I think this would take more relevance in a work-related situation.
All in all, I was glad that my classmates and the teacher liked the outcome and the presentation I did in class. I am also happy the way I concisely presented the project and connected with the audience, a skill I think would be ultimately valuable in my professional career.
How about you? Did you like the project? Let me know in the comments!
