Q Scan-PDF Scanning Mobile Application
Why Q Scan?
The COVID 19 pandemic has resulted in a massive shift of traditional ways from doing things to digital platforms. From educational institutes to government bodies, there has been rapid digitisation in every aspect of society.
This change however isn’t equal for all people. A huge part of the population, are not well equipped with digital technology. A whole generation of professionals especially teachers is having a hard time adapting to this change.
They are having a difficult time digitising their notes, documents etc. by scanning them through different applications. Most apps have a long and complicated procedure to scan an image and convert it into a pdf. There are unnecessary ad interruptions and sign-ups required, which often confuse people who are new to digital technology.
Students also are subjected to this massive change to digitisation. They have to scan and upload all documents, notes etc. to online portals. Their end goal is often not just to scan the image but also to upload it to an online portal with the specified file size. Thus they have to search for and use another third party application or online website to compress the file as most of the scanning applications are solely focused on the task of scanning the file.
As a response, I decided to design a mobile application that assists users to scan documents more efficiently and easily.
Solution
To design a mobile app that allows users to scan documents, images, notes etc., organise the scanned files, edit the scanned file, compress the file size, in a short and efficient uninterrupted process.
Target Audience
The application is designed primarily to meet the needs of teachers, students but the needs of other working professionals have also been kept in mind while designing the application. It aims to integrate key features such as scanning files, editing options, customisable folders for organising scanned files, file size compression, smooth and fast scanning experience without any interruptions.
User Research
User Research or UX Research is a major and integral part of the design process. It helps one to understand and empathize with the actual users of the product.
User Segmentation
Before beginning with the interviews, I decided to divide the users on the basis of their needs and usage. I segmented the user into two categories.
Primary - Teachers and Students who use these types of applications and services on a regular basis.
Secondary - Other working professionals who use these applications and services sometimes when needed.
After segmenting the users, I conducted a semi structured interview with 12 users in total, 8 primary and 4 secondary users.
Hypothesis
To gain understandings and empathise with the users, the way they feel about the scanning applications they currently use, the activities, goals and tasks, directly and indirectly, related to these applications, the way they interact with these applications and the problems they commonly face while using these apps.
Journey Mapping
The customer journey encompasses all of the experiences that customers have, and it considers the entire customer journey. The customer journey assisted me in mapping the user’s experience while using scanning applications and achieving their end goals.
Personas
Personas helps one in classifying different users type who have similar behaviour and also help us to understand one user with their needs, behaviour and expectations. Personas enable one to create a picture of whom we are designing for. This makes the design process much easier.
POV’s and HMW’s
Created POV’s and HMW questions from the insights from the research
How Might We- I picked
- HMW make scanning easy and simple?
- HMW make scanning quick?
- HMW store different scanned files in an organised way so that one can easily access and find those files?
- HMW make the scanning experience less confusing and more pertinent?
- HMW scan multiple pages and combine them in a single PDF?
User Flow
User flows, UX flows, or flowcharts, as they are sometimes called, are diagrams that display the complete path a user takes when using a product.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Visual UI Design
Logo and Typography
Colour Palette
Final Design
Key Features
- No Sign Ups/ Registration- To avoid unnecessary confusion for new users, there are no needless sign-ups and login pages. The user can start using the scanning app right away!
- Customisable Folders- To organise and store different scanned files in an orderly way, the app comes with some default folders as well as an option to add a new folder.
- Built-in File Compressor- The application comes with a built-in file compressor feature that allows users to compress the PDF file size without using any secondary application or website.
- Smooth Uninterrupted Experience- The application provides users with an ad-free, smooth, uninterrupted scanning experience, which makes it easier for a new user to use.
- Multiple Pages Scanning- The application allows users to scan multiple pages at once and combine them in one single PDF file.
Application Prototype
