Designing for the Next Billion Indians

Part 2: Design Values and Principles

Good design is rooted in psychology and human insight, be it a preference for a certain colour, the interpretation of hues, or the attention span of the individual. Through research, both primary and secondary, we had acquired key insights with respect to our user base — blue collar employees from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, towns, and villages. Our potential users included farmers, househelp, delivery and security personnel, electricians and so on.
As discussed in our previous blog post, the research revealed a language barrier and a vast knowledge gap between Tier 2 and Tier 3 in terms of digital literacy. While language and usage of apps varied across our user base, one thing that remained constant was the need for reassurance when it came to privacy. Keeping these blue-collar-centric insights in mind, we explored various design directions, which eventually led to the establishment of our primary design values and principles for the betterplace app. These, in concurrence with our UX Principles, would go on to help us make each and every UX decision moving forward.

So, what are our Design Values and Principles and why do they matter to both users and the brand? The former encapsulates what we want to convey, while the latter forms the guidelines of the actual design.

Design Values | What we convey

1. Trust
   We connect on a personal level, not from a level of authority. The words and hues we use should reflect that.
2. Transparency
   Users are worried about privacy and caveats. Our communication should be straightforward, honest, and easy to understand.
3. Reliability
   We must be available to our users for support and guidance. Let’s not forget that many of them are not tech-savvy and this blue-collar platform is very different from any of its white-collar counterparts.
4. Compassion
   We communicate and react with kindness. Our interactions must show that we understand the user, not via sympathy, but empathy.
5. Value
   It is necessary to highlight that we value our users while ensuring that the value we add to their lives is also portrayed effectively.

Design Principles | How we design

1. Balance
   Here, balance refers to the balance of visual elements. This includes use of whitespace, placement and hue compatibility of text and design, and choice of tints and shades. Balance of visual elements is vital since people tend to ‘see’ things before they delve deeper into its components. If the visuals lack balance or cohesion, users will not be encouraged to see what that screen or app is about.
2. Storytelling at Core
   Design and User Experience are, at the end of the day, about ease and engagement. Not only must the text tell a story, when necessary, but there must be an aspect of visual storytelling, which involves a seamless blend of one screen into another and an unnoticeable transition from one piece of information to the next. Here, one must think of the app as an outline of the user’s journey, with the user being the protagonist, and each potential click leading the user to another part of the same journey.
3. Familiarity
   Since most of our users seemed to use only basic social media apps or no apps at all, we thought it prudent to use icons and functions that were similar to those used in other apps, ensuring that users were able to easily understand the visual elements.
4. Sense of Community
   A sense of community helps breed confidence in the app. We had added a layer of social communication, which encourages peer interactions and validation of choices. This ensures that our users never feel alone.
5. Scale and Future
   An essential feature of the design is the potential for scalability and dynamism of the interface and experience, which ensures that it is malleable and ready to meet any design demands that may arise.

Incorporating values and principles in the app

Based on our design values and principles, we have zeroed in on our brand colours, choosing blue and orange as our primary colours for the app. Blue signifies reliability, opportunity, and stability, while orange represents joy, encouragement, determination, and balance.

In order to address privacy concerns, we are using small nudges to assure users that their information is safe and to ensure that they are aware of our privacy policy and guidelines.

To help users consume content in a more efficient and effective manner, we have:

Introduced horizontal and vertical scrolling

Used an informal, friendly tone of communication, which makes interactions and hand-holding on the app more intuitive

Used colours to highlight the key parts of the app and to help users navigate easily

managed whitespace so as to give visual relief and reduce confusion

Moving forward, we aim to use primarily visual CTAs, add experiences the user is familiar with based on the products and services they use, improve navigation, visual hierarchy and content presentation, and introduce more intuitive, contextual guided experiences that help users understand the app and its features.

A team effort

Design values and principles work towards creating a consistent look and feel across a brand and/or its products. Therefore, ours have been incorporated across the Product and Design departments, ensuring that no matter which team makes changes, the final version will adhere to the aforementioned guide. Needless to say, this enables the whole betterplace app team to be more efficient, collaborative and involved. After all, how can we ensure ease of understanding for our users if we can’t incorporate it within our own departments?

Credits-
Blog Writing by Aakanksha B & Pujashree Nayak| Graphics Design by Ekisha Narain & Rakesh Nimkar
Research Contributors- Janavi Vengatesh, Deeksha Yadav, Aseem Saini,
Thank you Guys for putting this together!