Iterating on a product lifecycle facilitating imaging experience for the next billion smartphone users

Demonstrative picture only — Commuters watch videos on their mobile phones as they travel. (Reuters)

Client: Turian labs for a Global tech leader
Turian Labs is a global research and innovation strategy consulting company based out of Pune, India.

Role: User experience researcher
(Consulting partner — collaborated with UX researchers, research managers and product designers stationed across the globe)

Skills: Creating research moderation guide, facilitating and moderating usability sessions, selecting the appropriate user groups, open-ended in-depth interviews, sense-making and synthesis, insight generation and report delivery.

Year: Nov 2019 — present
Constraints: Coronavirus pandemic from March’ 20

Tools used — Video conferencing tools, Miroboard, Figma

*This is a highly confidential project, with a non-disclosure agreement so a lot of details are not presentable.

Problem statement

“What do the next billion smartphone users need and desire with imaging capabilities on their phone?”

How did we find out?

• Foundational information: The product team had been working on the foundational aspects where they had already established the pain points, gaps and needs of the lower end smartphone users for their imaging apps.
• Discovering cues and iterative usability testing: These aspects became the cues to discover opportunity areas and probes for further enquiry. An iterative usability testing approach was used in collaboration with the product team, and user research managers.
• Conducting research sprints: Conducted several research sprints, meeting a number of potential users to understand their current smartphone usage, specific pain points, needs and desires from the different apps they use.
• Mapping behavioral patterns: Every sprint included a prototype that was tested with the study participants. After every sprint, insights were generated, consolidated into a report that were used to build the next prototype. User archetypes and behavioral patterns of all participants were also mapped to create layered personas.

“I love working with Leena as she has a strong analytical/synthesis ability and a detailed eye for observations. She has clarity in thought process, a multi-tasking and critical thinking ability with proactiveness and timely deliverables. She also asks critical questions at the right time in the project journey, which is quite helpful.” — Deepali Modi, Senior Research Manager, Turian Labs