Case Study: kinjunxion
Here is my personal account of how our team used 3 weeks wisely to come up with a user dashboard and search results page that would be used for the newly designed kinjunxion website. We were very excited because this was also our first community project working with real stakeholders.
kinjunxion is a site that connects you to the best articles, videos, professionals and other resources that promote family wellness and aim to reduce stress.
Breakdown
Team Members: 4
Time Frame: 3 Weeks
Goal: Develop a user dashboard and search output page.
Roles
Research & Testing: Katie Melanson
Planning & Design: Patrick Weberman
Design & Testing: Gabe Morillo
Testing and Presentation: Nadia Hogg
Research
Family stress is all around us, the struggle most people feel when dealing with a certain matter often leaves us overwhelmed, embarrased and not knowing who to talk to.
We began our research journey with the question;
“Where do users go when searching for advice on wellness issues?”
We built a scrum board and began analyzing our data. We found that while people had problems. They often were able to find solutions. Where is the number one place they went? A family member or Google. ‘Oh great’ we said, we scratched our heads and asked what was the need for a site like kinjunxion?
Luckily our findings revealed an initial revelation. All of our interview subjects seemed to land on a solution, whether it was finding a daycare, a caretaker for a sick parent or a professional wanting to promote their practice. They were all stuck in this “ping pong” effect, a phrase we coined to describe the bouncing around a user experiences when they can’t find what they are looking for.
In some cases users just settled on the most convenient solution, perhaps out of search exhaustion or their problem was resolved by dumb luck.
While a user could operate a simple search engine. They didn’t exactly trust the results they were given or were overwhelmed by the amount of results displayed infront of them. The whole process was lacking, it was missing something. This is where we hoped kinjunxion could come into play and fill this gap. Then it hit us, it needed a search filter.
When compiling our domain research and our competitive comparative analysis, I felt we couldn’t compare enough sites, the process seemed endless. Our client's site had so many categories and features it was overwhelming.
We compared search engines, mommy and baby websites, trip advisor sites, community user forums like Reddit, even doctor sites like Zocdoc. I feared we were trying to design ‘a one stop shop’. This way of attracting potential users seems a bit archaic nowadays because it starts to function like a government website. These sites are synonymous with being complicated and always prove difficult to find anything.
A tribe called kinjunxion
kinjunxion wasn’t the only kid on the block. Another site called therapytribe.com was trying to do the same thing. We decided to perform some in depth research and heuristic evaluations on it.
The site was overall pretty clunky, I often got lost on it trying to figure out what it's main role was or what to do next. It boasted community engagement with its dozens of forums and even had a counter of how many users were online!
Although there were tons of forums, it seemed like a ghost town. I posted a question but no one answered it. The last user post was from a few days ago and no one replied to that one either. I thought to myself during this evaluation, ‘Why wouldnt someone just use Facebook’?
Planning
Lets meet our three personas:
Tamara would be the subject of our customer journey map. She had the most compelling story to tell as it outlined the need for such a database that kinjunxion could offer.
This visual breaks down the struggle of finding a daycare provider in a new city from scratch. She had a hell of a time and often spun her wheels. In the end, she found a solution, but it wasn’t her ideal end goal.
Design
We began low fidelity wireframing with our research data. We decided to do a design studio for the overall look of the user dash board. Each group member did a version, then we did a critique and collobarated on a final look.
While we thought it would be nice to have lots of different interactive elements in the dash we agreed it took away from the actual functionality.
We came up with our initial user dashboard.
We then performed a feature prioritization, where we put the different elements of the dashboard into the categories;
‘Must have, Nice to have, Dont need it.’
After 4 rounds of intense debate we came up with a final configuration.
We then began mocking up our revised dashboard.
The way it was shaping up. It was no longer a conventional social media feed like therapytribe had tried to do. It was now a searchable publication that showcased the wealth of articles that kinjunxion has to offer.
Core features
The member homepage
- Menu to provide easy access to categories.
- Search function accessible from any screen.
- Personalize user profile.
- Quick access buttons for Groups, Discussions, Saved and New Posts.
- Group content into categories ie Recommended, Most Popular, Events.
- Display top items in each category with the option to see more.
The search results page
- Location-based search function.
- Helpful search with suggestions.
- Ability to filter results
- Display all relevant search results by category
Future Considerations
- Membership perks
- Targeted advertising
- Newsletter
- Further Testing
Testing
In order for kinjunxion to stand out and help our users fine tune their searches, our filtering needed to be extremely easy to use, we needed to perform a tree test. We gave users a specific list of tasks and measured their success rate. These tasks included such instructions like, ‘where in the menu category would you find blogs?’
In the first test, the success rate was not bad, but it had to be much more refined if we wanted to solve our ‘ping pong effect’.
We analyzed our user feedback and revised the menu and got a pleasing 92.6% success rate. With more testing and user feedback, our team was positive they could get an even higher number.
Our A/B testing contributed to the final look of our product. Testers liked the number of items that were visible, how user friendly and organized it felt, and thought the overall UI was very pleasing to the eye.
Prototypes
Mobile Hi Fidelity
Desktop Hi Fidelity
The final product
The desktop version shows the full potential of kinjunxion. Users are now able to find information about something as specific as daycare in their city in less time it took them when performing a broad internet search and dwindling through an overwhelming amount of results pages.
Lets take another look at Tamara’s journey map after using kinjunxion. It is clear she is able to find the resource she is looking for with the help of the large amount of curated content that kinjunxion has to offer. This includes articles, blogs and video. Now with the help of our user friendly filter, Tamara has completely avoided a major pain point.
The Conclusion
kinjunxion is a site that helps people find solutions to those life situations that can contribute to stress. It connects you to the best articles, videos, professionals and other resources, that promote family wellness and reduce stress.
Our goal for this project was to provide kinjunxion with a thoughtful user experience that would help their site grow into not only a destination for family wellness resources but a thriving community where like-minded individuals can connect and find the solutions they need to grow.
kinjunxion’s vision of a better world starts with family. When we reduce the stress that families face everyday through reliable solutions and strong communities we all win.
We presented our vision of kinjunxion to the owners of the site and our peers. They were pleased and impressed with our research. It felt satisfying to be able to present a concept that will be helping an organization who’s target is family and community.
