UX Designer, designing the app from conception to delivery.
I conducted interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, usability studies, accounting for accessibility and iterating on designs.
March 2022 - June 2022 (4 Months).
To design a support app that facilitates easy access to support for the delivery service.
Foundational research identified that users are frustrated with the support options currently available. Issues would arise when support is hard to find or use. For example, when support pages are text-heavy, or a chatbot responds with a generic answer. Users may also avoid subscribing altogether if the service will charge the user after forgetting to cancel their subscription.
I have designed the Cat In-Box app to give users direct access to various support features for their cat food deliveries. The app targets cat food delivery customers with varying cat care responsibilities and support needs.
Deliveries Tab shows lists of upcoming and delivered deliveries. The user can also access delivery settings, support, or report an issue.
Support Tab shows a handful of FAQ categories and the ability to search. The user can also report a delivery issue, submit a contact us form, or start a chat with support.
Support Chat screen features a simple chat layout. There is a status and prompt bar to maintain the chat flow, and the user can also attach media.
FAQs Search screen featuring an input box that allows the user to type their query. Answers can have simple step-by-step instructions to follow.
My research methodology when starting this project was to conduct interviews to gain deeper insight into user needs, wants, and frustrations.
Foundational research goals:
Learn about users' experience with existing delivery apps and their support features.
Learn about users' cat care responsibilities.
As a result, I extracted pain points from my findings and created personas and user journey maps to empathise with users.
The interviews confirmed my initial assumptions about users' experiences. Users are frustrated when the support they need is hard to find or use. But research also revealed that users could have varying preferences or issues with deliveries that require support.
Architecture
Users are frustrated when experiencing difficulty looking for support pages or contact information for their specific issues.
Text Heavy
Users find it annoying when support pages involve too much text.
Chat Bots
Users do not appreciate it when a bot cannot answer all of their questions via online chat.
Cancellation
Users dislike it when being charged for a product after forgetting to cancel a subscription.
Delivery Options
Some users experience difficulty handling their deliveries due to physical conditions.
Delivery Mistakes
Users are frustrated with delivery mistakes. Such as missing items or low-quality products.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Jerome is a young unemployed adult living with his family. He needs a way to access support because he has specific questions or issues with the product, delivery or service.
Jerome
Age: 23
Education: Physiology Degree
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Family: Parents, Siblings, 3 Cats
Occupation: Unemployed
''I love our cats, and I make sure to take care of them when I need to.''
Goals
Feed and care for the cats throughout the day when other family members cannot.
Occasionally give snacks to the cats.
Follow the same feeding routine every day.
Frustrations
''The cats have varying food needs based on age. One is a fussy eater.''
''Sometimes our food order is wrong and can have missing items I need when feeding the cats.''
''We use online chat to resolve these problems, but sometimes they use a bot that can't answer all our questions.''
Jerome lives with his parents, brother, sister, and three cats. He has recently become unemployed and has more time for housekeeping responsibilities. Sometimes, his family members cannot feed the cats, and he needs to step in. Jerome needs to follow the same feeding routine every day. However, It can be challenging to manage all three cats as their needs differ by age and time of year. He enjoys giving snacks to the cats whenever he can. He needs to wear his glasses to complete complex visual tasks.
USER GOAL
Receive a refund for a missing item in a recent cat food delivery.
Mapping Jerome’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to access a dedicated support app.
Users could access many easy-access support features regarding their cat food deliveries.
Taking the time to create multiple iterations of the same screen ensured that I chose the most suitable elements to address user needs and pain points.
SUPPORT TAB ITERATIONS
I placed diamonds to mark elements I would use in the final wireframe.
FINAL WIREFRAME
I prioritised precise categorisation and buttons for the support screen to help users find information faster.
As the initial ideation and design phase continued, I addressed vital user pain points.
In addition to FAQs and direct support features. I added extra features to help improve the user experience inside and outside the app.
The low-fidelity prototype connected the primary user flow of reporting a missing item in a recent delivery, which allowed me to conduct a usability study with users.
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first round helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.
Round 1 Findings
Users needed more intuitive placement of harder-to-find features, such as delivery settings, notification settings, and password-related sections.
Users needed better cues to help find and use certain features - such as the self-reporting feature.
Users needed the flow of the app and specific features to be more active and prominent - such as the support chat feature.
Round 2 Findings
Users now found the placement of settings screens more intuitive. However, users needed cues to confirm their changes.
Users now found the self-reporting feature to be more noticeable. However, users needed the skip delivery, FAQ, and change password features to be easier to find.
Users now found the support chat feature easy to complete. Now, users need more straightforward terminology when it comes to delivery settings.
Early designs allowed users to see a list of their upcoming deliveries. But after the usability studies, I added additional buttons to allow users to find and navigate to features they were struggling to see. Such as the Delivery Settings, Report Issue, and Support buttons.
Before Usability Studies
After 1st Usability Study
After 2nd Usability Study
The second usability study revealed confusion with the delivery settings screen. As a result, I adjusted the terminology and added save buttons and messages to reassure users.
Before Usability Studies
After 1st Usability Study
After 2nd Usability Study
The final high-fidelity prototype utilised design principles for a cleaner and more straightforward design. I have incorporated the study findings to ensure a better user experience.
I have followed WCAG's guidelines when considering the colour contrast of buttons and text. An enhanced level (AAA) of at least a 7:1 contrast ratio has been applied throughout the design to distinguish content for users.
I have implemented gestures throughout the design. However, they are all optional. The user can fully navigate the app via large buttons, usually accompanied by iconography to help the user identify the action.
I have provided access to vision-impaired users by adding descriptive text to images and icons for screen readers.
Users found the app visually appealing and felt support features were easy to find and understand.
QUOTES FROM STUDY PARTICIPANTS:
While designing the Cat In-Box app, I learned the importance of carefully planned user research. Especially usability studies. Before conducting the studies, I thought my designs were straightforward. But I quickly identified themes which led to new insights—allowing me to make improvements for a better user experience.
Conduct another round of usability studies to see if I have addressed previous pain points.
Conduct more user research to identify any new areas of need.
Create custom illustrations and replace 3rd party images to make branding and navigation clearer to users.
Thank you so much for taking the time to review my work on the Cat In-Box app!
Let's get in touch:
