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Continuing my journey in Design, I have started exploring the field of UI/UX Design with some portfolio projects for the Google UX Design Professional Certificate Program by Coursera.
Google UX Design Professional Certificate Program by Coursera
Google UX Design Professional Certificate Program by Coursera
I have recently completed the Google UX Design Certificate -- a rigorous, hands-on program that includes seven courses, developed by Google and covers the design process from end-to-end. I have completed this on the platform 'Coursera'.
This enables me to delve into the basics of UX Designing and following is a case study from the duration of my course.
WeddingBFF - A Wedding Ceremony Checklist App
WeddingBFF - A Wedding Ceremony Checklist App
The Product:
A wedding Ceremony Checklist App named WeddingBFF that has the additional features of a Vendor Directory, Guest List Planner, Bulletin Board for Inspiration and even Scheduling Interviews with Wedding Planners.
Project duration:
March 2023 - October 2023
Objective :
This project forms an integral component of the Google UX Design Professional Certificate course. Its primary objective is to gain insights into the UX Design process, encompassing elements such as UX research techniques, user empathy development, the creation of empathy maps, personas, user stories, and user journey maps, user-centric design, accessibility considerations, research planning, interview and usability study execution, as well as the synthesis of research findings.
The Process :
The process for the project was followed the Design Thinking framework, which consisted of 5 stages - Empathize, Define. Ideate, Prototype and Test.
Understanding the User
Understanding the User
User Research: Summary
I conducted interviews & created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was brides, grooms and their family and friends who are involved in planning a wedding, primarily from India. Research revealed factors such as communication between different groups, requirements for different ceremonies, guest lists and wedding inspiration according to wedding type as the biggest challenges and reasons for frustration amongst target audience.
User Research: Pain Points
User Persona
Drawing from our research data, I crafted two distinct user personas to effectively encapsulate user motivations and guide their integration into the product development process. I also made their User Journey Maps and drafted the problem statements as well.
Their Problem Statements are as follows :
Sara Gupta : Sara is a journalist who needs to plan her dream destination wedding because she wants to make memories that last her a lifetime.
Paramjit Singh : Paramjit is an MBA who needs to plan a dual tradition wedding with all his extended family present because he wants both cultures (his and his partner’s) to get the equal respect.
Competitive Audit
Competitive Audit
A competitive audit entails a comprehensive examination of your rivals' strengths and weaknesses.
Objectives
Identifying the primary competitors.
Evaluating the range of products offered by competitors.
Grasping the positioning strategies adopted by competitors in the market.
Scrutinizing the areas where competitors excel and identifying potential areas for improvement.
Analyzing how competitors articulate their own brand identity.
Direct Competitors are WedMeGood and ShaadiWish, both wedding planning websites. Indirect Competitors are Wedding Sutra, A wedding vendor directory and Information Centric Website and Indiamart, a marketplace website where vendors from all industries are listed.
This Competitive Audit helped me to narrow down the Value Propositions for my own app.
Value Propositions for WeddingBFF :
Easy to use app interface : The interface will have a combination of icons and text in an easy to understand manner
Wide variety of venues | Various Venue Filters available : Will ensure that every user gets what they are looking for
Guest List Planner Feature | Reminder Email to Guests
Checklist Feature for Ceremonies : Main USP of the app as it will help ease the process of planning
Suggestions & Inspirations for Decor : Bulletin Board Feature
Option to book Wedding Planner from app : Finding good Wedding Planners according to the brief provided by you in the app, you can interview them and then finalize
Progress Status Report | Reminder Notifications for each stage of planning : Progress Status on how your planning is going and Reminding you of what is necessary to be done
Vendor Directory : A wide range of categories of vendors that can be filtered according to requirements
Starting the Design
Starting the Design
Information Architecture & Story Boards
I created the Information Architecture of the app to understand the user flow and how the various features will align with the design. I also created the Story Boards (Big Picture and Close up) to visually describe the user's experience while interacting with the app.
Paper Wireframes
For this step, I made 5 versions of each screen and the idea was to get all ideas out on paper quickly. Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points.
Digital Wireframes
The paper wireframes were digitalized in this step of the process. For this, I used the software named Figma. After the wireframes were created, I combined them all and made the low fidelity Prototype.
Usability Study
Usability Study
Usability Study : Background
I wanted to figure out if it is easy to create a checklist in the app and complete associated actions. I also wanted to understand what challenges users face while using the different functions in the app as well as how I can improve the designs.
Research goals: Figure out if users can create checklist and perform associated tasks ; Also figure out if the design interface is easy to understand and navigate in order to plan a wedding
This Usability Study helped me to find out the parts of my design which needed iterations. I created an Affinity Diagram (image below) to find themes and insights from the user feedback, leading to iterations in the designs. The Key Performance Indicators for the study were :
Time on Task - How long does it take users to create a checklist ?
User Error rates - What are the parts of the app where users are making error ?
Use of Navigation vs. Search - How many people used in app navigation and how many used search function ?
System Usability Scale (SUS) - List of 10 questions to answer on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree
Usability Study : Research Insights
Clearly Visible Add Icon - The add icon needs to be more clear and easy to find for users.
Clearly Indicated Wedding Date - The Wedding date needs to be clearly indicated, alongside the Countdown so that it is easy for users to find and edit it.
Simplified Checklist Screen - There needs to be a way to simplify the checklist screen so that users who are not familiar with a Nested Checklist are also able to understand it.
Refining the Design
Refining the Design
Hi-Fidelity Mockups
Based on the insights gathered from the usability study, I refined and enhanced my digital wireframes.
Subsequently, I translated these final digital wireframes into screen mockups for each component. After creating all the screen mockups, I interlinked them, incorporated gestures, and animations to craft a high-fidelity prototype.
Takeaways
Takeaways
Impact :
The app makes users feel a little less frustrated and overwhelmed, making it a companion and truly a WeddingBFF, while planning their wedding.
What I learned :
I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next Steps :
Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.
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