Phase 1

Roles:

Project Manager: Daeshawn Bullock

Research Lead: Aaron Alem 

Design Lead: Rylie Gentile

Prototyping Lead: Byron Richards

Evaluation Lead: Jeyi Lee 

Research/Analysis:

We went through different reviews of apps and websites including Yelp, Google Maps, Journey, and Day One Journal: Private Library which offers a similar service to what we are trying to create. These reviews not only came from the app store but additionally, we took into account professionally done reviews of these apps. We then looked at and took note of what the user enjoyed and did not enjoy about each of these apps, coming up with a pros and cons list of each app. Lastly, we then looked to see what some of the main problems were across all of these services and how these services could be improved.

Many interesting things were found in the research. For the map side of things, a feature that users seemed to enjoy was the many different and specific filters. These allowed users to carefully find exactly what they were looking for. However, that's where the positives ended with many of these reviews. The reviewers were mostly negative the main thing reviewers believed needed to be significantly improved upon was the review section. Many felt that the reviews were inaccurate and did not apply to them. While looking at different apps like Yelp, Google Maps, etc. most only offered a very basic reviewing system that didn’t allow people to better see reviews that would be more accurate or applicable to them. Many users complained about the poor review system and how it needed to be improved upon. This finding was most relevant to us in finding a solution. The goal of StreetSmart is to create a better experience when trying to find a place to eat at/visit through the reviews.

On the journaling side of things though, the thing people seem to enjoy most about journaling apps is that they are easy to use. The easier it is to just click on the app, go to a journal and start writing, the better. Additionally people like being able to add many forms of media to the journals. One app that had many different media formats that people enjoyed was Day One Journal: Private Library. This Journal app allowed users to add videos, voice recordings, and pictures to their journals. Reviewers highly praised these features. Another feature users seemed to want was the ability to have a sense of privacy in their journals. They wanted to be able to feel like what they were writing about was secure and would not be able to be accessed by other people. Some suggested being able to add a password to their journal so others using their device could not access it. The last journal feature many reviewers wanted to see was some sort of timeline feature so they could easily skim through their journal and see parts of journal entries from specific days along with pictures and videos taken from these days. 

References:

Dejasmiles. "Day One has come a long way!" Review of Day One Journal: Private Library, by Bloom Built Inc. 2021

Ang.Mar1. "Blessing disguised as an app" Review of Day One Journal: Private Library, by Bloom Built Inc. 2021

pankiol. "Needs great UX/UI" Review of Day One Journal: Private Library, by Bloom Built Inc. 2021

buz-ness owner. "Not recommended!!!" Review of Yelp, by Yelp, Inc. 2021.

Jill Duffy. "Yelp (for iPhone) Review" Review of Yelp (for iPhone), by Yelp, Inc. 2014

Joe Golden. "Journey Review" Review of Journey, by Two App Studio Pte. Ltd. August 27, 2022

Sasha Jackson. "Journey Review" Review of Journey, by Two App Studio Pte. Ltd. July 27, 2022

David Mosher. "Google Maps Review" Review of Google Maps, by Google LLC. Ltd. August 27, 2022

    Pauline Thomas. "Google Maps Review" Review of Google Maps, by Google LLC. Ltd. September 2, 2022 

Prototype:

Below is the link to a google slide which shows a prototype of the app StreetSmart. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15grf1a6SluQR4VHtkmS9Y7t2fQWpO--eL70-Qi8a0LI/edit?usp=sharing 

The prototype was created using Adobe Illustrator. An iPhone screen template was used to resemble how StreetSmart is going to be viewed by the user since it will be available to download from the App Store onto IOS devices.  

The different screen components involved using various shapes within the Adobe app as well as importing images from google to illustrate how the places being suggested on StreetSmart will be presented. 

Evaluation:

After the prototype comes the evaluation. During evaluation, reaching out to a diverse group of possible users and collecting feedback on various aspects of the prototype is the priority. For this reason, creating and spreading a survey was deemed the most effective method of evaluation.

The actual survey used during evaluation is found here. The survey was shared to the intended user by spreading the survey link. The prototype was included in the survey, so the survey responders were able to build sufficient background knowledge before answering the survey. The survey contains 7 questions, which are based on various aspects of the prototype (design, features, etc) and designed to collect multiple forms of data about the prototype (quantitative, qualitative, etc). The following is the structure of the survey:

Q1. StreetSmart is useful.

• Linear Scale → Quantitative Data

Q2. StreetSmart is unique.

• Linear Scale → Quantitative Data

Q3. StreetSmart is effective.

• Linear Scale → Quantitative Data

Q4. Please elaborate on a few strengths of StreetSmart.

• Paragraph Answer → Qualitative Data

Q5. Please elaborate on a few weaknesses of StreetSmart.

• Paragraph Answer → Qualitative Data

Q6. How would you recommend editing the design of StreetSmart?

• Paragraph Answer → Qualitative Data

Q7. How would you recommend editing the features of StreetSmart?

• Paragraph Answer → Qualitative Data

As a result, 6 valuable sets of quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Images displayed immediately below represent quantitative data from the responses to the first three questions of the survey.

In terms of usefulness, most respondents found StreetSmart useful. However, there was one outlier who did not find StreetSmart useful.

In terms of uniqueness, half of the respondents found StreetSmart unique while the other half of the respondents were neutral.

In terms of effectiveness, majority of respondents thought StreetSmart effective. However, one respondent was neutral, while one respondent found StreetSmart ineffective.

After the respondents rated the usefulness, uniqueness, and effectiveness of StreetSmart on a linear scale for the first three questions as described below, the respondents provided qualitative feedback as well. The images displayed immediately below represent qualitative insights on what they believed were the strengths and weaknesses of StreetSmart, which correspond to question 4 and question 5 on the survey.

In summary, one of the common advantages that respondents saw from StreetSmart is its intention. Some respondents were especially impressed with the ability to customize. Another common advantage of the responses was simplicity. Simplicity is an important factor because the users (travelers) have the rights to spend more time traveling rather than figuring out how to use an app.

On the other hand, respondents also provided their thoughts on the weaknesses of StreetSmart.  The weakness that respondents pointed out most frequently was the lack of market competitiveness. The reasoning behind is that multiple travel platforms have already stabilized themselves in the market and that StreetSmart seems similar to such platforms. To overcome this weakness, more unique interactive features must be added to the app.

After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the current version of StreetSmart, the respondents were asked to provide comments on the future path StreetSmart should take.  Two questions were asked: question 6 asked about design and question 7 asked about features. The images displayed below represent the lists of responses received on question 6 and question 7.

Frankly, some suggestions are realistic, whereas other suggestions are unfeasible. Some suggest fundamental changes, while others suggest no changes. Although the future of StreetSmart has numerous possibilities, thus unpredictable, the next step is certainly reviewing and contemplating the valuable feedbacks.