App Concept
Methods
interviews / personas / low-fi wireframing / hi-fi wireframing / prototyping
Tools
Figma / pen & paper
Working in a team of four, this project was made during Wellesley college's annual designathon challenge. With 40 hours to design a prototype of a mobile app intended to "spark joy through spontaneity", our design process, including research, ideating, developing our problem statements, wireframing, designing, prototyping, was fast tracked. We came up with Vizit, a tool that randomly generates places for you to go based on your location intended to inspire an adventurous perspective for both familiar and unfamiliar residents of cities. Our design ended up winning 3rd place!
Creating Unexpected Moments of Joy
We were tasked with creating an app that causes unexpected moments of joy. We would conduct research to understand our audience, use design thinking to inform our decisions, and think big to address our solution.
How might we create excitement in both familiar and unfamiliar cities alike in order to inspire an adventurous perspective for its residents?
Getting Started with Ideation
My group designated tasks based on interest, skill, and immediate need. The initial brainstorm was very collaborative, as was most of the user research and design direction discussion. When it came to designing, we split up to tackle different tasks and stay efficient, my role focusing on design system implementation and prototyping.
First brainstorm:
- Grocery list generator
- Itinerary randomizer for solo travelers
- Mindfulness activities generator
Working General to Specific
Our research plan began with little direction, as there were no preliminary findings to guide us. After conducting loosely structured research, we would then be able to specify our problem space and begin desiging solutions.
Research | Interviews
User Profile
Kept broad
Occupation:
any
Age:
ideally 20-30
Location:
United States
Structure
- Informal
- Relatively unstructured
- Qualitative
- 10 questions (demographics, decision making, solo travel)
Objectives
- Gage current behaviors (do they travel solo?)
- Reveal outlook on solo outings
- Understand current frustrations
- Discover interest in spontaneity
Findings | Interviews
Solo Travel
- Many people are uncomfortable going out alone, so they avoid doing it
- Common solo activities include eating out, cafes, errands, shopping, browsing
- Few are comfortable traveling solo, but those who are really enjoy the independence it gives them
Spontaneity
- On average, interviewees reported medium level of spontaneity
- High spontaneity did not always align with comfortability traveling solo
- Feelings in the moment play a big factor in spontaneous behavior
Factors
- Safety
- Location/distance of places
- Lack of stimulation (need other people)
- Price of activities
Supplementary Research Findings
Common Pain Points
Possible Solutions
Guiding Questions
How can we apply our solution to a more local scale?
How might we help people become comfortable in their solo activities?
Who We Designed For
After synthesizing our research, two main identities were realized and focused on.
"The Newcomer"
A hesitant new city resident in need of assistance to explore her new home on her own.
"The Explorer"
A stagnant local stuck in her usual routine looking to find excitement and discover new things about her town.
Our Final HMW Statement
How might we create excitement in familiar and unfamiliar cities alike in order to inspire an adventurous perspective for it's residents?
Designing and Refining
After wrapping up our research, it was time to craft our solution accordingly. We would begin by sketching out and narrowing down our ideas. Once settled on the ones that best address our problem, we would flesh them out by creating an IA diagram of the main pages and content. After that, the wireframing and prototyping could begin.
Sketches
Things we liked from our sketches:
- Quiz/assessment to narrow down recommendations
- Review visit prompt to gather feedback
- Gamification elements to make it engaging
Information Architecture: Establishing the User Flow
With the features from our sketches and our personas in mind, we wanted to build an information architecture that highlighted one main pathway to streamline the experience and emphasize spontaneity and lack of choice. From the homepage, the user is lead through an assessment that results in a randomly generated suggestion, concisely presented and already connected to maps.
Our Design System
We developed a small design system to more efficiently achieve consistency and visual harmony among our wireframes once we built them out. We went with bright, clean, contrasting colors to convey positivity and excitement, along with sans serif fonts for added clarity and simplicity.
Without Further Ado ...
Submission Video
Takeaways
This was my first designation, and I learned a lot from working with my peers! Most notably, I discovered a lot about time management within a team, as we were split into two different time zones. Also, I discovered that a user base will not always be monogamous - in fact, it almost always isn't.
Other takeaways:
- Consider how to integrate business and user needs (e.g. users get discounts, businesses get exposure)
- Gamification can increase engagement
- 40 hours is not enough time to create an optimal solution; I wish we had time for testing! This challenge demonstrated how iteration in design is crucial.