Katie Saunders
UX/UI Designer
UX UI BRANDING APPLICATION DESIGN UX RESEARCH CASE STUDY
BACKGROUND
Sustainability is different for everyone, for some people it means picking up a piece of trash, and others it means finding ways to reuse virtually everything in the house before it goes into the recycling. There is so much contradicting information out there on what to do, what not to do, and it removes the joy and purpose of why we do what we do to help the planet.
ALIVE Mobile app was my first project at the beginning of my design journey in 2022. From growing up in Hawaii to moving to the concrete jungle of the Dallas Fort-Worth Metroplex, I saw a huge need in those sustainable practices that became second-nature growing up. My goal was to bring people together for a common goal. Sustainability.
THE PROBLEM
Urban residents in big cities, pay little attention to environmental issues like plastic pollution and CO2 emissions, mainly because they lack awareness of their impact due to the absence of visible consequences (i.e. ocean pollution for someone whose never lived by the beach). While some events and groups promote sustainable lifestyle changes, they are only a few and struggle to effectively reach and engage this audience.
THE GOAL
There are many of websites telling people the in's and out's of living a sustainable life style. However, there is a gap between living a sustainable life and having a community around you that continually reinforces those life style choices. My goal is to create a product that will become a hub for those green communities, and events.
Aesthetic
Create a streamlined experience with a strong visual pull to keep users engaged and active on the app. This translated into the use of photos, bright colors, and graphics.
Communication & Community
Allow easy access to communication between users via chat forums nested within events & groups. As well as direct access to the host of the group/event.
Convenience
Enable quick access for users to establish their location in order to find local groups and events.
Intuitive
Design with the intent to be easy to use for participants of any generation with the implementation of intuitive buttons/button placement, clear instructions, if need be, and overall navigation of the app.
COMPEDITIVE RESEARCH
The options when searching for sustainable communities— not much!
Bringing like-minded people together, one community at a time
Getting to know OUR people
The study surveyed five sustainable-minded individuals aged 20-40 from various cities in the country
01
Learning
All users surveyed stated that TikTok was their preferred method for consuming and learning new information. They found it to be engaging and appreciated the short video format which encouraged them to seek out further knowledge.
03
Consumption
Millennials preferred grocery shopping for staple items to prepare large home-cooked meals with leftovers, while Gen Z participants often preferred eating out or subscribing to meal services. Only one participant shopped at farmers' markets.
02
Habits
The one thing every single person had in common was their process of grounding themselves, and reconnecting to nature. The daily habits included going on walks, hikes, parks, and anything to get outside.
04
Implementation
The participants collectively agreed on the importance of various sustainable practices. However, there was a lack of community engagement. One participant in particular helped me set the base model for the ideal user. They participated in local eco-friendly groups, and actively went to farmers markets, and other activities. Their struggles inspired the idea for the ALIVE sustainable community app.
The Persona
SITE MAP & USER FLOWS
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The most important thing for this app is to harbor safe spaces for people to ask questions and get involved in a world of sustainability they never knew existed.
With that goal in mind, the aim was to deliver results for communities and events in your local area.
While joining the events and communities gives the user direct access to a live chat forum as well as details about the gatherings.
BRAINSTORMING THE BASICS
Mapping the steps and UI functions that would allow users to find groups and events that match their interests, while also ensuring the feeling of safety to do such things as a single woman or young adult interacting with this app.
EDGE CASES
Advanced Tech
Host tab for events and groups needed organization and redesign for those who found themselves in that position often.
24/7 Support
Ability to contact host in the event page for wary attendees.
Eco-Friendly Design
Having the attendance tracker only account for those who still needed to attend events in order to create their own.
LOGO DESIGN & BASIC UI ELEMENTS
Originally the name of the app was called Reflective Collective but as the design process progressed I realized it was a little too long for my liking but the “ive” at the end of both really stuck with me for some reason as I was brain storming future iterations.
Originally the name of the app was called Reflective Collective but as the design process progressed I realized it was a little too long for my liking but the “ive” at the end of both really stuck with me for some reason as I was brain storming future iterations.
WIREFRAMING
The sketches slowly came to life, certain features proved difficult and the true designs for ALIVE started to come into fruition. However, working with my mentor enabled me to focus more on the basic usability to enable an intuitive experience that was approachable for my initial target user- everyone.
ADDING THE UI TO THE WIREFRAME
The biggest focus when creating the high-fidelity mock-ups was to create a smooth user flow that kept people engaged, but didn’t overwhelm with information. This translated into minimal text, easy to navigate features, and minimal buttons and icons to overcrowd or complicate the user flows.
USER TESTING
To ensure the design concept would perform with the target user, I conducted five usability tests on the prototype that I created in Figma using high-fidelity wire frames. Users were given four tasks.
TASK 1 Complete the onboarding process.
TASK 2 General navigation through the app to key screens.
TASK 3 Create a group/Join a group.
TASK 4 Create an Event/RSVP for an event.
Usability tests resulted in 100% completion and 75% error free rate for the first two tests, and small changes were made which bumped up the error free rate to 80%. Small changes being where buttons were located, and verbiage used (i.e. ‘Cancel Event’ vs ‘End Event’)
100%
Felt the experience was intuitive and easy to use.
100%
Checked previous events before joining group or event.
60%
Did not feel comfortable sharing a real-time selfie to verify identity.
40%
Were confused by wording for certain buttons
REFLECTING
Our Features
01
CHALLENGES
My biggest challenge was the sourcing target users for my initial interviews, next time I would be more specific with who I ask to participate in interviews. I also found it challenging to develop solid interview questions because of this because every participant was all over the spectrum.
03
WHAT I LEARNED
ALIVE taught me a tremendous amount about people, and how to ask the right questions, which is something I was initially very nervous about. I gained confidence in my research abilities, as well as taking control of the design system and not being afraid to make changes if it was for the greater good of the overall design.
02
COLLABORATION
Being the sole designer on this project made it difficult when it came to getting second opinions. I have a mentor that I meet with once a week to help progress my design process, but I really felt like I was lacking on the collaborative side of things because of the lack of a team to help veto the bad ideas before they make it into future iterations.
04
NEXT STEPS
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Design profile page
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Design a responsive website
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Develop the app and study impact on users