UX Case Study on Furniture Space
Embellishing Gratitude through Technology.
Introduction
Hey all, I am Uday Kumar Madarapu, a Product Designer based in the United States, this project is done in a group.
Design Brief
For this project, we were asked to contribute to the design space of Gratitude. Using Human-Centered Design Approaches. To foster an innovative approach to express, share, or deliver gratitude, affection, kindness, or appreciation towards our broader community.
Project Brief
This case study articulates the design solution for international students who have recently moved abroad for their education and facing myriad challenges economically and socially with the central issue being finding and acquiring furniture for their houses are they are new to the country.
The solution that we are providing works together collectively in cooperation with the help of others such as university chairs, city council, etc. These solutions are also dependent on the Internet and other IoT-based devices.
Role: UI Designer, UX Researcher.
Scope: User Research, User Design, Evaluation, Testing.
Timeline: 6 Weeks.
Tools: Figma, Zoom, Notion, Audio Recorder.
Process
In the process of developing the solution for the application, we chose the design thinking process as our primary framework which includes Discovery, Defining, Ideation, Design, and Test. We chose this method since we are responsible for both strategies and the visual design of the solution. Each stage in the process is repeated until the product is deemed perfect and meets most of the needs of the user.
Discovery phase
In this stage, we carried out data collection based on our understanding of why we need to Solve this problem
- Reduces the financial burden on the students.
- Promotes sustainable lifestyle habits.
- Helps maintain the balance of resources.
To get answers to the problem statement we identified a couple of participants that answered a few open-ended questions. From these questions, we were able to identify a few pointers that made an enormous difference in our entire understanding of the problem.
- Most of the respondents wanted to make an impact in their community if they were given the opportunity but doing good was not their main motivation.
- Few of the respondents would like to donate their stuff with the more convenient help of organizations.
- We also discovered only a few people donate stuff by providing their transportation, most of them expect students to come over and pick the stuff up.
During this discovery phase, we also did observations by observing a volunteer who helps in transporting furniture to international students from other people. We volunteered to help him to understand the process internally. During the process, while we were helping a few students we met a woman and spoke with her regarding donating stuff, and she said “Anyone can help the needy but the effect or outcome of such an activity is questionable.” This question raised different points of view and helped us in developing the application with a few more features that aid us in creating the best user experience for our end users.
To get better insights into the stakeholders we have conducted interviews with various people from different user groups to identify the pain points that are being faced by the users. During the interviews we created a set of guidelines to follow, however, it was an open-ended conversation, Hence, users have the liberty to express themselves freely which helps us to comprehend their thought processes without any bias.
After a set of interviews and observations, we were able to list the problems that our stakeholders are facing from their side, we were also able to find some common problems from our stakeholder's side.
Define Phase
Personas:
From all the insights we collected from interviews and the observations, we created two different personas for our two stakeholders (Donors and Recipients) to understand the user and solve the problems they are experiencing.
Receiver Persona:
Next, in the define phase, we decided to understand the requirements of our stakeholders based on the pain points we observed during the discovery phase, and we framed our user requirements.
- Establish trust between users.
- Need a background check for items.
- Donors looking for confirmation.
- Inventory Management.
- Structured logistics.
- Privacy protection.
- Way to express gratitude by maintaining privacy.
- Incentives for volunteering.
Most of the donors fall into the user group aged 35–40 years old. Who are less accustomed to the advanced technologies available today. Hence, the solution that we are planning to give must provide a balance between physical and digital interactions by providing good accessibility.
After understanding our requirements we started using mapping techniques to understand user behavior and to identify the main areas in which our users are facing challenges.
Affinity Mapping:
After collecting data from various participants via interviews we planned to organize the data and group them based on the information obtained. With this grouping, we were able to analyze the main areas our users are facing.
Empathy Mapping:
We created empathy mapping to define the target audience with more clarity, as well as to illustrate their needs and actions. This technique helped us to gain a good understanding of their thoughts and feelings. The data in the map is based on the insights we collected from the discovery phase.
Ideation Phase
In the ideation phase, we conducted multiple brainstorming sessions in person and virtually. We conducted these sessions on different days so that we have various perspectives, and it helps us in generating fresh ideas. To generate more ideas, we used different approaches such as crazy 8 and 10 + 10. We had our ideas which allowed us to explore and generate ideas swiftly. In the end, we were able to generate 80 distinct ideas. During the sessions, scribble pads played a vital role in generating ideas. In the end, we were able to finalize 3 distinct ideas that are multifaceted.
Idea 1:
We would like to segment states into cities or similar units so we can have a fair going on in major urban centers. People can visit and have fun at this fair. We place kiosks around the fair, where people can donate and receive stuff as per availability and requirement. To maintain interactivity between donor and recipient we would like to issue wristbands that glow whenever the donor and receiver are nearby.
With the help of this idea, we can ensure Inventory Management, Public Awareness, Gratitude, and building Human and Economic Welfare.
Idea 2:
We would like to develop a mobile application that acts as an extended version of carpooling. Whenever a person travels to get furniture or any other from donors, the application can be used to share the location status to locate nearby drivers or simply people who can offer them a ride and the trade, in an assured mode.
This application is an effective response to solve planning, transportation concerns, time, and energy consumption.
Idea 3:
We would like to have a physical interactive device that is placed in public places like malls, universities, etc., where people can use this device to make donations and they can surf through all the available furniture. This is a vending machine; people can make donations by playing some cool and safe games after dropping some bills in the slot.
We can use this money for inventory management, transportation, and other services. We can also maintain the privacy of the donors and we expect a broad audience and social connectivity.
After a lot of experimentation and consideration of our ideas, we were able to finalize idea 1 as our solution. We considered this idea as our final solution as it covers the opportune use of public awareness and building gratitude over connectivity. It also addresses the pain points we discovered in the discovery phase. The most intriguing feature is that we can get people to meet, greet, interact, and build great rapport with no technical assistance. The receivers have moments to express their gratitude which, by implication, raises awareness of how this could transform one’s life and that might add up to human and global welfare. Inventory management is a corporate benefit. Interaction among people assures meaningful and personalized feedback improves the chances of productivity, participation, and promotion, and importantly strengthens relationships and trust between people. The other ideas required technical assistance and time and people are not assured of in-person interaction. In idea 1 the natural essence of greeting and thanking a person is well retained and can be expressed and we feel it is a dominant factor that helped us to make a final decision.
Design Phase
We would like to create an online platform that gives access to the entire fair system online, this application provides interactive maps to explore the physical environment, but this feature is not yet included in the scope of the prototype. At this moment We have two user flows, one which allows users to register their items for donations, and the other end, also allows users to register for games for the item they desire. Coming to the second flow we also have a gratitude meter that consists of 3 components:
- Gratitude Wall: This option allows users to interact with other events, and provide feedback and comments. They can use this to show gratitude to the donors.
- Wall of Fame: This is a wall where we post the top 3 donors; it acts as a motivational force for donors to take part in the fair. We can give gift cards to keep the spirit of participation up.
- Expanded Gratitude Scale: This allows users to customize the live meter according to their choice and spend more time on the online platform.
User Flows
Screens
Prototype
Testing Phase
In this phase, we have conducted two different tests Usability Testing and Heuristic Evaluation.
Usability Testing:
During Usability Testing we gave two different tasks to the users, One task was to donate some furniture by registering for the fair, and the second task was to go through the product listing and enroll for the respective product. We have observed a few pain points that the user is facing while using the application.
- On the dashboard screen, we were showing all the products with user profiles. Besides the name and display picture, this is followed by a primary button — Follow. We observed users are perplexed in this situation as it is creating a state of confusion in the mind of the user about what to click.
To solve this issue, we moved the following button to the product overview page. - Users found reading text difficult as the font size and terminologies used in the application are confusing to the user such as Order Confirmed on the success enrollment screen.
Heuristic Evaluation:
We have evaluated our application by applying ten design heuristics to the design of the mobile application. We have followed Jakob Nielsen’s Rating Scale severity rating. This severity rating will help analyze how severe the issue is and the importance of fixing that issue.
The following scale is used to rate severity:
0 = I do not agree that this is a usability problem at all.
1 = Cosmetic problem only: need not be fixed unless extra time is available on the project.
2 = Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority.
3 = Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority.
4 = Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix this before the product can be released.
Visibility of System Status
Every screen present in the application is clearly labeled, and they indicate which page the user is on with the titles and the visual markers on the headers.
Match between the System and the real world
The application should be able to speak the user’s language to understand terminologies properly. For instance, the events page has options that indicate past events. The user might not be familiar with that terminology hence we can change that to completed events. Similarly, on the other page instead of Adding Confirmed, we can mention it as Added to the list.
User control and freedom
The furniture space application has provided the privilege to the user to move back and forth whenever it is necessary. This helps us to gain the trust of the user base and gives them the freedom to exit and join in whenever they feel like it.
Consistency and Standards
The application is consistent with the theme and the usage of broken icons. The components used have remained intact and uniform on all the screens; the text fields used for entering the phone number are automated such that the user will not have any confusion on which format to enter the data in.
Error Prevention
The below screen shows the number of items, but it does not have a waitlist button; with the provision of this button, the user will be able to add the product to the waitlist if there are no available products.
Flexibility and efficiency of use
The mobile application has identified the users (donors and receivers) as specific individuals using the application and made sure that the content is delivered to the users per their role/type.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
The design is visually aesthetic, and the colors are balanced; they are not flamboyant. Moreover, the arrangement of the visual aspects such as imagery and the content are proportionate. The interface consists of all the necessary information that helps the user.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
The users are not provided with a help shortcut when they are unable to add the image or are unable to register due to incorrect information or details. It is necessary that the users should able to have a shortcut for help or if they have any error, they need a pop-up guiding them to get back to perform the proper action.
Help and documentation
A help button has not been provided in the furniture space application and this might be challenging for the users when they are stuck at a particular screen, or if they are unable to upload an image. The help button can have information about frequently answered questions and contact forms where the users can get help instantly if they come across any challenging situations.
This falls under Security Level 3 — Major usability problem this is important to fix, so should be given high priority.
After usability testing, we found that heuristic testing was immensely helpful for us. It allowed us to capture all the problems we observed in the usability testing and a few more major pain points with different severity rates. In the entire evaluation, we were able to find 5 problems that act as barriers to the user in the entire flow. It includes low severity to high severity.
Future Explorations
In version 2 of our product, we would like to explore design variations for the interactive device that is used in the fair to connect receivers and donors. The interactive device that we are using right now is a headset with lights and a music output option. This device is most efficient in terms of economic mass production for public use. These devices also add a fun element to the experience that individuals have at fests/fairs. We are also looking for other designs of the device that work well with IoT (Internet of Things) platforms.
Key Learnings
- Understanding the objective before starting the project and considering it is the key to the solution.
- The importance of crazy 8 and 10 + 10 idea generation methods. No idea is crazy or invalid.
- Design is about maintaining the fine line between aesthetics and seamless usability.
- User feedback plays a key role, collecting feedback after every phase helps a lot and decreases a lot of iterations.
