Ex App - Michele Diana

Ex App Project Summary

Ex App helps individuals find mentors to help them in their careers. Using Ex App helps users find senior and experienced individuals who are in the career they desire or attempting a career change. The Ex App was a case study project I submitted for CareerFoundry.

My Responsibilities

User Research
Experience Design

Timeline

8 Month

Interesting Facts

This project I explored the entire process of UX design from research all the way to finalized stage.

Problem Statement

Ex App wanted to connected people who are not experienced in their desired field to help them connect with a mentor, someone who can guide them and help them achieve their goals. I began this project by creating a problem statement. I used the double diamond strategy to start my research process and understand what problems I will face when building this application. The lessons I learned from this step was how to point out pain points in applications and approach this project with empathy for potential users.

Competitive Analysis

I conducted competitive research from other apps and websites to observe what other competitors are doing. I found their strengths and marketing strategies, and this allowed me to focus on areas where users are motivated to complete their tasks. In this task, I learned how to dive deep into a competitor’s website and application to understand how to dissect them into a chart where I can view an entire break down of each website of applications. This step was vital to my process, and I was able to understand what worked well and how to improve in weak areas to satisfy users’ needs.

User Personas

From the data, I collect from my competitive analysis, user interviews, and research information I was able to create three user persona that best fits my user audience.

Randal is looking to become an expert and share his knowledge and experience with inspired developers.
John is a freelance designer who is seeking guidance on acquiring more clients for his business.
Emma is a project manager who is new to the Ex app and is looking for advice and guidance to further her career.

User Flows

I developed user flows based on the personas I created to understand how the users would complete their tasks with minimum frictions. Each persona had their own goals and motivations to signup or become an expert.

Take Aways

How users will navigate through their journey and where they may run into a situation that they would need to return the homepage.
The amount of friction the user will encounter while using the application.
How to motivate users to complete their desired tasks.

Information Architect

Based on my user-test data from my survey test with potential users, I created an information architect based on the data I gain.

Take Aways

The importance of testing ideas with users.
Understanding how user views information

Wireframes

I created mid-fidelity wireframes to gain a visual understanding of how the elements will look in the application. I proceeded to test my wireframes with users to view where I need improvements and how my designs created a better user experience. Next, I created high-fidelity wireframes, and then I developed a prototype to tests with users to observe their experience while using the application.

Take Aways

I learned how to work with team members remotely and how to work with some of my team members who do not speak English.

In the sign-up process, the user was looking for a google or Facebook login button to hurry the sign-up process.
I increase the headshot image size on the profile page. Users felt the profile page was too cramped, also increase the spacing to give the page more breathing room.

User Testing

After creating my prototype, I tested the app with real users to understand their pain points and motivations. Conducted interviews in-person using my iPhone 7 to record the interviews where I observed the user’s facial expressions during the interview. I used the InVision app for my prototype, and the app worked very well. I was able to share the prototype with the participants making the interviews run a lot smoother.

Take Aways

I learned how to work with team members remotely and how to work with some of my team members who do not speak English.

I was able to get information from directing users on how they felt about the user experience.
I observed the users’ body language as they were using the application.

Style Guide

I created a style guide based on the feedback I gained from the users to create a design where users feel they can trust the application. I used blue as the primary color that evokes trust with users using the app. It’s important for the user to trust application which is why I went with colors that evoke trust and professionalism.

Final Design

This project taught me the entire process of UX Design. I learned how to perform UX research, gather data from participants, as well as understanding how to design an application to fit the user’s needs and motivations. This project was a total of 8 months of research and design, learning how to test prototypes with live users, and observing how users interact with my designs ideas was interesting. The most interesting aspect during this project was when I was wrong about a feature of the user experience. For example, as the information architect, when I initially formatted my navigation, my users encounter a lot of friction to complete their tasks. This project taught me how vital good research can when designing a new application.