Research, Personas, Sketches
Ethique - Initial Research and Sketching
Research and User Testing:
First, I decided to investigate the interface for the app, ‘Good On You’, to research and interview users, and develop personas and empathy maps, before creating my own alternative app design. ‘Good On You’ is an app that seeks to help users gain information about different companies’ labor/supply chain practices, environmental resources and sustainability practices, and animal testing. Users can search for individual brands, look at news relating to these brands, and look at offers from high-rating brands.
I wanted to look at the current space of sustainable shopping, and also take note of the interface for general guidance.
User Observation and Interview:
I observed three users engaging with this app. I found that there were some main patterns in how my users interacted with this interface:
Similarities:
- Users often navigated to the ‘news’ section of the app before the ‘search’ section because the home page provided news articles.
- Once the user navigated to the search section and understood the purpose of the search they freely began to search for brands that they knew or wore.
- Users all found the app pretty easy to use.
- Users generally felt the app had too much information and wasn’t tailored or specific enough.
Differences:
- After using the app for a while and understanding the basic navigation/features of the app, users started doing different things and playing around with it.
- Users felt a different level of enjoyment from the experience: some were bored and frustrated, others more neutral.
I felt that overall, these similarities and differences indicated that while most users had similar initial reactions to the interface and app content, after understanding the structure of the product they sought more individual content. The users that found the content relatable and relevant had a better experience with the app, while others became bored.
Developing Lofi Sketches and Mockups:
Based on my observations of ‘Good On You’, I wanted to develop a prototype for an app that was similar in terms of educating users about products and sustainable purchasing, but perhaps more intuitive and less overwhelming for users to experience.
I developed three alternative versions of a potential app, each with a respective second screen and annotations.
Final Sketch:
I then produced a final sketch:
These final sketches brought together a combination of elements from the earlier sketches, to create final designs for the Home and Product Screen which are interesting, clear, and usable.
I liked the sketch design of Home Screen 3 and the second screen from sketch 1, and pulled many elements from these screens, in combination with the others. I felt that the design from Home Screen 3 would allow my users to filter their interests best, which I felt was crucial after conducting user interviews. Similarly, I felt that the Final Product Screen needed to highlight information in a very visual form, which would be more accessible and easier for my user to understand quickly.