MY Voice Canada App Prototype Design
The benefit of this project was to create a mobile platform for MY Voice Canada, a nonprofit organization that empowers to offer youth creative opportunities using positive media that leads to more confident leaders.
Takeaway opportunity to work with a remote team that led to more productivity, better communication, and ways for the team and I to stay consistently motivated to meet the expectations we had set to create the design prototype.
Research Takeaways
Conclusion
Users needs were different than what the team and I envisioned based off the organization’s goal and project mission gathered from the focus groups, character story survey, MY Voice survey, and 1:1 interviews.
I set the team up on Maze (prototyping tool) to test the prototypes but due to lack of time and the team’s familiarity with Zoom, we continued user testing on Zoom.
Understand, Research, and Analyze Phases we compiled all the content which led to the project’s direction and overall problem that should be reevaluated.
Understand
Scope out the problem and the organizations objective and purpose to want youth to confidently create a mobile app.
Research
Research helped the team and I understand what would motivate users to want to use a digital application. Also, gave more clarity for the organization’s goals for the application.
Analyze
Analyze the research to reevaluate the concept solutions created during design sprints to realign user research have the team think outside the box and be more creative by using the research insights for the final concepts.
Team
〰️
Team 〰️
Market and Develop
2 Business & Marketing, and 1 Mobile App Developer and team.
Research, Write, Interface
2 user researchers, 3 Copy & Content Writers, and 3 User Interface Designers.
User Testers & Collaborators
5 User & Usability Testers, 1 Senior UX and UI Designer & Developer, and 1 Project Manager.
Product Design Team Lead, User Experience Design, User Research & Interface, and User Testing Prototype A and B.
My Role
Purpose
Motivate youth to join the first design and tech team for MY Voice Canada, I led a 6 month cumulative remote project to build an app designed for youth. To understand the direction of the project I met with the stakeholders and questioned the target audience to explore the objective of creating an app and what users would look for.
18
A and B User Test Sessions
38
Focus Group, Survey and Interview Participants
5
Design Sprints
2
High-fidelity Prototypes
Used product design development cycle to separate the project into 6 phases. Implemented design thinking methods and systems to ensure remote productivity.
Understand
Research
Analyze
Design
Market and Launch
Oversaw recruiting, training, and team responsibilities for a 6 month remote project. Collaborated with cross-functional teams both internally and externally.
Understand Phase
Phase 1: Understand exploration of the organization’s objective to pursue this project through focus group sessions, surveys, and interview findings helped converge the project goals and it connected the team by bringing everyone together.
Focus Groups
“...an opportunity to read news articles with content on real events taking place both in the community and world…”
Focus groups narrowed the executives vision for the shared project goals and business objectives for launching an app. Patterns of similarity from the research for the design and function were found after meeting with stakeholders.
MY Voice survey was completed to understand internal stakeholders lifestyle, interests, and purpose for joining MY Voice, giving a deeper insight into their digital habits.
1:1 Interview with User
“…Having a social media page where youth can connect with people their age with similar interests...”
Character story survey showed feelings, situations, and thinking of youth by placing fictional characters in an environment that built on their real life experiences. Also, the survey was sent to 9 executives interested in participating.
1:1 Interviews gave insight on how youth felt about social and community creative topics and issues that centred around their lifestyle.
User Personas
After gathering the research, 2 different types of users interests were put together to understand why they would use the final product.
Haider Meerab: Creative Writer
Grade 9 Student
He looks for topics in the school newsletter about his culture and own religious community.
Haider is shy about participating in open discussions of creative work and he feels side lined by his peers.
Key Insights
Maira Rayan: Motivated Learner
University Student
Youth in Maira’s community ask questions or show creative expression which is overlooked by adults.
Lack of discussion on important topics such as mental health, culture, community, etc. for the youth community.
Key Insights
Zayan Sana: Explorative Intellect
Software Developer
Zayan finds youth in different communities that face similar problems in their personal and community life.
Key Insights
Research Phase Conclusions
What findings from testing prototype A & B will help achieve the desired outcome?
The research findings are meant to decide how the youth are able to navigate the mobile app to find the content they are looking for.
What helped achieve a successful facilitation and gather research?
Led the team in preparing user testing content and facilitated 8 of the 18 A and B prototype user test sessions with the team. The team hosted the remaining 10 facilitations.
A/B User Testing Observations
“Discovered that users were looking for an in app experience to connect with people, have their questions answered and posted up with their personal information being protected, and view reading and video content that addresses current topics and rising issues.”
Competitor Analysis
Evaluating the competition I found features and the user interface design components that worked and didn’t work.
Heuristic evaluation was done using (SWOT):
Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, to address users needs.
Threats to find design and features that were lacking.
Helped when the team started analyzing and forming concepts.
A / B User Test Sessions
Facilitators team and I assigned task scenarios for both prototypes A and B to determine which concept solutions were most enjoyed, the app design appeal and navigable feature functionality.
Pre-User Test Questions
Asked questions during introduction to help get to know prototype user test participants.
Hobbies or interests focused on creativity, viewing and reading content.
28 participants read daily literature, religion, books, visuals, current news, or online content.
16 of 28 users search and post on blogging, vlogging, and reading platforms.
Post User Test Questions
Get further insights on users experience and thoughts of the overall app prototype.
Navigable content, search made easy, reading and viewing content, asking personal questions, and a more defined purpose to stand out to audience.
13 people said Yes and 1 said No to using the app. Majority read the magazine and blog articles, some explore the Just Ask features, and 3 users liked watching video content.
Task Scenario Goals
Initial goal was to test concepts: Read, Watch, Question and Answer, and Register concepts.
Users were interested in reading articles and watching videos on their topics of interests.
Streaming videos and asking relevant questions was important to the app users.
In-Test Questions
Get further insight on users experience and thoughts of the overall app prototype.
Users were interested in reading articles and watching videos on their topics of interests.
Navigating the app was straightforward for the 18 users from the app testing sessions.
Research Phase
Empathy Maps were created by me from the 1:1 interview analysis, character story, and MY Voice survey responses the team and I put together to help understand what users of the final product would say, think, do, and feel.
Haider is ambitious, creative, explorative, and a thinker.
Maira is an artistic, motivated, observant, and passionate individual.
Zayan is an explorative, humorous, intellectual, and loyal individual.
Research gathered revealed a deeper insight of the empathy maps which led to an understanding of how users enjoyed creative connections and share their personal thoughts with privacy.
Analyze Phase
Analyzed research to create the prototype which was done through the teams participation of design sprints.
Crazy 8’s & Dot Voting
Hosted Crazy 8’s and Dot Voting sessions to get the team to think outside of the box in order to come up with ideas for the app of features that were voted as the top 3 choices.
Solution Sketching & Dot Voting
Led the Solution Sketch Design Sprint, where the team took their ideas further by sketching 3 detailed solutions for one concept each. The most compelling concept solutions were voted by the team.
Design Sprint Analysis
A and B design prototype findings were gathered using Affinity Mapping and Card Sorting to better narrow the results of all the users who completed the task scenarios for Read, Watch, Question & Answer Concepts during the facilitation sessions.
Used Must Have from MoSCoW sprint to determine if the target user audience would benefit from selected features and sections.
Affinity Mapping and Card Sorting
Led the team to participate in Affinity Mapping and Card Sorting to help gather A & B Prototype User Test results by grouping them into two categories Versions A & B to complete the task scenarios for Read, Watch, Question, and Answer concepts.
A / B User Test Findings
3 mature users and 15 youth users observations revealed app’s focus to be more on sharing and viewing, and less on collecting information to make an account.
A / B User Testing revealed a wider youth and non-youth audience that was looking to connect with the MY Voice organization and other youth.
MoSCoW Method
Led the team through the MoSCoW & Dot Voting method to determine the User Interface Design features users benefited from user testing the A/B design prototypes. Sorted the observations of the Affinity Map Results.
User Journey Map
Mapped out Haider Meerab’s User Journey to get a better insight of the findings that would motivate this user to use the MY Voice App. His journey during the creative expression, writing, and socializing show interactions with these key features.
Use Case Model
User navigating to what they are looking for step by step in each row. They choose an option, pick a category, and select their next action of what they want to do. This narrative narrows the specific concept solutions, that reflect the stakeholders requirements and the findings from the user research.
User Matrix
User Matrix focuses on different pathways users would take to the final concept solutions for the app prototype. The person’s personality, location from where they would use the app, the activity from the location on the app, and the motivation that drives the person to participate in that activity.
