Conclusion

Company Chosen for Project 4Project 4. Can You Build It Step 1 — Exploring an opportunity The most difficult part of this project was coming up with ideas on what to design as a team. I had 1000 ideas and was ready for everyone of them to be shot down for the proposal due to it not being realistic too build out, too popular of a brand etc. As a team, we put our heads together and found out that we have all traveled a lot. Boom. Travel it was Throwing Topics on the BoardStep 2 — Exploring an Opportunity/Problem The SOS Button was our the first thing that came to our mind. Assumed it would have been our MVPStep 2 — Proposal I had no clue what Couchsurfing was, and when I looked into it I couldn’t believe that it was actually a thing. My mind was blown that people actually do this, not only that, but $12 Million people. Din’t know how this company made money or if they had the money to put into another app. I wanted to get like 10 proposals in the next day, because I always like to be prepared for the worst, but I was happy with what we all ended up with, since our proposal was not rejected. Step 3 — Screening Why — To find some key problems to solve and get a basic idea of who this app will be for. Key Takeaways  — People are more concerned with the safety of others than themselves — Most people use apps, social media & text messages to notify friends and family about whereabouts. Step 4 — Questions Why — To find out and validate some pains and pleasures. We wanted to hear real stories from people that travel. Key Takeaways Step 5 — Comparative/Competitive Analysis Why — Too get an idea of what our competitors are doing and see if there is something that we can improve upon. Heuristic Styled Feature Analysis of the top Travel Apps Comparative Analysis of Apps not in Direct Competition. Itinerary/Location AppsKey Takeaways — No direct competitors have cohesive safety features — No direct competitors have check in features — Comparative apps only do one thing Step 6 — Affinity MappingWhy? — To find common trends,pains and finding out how we can serve. To create some personas Affinity MappingKey Takeaways- Personas Secondary Persona Primary PersonaStep 7 — Paper Sketching This is my favorite part. Starting the design. I sketched out over 20 pages and it ended up being kind of a paper prototype. I could have done another 60. I was very detailed because thats how I like to design. I take into account all mico interactions and taxonomy. What does the user want to see right when they login? Home Screen Choose travel options Stay Options Screen Itinerary Home Page Calendar Page Itinerary OptionsKey Takeaways — Visuals & Design are my bread and butter as a UX Designer. The creation process is where I excel the most. I always have fun doing this. This is what I brought most to out group. I can go on forever and design many iterations of this. Step 8 — Design StudioWhy? — Every designer need a filter. So as a group we all decided on what we need and to make this as simple as possible. John & Caterina served as some great filters for me. Design StudioKey Takeaways — Came up with final design layout as a group Step 9 — Digital Wireframe Low Fidelity ScreensStep 10 — User TestingWhy? — To make some last minute changes before we go Hi Fidelity User TestingKey Takeaways — Users were pleased with the app. Made some minor changes to some UI designs. Step 10 — High Fidelity Screens Hi Fidelity ScreensStep 11 — Spec DocWhy? — To see if its possible if this app can be made. Budget, time and technology all come into play Key Takeaways — This app is possible to be built in 4–6 months.  — Biggest concern were security issues. Would it be worth it? Step 12 — Research Documents/App Map & User FlowMy role in this group was clear. Make it look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. I picked up some nice tips while working with Janie from my last group. Making the Research Doc look Pretty App Map. Obviously I had a Good Time with this. Standard User FlowStep 13 — Next Steps- Possibly eliminate the document scan feature- Focus on communication as the MVP on the app or core focus This was a great team. At first I felt a bit out of place because my last team of Kevin & Janie were a bit more on the creative/artsy side and thats what I strive in. But once I figured out that being that in this group, I knew my place on this team. It became a game of rock, paper scissors. I was more of the creative visionaryJohn was is an expert writer and put together an A++ research docCaterina is super smart in all the ways that I am not. She knew exactly what was needed to do at all times and she was a tech expert. Key Takeaways — Mix of styles make for the best of groups — Teamwork IS EVERYTHING. Having empathy for each other goes a long way — We were all on the same page. Knew they exact timeframe on what needed to get done and when — John & Caterina are all around just good people and thats what made this team successful and stress free.