Project: Mapsimize
THE PROPOSAL
As part of my UX Design Course, I opted to solve a problem that I discovered a number of working parents ran into: planning and running daily errands. Mapsimize hopes to maximize your free time by using Google's Popular Times API to plan your optimal day.
THE RESEARCH
Competitive review resulted in no "traditional" direct competitors, but a number of indirect competitors looking to take the hastle out of running errands by offering on-demand services. Using a detailed screener, I conducted interviews/distributed surveys to help build my personas. I then used an affinity diagram to help identify user goals, pain points, and psychographic characteristics.
THE DESIGN
As I always do, I began sketching my ideas on paper before moving on to any digital tools. This allowed me to receive quick feedback from colleagues who participated in a number of card sorting exercises and open critiques. This specific part of the design process helped me recognize flaws in my initial user flow and helped me build a more intelligent wireframe.
THE TESTING
After a number of design/architecture iterations, I managed to put together a hi-fi prototype for my user testing. Users were handed an iPhone 6 with the prototype pre-loaded and asked to complete 3 simple tasks. This helped me to confirm my updates to the user flow were waranted and helped me validate my MVP.
THE RESULTS
User testing gave me a lot to think about and left me with some additional design challenges. The app was intended to be very low-touch and users came up with a number of suggestions to help with this.
