When there is some level of agreeement in the team, about processes and task flows, it enables faster creation of UX deliverables. But when there is not enough clarity it becomes important to establish that clarity to enable a direction, inspire team collaboration and create a process cadence.
Using an example, I show here, how such an output is accomplished. Inspired by the work done for one of my previous clients I demonstrate the work required before creating the final, hi-fidelity visual designs. I've changed the name of the product and the branding details but the process and deliverables created for the client are reproduced here with permission.
In my way of doing Custom UX, these deliverables are added, removed, changed or discarded depending on the client's requirements and context.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
CalConnect is a visual, social calendaring app developed by a team in the United States. The co-founders are busy parents trying to manage multiple family, work and sports schedules. They researched the market for an available calendaring tool with the kind of features they wanted, and found none. So they decided to create such a tool for busy parents like themselves.
The business model involved carrying advertisers’ schedules and making it available to end uses for free. End users' personal schedules and the schedules of under-funded non-profit organizations, communities and local social meet-ups, were carried for free.
VISION STATEMENT
CalConnect is a visual, social calendar that allows the use and sharing of multiple schedules at once. Through CalConnect we want to help foster better relationships within families, a greater connect with communities and enable the discovery of interesting events in users’ locality.
BUSINESS GOALS
• Product launch in local markets for Phase 1 of product release.
• Grow the customer base locally during Phase 2.
• Expand to the national market during Phases 3 & 4.
• Initial target group: parents, particularly mothers.
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
DESIGN THINKING
It is common for a lot of user-related assumptions to emerge from team knowledge and personal experiences. However, this does not exclude the need to validate that knowledge. This is the point in any project when it is critical to recognize what the team knows and what the team doesn't know by making assumptions explict. This is done by creating hypotheses.
• Hypothesis 1: Users would like to see a visual representation of events over textual representations
• Hypothesis 2: Users would like to see a daily view of their events on their home page as opposed to a weekly or monthly view
• Hypothesis 3: Users would like to click photographs and attach them to events.
• Hypothesis 4: Users understand the need to place Calendars into Groups
UX RESEARCH (ETHNOGRAPHY)
To validate the Design Hypotheses user research is necessary. The best preparations for Ethnographic Interviews for UX Research involve a combination of validating what the team knows and discovering what the team does not know. To validate existing knowledge lo-fidelity wireframes (as shown below) are super useful. They can be created quickly, (using paper and pencil or other lo-tech tools) can be used as talking points during the interview and enable the user get more involved with the process. To discover new knowledge appropriate probes need be used as part of interviewing techniques.
Ethnographic Interview Questions
- What are the top three purposes for which you use calendars? (current needs)
- What are the different brands you use for your current calendaring needs?
- Probe: Do you prefer some over others? Why? (product preferences, pain points)
- Probe: Have you ever stopped using any calendaring application? Why? (needs, features)
- Probe: What made you pick the applications you did?(needs, features)
- What features do you most use in your calendaring application(s)?(useful features)
- Probe: Are there any features you never use?(pain points)
- What do you think a good calendaring system should do to help you achieve your goals?(aspirations, motivation, attitude)
- Probe: Do you feel that the current applications help you achieve those goals?
- Probe: (If no) What features would make them more useful to you?
Ethnographic Interview Results
| User# | Competitive Products | Current Needs | Useful Features | Pain Points | Aspirations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User 1 | Cozi App | Shopping lists, user-friendly for non-tech-savvy folks | Common access (such as login) | Sharing, being organized, family participation, relationship enrichment | |
| User 2 | Outlook, Lotus Notes | Syncing daycare schedule with ex | Syncing calendars across different formats | Avoid unnecessary conversation with ex | |
| User 3 | Outlook, Lotus Notes, iCal, Windows Phone calendar | Pre-school activities, coordinating with family | Syncing calendars across different devices | Decide which family member goes to which event | |
| User 4 | Uses phone calls, no software | Daycare plans, dinner plans, work-related events, flight/travel schedules, play dates, pet appointments, coordinating with family | Syncing calendars across different formats | Coordinating with family | |
| User 5 | Google, iCal | Daycare plans | Ability to add events easily | Syncing calendars across different formats | Coordinating with family |
Feedback on Wireframes
| User# | Love it | Change it | Add it | Discard it | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User 1 | Public calendars | Schedules from sports teams, museums, public transportation, restaurants; include texting feature; ability to customize images | Journaling feature | ||
| User 2 | Public calendars; calendar syncing | Videos | Photographs | Consider marketing as a platform, not just an app | |
| User 3 | Weekly view; Group concept | Emphasize newly added events on shared calendars; display event times prominently | More colors; a to-do list | ||
| User 4 | Emphasize event times; | Events view on any given day, chosen in any given month | Photographs | Would be great to have automatic recognition of gaps in schedules | |
| User 5 | Ability to turn on/off a single calendar; auto-remove duplicate events on integrated calendars; ability to customize imagery | Group concept is confusing |
Hypotheses Validation
TRUE
• Hypothesis 2: Users would like to see a daily view of their events on their home page as opposed to a weekly or monthly view
TRUE
• Hypothesis 3: Users would like to click photographs and attach them to events.
FALSE
• Hypothesis 4: Users understand the need to place Calendars into Groups
PARTIALLY TRUE
PERSONA
Prototypical Actors
Michelle, John (19 months), Kelly (6 years), Tony & the Grandparents (Michelle’s parents)
UX research conducted with busy moms revealed the different circumstances under which scheduling becomes critical for them. The busy mom Persona is Michelle for the purpose of this research.
Michelle is a busy mother of two, John (19 months) and Kelly (6 years). Her husband Tony, is a busy financial executive who travels a lot. Michelle and Tony live close to Michelle's parents, a semi-retired couple who lead an active life.
USER SCENARIOS
“Mom, I’m going to be late!”
Michelle requested her parents to help out with John’s care twice a week. Despite a semi-active retired life filled with fitness activities, healthcare and a modest social life, her parents agreed to watch John on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To make this arrangement work Michelle has to drop off John at her parents’ place at 8:30 AM and needs to pick him up at 4:30 PM. Her parents’ home is about a half-hour drive from her house; it takes another half-hour for her to reach office. Most times there is hardly any schedule change in the mornings. But sometimes Michelle gets delayed by meetings and needs to communicate changes to her pick up timing to her parents. It is not always convenient to make a phone call in the middle of a meeting, so she texts them when plans change. Most of her communication with her parents on this issue is via phone, sometimes through text. Her parents are not tech savvy and do much better talking on the phone than texting. Michelle wishes that there is an easier way to do it.
“What the what?”
Michelle, one day saw a fun dance event for kids, on www.timeoutchicago.com. She really liked the event description and wanted for her entire family to go to that event. Since the event name was really long she shortened it to “Baby Disco” and made a note of it in her Google calendar. She decided to talk about it to her family later, when she got back home. But John fell sick that evening and she had to take him to the pediatrician. She forgot all about the “Baby Disco” event until a reminder popped up three weeks later, on her calendar, the day before the event. When she saw the entry she could not remember what it was about, so she tried to check her social calendar to see if she had scheduled an event for Kelly with her friends, or whether it was a school activity or a preschool activity for John. She could not place the event so she gave up. A week later she saw a news article that talked about how great the Time Out Chicago event was for the kids that attended. It all came back to her in a flash! She wished there was a better way for her to remember events.
“Tony, don’t forget to pick up Kelly”
Michelle’s husband Tony is quite forgetful. He simply can’t remember things, particularly events in his schedule. When at work he is so focused that he does not have the time to think about much else. When he is done with work he zones out and needs a little help navigating his home and social life. He is scheduled to pick up Kelly from school on Mondays and Wednesdays. One of Michelle’s unspoken fears is that Tony might, one day, forget to pick up Kelly. So on Mondays and Wednesdays Michelle is extra anxious and starts sending Tony text messages a few hours before it is time for him to go pick up Kelly. Michelle does not enjoy reminding Tony and would like to have a way to see that Tony is reminded at the appropriate time.
Daycare Packing List
Michelle’s extremely busy schedule requires her to be super-organized. This means she needs to maintain to-do lists for activity plans. One important list is the Daycare Packing List for John. She needs to make sure that John has his regular items and sometimes, certain specific items in the case of special activities planned for the day. She keeps a stack of sticky notes to make such lists that she checks off when done. She would love to have some kind of a digital alternative for her sticky notes.
“Calendars everywhere! Help!"
Michelle typically uses multiple calendars to stay on top of her schedule. She uses Lotus Notes at work and a paper-and-pencil version to make quick changes to her project schedule; she likes the paper version because it provides the convenience of quickly glancing at her calendar or making quick changes. In addition, she has an Android phone and Tony, a Windows phone. As Michelle takes care of the family scheduling she needs to provide Tony the information he needs. To achieve this she uses a Google calendar to share personal and family scheduling. She really wishes a simpler option existed.
“Want to go to that one?”
Michelle wants to take her family to some of the summer events in downtown Chicago. However she never finds time to do the actual scheduling because it is never a one step process. She first needs to find out the gaps in the family calendar and then go online to look at available events for those gaps. Then she needs to pick a few and coordinate with everyone about their interest in going to it. She wishes she has an easy way of having a recommended set of events available for the gaps in her schedule. She also would like to have a quick text chat about that event with the rest of her family before making a decision.
USER NEEDS
Upon analyzing the above mentioned scenarios four major needs emerged, that are important for business goals from a use standpoint. They are:
• To coordinate (with the rest of the family, especially non-tech savvy people such as grandparents; e.g., Scenario 1)
• To remember (an event – through alerts and event imagery; e.g., Scenarios 2, 3 & 4)
• To synchronize (with other calendaring formats; e.g., Scenario 5)
• To recommend (a public calendar or event, via imagery and texting; e.g., Scenario 6)
MIND MAPPING & DISCUSSIONS
Incorporating the results of UX research into the process of refining wireframes involves using techniques like mind mapping, analyses of business processes and team discussions. Wires are sometimes created to clarify hi-level concepts and processes to enable a smooth user experience.
INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE
An interactive prototype can be of varying levels of fidelity. Most experts recommend lo-fidelity prototypes whenever there is a need to focus on team thinking.
• Most navigation icons in this prototype are interactive. Click on any icon to see how it responds (this is a Balsamiq prototype, so won't respond to touch screen gestures).
USABILITY TESTING
Interactive prototypes of varying levels of fidelity can be used for Usability Testing. Upon testing the above prototype with five users, the following feedback was received.
CONCEPT MODEL
A concept model helps to clarify user experience goals, the primary and secondary processes.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Based on the Concept Model, the Information Architecture is created and process flows are drawn up.
PRODUCT UI REQUIREMENTS
The flows that are fundamental to the scenarios discussed above are - the ability to (1) add an event (2) add a calendar and, (3) add a group.
Activity Diagram: Add an Event
Activity Diagram: Add a Calendar
Activity Diagram: Add a Group
The pages needed for the above flows are:
Login Flow:
1.0 App Icon -> 1.1 Splash Screen -> 1.2 - 1.4 Intro Screens -> 1.5, 1.6 Sign Up/Sign In Screen -> 1.7, 1.8 Forgot Password ScreenAdd an Event:
2.0 Home -> Add Button -> 3.0 Action Sheet (add Event, Calendar, Group) -> 3.1 (Native) Add Event Screen -> 3.2 List of Events (Home) -> 3.3 Event Details Screen -> 3.4 Add Notes & Share with othersAdd a Calendar:
2.0 Home -> 4.2 Add Button -> 4.3 Action Sheet (add Event, Calendar, Group) -> 4.4 New Calendar Screen -> 4.5 Group Name (Existing), 4.6 Group Name (New) -> 4.7 Share (List of Existing), 4.8 Share (New)-> 4.0 List of CalendarsAdd a Group:
2.0 Home -> 5.4 Add Button -> 5.5 Action Sheet (add Event, Calendar, Group) -> 5.6 New Group Screen -> 5.0 List of GroupsProfile & Settings:
7.0 Profile & Settings -> 7.1 Account Information -> 7.2 Terms & Privacy -> 7.3, 7.3.1, 7.3.2 FAQ -> 7.4 Tell a Friend-> 7.5, 7.5.1 Contact Us, 7.6 Turn on Education ScreensEdit and Delete functions are incorporated into the appropriate screens, so no dedicated ones are needed.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
The metrics required for product performance are the click-paths for the following flows:
• Login Flow
• Adding an Event
• Sharing an Event
• Adding a Calendar
• Sharing a Calendar
• Adding a Group
• Adding a Public Calendar
WIREFRAMES
The following wireframes lay out the screen details of the process flows explained above.
