Lynch Heppner
Roles
User Researcher | UX Designer | Usability Tester
Timeline
5 days
Tools
Figma | Procreate
Project Brief
In this 5 day design brief, I was tasked with evaluating user interviews and using them to inform the design of a testable prototype. The business is called Post-Up, and its purpose is to help its users find places to work or study remotely, which most commonly means a coffee shop. While I was given pre-recorded user interviews, I had no other information or designs to build from, so this project was meant to explore multiple possible solutions in as short a time as possible and then test the best idea. Ideation and function were prioritized much more than form and preciseness.
Day 1 - Map
After creating an empathy map from the user interviews, I began by mapping out possible solutions for the main user-journey: finding somewhere to work remotely. The solution needed to allow users to filter results by things that matter most to them.
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Aside from relative distance, the most important filters that users identified were:
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Wifi - Ideally free, but at least strong Wifi
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Quiet - many people need to be able to join a work call
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Comfortable seating - most people will be there for hours at a time
Day 2 - Sketch
Next, I started putting pen to paper with some rough sketches in order to ideate as many solutions as possible. With that in mind, I set a timer in order to force myself to focus on the quantity of ideas rather than perfecting every possible detail.
Given the primary purpose of the app was to help users find locations near them, most of my ideas centered around a central map screen that would show users nearby spots.
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I also played with the idea of a list that could be easily filtered based on the user's specific needs.
Day 3 - Storyboard
Storyboarding after selecting the best design from my sketches helped begin to paint the entire user flow when trying to find a study spot.
Day 4 - Prototype
Once the full picture of the user flow was sketched out and the storyboard had been finalized, I took the designs to Figma to begin creating mockups that could be prototyped.
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Since this was a sprint, perfection was not the goal - rather, swift ideation and testing took presidence.
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The goal with creating this prototype was to make something quick enough to test within the same week, but also make it realistic enough to get valuable results. What came out was a prototype that looks real enough to get a real sense of what the user would experience when trying to find a local spot to study.
Day 5 - Testing
Once the full picture of the user flow was sketched out and the storyboard had been finalized, I took the designs to Figma to begin creating mockups that could be prototyped.
​
Since this was a sprint, perfection was not the goal - rather, swift ideation and testing took presidence.
​
The goal with creating this prototype was to make something quick enough to test within the same week, but also make it realistic enough to get valuable results. What came out was a prototype that looks real enough to get a real sense of what the user would experience when trying to find a local spot to study.