Roles & Responsibilities: User Research, UI/UX Design, Usability Testing
Tools: Adobe XD, Miro
Teammate: Anick Muleki
Timeline: June - August 2021
Digital Experience Informational Website
PROBLEM STATEMENT: There is not a central place for people to learn about the Digital Experience Team, how they work, and how they add value to other teams and projects. We need a solution where other project teams can quickly learn about us, access UX resources and request our services.
Research
We interviewed 7 participants in total. 5 were in management positions, 4 have a general understanding of UX, and 6 have had trouble finding Digital Experience assistance or resources in the past
Questions
1. What company resources do you spend a lot of time on?
2. What are some of your frustrations in your role?
3. Recall a time when you were having trouble finding a UX resource or service. What was that experience like?
4. In the future, if you hope to seek out UX resources or service, how would you prefer for those resources to be available to you?
2. What are some of your frustrations in your role?
3. Recall a time when you were having trouble finding a UX resource or service. What was that experience like?
4. In the future, if you hope to seek out UX resources or service, how would you prefer for those resources to be available to you?
Click the affinity board to view responses →
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Insights
User Pain Points
- Unsure if the right product is being developed
- Can't formally request UX design and research assistance
- Difficulty scheduling face to face meetings because of timing issues
- Waiting to hear back from collaborating/external teams
Takeaways
- There is a definite need for including UX research and design thinking in a project
- Availability of the Digital Design Team needs to be clear
- Users value face-to-face consultation
- We need to provide multiple resources to accommodate varying levels of UX knowledge
Persona
Ideate
Solution
Incorporate UX talent in projects to solve complex problems and create impactful solutions
Information Architecture
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Sketches
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Prototype
Based off of our sketches, we created a low fidelity prototype of the DE site to test the content, flow, and layout.
Test
We conducted usability tests with the same participants from our user interviews with the goal to test the site with target users, reveal confusing experiences, and identify missing features or functionality.
Tasks
- Pretend you are looking for UX assistance for a project. Search the site and find what services the team offers.
- Choose one of our services and submit a request. Are you able to differentiate the services?
- Look for UX templates and download one of the user research tools templates. What other information regarding these resources would you like to know?
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Key Findings
Outcome
Visual System
COLORS
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TYPOGRAPHY
Georgia
Regular: 69.25, 65, 32. Used for headers.
Libre Franklin
Regular: 36, 32, 30. Used for body text.
ICONOGRAPHY
High Fidelity Prototype
Final Thoughts
I've gained so much knowledge working on this project and can confidently say that I've grown as a UX designer and researcher.
The first major takeaway I had from this experience was how important it is to ignore my assumptions. Though this is a critical and "obvious" practice with user experience design, my preconceived notions sometimes creep in. I initially thought to include a ton of information for the UX services and provide an in depth description of each since I assumed that's what users wanted. Nonetheless, the interviews and testing outcomes stated the opposite, that users want an easy journey and easy read, so I had to actively ignore what I originally thought to create a better product for the end user.
The second major takeaway was also one of the biggest challenges I faced: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's super cliche but definitely true. The first couple times I presented the prototype, I'd get nervous about the feedback and critiques I'd receive. Nonetheless, each piece of feedback was feedback on the design, not the designer, and every person who gave feedback had the same intentions of developing a strong, efficient site for our end users. I realized that feedback and design critiques are one of the most valuable pieces of research since my perspective gets widened with each session.
In the end, my favorite aspect of UX is helping create products and software that is actually useful to its end users, and this project will hopefully have the domino effect of allowing the Digital Experience to continue to make that impact as well.
The first major takeaway I had from this experience was how important it is to ignore my assumptions. Though this is a critical and "obvious" practice with user experience design, my preconceived notions sometimes creep in. I initially thought to include a ton of information for the UX services and provide an in depth description of each since I assumed that's what users wanted. Nonetheless, the interviews and testing outcomes stated the opposite, that users want an easy journey and easy read, so I had to actively ignore what I originally thought to create a better product for the end user.
The second major takeaway was also one of the biggest challenges I faced: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's super cliche but definitely true. The first couple times I presented the prototype, I'd get nervous about the feedback and critiques I'd receive. Nonetheless, each piece of feedback was feedback on the design, not the designer, and every person who gave feedback had the same intentions of developing a strong, efficient site for our end users. I realized that feedback and design critiques are one of the most valuable pieces of research since my perspective gets widened with each session.
In the end, my favorite aspect of UX is helping create products and software that is actually useful to its end users, and this project will hopefully have the domino effect of allowing the Digital Experience to continue to make that impact as well.
