Assure
Tracking made easy so you can live your life to the fullest
Role
UX Designer
Timeline
10 weeks
Tools
Figma, G Suite, Miro
Methods
Research, User Interviews, User Surveys
Usability Testing, User Flows
Sketching, Wireframes,
High Fidelity Mockups, Prototyping
Overview
Government documents allow citizens to seek travel, work, and leisure with no constraints. Unfortunately, all documents expire. Individuals do not realize their important documents need renewal. Scrambling for renewal close to the expiration date or documents expiring without their owner's knowledge is stressful. Documents have long active periods. Some can be active for years, even a decade, and so it is forgettable
Problem
People have a sense of dread and anxiety with the thought of their government issued documents. There needs to be a system in place to remind individuals of expiration dates to combat forgetfulness and reduce their stress associated with the renewal process.
Goals
Alleviate the stress felt by users by making the renewal process easy to use
Have the users set up their own personal reminders to keep them on track of their renewals
Solution
Help people feel at ease by providing them with personalized reminders and easy access to their renewals so that their documents never expire.
Discovery Phase
To narrow down the user demographic and find appropriate candidates for interviews, an online survey was sent out and completed by 34 people.
I selected 5 users for interviews in hopes to discover the challenges, obstacles, and pain points with regards to their document renewals.
Key Findings
Majority did have multiple methods of reminders, however still struggled with follow through
Most user’s are present thinkers, long term goal setting proved to be difficult for most users
General negative feelings associated with the actual process of renewal
Motivation (3 main motivators to get a renewal done)
- Government document allows travel which some users prioritize highly
- Monetary consequences, having to pay a penalty for expiration or late fees
- Fear driven, the idea that the government is seen as an authority figure
Define Phase
I conducted a series of secondary research to gain more insight on the following questions:
What causes a person to forget a deadline?
Are these documents not perceived to be a priority or important for some people?
Do people personally track when their documents will be expiring?
What events/thought processes help someone remember that their documentation needs renewing.
Persona
How Might We…?
1. REMIND people that their documents are up for renewal?
2. MOTIVATE people to get their renewals done in a timely fashion?
3. HELP people track their expiration dates?
4. ALLEVIATE the negative feelings that user’s have associated with the renewal process?
5. MINIMIZE the inconveniences that users face when renewing their documents?
Ideation Phase
As a document holder, I want…
User Flow
Route I: As a document holder I want to make a renewal
Route II: As a document holder I want to set up my initial document into the system for tracking
Sketching
The main goals I had in mind with the design of the product was that it must be easy to use with minimal distraction. I wanted an app that everyone and anyone can use.
Guerilla Usability Testing
Problem I: No back button separate from the home button.
Solution I: Add back buttons
Problem II: The terms used in the app were confusing to the users and users had a hard time deciphering what each button’s function was.
Solution II: Make adjustments with the labeling for different buttons so that the user’s know the function of each button.
Design Phase
Lo-Fidelity Wireframes
Color
I want the users to feel at ease when using my product. Due to the simplicity of the design, I wanted to choose one focal color. The name of my product is Assure and a word that plays off of that name is azure. Azure is used to describe a bright blue color. Blue is widely used to convey calm, security, reliance, and familiarity; all attributes I want in my product..
Font
In keeping with the minimalistic design of the product, the fonts applied are SF Pro Rounded, SF Pro Display, SF Pro Text and Futura.
SF Pro is most commonly found in Apple’s operating system (iOS), making it familiar and inviting for users.
Futura is used for the logo. The medium weight of the font, the spacing in between the individual letters, and how the font incorporates both sharpness and softness evokes feelings of calm, empowerment, and fun.
High Fidelity
Usability Testing
Objective: The goal of the usability testing was to see if users can seamlessly and intuitively move through tasks for the main user flows:
Uploading a document
Making a checklist
Setting up reminders
Renewing their document
Findings
Problem 1: All users were not able to complete the initial task of finding where to set up reminders.
Solution 1: Use a symbol, bell, to draw attention to reminders for the user. Place ‘set up reminders’ on the homepage of the main document
Problem 2: Users were able to find the checklist, but filling out the checklist and the whole process confused all users.
Solution 2: Using two separate boxes for unselected and selected items to differentiate between the two. Using more animation for the drop down process to indicate that items have been selected into the user's checklist.
Problem 3: In renaming the document; all users questioned the ‘x’ button. All were hesitant to press it because they thought that the ‘x’ meant that the whole document would be deleted.
Problem 3: Putting the ‘new document’ within its own text box
Prototype
Reflection
This case study is my first UX design project. Learning the entire design process for the first time was definitely eye opening. Prior to learning about UX I was oblivious and also blissfully ignorant to the why’s and how’s of using a product. I had no idea how much thought, research, and testing goes into each element of a product. I loved learning every single aspect of the UX design process from ideation, fruition, and completion.
Writing this case study has made me see how much I’ve learned. Thinking of an idea then conceptualizing and materializing that idea into a product was a process that was equally challenging and rewarding. I am not a naturally inclined creative and so the UI portion proved to be an uphill battle for me. However, in the end, I was most satisfied with the UI because it allows me to see all the work that has gone into making my product. Had I had more time I would’ve liked to do more testing and iterate on the design a little more so that some flows were more straightforward for users. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with my final product and I hope to grow as a designer.