Stan

Based off of our market research, we decided to investigate these research objectives, focusing on human-concious actions in relation to sustainability.

We used four various methods of research all for different purposes as a way of obtaining insights to the problem we encountered.

In total we received:

Through this we discovered three main themes and six important insights:

Prior to our rapid storyboarding ideation session, we brainstormed and drew out various concepts we were vaguely interested in. We did this so that we could get every idea we had onto paper and ready for our second stage, storyboarding.

We conducted this ideation technique, each creating 3 concepts of our own to get our one-line concept into detailed narratives and refine our ideas and make 6 interesting solutions relating back to our key insights. We created fun and out-there things like a cherry blossom rest station and a step calculator.

Between the six concept ideations we came up with, we put four to a team decision matrix.  This assisted us in narrowing our options based on different attributes and allowed us to decide on which ideation was best to move forward with.

We created a set of attributes to score our ideas. The attribute ranged from notions of, play, accessibility, innovativeness, feasibility, and so on. We decided to use this specific criteria as we thought it was a strategic way to ensure our final product was something that met our users needs based on the brief we were given and the problem statement we developed from the discovery and define stage.

The question you’re probably wondering is, why mushrooms?

When it came to deciding what type of product we wanted to create, we wanted to ensure it was something that not only met our users needs, but also drew attention and sparked curiosity within users. The decision came down to three different purposes.

Now that we had EcoShrooms, it was time to construct our prototype for user testing.

After much much deliberation, we decided to use paper mache to construct the mushroom whilst the stern underneath was a painted flower pot.

We tested two different aspects of EcoShrooms, space and sound. Getting users to think aloud whilst doing tasks, we got them to throw rubbish into the bins and listen to various sounds, rating them based on how affirmative they sounded.

Afterwards, we asked them some questions like:

In total we had:

After undergoing secondary research, we conduced the triangulation method of surveys, semi-structured interviews and online ethnography surrounding the following research questions:

In total we conducted:

What did this tell us?

After synthesising and analysing our key findings, we identified 5 key insights:

Articulating the challenges encountered during the emotional and social integration process of an individual grappling with anxiety at social gatherings.

We've crafted a User Journey map featuring Mary, illustrating the dynamic evolution of experiences from initial reluctance and social withdrawal to gradual adaptation and heightened anxiety throughout all stages of an event.

We constructed a decision matrix to evaluate each idea based on various criteria such as likeability, market demand, and interest factor. Memento earned high scores primarily as we liked the base idea, which enabled us to tailor it to the appropriate audience without imposing a predefined structure.

However, despite this, we found ourselves drawn to the ideas behind both Stash and Memory, which outperformed Memento in our decision-making process. Taking this into account, we integrated various aspects of each concept into Memento, as illustrated in the low-fidelity frames.

As the initial step in the prototyping process, we began by crafting sketches that served as the foundation for our app's development. These sketches, meticulously created and iterated upon, provided us with a visual roadmap to outline the structure, layout, and functionality of the application.

Upon finalising sketches, low fidelity prototyping was utilised for the purpose of laying out broad concepts early within the design process. Out of multiple iterations, some significant iterations included:

We refined the visual design by transitioning low-fi concepts into mid-fi prototypes, a phase marked by numerous iterative adjustments aimed at enhancing fidelity and clarity in preparation for the final high-fi implementation. Out of multiple iterations, here are some:

We had tested our mid-fidelity design as static frames that we click through as participants described their thoughts and actions through:

We condensed transcribed data using an Affinity Map, where we analyzed expert recommendations derived from recurring feedback in an Insights Table.

We opted for multiple iterations based on the severity or relevance to the problem statement. These iterations were then integrated into our high-fidelity design, following a carefully considered design system. Below are two examples of our iterations:

Prior to integrating interaction into our design within a suitable timeframe, we opted to assess our high-fidelity design with two participants: an expert and a user. Employing a casual Think-aloud test, this process sparked a complete brand transformation.

It was now time to translate our mockups into interactive prototypes using Figma. Initially, we tested them with experts to pinpoint any significant deviations from best practices, and later with users to refine the application. Our approach included the following methods:

One (out of many) iterations

 📱 Are users easily learning what “label” means?

Based on user feedback, we made several iterations to improve the efficiency of inputting links into the link memo feature:

So what did we do?

1. Eliminating the toggle: Instead of using a toggle to attach a label to the link, we now provide the text "(Optional)" to indicate that users can choose to add a descriptive title or not.
2. Swapping the order: We reordered the form fields so that the label comes first, followed by the link. This aligns with convention and makes the label act as an overarching title for the link.
3. Changing the name: We renamed "label" to "display label" to clarify that the label will be visible to all guests, helping them understand the link's meaning before clicking on it.
4. Text outside of text field: To ensure compliance with accessibility standards, we moved the field names outside of the text fields. This was done because the text inside the fields did not meet color contrast requirements.