Time Frame:
2.5 Months (In Progress)
Position:
Research & Interviews
Project:
Prototype App
Date:
April 2020 (In Progress)
Overview
In my Senior Project and Portfolio class we were once again tasked with designing and developing an original app in a group of three to four students. In order to get the most out of the time we had to work on the project my group and I decided to build an app on what we knew best, college. Specifically keeping up with classes and assignments. Our idea was to develop a school planner app distinctively for college students.
College is a challenging time especially when you aren’t organized or have difficulty finding things that are due for class. You can use a physical agenda to keep track of your assignments but what happens when you don’t have it with you? PlanIt is a mobile app to help you keep track of your school schedule and assignments. With features like a progression system, allowing you to customize goals to complete and cross off, giving you the feeling of accomplishment that will help you stay on top of your tasks. Need help studying for a quiz or exam? PlanIt can help with that too. Flashcards and timed study blocks will help you ensure you can get the grade you need.
Team PlanIt
Interviews & Testing: Derek Duty
Research & Testing: Ralston Fitler
Research & Designer: Iegor Gutyria
Designer: Jordan Costley
Research-It
Our team used Goal-Directed Design to complete our app. GDD is the process of designing from the users motivations, goals, and needs. Segmenting into six major steps. Research, modeling, requirements, framework, refinement, and support. This would help us keep our project on track and ensure that our app is made with the user in mind.
Literature Review
First step after getting into our groups was to look into market research. The pros and cons for having a planner app or calendar vs a physical one were pretty easy to see. The apps were expected to have features pertinent to their function. One of these features being the ability to be shared between devices allowing for automatic syncing. When making any documents or schedules the user does not want to have to rewrite things over and over again. They want the information to automatically update to their other devices like their computer, tablets, and phones. Whether it’s doctors’ appointments or event invites, both should be easily shareable to others. When planning things out during the day, week or month, it is easier to do when you can share with others to ensure it can fit with everyone’s schedule. Having a program easily show others one’s schedule allows for more understanding and negotiating to find the best time to set up an appointment or event. Where most apps need Wi-Fi or a cellular service to access the internet, a physical calendar does not need any service to be accessed. A physical calendar can be used when the internet is down in an area or without having to be powered on.
Competitive Audit
Our member Ralston did competitive audits where he found common features in the planner and calendar apps that would be unwise to have not considered let alone leave out. Most of the apps, of course, used notifications which in most cases can be irritating. However, when it comes to keeping track of something like a schedule, these reminders can be very helpful for the user. Another feature that the apps had was the ability to color code classes. Color coding has been something that students have done since middle school, using different folders and binders for their classes. Visual differentiation can be an easy and helpful tool when trying to stay organized. There were a few unique features we found in some of the apps that we definitely wanted to look into before development. Some of the apps had the ability to keep up with grades and attendance. This can be a great tool considering that the whole point of keeping a planner for school is to stay on top of one’s assignments and get good grades. Having a place to quickly keep track of assignment or class grades could be helpful to some students, especially when they are debating if they can afford to skip class. Two other features we really would have liked to attempt if we have the time and knowledge is attaching files and connecting with teachers. Being able to revert back to a rubric or having access to a copy of an assignment can be really helpful if for any reason a student doesn’t have their computer. Connecting with teachers can lead to having a regularly updated syllabus and class schedule.
User Interviews
With our new research information we moved onto user interviews. These were fairly easy to complete since we were on a college campus with college students. The type of students we were looking for were ones that don’t necessarily use an agenda or planner to stay on top of school. They are moderately on top of their assignments and studying. This could is probably due to the fact that they have to balance between work and school. When they have free time they may opt for catching up on their favorite or checking their social media. As our team auditor I asked some basic questions to get a better understanding of our potential users. These prompts included:
Describe your typical study behavior.
Describe how you keep up with your day to day life.
Do you collaborate with other students to either prepare for the semester or any exams/quizzes?
Describe how you make use of class materials such as a syllabus.
While we were aiming for students with poor time management skills we were still able to get valuable information from the studious ones that we talked with. Of the students we talked to, a solo approach to studying was more popular than any group collaboration. Only a couple of the students use a calendar. Whether it’s physical or one that came on their phone like the Apple or Google ones. Although they do not use it to plan out their day or week. Rather they use it to keep track of when something is due or when an exam is coming up. For those students, who matched our ideal user, they would frequently reference material such as the syllabus throughout the semester to find the class information they needed. All of our students had to balance between work and school as they were mostly upperclassman looking to graduate in the next couple of years.
Develop-It
After gathering the information and research we needed, we moved on to developing our personas. This is part of the modeling phase of GDD. The first step would be to organize our notes to better develop our persona. As a group we used affinity mapping to help identify behavioral variables for our users. The variables were: activities, attitudes, aptitudes, motivations, and skills. These variables could let us understand if the user was school focused or career focused, preferred to study alone or in a group, used planners or not, was concerned with getting high grades or just looking to move onto the next chapter of their life, and if they saw themselves as being proactive or one that tends to procrastinate.
Affinity Mapping
Behavioral Variables
Personas
We developed our personas based on the behavioral variables we thought would best suit our app. We decided to make two personas based on the polar opposite students. Our primary persona, Alan, is a full time student that works part time. He is looking just to get through school so he can move into the next phase of his life. He doesn’t use anything to aid him in remembering or staying on top of work and has a tendency to procrastinate. He is social with other students in his class and is always up to work together. On the flip side we have our secondary persona, Maria. Maria is also a full time student but has no job so all of her focus is on school. She is looking to get everything she can out of school to ensure she gets the dream job after graduating. She utilizes tools and technology to help keep track of her school work. While she prefers to study alone she will help her fellow classmates when she can.
Wireframe-It
Context Scenario
Once we have our personas made we move onto the context scenarios.
This will address questions such as:
Who would use this?
What information do they need?
Where would they use it?
How this will complete their goals?
Requirements
This portion of the GDD process helped us figure out what needs and design requirements the persona has. Some key requirements are:
Overview of the day and week.
Keeps them focused on the task at hand, minimizing distractions.
Sends reminders of what is going on for the day and week ahead.
Helps organize their time and block the day.
The information they need is front and center in an efficient manner.
Helps balance workload to give time to breathe and not get overwhelmed.
Calendar and to-do list is up to date and easily accessible.
Tracks what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done.
Key Path
When wireframing, our main focus was on simplicity and efficiency. We wanted the users to be able to search and find what they were looking for in a timely manner. This would mean that we needed to keep the number of screens and context scenarios to a minimum. This idea came from how the users really wanted an app that gave attention to ease of use.
Thumbnail sketches of early design
Prototype-It
Once we completed our wireframe our designer Jordan made a quick and simple paper prototype that we could test with users. This allowed for us to put our main focus on the functions and features rather than design. It also gave the users the ability to show us what they thought would come next rather than us make a set path for them.
Paper Prototype
User testing on first prototype
High-Fidelity Prototype
In our first round of user testing we found that there was some confusion of where certain things may be located and how much of the app was easily discoverable. Our initial thoughts for a user once they complete a task was to swipe it away however our users seemed to expect an option to appear once the task was clicked on. This may have had something to do with the fact that prototype was a paper one rather than a medium fidelity electric one. Icons were a little unclear as to their meaning so we will need to look for new ones or test more with other users to ensure we have the correct ones. Also users were not confident in the location of the study sessions we had in the app. Since it is such a key feature for our app we knew this would be one issue we would have to address earlier in the development phase. From here our designers Iegor and Jordan worked countless hours prototyping in Figma while testing and quality control was tasked to Ralston and I. The result would be our high-fidelity prototype.
Testing Results
Feedback from our high-fidelity was overall positive. Users found the app to be clear and understanding. Some minor problems were some links not being clickable, but this was easily solved. The other issue was defining terminology in our on boarding page to better explain the “study session” feature. Other than some polishing and another round of testing, if desired, this app is complete and ready to present.
Final Prototype
Setbacks
At about two thirds into the project timeline the Covid-19 outbreak had reached the US and started to cause some concerns. We were still able to test our first mid fidelity prototype that we made on Figma. Jordan and Iegor were able to make a great looking prototype that worked well and functioned almost perfectly. Tests were once again conducted on Kennesaw State University’s Marietta campus with volunteer students. However only one week later the campus was closed down for the remainder of the semester. Any editing and or testing would have to be conducted remotely at home. Most of the development of the app was completed by this point however we were hoping to do more testing to polish up any other issues that may have come up and to see how our edits and corrections fared. This even to be a challenge with trying to help family and friends while also create a new app from home. Time schedules were not as much of an issue excluding one of our group members working at a internship in the mornings. Learning when and how to separate work from home while being isolated at home.
Summarize-It
This project was the most in depth one I have had so far. I definitely could not have done it without my team. This really showed me the importance of working in a group or team in order to get an app designed, developed, and tested in a timely manner for public release. I am very pleased with the outcome of the app. Going through the goal-directed design of our project, we were able to find users and scenarios which this app can be used. Develop a persona to define scenarios and requirements. Design a prototype based on what the goals of the users were. Lastly Develop and test a medium-fidelity prototype to show a hypothetical group or board.