Project Context

University Of Auckland 201Des assignment
Group project
Project dedicate to making day-to-day gardening and selling the produce easier for senior citizens

Responsibilities

User Research
UX/UI design + iterations
Art direction

The Problem

One of my core papers in my second year at The University of Auckland required us to locate and assess situations where groups of individuals successfully self-organized to solve an issue or create new opportunities within their communities.

Once that was done we all formed groups and chose the best case study to further look into for the design process.

In our group of four we chose to do Sarah McAunlty's case study which was about a group called Magic Beans.

A Solution for task management.

By critically reflecting on real-life case studies, we can identify processes of social innovation, their characteristics and common drivers, and the design challenges which may emerge from them. By understanding the cultural and social processes which are redefining the roles of the creative class, we can explore our role as facilitators of these processes. When we support a cause that resonates with us, we can align our professional profile with our personal values and principles, and create meaningful engagement.

This then can lead to a solution for the problem, which was in our case to create a UX/UI high-fidelity prototype app. Where users can interact with each other and connect, learn, trade and sell.

The Design Process

The design process focuses on 4 key main parts, the research phase, the concept phase, the development phase and the project's conclusion.

Identify gaps.

The target audience for this app is 30+, so we needed to create an app that would be easy to use for the elderly.

This was the first assignment that I've done, that required me to create a UX/UI high-fidelity prototype app. So the first call of action was to see UX/UI designs out there and see what works well and what doesn't. Collecting many ideas and forming it into one of our own.

Sketching for Efficient Flows + Visualisations

We were four people within the group. At the beginning of the assignment, my group member and I wanted to test the app's flow and design, thus we were paired as the UX/UI designers. To do this, we built a flow chart of the entire programme, including all the features and tabs we intended to employ, from beginning to end. Using the flow chart as a starting point, we quickly sketched on Procreate and produced an app prototype.

Prototype Feedback and Reviews!

On the last day of the sprint, we as a group reached out to our other design friends to go through out prototype app and give us feedback on what they liked and disliked.

Overall comments:

A few people were confused with the layout of the all and how things came to place but after using the app more they understood how it all flowed.
A few individuals questioned the colour and suggested that adding additional icons as a theme would be awesome and would make it simpler for elderly people to comprehend.

This feedback helped the group realise a lot of things. initially, the instructional that should appear when you initially launch the software was the main issue. A little box or a few buttons that appear with text outlining the purpose of the app etc.

Final Prototype with final revisions

Magic Beans | Figma Community

Summary

This project taught me how to use Figma and the design process. This was about expanding on ideas and coming up with a final solution that can be implemented.
The best research comes from first-hand knowledge of the problem. It was really helpful to identify the target audience early on so that we could develop a design that would work for their age range.
Throughout the course, we had multiple presentations and it was important to capture the user feedback to get the required changes needed to make within the App.