Playroom
Creating and Managing a Safe Social Community
Role: UX Designer
Team: Two additional UX designers and a software developer team
Client: Dr. Michele Veldsman
Timeline: 4-week
Constraints: Mobile app solution, Enhancing usability
Impact: The average success rates for tasks including signing up, creating events, sending messages, and forming groups have increased by 36%
Business Objective
Playroom is a startup that creates a secure social network for parents of preschool children. They plan to launch a mobile app MVP with a small set of nurseries and seek our support in creating an intuitive user experience that feels safe, secure, and easy for busy parents to use. This project focuses on creating a streamlined flow for the messaging feature (minimum requirement on the contract) that parents will use to connect with other families.
The Challenge
The existing app has usability issues and a disconnect between the design and the developer's markup. Despite having ideas from past designs, their implementation has been unsuccessful. The main objective is to address the gaps and ensure the timely completion of project deliverable milestones.
Project Plan
Week One: Discovery - Competitive Analysis
Conducted thorough research to compare the features of the top competitors and helped the team gain insights into areas where the existing app can improve.
Week One: Discovery - Playroom Red Routes
There was a big distinction in the Routes between the client's Figma file and the developer's in-progress mockup on Expo Go. The UX team collaborated extensively and ultimately decided to align the Figma prototype with Expo Go to progress the project.
Week One: Discovery - Proposals for Projects Focus
To ensure clear scope and aligned expectations among the team and client, it was a big help to create a list of proposals and engage in discussions regarding priority and timeline. This proactive approach facilitated a smooth progression of the project.
Week Two: Validate Existing App
We tested 6 participants between May 3 - 6, 2023 to find out how the current design would perform. 3 men and 3 women were given specific tasks and asked to navigate the prototype in Figma. Tests were completed remotely using Zoom and in-person.
Here’s what we found...
To make the most significant impact on the app's usability, it's crucial to prioritize the redesign phase by focusing on the three tasks that have a high failure rate.
Week Three: Redesign & New Flows
Week Four: Validate Redesigned App
We tested 5 participants on May 17, 2023 to find out how the redesign would perform.
4 men and 1 woman were given specific tasks and asked to navigate the prototype in Figma. Tests were completed remotely using Zoom and in-person.
Here’s what we found...
Impact
The average success rates for tasks including signing up, creating events, sending messages, and forming groups have increased by 36%
“This app is feature rich and I like its ease of use.”
“I don’t need to learn more to understand how to use this app.”
Next Design Steps
What I Learned
Understand team dynamics and effective collaboration.
Effective collaboration requires understanding client and team needs, pursuing shared goals, and prioritizing a giving mindset. This fosters a productive environment, aligning teams for improved outcomes and success.
Efficient communication in an agile environment.
Transparent channels facilitate progressive updates, information exchange, and timely challenge resolution. Establishing effective communication enhances team agility and responsiveness, improving project outcomes.
Next Product Development Steps
Ensure the app functions smoothly across different devices.
Perform rigorous testing and quality assurance to identify and fix any cross-device incompatibilities and errors that may have been introduced during the redesign or subsequent iterations.
Prepare the app for deployment and release.
Test the app in real-world scenarios and environments to ensure its stability and compatibility. Once ready, release the updated version of the app to the intended user base.
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