Zip Me!
UX/UI Case Study
Overview
Project: Mobile Design class
Project type: UX/UI Design
Timeline: One month
My role: User Research, Strategy, Interaction Design, UI Design, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Tools Used: Figma, Invision
Challenge
I read statistic that a person moves every seven years. Finding a good location fitting users need is very important in order to be happy and have what you need. Some users might look for an area that schools are good, and the others want to be able to walk everywhere or have a good public transportation. They might want to know how safe it is and so on. How can we make move more seamless?
Solution
The app will help users find an area to move based on reviews. It will show a zip code with the neighborhood having showing user’s need. The app would be like user’s friend living in the city the user has to move by helping make a best decision choosing the right area. The user would be able to add an area to favorite and see the updates if there are any changes in the area.
DESIGN PROCESS
EMPATHY
WHAT IS ZIP ME! APP?
Zip Me! is an app that will help the users find an area to move based on their needs and reading reviews that others shared about the particular zip code.
FIGURING OUT THE USER
I created a few open-ended interview questions to get to know my target audience. I was looking to understand their thought processes as they plan they move and how they feel about moving. What do they look when they move and so on.
I interviewed two individuals in total: a 36 and 30 year old females. These individuals were all tech-savvy mobile app users who travel and move quite frequently.
Interview questions:
What do you look for when you move?
What app do you use when you look for a new place to move?
What frustrates you about moving?
What is the priority for you when you look for a new place? Do you search for a property first or do you research the area?
Do you read reviews when you buy a product?
SURVEYS
You may view my survey here.
I surveyed 8 people. Majority of this population was 18–40, frequent social media users, and had full-time jobs. As I was interested in seeing what potential users of the app would want, I tried to send my survey to people who move a lot and these that do not more often at all. I wanted to see what are their priorities when they are moving.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I looked at the competitors and their strength and weakness. This step allowed me check what should be avoided in my app so I would not make the same mistakes.
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DEFINE
PERSONA
Based on my user research, I developed two personas. One is a single user who moves few times in a year and another one is a user having a family that does not move often.
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SWOT ANALYSIS
By identifying the internal and external factors across Zip Me! I created a foundation for building and achieving my app goals. It is a simple framework for paining the bigger picture that helped me get a better and clear understanding about the potential success or failure of my app.
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MOODBOARD
I brainstormed different color pallets in order to learn how I want my app to feel and which design direction I wanted to go. I have decided to go with dark design to be more accessible to more users. Also, dark grey surfaces reduce eye strain, as light text on a dark grey surface has less contrast than light text on a black surface.
IDEATE
USER FLOW
After understanding my users, their goals, and the features I wanted to include, I was ready to start designing my first prototype. I started with user flow using Whimsical focusing on one user flow, researching a zip code.
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WIREFRAMES
I designed high-fi wireframes and I tested them with my classmates. After getting feedback from the users I changed few screens and I was ready to work on the final product. Below you can find few examples of my initial solutions. After receiving feedback my main changes were to improve experience choosing the zip code information. Users mentioned that it was too busy and not engaging. Also, the reviews screen was improved by creating better hierarchy to view the information. The next screen- the filter navigation was improved by addition an option to reset the selections in case the user wants to start searching from the beginning.
PROTOTYPE
FINAL PRODUCT
I created prototype that would let the user explore the app. This prototype was tested using user testing.com
Below you can check out few screens but for a better experience go ahead and try the link above.
TEST
USABILITY TASTING
Five users tested the app and there were three tasks to complete:
Find out if the 22192 area has good rating elementary school
Check how is the crime rate in 22192 area
Add 22192 to your favorites
KEY FINDINGS
All the five users were able to complete the tasks. They said that the app was simple to use and they liked the color scheme. One user mentioned that this app would be great to collaborate with Zillow and Redfin. Overall the experience was great!
REFLECTIONS & LOOKING AHEAD
Designing Zip Me! app was a very rewarding and fun experience. It gave me the opportunity to design an app from start to finish and to challenge myself to design dark mode screens. With more time, it would have been interesting to test the app on more users. Then, the next logical step would be to conduct further testing and revisiting my wireframes and making further adjustments wherever necessary based on usability testing feedback. If I would keep working on this app I would have add onboarding experience to introduce the users to this app.