Timeline:
3 Months
Tools:
Figma, Canva, Google Forms/Docs
Project Type:
UX103 Course Project
Team:
Aliyah, Mya, Alexi, Vanessa, Kai, Hania
Role/Tasks:
Project Planning, User Research, Usability Testing, Prototyping
Project Overview
The challenge presented to our group focused on creating an educational experience that allows people in Canada to learn about local indigenous history and incorporate augmented reality to enhance the immersion of the experience. Our project goals included accessibility physically and in-app and respecting/honouring the Haudenosaunee community.
MEET THE TEAM
Aliyah Ishmail
Head of Digital Design & Executive Editor
Visual (UI) & Product Designer
Communications Manager & Project Head
HANIA KHAWAR
Researcher & Interaction Designer
Vanessa Lin
Videographer & Product Designer
M’KAI MCLACHLAN
Content Creator & Researcher
PROJECT BRIEF & SCOPE
"Create an educational experience that allows people in Canada to learn about local indigenous history and incorporate augmented reality to enhance the immersion of the experience."
UX PROJECT & SCOPE PLAN
What was our vision for this project?
Concept Statement
Competitive Analysis
Content
Ideation
Project
Plan
PROJECT PROCESS
PLAN
- Concept Statements
- Milestone Calendar
- Content Ideation
RESEARCH
- Primary Research
- User Interviews
- Secondary Research
SYNTHESIZE
- User Personas
- Empathy Mapping
- Journey Mapping
PROTOTYPE
- Sketches
- Wireframes
- Interactive Prototypes
TEST & DESIGN
- Usability Tests
- Figma App Screens
- Pitch & Presentation
PROJECT GOALS
Goal A:
Gain a stronger understanding of indigenous and first nation culture
Goal B:
Understand and learn how to be ethical and respectful as UX designers
Goal C:
Gain a better understanding of our user's utilize technology and current knowledge of AR systems
Goal D:
Have a curated selection of content regarding indigenous maps, stories, culture, spaces
METHODOLOGY
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Usability interviews and testing are critical components of a UX case study as they help to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a product's user interface. Our usability interviews and testing involved evaluating our design prototypes by observing users as they interact with the app and gathering feedback on their experiences. We used Google Forms to track and record our data. The responses were graphed into charts for our team to analyze through Google Forms.
Our team selected this method of research for a few reasons. Usability interviews and testing were important for our case study:
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Identify usability issues: Usability interviews and testing helped to identify any usability issues or difficulties that our users encountered when interacting with the product. This information was used to improve the design of the product, making it more user-friendly.
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Improve user experience: By identifying usability issues and making changes to the product design, the user experience was improved. This lead to higher user satisfaction, increased user engagement, and ultimately, increased customer retention.
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Validate assumptions: Usability testing helped to validate assumptions about our user behaviour and preferences. This helped to ensure that our design is based on real user needs and preferences, rather than assumptions or guesses.
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Support decision-making: Our usability testing provided data that was used to support decision-making around product design and development. By gathering feedback from users helped us to make informed decisions about which design changes to implement and prioritize.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Competitive analysis and secondary research were important components of our case study project as they provided valuable insights into the market landscape and indigenous history and culture.
The competitive analysis involved researching and analyzing competitor products to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling points. This information was used to inform the design of our product and ensure that it was competitive in the AR technology market.
Secondary research involved gathering information from existing sources about indigenous and first nations stories, languages and significant symbols. This information was used to inform the design of the product and ensure that it accurately represented and honoured indigenous culture.
To gather our information, we consulted with our client for official resources about indigenous history and culture. This included primary sources, websites, and books. We included an array of Haudenosaunee languages and took inspiration in our design from the wampum belt which was provided by the client. In order to use cultural elements in our design, we took time to understand the significance of each item.
To gather our secondary information, we used the internet and search engines to find existing apps, products and services. To gain further insights into specific products, our team reached out through email communication to get a better understanding from the creators and developers first hand.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
In order to get a clearer idea of our competitors, we conducted some basic market research. Experiences like IndigiTRAILS, Sweetgrass AR, and AR in the Village of Islington are products that function similarly to what our client had envisioned.
MEET OUR USERS
Based on our research findings and insights from user interviews, we created an empathy map to guide and build two user personas.
PARTICIPANTS & RESULTS
In our usability tests, we had our participants go through three different user scenarios:
1. Creating an account,
2. Reading a story about landmark
3. Turning off notifications
Participants Suggestions:
1. Add a Sign in option
2. Participants reported difficulty in identifying the correct map
3. They requested better labelling of the map
4. They also suggested Changing the badges to little characters.
5. Some participants suggested to include a little quiz before receiving the incentive
RESEARCH REPORT
Before moving on to the prototype and ideating phase, we created a report which describes our research methods and why we chose them. Included is how we did the research, the participants that were involved, and what questions were asked. Our results of the research and how these results will influence our design process are thoroughly explained.
STYLE GUIDE
Our visual guide features our colour palette, typography, icons, and logo to create consistency. and unity in our overall design. The colour palette features high contrasting tones to create a dark and light-themed interface. The typography is a sans serif minimal and simple font. Our logo features a our project name and location pin with a map icon.
SKETCHES
The prototype process began with simple hand-drawn sketches. These sketches illustrated the main screens and user flows that helped to plan the information architecture and layout.
WIREFRAMES
The second phase of prototyping was creating low-fidelity digital wireframes. These included basic shapes and titles but no content or copy/text.
MEDIUM/HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
The last prototype created was a medium/high-fidelity mockup of the app with interactive elements and content. These prototypes were used in our usability tests and helped to create our final design using Figma, with an interactive prototype and completed content.
USABILITY TESTING & PLANNING
The purpose of our usability plan was to ensure that our experience is meeting user needs. Focusing on formative evaluation, our usability tests will help us move through and develop through the design thinking process. These tests suggested design changes and refinements to help direct our prototypes.
USABILITY RESULTS
A brief overview of the results from our usability testing from low and medium fidelity testings.
HAUD GO! APP
The final design of our app was created using Figma. The usability experiments on our prototypes helped to achieve our user needs and goals. The feedback, comments, and insights from participant data were able to help us further develop our experience and move through the design thinking cycle/process.
HAUDGO! CONCEPT VIDEO
PITCH PRESENTATION & USABILITY REPORT
The purpose of conducting usability tests on our prototypes was to ensure that our experience is meeting user needs and creating a meaningful experience. The experiments were designed to help guide our low to high fidelity prototype designs, ideation, and creation. The usability tests helped to provide design changes/refinements and identify user issues or errors.
PHYSICAL PROTOTYPE