TalkThru
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Timeline: 5 weeks
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Role: Lead Research & Visual Design
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Tasks: Synthesis, Ideation, Wire-framing, Visual Design,
and Branding.
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Research Methods:
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Conducting user interviews.
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Performing competitive & comparative analyses.
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Iterating & ideation.
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Wireframing.
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Prototyping.
Techniques: Affinity Mapping, User Personas & Flows, Task Flows, Feature Inventory, Site Maps.
Tools: Canva, Figma, Jira, and Miro.
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Framework: Cross-functional Collaboration.
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Process: Agile Methodology.
Partnerships: General Assembly; Atlassian.
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Research Phase
About the project..
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TalkThru is my General Assembly's post-graduation group project that is part of Agile Methodology Product Development Program where UX Designers collaborate closely with a team of software engineers on developing a virtual platform that aims to provide a solution to real-world issues.
In my groups' case, we focused on providing a platform for those who seek study partners as a result of lacking motivation to work alone and/or needing a sense of community. Our project employs a social science perspective while aspiring to support users by giving them the opportunity to work with someone whom they can relate to either by being in a similar age group, discipline, or need for interaction.
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The Problem (Situation)
Many students often experience a lack of academic support, or feel they need additional resources when it comes to their studies.
Because of this frustration, students would benefit from a platform that provides them with the opportunities to connect with other peers within a similar field of study, creating study partners.
The Solution (Task)
TalkThru is a peer-to-peer virtual space that processes different subject matters that that are relevant to most users while allowing them to choose their level of expertise. With a focus on connecting peers, TalkThru automatically pairs the user with a study partner upon proceeding through their (subject and level) selections.
Why automatically?
A goal of this application is to facilitate connection. According to prior experiences with mentor-mentee platforms, user interview data suggested an overbearing amount of choice (mentors).
Based on combined user and business analyses research, my group and I saw a disadvantage in the typical process of having users making their partner selection themselves. Bore out in the data that we found, sometimes it can be overwhelming for users to make a number of selections among several options where they end up opting out of the task flow before actually ever speaking with anyone.
Why peers?
We also found that the mentor-mentee connection limits the dynamic of the interaction and connecting with peers as opposed to mentors addresses unique pain points that were identified in our research.
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Initial Ideas
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During our 6 week-long agile program, our project went through different phases of changes & modifications.
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Phase I: Previous Project
To create an astrology-based app for:
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Audience
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Zodiac signs & horoscope enthusiasts
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Pain Points
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lack of having recommendations generated based on zodiac signs
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Goal(s)
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Connecting astrology to music, movies, books, and other topics based on user’s DOB
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Challenges
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API incompatibility
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Time constraint
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We decided to abandon this idea due lack of API support in addition to limited user research and interest.
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Phase II: Current Project
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To create a mentorship-based app for:
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Audience
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Individuals seeking help from experienced users
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Needs
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Answers to challenging questions or issues
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Pain Points
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Lack of relevant resources online; and
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Indirect search process
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Goal(s)
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Match mentees with mentors;
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Rely less on online search for help; and
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Save resources for future issues.
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Challenges
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Team shortening
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Time constraint
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This phase maintained shifting the whole scope of the project from mentorship based to peer-to-peer connecting app. The shift was implemented after our research informed us of:
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1) the inconvenience users often experience when having to make a decision among a lit of several options (e.g. choose a mentor among numerous mentors generated in the search results).
2) the commonality of the mentor-to-mentee idea while our goal was to create something new that different users will benefit from while providing a solution to their real problem).
Overall challenges that arose from both phases relate to time & capacity. First, one week was lost prior to abandoning the previous project idea due to research short comings in addition to a half a week trying to the objectives of the new project while working closely with the engineering team.
This collaboration was beneficial in getting to understand their process, acknowledging possible limitations, and setting realistic expectations; especially when 3 previous developers did not commit to this program. Therefore, gratitude to our (remaining) software engineers Aryn, peter, and Tyson for pushing the boundaries while working in a 2:4 ratio:
Two engineers against four designers.
(Four designers = Eight opinions, a joke).
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In fact, there wasn't a scenario such as "against." We, as a team, worked with each other; while maintaining a level of transparency, adaptability, and enthusiasm.
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Research Methodology
User Interviews
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One of the research methods that led we found important in leading our design work was conducting user interviews.
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Making the effort to get to know our potential users as real humans with valid experiences and capabilities have helped assessing (and empathizing with) their needs during the solution development stage.
Steps taken:
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​Asked individuals who may benefit from using a platform like TalkThru.
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​​​​e.g. General Assembly's recent graduate as all as students and fellow alumni from each project member's circle.
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Prepared 15 open-ended questions focusing on people's experiences with receiving mentorship and video chatting.
Affinity Mapping
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As part of conducting our research data, we used the Affinity Mapping organizational tool. After interviewing out participants, we were able to generate trends that helped us identify the pain points, for which we worked on finding a solution.
Interview Synopsis
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Business Analysis
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By comparing across similar platforms in the learning and tutoring world, we got to analyze our product for the purpose of assessing strength against other entities in the market.
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This process brought inspiration for coming up with something unique without the need for inventing the wheel. Some of those entities include:
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​Following a + and Δ protocol, my team and I found inspiration in from what's available and what's not to inform out design decisions.
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Meet Our Users
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Our user-based research data allowed us to arrive at our persona Toshi.
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Although he may not be the most disciplined sort of fella, Toshi recently found the courses at his Economics program have gotten a little bit more difficult, and he needs assistance mainly with accountability. He finds that logging on with a peer may allow him to "switch on" and begin work.
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Journey Map
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To best demonstrate the path our average users take in navigating the platform, I created a user journey map that details each phase of the product as well as possible impressions resulting from this interaction.
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Some of this documented hands-on user experience has been supported by usability testing.
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Site Map​
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Being a first-time user, Toshi would proceed to create an account by signing up.
Then he will land on the subject selection page, while also having access to his profile (through an icon at the upper right part of the screen), and a hamburger button directing him to (optional) different pages on that platform.
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Moscow Method
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Since we were utilizing a fast paced and iterative agile process, it was necessary to sort potential features according to necessity and gradations.
Taking Must Have into consideration, this content could be a representation of our project's MVP while the other categories were additives; components that we added as we continued exploring (and delving into) the design process for this project.
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II. Design Phase
Color Scheme
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We chose dark blue & yellow as the main components of our color palette due to their complimentary nature.
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A color blind-friendly combination.
A striking contrast between Coon Kevin blue & the vibrant web yellow is also needed to be applied for highlighting certain features across the site.
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Consistency & Standards
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Before coming up with our high-fidelity design, we considered maintaining product consistency over our main design components.
To facilitate uniformity, where deemed necessary, we created a style guide as a reference for streamlining our workflow and ensuring consistent end product; all of which played a part in adding an intuitive value overall.
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Recognition
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Our display size contributed to an easy user experience by:
Applying visibility for all elements, actions and options.
Thus, minimizing the user's memory load by eliminating their need for reconning information (as a result of jumping back in forth + getting lost if they were navigating from one part of the interface to another).
We achieved this goal by ensuring that all necessary information such as view labels and menu item are readily available + easily reachable when needed.
Flexibility & Intuitiveness
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Our app is designed to be intuitive and it offers flexible features.
Throughout the site, we added backward & forward icons
in addition to enabling hover & select, which allow users to make their selection by mousing over the given buttons.
Taking the select your level page as an example, a dark grey color will fill each button upon hovering, and a bolded text with a stroke will mark the selection made.
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User Control & Freedom
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Believing in the value of empowering our user with control and freedom, we added:
A clearly marked "Back" button
to quickly abandon the unwanted action without having to go through an extended process.
If a user accidentally taps the "end call" button, a short notification will instantly pop on the screen. The purpose is to either confirm leaving the meeting or preventing an unwanted action.
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Aesthetic & Minimalism
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Overall, we prioritized minimalist designs by focusing on the essential pieces.
e.g., we combined the rating step into the same page that proceeds the end of a meeting.
Thus, once again, saving the user from taking extra steps. This is something I represented through a stack page on the site map diagram I created following the journey map.
Agile Methodology Learning Outcomes
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Ability to proactively approach and address risks to enable a smooth process.
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Adaptability in using flexibility to implement at any stage of the project.
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Replacing the need of the formal teams hand-off with objective cross-functional collaboration.
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Resorting towards the waterfall model if building a project takes longer development cycles.
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UX Designers working hand in hand with Software Engineers is a real-time opportunity that involves learning each side's process while being part of something big unifying both parties.
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Strict team deadlines help manage tasks, meet goals promptly, and save time for both designers and developers.
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Weekly stand-ups, retrospectives, and check-in meetings enhanced sharing progress of the design process, exchanging knowledge, asking questions, collaboration, and valuing input.
UX TEAMMATES
Sofia T.
Project Manager
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Andrew T.
UX/UI Design
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Robin O.
UX/UI Design
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