Cue
No matter how big or small, everyone moves at least once in their life. And you know what? It’s tough. When it comes to settling in, people are starting anew whether it’s finding new friends, places to go, or things to see. It’s difficult to know where to even begin.
This project aims to assist and support users after they have moved to a new place by getting acquainted in their new neighborhood.
Goal: Design a mobile-first website for people who have moved to a new place
Role:
UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer
Project Duration: 145 hours
Tools: Figma (for design), Google Docs and Google Sheets (for research and interviews)
Constraints:
Creating deliverables within set timeline
Background
Often, the focus is on the physical aspect of getting their things from one place to another. That is just one aspect of moving and there are plenty of products/services out there to fulfill those needs.
When it comes to finding things to do, it’s challenging for users to know what they want to do in the first place, let alone even knowing what part of the neighborhood they’re in. Meeting new friends organically (as an adult and post-pandemic) is already challenging.
Building the community and life people want is up to them – they just need the tools and information to do so.
Discover
Research
Research Goal
The goal is to learn what people do to get situated once they move so that I can understand what makes people feel like they’ve successfully assimilated to their new neighborhoods/communities.
Research Methods
Secondary Research: Competitive Feature Matrix
Observe and understand what other competitors are currently doing in this space based off of key product features
Feature Matrix
Key Takeaways
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A lot of overlap between competitors and their product features
Promotes online and in-person events
Can create and join groups
Professionally run events
Hosts informal events
Recommends events for you
Ticketing included on platform (depending on event)
Social forum on event page
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Some platforms do not have…
Social forum
Recommendations for you
Ticketing included on platform
Informal events
Membership requirements may polarize people who do not want to commit to just one platform
Credibility of events are questionable
Primary Research: User Interviews
Conducted remote interviews with people who have moved within the past three years
Heard users’ first-hand stories about moving, so that it can encompass the process, their feelings, and where they are now.
Synthesized interviews through affinity mapping, noting any patterns and reoccurring sentiments, and deriving insights to inform problem definition and problem solving.
Affinity Map
Key Takeaways
-
Seeking others who share some form of commonality
Characteristically inclined to make new friends and experience new things
Finding individual fulfillment through one’s own interests
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Lack of convenience
Accessibility to transportation
Scheduling time
Physical proximity
Ease of relatability
-
Comfort + control in a time of change and uncertainty
Sense of belonging
Information and resources to reach their goal(s)
Define
Research
Who is the User?
Three distinct personas developed from research synthesis.
Taking all learnings from user interviews and boiling that down into a characterization of who the user is. This helps ground me in a narrative to fully understand and empathize with the user and provide a framework for what potential solution can remedy them.
Personas
What is the Problem?
Finding community
Gaining physical familiarity
Creating a routine
“How Might We” Solve the Problem?
Coming up with and posing “How might we?” questions based off of insights, needs, and POV statements to ideate potential solutions for users.
How might we help people who are seeking a new community connect with others who have the same interests?
How might we help people who use online platforms/mediums find information about local activities/attractions more easily?
How might we help people schedule their time between personal time, work, social plans, etc. more easily?
“How Might We” Statements
What is the Solution?
Cue is a mobile-first website that helps people who have just moved adjust to their new beginning. The platform allows users to discover their new neighborhood, find adventures that interest them, and meet new people along the way by sending “Cues” to do things that are catered to their specific interests/goals.
Once the previous was determined, it was time to lay out the groundwork for the mobile app: what it does, how it will be structured, and how users will navigate their way through it.
Project Goals Where the business and users can be satisfied and what is technologically attainable
Card Sort Determining where information should live through Hybrid Closed Card Sorting
Feature Road Map Prioritizing what product features are essential for an MVP
Site Map Documenting what pages are needed and where features will live
User Flows Defining key tasks users will perform in order to reach their goal and what that corresponds to in the website’s architecture
Key Tasks
Onboarding
Booking an activity
Develop
Design
LoFi Wireframes
With a strong foundation established, it was time to start building the application starting with creating key screens based off of the main user flows (onboarding and booking an activity).
Flow 1: Onboarding
Flow 2: Booking an Activity
Develop
Design
UI & Branding
The fresh start of a move is exciting, but also can be overwhelming. I wanted the branding to feel warm and inviting, just like someone’s home and like the sun on the horizon marking a new day. Because the target demographic is young professionals, I felt like I could make the visual styling a bit more fun, trendy, and on-par with popular brands users are familiar with.
Moodboard
UI Library
HiFi Wireframes
With the developed brand identity and findings from early usability testing, it was time to take the wireframes to a higher fidelity and implement changes.
Flow 1: Onboarding
Flow 2: Booking an Activity
Test
Design
Usability Testing | HiFi Wireframes
Remote usability testing was conducted on the high-fidelity wireframes in order to:
Evaluate ease of use, efficiency, and overall experience
Identify pain points and challenges users face when navigating screens/through task flows
Learn what changes can be made to improve user experience
Results & Feedback
All users were able to successfully complete each task. Participants found the experience straight-forward and intuitive. Although initial scores were good, there were a few suggestions for improvement:
Make the selected activities during questionnaire more apparent of what was selected
Refine and/or add more specific questions to the onboarding questionnaire
Add more information to Activity Detail page (ratings/reviews, price point, distance, etc.)
Ask how many people when booking activity
Average ease of Task 1: 9.8
Average ease of Task 2: 9.8
Average overall satisfaction: 9.8
*Rated on scale of 1 to 10
Develop
Design
Revisions
With the developed brand identity and findings from early usability testing, it was time to take the wireframes to a higher fidelity and implement changes.
Flow 1: Onboarding
Refine and/or add more specific questions to the onboarding questionnaire and make the selected activities during questionnaire more apparent of what was selected: Users can now answer more focused prompts to further customize their recommendations. In conjunction with that, added the input field for phone number as users stated they would choose text over email and that they would need/expect to submit a phone number. Also, made the selected state of cards more prominent. To indicate an item is chosen, the selection is shown in a shade darker to match user expectations and common patterns in other design systems.
Flow 2: Booking an Activity
Add more information to Activity Detail page: Included more bits of information like reviews, proximity to user, price range, and noted ability to view menu to help users make the decision to book the activity.
Ask how many people when booking activity: For booking, copy may need to be changed for non-reservation things/tickets, but the idea that there must be a quantity field is valid and thus was added. Also added the user’s name the booking would be under as further confirmation so when users go to their reservation or booking they know it’s under their name and not Cue’s since it’s a third party.
Deliver
Design
Prototype
Flow 1: Onboarding
Flow 2: Booking an Activity
Next Steps
Expand upon social media aspect
Build out perks + rewards system
Conclusion
Putting my learnings into practice posed extremely daunting and challenging at times. In the end, I feel proud of the solution I had come up with as multiple user testing participants voiced how they wish it was real and would use it in their lives right now. As a designer, and also as someone who has moved to a new place, it is extremely rewarding to know that not only was I solving a problem, but a real one at that. One that others saw the value in and it could help make their lives better, which is probably my favorite and most rewarding parts of being a designer.