How To Tackle A Large Design Project On Your Own
Right off the jump, I just want to clarify that this article speaks to my process when solving for a problem space through design thinking. I hope by sharing my process, you will gain some good stuff from it!
I’ve been fortunate to work at a creative agency that allowed me to take on rather challenging projects — one in particular was called Game-On. Game-On is the solution for working professionals that rely on pick-up sports to stay in overall good health. Whether you are trying to organize a game or find one, it isn’t a seamless task and that is what Game-On aims to do.
The guidelines I was given for this project was to create a solution to the problem space and create an interactive prototype.
The Creative Director, CEO/Founder, VP of Client Services and I, the UX/UI Design intern, sat down and discussed the problem, possible solutions and the different directions I could take this project. Every week, I was expected to do a weekly presentation on my progress in front of them — walking them through exactly my thought process: Why I chose the task-flow I did, the features and layout chosen and, ultimately, how the app, as a whole, is solving the problem.
The Problem Space.
Individuals are not have a seamless process when attempting to organize a pick up sports game with their inner circle of friends. Keep in mind, this would be only in the perspective of the person designated organize the pick up game.
Solution
An app that would centralize communication between the host/organize of the pick up games and his/her participants.
Once we have the problem space, the next steps is to understand fully who we are designing for and what are the exact pain points? Exactly, User Research. I needed to understand as much as I could about the problem space through interviewing. I designed the questions that would give me an idea around the user’s behaviour, and more into the problem space.
My rough draft of my persona was the following:
To supplement my user research, I’m also researching as anyone tried to solve this problem space before? If so, what did other companies attempt to do? How did they position themselves? Were they successful? why or why not?
After collecting the data, I looked over the responses I got, then created meaning from it. The results to the following: 1) The ability to start a game with selective group of people 2) effortlessly send reminders 3) visually and transparently communicate with players selected 4) created restrictions, such as set minimum number of participants 5) provide information on upcoming pick up sports games.
With these in mind, I needed to test my assumptions. The best way to do this is by creating a Minimal Viable Product (MVP). A good first place to start would be with the work flow. This gives focus as to what will be the flow of the MVP and what will the user achieve at the end of the prototype?
Above, I created a workflow that took the user through what it would be like to plan a pick-up game, invite players and send out reminders.
Once we have the UX down, time to shift our focus onto the UI. I like to start with inspiration. Here you can start to think about the aesthetics of the app; the feel and vibe of the app.
Once you have some ideas as to how the app may look like, it’s time to put pen on paper; and get lost into it. This is the time to make as many sketches as possible. Experiment. Try stuff out. Make the mistakes now and put together a bare bone composition of your app. While you’re making these sketches, you’ll have a screen that you favour more than others. You’ll want to combine one sketch with another. That’s perfectly fine. You’ll be completed in this stage once you have a flow of your app on paper.
You absolutely need to understand and know each component of the app is contributing to the solving the user’s problems and be able to explain it. I had to defend my design decisions to the CEO/Founder and Creative Director during my weekly presentations. With every phase of the app, I was constantly circling back to how it is solving the user’s problems.
A large part of your responsibility as a designer in these presentation is to stimulate conversation. Listen and pay attention to everyone’s reaction. What are they saying. What is their body language telling you. Is someone popping up and speaking about something that sticks out to them or are they just quiet looking down, checking their phone? This should tell you about they feel about your work. But most importantly, are you still on track? are you meeting expectations with your progress?
Listen. Process. Apply.
Take it to the computer. At this point, I’d digitize my sketches and build it up just a little bit more.
After a few more conversations and reiterations, I developed low-fidelity wireframes below, adding a little bit of color to it.
To be continued… :)
