Design Sprint - Uncorked

Uncorked!

Google Design Sprint

DAY 1 Understanding The Problem

Introduction

I gave a try at Google Venture 5-Day Design Spring for mobile application 'Uncorked'. Uncorked is all about increasing the engagement of the users with locally owned brands and promoting local wine events.

Solution Statements

As a user, I have the ability to search, and find my preferred female owned brands with ease.

As a user, I have the ability to choose a wine, based on my current mood and preference.

As a user, I have the ability to search and participate in the wine community through attending events.

Design Constraints

Brand and Style guidelines - ensuring that material and content remains consistent throughout. The level of consistency reflects the brands vision and overall look and feel.
Designer Time - Understanding what constitutes the end goal for Uncorked. As a designer a deadline is utilized to complete all major and major tasks.
Device Specifics -Screen content and visual hierarchy must be able to fit within the screen size of mobile devices.

How Might We ?

My how might we questions revealed around the idea of user empathy and how they would feel versus how I thought they would feel.

How might we allow users to maintain their account activity on a consistent basis?
How might we keep the user engaged on each page?
How might we have users purchase subscriptions and encourage impulse buying?
How might we give a smooth transition for users to purchase event tickets ?

User Journey

Our user journey map can be seen in two ways, Purchasing a female owned brand of wine and purchasing event tickets.

Day 2 Sketch

Whilst bearing in mind the GV idea of lightning demos I went in search of similar platforms that connected with Uncorked’s framework and UI/UX. Examples as seen below have inspired me

I’ve come across all these mobile applications in my past and even utilized one of them for a current wine subscription. What I like mainly from them is the simple layout and structure of their landing pages. The look and feel of their visual hierarchy proves nonetheless and puts the user in charge of finding buttons easily whilst navigating their way through different pages. Soft,classic and mellow colors are utilized to be gentle yet vivid on the eyes, this keeps the user engaged with a structured blend of the color spectrum.

Crazy 8’s Sketch

For my crazy 8 exercise I worked on the different layouts for the landing pages. I allowed for all my ideas to flow within the allotted time so that I was forced to ideate the screen that captures people’s attention the most. The other 4 sketches I created variations of the wine description and events page.

The Solution

As I narrowed down on my crazy 8 sketches, my vision and goal became more conclusive for Uncorked’s UI structure. As a user myself a first impression can either make or break your design and whilst I relied heavily on this concept I wanted my main screens to give a lasting yet informative impression. My role as the designer gives me control over how my user feedback is utilized, and with that being said I focused on making the splash screen as eye-appealing as possible and I would like for the user to sign up or return to his/her account without second-guessing. Signing up would be easy, quick, and efficient whilst other pages would follow suit.

Day 3 Decide / Storyboarding

Because I’m working solo on this design sprint, I would have to resonate with my solutions to produce a storyboard. My users have three routes. First, my main user persona would want to purchase a female owned brand of wine, my other user would like to do the same except that the events page caught his attention and would like to attend a virtual event with him and two friends. Lastly , the user would want to subscribe to “Uncorked” and join the various blogs.

Day 4 Prototype

I wanted my prototype to be as efficient as possible, meaning giving the user little to think about when they're making decisive moves in choosing a wine or choosing an event. Constructive criticism from my sketches had me tap into my creative design mindset and gave me UI motives for Uncorked’s framework. The design of the prototypes give a simple yet intuitive approach in getting to know the user. At first they’re prompted to create a profile in a two step feature, which creates an account, welcoming them to the Uncorked family.

Test Prototype

Day 5 Findings & Results

What I have learnt

For testing I was able to conduct two in person interviews, four remotely and two unmoderated. The feedback for the unmoderated sessions gave more clarity than the moderated testing, I expected this to be the other way around, however the unmoderated users pitched more pointers than the moderated ones. Viewpoints from the variation of button colors and how long it took for them to add a product to their cart were found extremely useful in welcoming the user to an exclusive platform for wine lovers.

When I began to sift through my findings I was able to understand the following.

All users were able to tell me what the app was about and were inquisitive about the slang “sip,shop,attend”, this led to further curiosity which prompted them to sign up
Most users went straight to the call to action button to shop wines instead of clicking on the drop down menu
Most users expressed their liking for the color coordination and the cork and wine glass for the apps icon.
Some users were able to track their progress with what they were adding to their carts, whilst some were going back and forth with the product and making changes to quantity and size.

Reflection

This five (5) day design sprint allowed me to marry my thoughts more easily with the use of this type of methodology, because of how it pushed me to grow my hands on experience within a timely manner. When the feedback was coming in from my users and I saw how frustrated some of them were, the design sprint showed me how to accept this and see the users opinions as a good use of constructive criticism. At first I thought my designs were on point, but then I realized a couple things such as a spelling blunder and a misused button or icon. I gained confidence in how I asked my questions so that engaging with my users wouldn’t feel robotic.

Overall I am happy with my design as I have had a deeper love and knowledge for my product. Doing this design sprint brought on problems I never knew existed and gave me more than enough tools to resolve them. I would definitely use this tool again and primarily as I my go to tool so that I’m able to uncover.

Conclusion

Uncorked’s users attract a mature crowd and different user personas. The main user ideally likes wine and loves anything attached to it, so when they log on and see options to shopping events, purchase a female owned brand of wine, read a blog and mingle with other persons within the uncorked community, this empowers the user to want to maintain their account. During this process of identifying the many things the user can be a part of, it showed me that my user empathy skills were improving and had a lot of room for continuous growth.