Blackstar Farms

RESEARCH:

Summary:

I have conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working brides/grooms that needed to say organized during stressful times.

5 participants participated in an individual interview and moderated study. A competitive audit was also completed during the research phase.

This user group confirmed initial assumptions about the need for a checklist but also added the importance of staying on budget, better communication, and lack of inclusivity between homosexual dating apps.

DEFINE:

🗺️Aggregated Empathy Map:

☹️User's Pain Points:

1. Time - Working adults need help, guidance, and reminders of all the details that needed to be completed for a wedding. Finding time to meet during the week is a struggle.

2. Finances- Most brides/grooms stressed the difficulty of staying on budget due to needing to shop vendors, etc.

3. Lack of Representation - Homosexual community felt the lack of representation due to not having verbiage, images/videos, and options that made them feel included.

👤Persona:

Using the results of secondary research and the interviews, I created a persona that consisted of two members: Jessica & Andrew.

❗Problem statement:

Jessica is a busy teacher and coach who needs to plan her wedding on a budget because she’s on a fixed income.

❗Problem statement:

Andrew is a busy hair salon owner to been disappointed by the lack of representation for the LGBT community & would like an easy way to communicate with his bridal party.

🗺️User journey map:

Mapping Jessica’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to a simple budgeting tool for her wedding planning.

DESIGN:

📃Paper wireframe: Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. I prioritized the checklist on the homepage due to needing to constantly update it.

💻Digital wireframe: Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. I prioritized the checklist on the homepage due to needing to constantly update categories.

Low-fidelity prototype - The low-fidelity prototype connected the primary user flow of the checklist and budget section, so the prototype could be used in a usability study with users.

>>View Blackstar Farms Lo-Fi prototype here.

📗Usability study findings:

I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.

Round 1 findings:

1. Users need to quickly update the checklist

2. Users wanted tools to help say on budget

3. Users wanted to communicate with individuals and groups in the app

Round 2 findings:

1. The ‘submit’ button was confusing to users

2. The checklist & budget needed to communicate together

TEST:

The high-fidelity prototype - The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for planning and budgeting.

>>View the Blackstar Farms Hi-Fi prototype here.

♿Accessibility considerations:

1. Provided access to users who are visually impaired by adding alt text to images for screen readers

2. Used icons to help make navigation easier

3. Used high-contrast colors to ensure easy readability

CONCLUSION:

THE IMPACT:

The app makes users feel like Blackstar Farms really thinks about how to meet their needs.

WHAT I LEARNED:

While designing the Blackstar Farms app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed

2. Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need

**This is a hypothetical case study**