Application Design I / Project 2: UI/UX Design Document

20/05/2024 - 08/07/2024 / Week 5 - Week 12
Iman binti Kamarudin / 0364014
Application Design I / Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Project 2: UI/UX Design Document

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LECTURES

CARD SORTING METHOD

Different users have different mental models and if you design an app based on your assumptions, the usability can decline.

What is Card Sorting?

Write down all the information down on the paper and get users to sort it for you to understand how your user groups categorise information.

It also helps determine an organisation scheme

Types of Card Sorting

Open

1. Prepare cards

2. Participants sort cards in group with no categories

3. Participants label the groups

- Ideal for understanding how users organise information

Closed

1. Prepare cards

2. Give users categories for the cards to be under, participants sort them

- Useful for testing specific groupings and ideal for when a basic structure has already been decided

Hybrid

1. Combine open and closed sorting methods

2. Prepare cards

3. Participants sort cards in already defined group labels

4. Participants have the freedom to create new groups and sort cards into them

Purpose

Allow flexibility

Gain deeper insights into user mental models

User centric design

Benefits

Capture user language

Highlight lacking information

Enhances user creativity 

Remote

1. Participants sort cards using online tools

- Convenient for reaching a wider audience 

Moderated

Facilitators present for qualitative insights (15 samples)

Unmoderated

Facilitator isnt present for quantitative data collection (>50 samples)

Faster and less expensive

Benefits of Card Sorting

Informs information architecture

Usability enhancement

User centric design

Iterative improvement (ongoing design developement)

Enhancing findability

Design decision validation

Content prioritisation 

Adapting to user diversity

Stakeholder collaboration 

Navigation optimisation

Pros

Ease of use and cost effectiveness

Efficiency in gathering data

Direct user input

Cons

Dependency on participants

Content centric focus

Time consuming data analysis

USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH

Crucial to driving sales and customer perception. The process is what matters, not the final work.

Role of UX Designer

1. Help understand user behaviour goals and needs

2. Reveal how users interact with a system and identify their pain points

3. Understanding user emotions during interaction

4. Ensure the design process is grounded in user understanding leading to user-centric designs

UX Researcher Duties

1. Developing coherent research methodologies

2. Selecting and recruiting targeted end users for research endeavors

3. Conducting individual interviews

4. Utilising data analysis tools to enhance consumer products

5. Collaborating closely with the product team to steer future directions

Integrating UX Research

Starting Early

Foundation of Understanding:

Fundamental knowledge guides the initial concept and design directions

Concept and Iterative Design

Concept Validation: Early research helps in validating concepts

Continuous Feedback: Designers can test prototypes, gather user feedback and make necessary adjustments

Launch Phases

User Centric Adjustments: Ongoing research can help decide final adjustments based on user feedbacl

Post Launch Insights: Research after launch can help gain insight into future updates

Value of User Experience Research

Minimises uncertainty and clarifies what users want and need

5 Steps of UX Research

1. Objectives

2. Hypotheses

3. Methods

4. Conduct

5. Synthesise

UX Research Methods

Qualitative 

- Interviews and observation

- User groupds

- Moderated card sort

- Usability testing

Quantitative

- Online surveys

- Unmoderated card sort

- Web/app analytics

- Eyetracking testing

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INSTRUCTIONS

TASK

CARD SORTING

To begin, we first had to card sort the already existing categories and features in our chosen application. I conducted my card sorting through Miro and started by adding everything that already existed in Wattpad.

Fig 1.1 - Cards of existing features

Afterwards, I added in some of the old features that users mentioned they wanted back in the app reviews.

Fig 1.2 - Cards of existing and future features

Once all the features were added, I moved onto the actual card sorting. I did the hybrid card sorting method and tried to ensure that there weren't too many features in one category. I tried my best to keep everything organised and reference the competitive app analysis from my proposal.

Fig 1.3 - Final First Pass Card Sorting

After consultation, I added a few more features that can enhance the user experience and some suggestions.

PROJECT 2

1. ONLINE SURVEY

Minimum 50 survey responses

I used Google Forms to conduct my survey. I created a set of 20 questions to gain insight into the user demographic and thoughts on each page/process in Wattpad.

Fig 2.1 - Survey Questions

2. INTERVIEW

Minimum 5-10 interviews. I conducted a pilot test study to affirm my questions for the interview and conducted a total of 5 interviews overall.

Fig 2.2 - Final Interview Questions

3. CARD SORTING

Minimum 7 participants.

For the card sorting, I conducted it using UXTweak. Unfortuantely, not all features were included due to a limited amount of cards allowed. The cards that were not included were mainly the shop/purchase features.

Click HERE to view card sorting results.

Fig 2.3 - Standardisation Grid of Final Card Sorting

4. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE MAP

Fig 2.4 - Final Site Map

5. FLOW CHART

Fig 2.5 - User Flow Chart

FINAL

Fig 2.6 - Final UI/UX Design Document PDF

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FEEDBACK

Week 6 

Specific Feedback - Think about a reward system, maybe users can get vouchers to get something from the app. Tracking to show how many books a user has read may be a good idea and make sure you're continuing on from the first part of the proposal and adding the improvements.

Week 10 

Specific Feedback - Keep working. Try sending your survey in groups on Facebook. Make sure to get everything done by the deadline, you still have quite a lot to work on. Add a table with common points from the surveys and interview so that it's easier to read through. You can create your user personas from the interviews you've already conducted and the user journey map. Also start your card sorting activity.

Week 11

Specific Feedback - Explain why you got the results for the survey. Add a summary for the interviews at the end. Add arrows to the site map. Write and explain the features that are new and why you added them.

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REFLECTION

My experience with this task was extremely difficult. I struggled a lot with getting the minimum amount of respondents and it was also just a very meticulous and taxing job overall. I cannot say that I enjoy research gathering but alas, it is just something that I have to do so I hope in the future that it won't affect me so hard. Furthermore, I found out that there is a lot...a lot of work that goes into data gathering. I mean, I always knew it wasn't easy but I didn't know just how much you have to gather. I've definitely learned a lot of things during this task and I'm grateful for that. I'm also glad that I managed to achieve all the minimum amount of respondents for the survey in time. All those hours of scrolling through Facebook groups and pleading random strangers to fill my form out were not in vain!