Playdate - A personalised app for Bill
From discovery to an intuitive prototype, passing through six design iterations.
Skills & Techniques
User Interviews
Sketching
Participatory design
Rapid prototyping
User Testing
Iterations
Tools
Pop App, Pen and Paper
Timeline
1 Week
My first interview with Bill, during which I got to know he is a creative young father.
Getting to know Bill
I have started my research by interviewing Bill about his personal background, hobbies and routine, to understand what matters to him and what can be done to solve a problem in his daily life.
Bill with his 3 years old son Luca during a trip.
Bill & Luca
Bill is an ex-teacher and musician, and its life has radically changed since he has become a father of Luca, that is now 3 years old.
I soon found out that he is very disillusioned with traditional educational methods, and trying to give an alternative education to Luca.
'Schools are negative environments. When your kids are the most plastic, you send them to be raised by stressed professionals, while their mother and peers can do a much better job.' - Bill
Bill's problem: missing playdates
Bill wants Luca to play as much as possible with kids of his age, because that is such an important part of his education. He tells me that is not always easy, though. Coordinate with other parents is often very difficult. He has often found himself missing a lot of playdates.
At this point of my interview, it was clear that Bill would have really liked to have a way to get to know where the kids in his area are playing, without relying on texts, word of mouth or login on multiple websites. At the moment, all these events are announced on multiple websites and Facebook groups like these:
Two examples of news sources about Playdates: Hackney Council webpage and a Facebook group. This sources of information are not easy to follow and frequently updated.
Sketching the first solution on paper
Once I had a clear idea of what could have made a big change in the way Bill was getting notified about kids events in his area, and what the important factors to consider where ( e.g. How much time in advance a decision is made, where are the playgrounds in his area, how important is the weather, etc.) I started to sketch on paper my first design.
My first sketch of the Playdates app, relying on event's apps such Eventbrite, Facebook Event and Meetup for inspiration.
Participatory design technique: Bill sketched his own suggestions over my first designs.
Sketching with Bill, to improve my first design
I then tested my design with Bill. While he was commenting them, I encouraged him to draw his own ideas on my sketches.
These 'visual comments' have been incredibly helpful for to understand and remember what parts of the design needed to be modified.
Test and iterate, and repeat for five times
The design of each screen went through a series of iterations, informed by the results of my user testing and new interviews with Bill. In particular, the design of the first screen of the app changed dramatically after the third iteration, to give more and more space to the 'calendar' view of the events, that turned out to be the most important information for Bill. The last version of the screen was improved by simplifying the design, and adding the event with the most friends attending at the top.
Six consequential reiterations of the same screen, created after user testing. The first version is really an 'articulation of the problem' as opposed to a design solution. In the process of iterating, the elements in the first screen got moved into a menu at the bottom, to give space to a 'calendar view' of the events.
My sketches at the end of the reiteration process. I have produced higher fidelity sketches to be cut and used to produce a mobile paper prototype.
Getting to a final design
At the end of the reiterations I was finally ready to sketch each screen with a higher fidelity.
The re-designed series of screens could then be used to build the app's clickable paper prototype.
Building a clickable prototype
The process of preparing the material for the prototype was really quick. My idea quickly transformed from a paper sketch to a clickable paper app, making it really easy for Bill and other potential users to simulate using it, and commenting on their experience.
Paper prototyping with Pop App: all the paper screens are uploaded and ready to be linked to reproduce the user journey.
Bill's profile screeen on the paper prototype
Testing with Bill, to improve again
I have tested the paper prototype several times with Bill, and extended the testing to other potential users.
By the end of this process, I made the following changes:
- deleted confirmation screen for joining a playdate, replaced by same-screen interaction
- added 'invite your friends' functionality on same screen as joining a playdate, instead of after confirmation
- displaying how many friends are attending an event in a single location for each time slot
Testing with users also made me realise what other important areas still needed to be covered.
Planning the next steps
Testing with users also made me realise what other important areas still needed to be covered such as:
- Taking into account recurring events
- Taking into account the user case of people that are only joining an event if other people are
With more time to develop the project, these two would be the areas I would start researching on.
