Product design
Help Me Move App
For those who are moving into a home with very little budget, they often call upon family and friends for help. Help Me Move is a mobile app which helps people plan and coordinate this help. For this personal project, I chose to research, design and test the parts of the app that would address the users’ goals: scheduling and planning a move, and seeking help from family and friends.
My role
- Visual design
- Prototyping
- Usability testing
The Problem
When preparing to move, communication and scheduling help from friends and family can be difficult to coordinate. People’s availability can be difficult to nail down. Staying organized and maintaining up-to-date information and communications for everyone involved can be very difficult.
Success Metrics / Goals
Create an intuitive mobile application that guides the user through planning tasks, scheduling and requesting help for a move.
Process
Research
User Personas
Research was conducted on target audience using an online questionnaire, from which user personas were created for use throughout the design process.
Design
User Task Flow
I designed a user task flow to map out how the application could accomplish the goals outlined within each scenario in a moving project set up and other processes.
Sketches
Sketches for the Moving Dates and Tasks section of “Help Me Move.” Images on the left represent early quick sketches. Images on right show more refined iterations with annotations and notes.
Prototype
Images for an interactive prototype were designed in Sketch app and the prototype was built in InVision.
Testing and Iteration
Time Select Section
The time scheduling interface was problematic. Users schedule the dates and times for tasks and items that they would need for their move. I observed users repeatedly getting stuck in this section, not understanding how to schedule blocks of time. The steps in this process was eventually simplified along with the interface, allowing users to move through without trouble.
Accessing Mobile Contacts
Early on in the moving project set up, users are asked to grant the app access to their mobile contacts. Around half of the test users were reluctant to grant the app access to their private contacts. After conducting some comparative research, I tried a different approach by moving this option into Invite Helpers, a section later on in the app, where the request had much greater contextual meaning to the user and their workflow.
Conclusion
Key Takeaways
With each design iteration of “Help Me Move,” the amount of time it took a user to move through the on boarding experience decreased. As the user through planning tasks, scheduling and requesting help, the flow of the mobile application design became easier for people to use. Some sections of the app slowed or halted the user’s progress towards their goal, but through observation and iterative design and testing, solutions were found for these obstacles.
Next Steps
The next step for this project would be to prototype and test the communications system for the application.