Tasked with creating an iOS native App, myself and three other UX/UI designers sought out to solve the age old problem: "What do I get him/her for his birthday/Christmas/any occassion?"
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We devised a user-oriented solution to utilize the recipient's social network to help answer these questions for anyone who needs a little extra inspiration.

Leveraging Community to Crowdsource Informed Gift Gifting

Role
As a member of an agile team, I was directly responsible to keep our workflow managed, conduct and document research and analysis, lead conceptual ideation, as well as being co-lead designer on Figma to deliver wireframes, iterations, and the final prototype
Timeline
2 Week Sprint (May 2023)
Tools






Project Goals
With the hypothesis and personal understanding that the gifting process is often complicated, time consuming and stressful, we began the process to identify the means in which we could create a more meaningful way for people to give and receive gifts based on their needs and taste.
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Specifically our goals included:





Identify what constitutes a "good" gift
Define & solve for pain points within the gift giving process
Leverage gift giving strategies that are most successful
Define product principles/unique value proposition
Deliver a Native iOS App Hi-Fi Prototype
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With our parameters in place we sought out to begin our process, executing specific UX methodologies & techniques along the way.

Research

Synthesis

Ideation/Design
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Testing & Delivery

Research Contributions
Conducted research audit of competitor features/current market segmentation, user interviews and user sentiment surrounding gifting. Collaborated with wider team on research synthesis, persona creation and user journey development.
User Research
What could we learn from a diverse set of viewpoints regarding the gifting process?
Initial Context
We wanted to speak to a broad audience, rather than focus on a particular group, as we hadn't yet decided on a target demographic for our app. If we found conflicting data or needed to narrow our focus later on, we would use a screener survey to identify our target audience and do more interviews.
Abridged Discussion Guide









5 People Interviewed; Age range 20-46

357 Data Points Collected; Avg. 71.4/Interview
User Research: Synthesis
What did we hear and what were they really saying?

A Good Gift
Conveys:
Thoughtfulness
Intentionality
Sentimental Value
Usefulness
Inspiration
The "best" gifts are usually given by someone close to them because they generally acknowledge a recipients needs, wants and interests best
Wishlists are sometimes a necessary evil at the expense of thoughtfulness and surprise
Pooling money is logistically complex and often not worth the headache
Experiential gifts are special but require a ton of planning
People have various ways of keeping track of gifting occassions
Feature Ideation
Taking all our accumulated takeaways and insights we ideated and prioritized features that would be incorporated into our concept and solve for our user's pain points goals and needs through design.

Informed gift giving through socially collaborative profile building
Product Principles




Feature Components
Personalization: Onboarding
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Objective:
Allow users to put in specific parameters of what they would want to help inspire social collaboration and AI learnings. Allowing for the repurposing of the predictability of an itemized wishlist.
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*Creating a profile for a gift recipient would entail similar inputs based on what you know about them





Personalization: Profile
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Objective:
Lorem ipsum
User Flows and Testing
As we had to fully develop a thematic world with every element incorporated, we decided to go straight to Hi-Fi design for user comprehension & evaluative testing.
A Note on Testing:
The intentionality behind testing was to qualitative evaluate:
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Comprehension
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Enjoyability
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Motivation
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Engagement
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Fulfillment
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Rewarding Aspect
Because of the complexity and subjective nature of qualitative testing we asked follow up questions regarding the previously listed qualitative measurements, took meticulous behavioral and attitudinal notes, and documented any verbal reactions to the usability test, all of which informed our next iteration.
Progress Tracking & Thematic Advancement

Key Learnings From Initial Testing

Participants didn't understand the theme and what they were working towards

Animation was very slow and users didn't even see "XP" on card or the total XP advancement indicator on the actual thematic progress tool

As we were using our persona's image and telling people they were at work as "Elijah" and showed them the image initially they didn't connect in a fulfilling way with his progress
Social Motivation

Key Learnings From Initial Testing

Most participants didn't even see the social message, which was a photo of the sender and a "great job" emoji

The users who did see it didn't understand who the photo was of and why emojis were being used once someone completed a "sprint" and began a new one

Feedback was made that the two photos were competing with each other and they were unsure of who was who, adding to the confusion of being our persona "Elijah"
Progressive Rewards

Key Learnings From Initial Testing

Transition was very slow and most users didn't even see the total XP advancement indicator on the actual thematic progress tool

Although the XP advancement indicator on the thematic progress tool was completed as the goal 15 XP was acquired it wasn't initially clear that the goal had been completed due to the unclear nature of the theme

The reference to "levels" was unclear on the tool and what exactly a "Level" referred to
Reward Collection

Key Learnings From Initial Testing

Participants were unable to locate where they would see their "reward collection" within a reasonable amount of time

Participants were often unaware that when they completed the goal "XP" amount they would collect a reward
App Map
Based on previous testing we iterated on the designs in order for them to achieve the highest standards of motivating and engaging users
Progress Tracking & Thematic Advancement
Initial Design

Final Iteration

Changes Made From Initial Testing

Changed theme to be intuitive in terms of progression, i.e progress in building a house

Animation timing was adjusted for seamless progressive indication with added bounce fx

"XP" on card and total XP advancement indicator on the actual thematic progress tool was more prominent with addition of token icon and sizing

Progression used avatar instead of profile picture, lessening confusion although that can be reverted for personal motivational purposes
Insights & Recommendations From Final Iteration Test
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As changing the UI of Leantime was out of scope, we conducted each XP total as a single sprint. With customization, project managers would be able to assign an XP themed journey for milestones, mini-sprints, multiple sprints or even a full project.
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Users were pleased with how progress was demonstrated and easily able to comprehend the theme they were working towards

My Contribution:
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New Intuitive Theme Ideation
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Ideating and implementing token icon as a signifier of the XP point system, increasing visibility and comprehension
Social Motivation
Initial Design

Final Iteration


Changes Made From Initial Testing

The message clearly stated who it was from and included text instead of just an emoji

The message was interactive, needing to be clicked in order to read the contents, instead of disappearing instantly after reception

The placement of messages was moved into a more prominent position
Insights & Recommendations From Final Iteration Test
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Some users initially didn't understand how to retrieve the message but eventually realized clicking on the message revealed the contents - potential to add an "open" button or signifier
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Optionality exists to include pre-loaded message choices or open field text writing. The icon choices would be pre-loaded onto the platform to include with a message.

My Contribution:
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Improved social modal ideation, design and animation
Progressive Rewards
Initial Design

Final Iteration

Changes Made From Initial Testing

The XP Advancement Indicator total changed state illustrated by the animated transition from static black during the entire journey to completed white

The transition speed was optimized for seamless comprehension of XP gained

Banners were added to the thematic progress tool to inform the user that all XP goal "points" had been completed
Insights & Recommendations From Final Iteration Test
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Users found clarity of XP progress much easier to comprehend as the animation of the banner and state change was optimized

My Contribution:
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Integration of color state change to white to iterate the full sprint completion, while previous progress along the way would remain black
Reward Collection
Initial Design

Final Iteration

Changes Made From Initial Testing

Optimizing for find-ability this required the only UI change on Leantime's platform. We felt it necessary to add a "Trophy Room" to the left aligned menu section

A modal was added to indicate a new trophy was earned after completing the sprint

Animation showing the trophy being dropped inside the trophy room indicated where a user could find their earned trophies

Trophies could be clicked on to open a modal linking to that specific project's details including a link to see the overall summary as we were told conducting research that often users need to look back at old projects
Insights & Recommendations From Final Iteration Test
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Clarity of trophy collection and where to find them improved due to multiple indicators being put in place

My Contribution:
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Responsible for conception and design of UI addition, the collection indication modals, collection animation, trophy room and detail cards
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Ideation to only "light up" during hover state was considered and may have been a warranted interaction as it would provide clearer indication of click-ability of each trophy for details modal card
Metrics

Leantime
Business Metrics
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User Adoption (B2B/B2C)
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User Retention (B2B/B2C)
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User Referrals
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Avg Time on Site (Subscriber Total)
Subscriber
Success Metrics
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Sprint/Project Completion Rate
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Avg. qualitative data input/individual contributor
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Avg. time per task completion
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Avg. engagement rate/individual contributor
Next Steps

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Conduct usability tests with current leantime users
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Test on current designs and refine XP system to align with typical project parameters
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Evaluate additional themes that are motivating and quickly associated with progress building
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Determine which actions would be eligible to co-workers for social engagement prompts
THANK YOU.
For the project research report, spec documents, prototype, presentation or other documentation send a request to jeremybeckux@gmail.com or click the button below.