Google UX Design Program

The following are 3 projects as part of the Google UX Design Program.

Project 1: Butter mobile app
Role: UX Designer and UX Researcher
Challenge: Butter is a local bakery that lacks a mobile ordering app to provide customers with pre-ordering and payment.
Solution: A mobile dedicated app that allows users to place online orders and pay directly through the app.
Target Audience: Busy workers and commuters lack the time necessary to prepare a meal.

While designing the Butter 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. Takeaways would be to conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed and conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.

User Research

Insight Identification

1. Based on the theme that: it isn’t clear why an account creation is necessary, an insight is: users need more information about the necessity of account creation.

2. Based on the theme that: ordering apps are useful for an overwhelming majority, an insight is: users see the value for an ordering app.

3. Based on the theme that: it’s not immediately clear that pickup or delivery needed to be selected, an insight is: users need beer cues for what steps are required to proceed to checkout.

4. Based on the theme that: a seasonal menu might not be useful, an insight is: users don’t see the value for a seasonal menu.

5. Based on the theme that: it isn’t immediately clear how to reach the menu view, an insight is: users need better cues for what steps are required to access the menu.

Wireframe

Lo-fi Flow

Hi-fi Flow

Final Mockups

Project 2: Butter website
Role: UX Designer and UX Researcher
Challenge: Butter is a local bakery that lacks an online ordering site to provide customers with pre-ordering and payment.
Solution: Design a website to be user friendly by providing clear navigation and offering a fast checkout process.
Target Audience: Busy workers and commuters lack the time necessary to prepare a meal.

Our target users shared that the design was intuitive to navigate through, more engaging with the images, and demonstrated a clear visual hierarchy. I learned that even a small design change can have a huge impact on the user experience. The most important takeaway for me is to always focus on the real needs of the user when coming up with design ideas and solutions.

Sitemap

Wireframe

Lo-fi Flow

Hi-fi Flow

Final Mockups

Project 3: Helper app
Role: UX Designer and UX Researcher
Challenge: There are a lot of vulnerable people in communities who lack the assistance necessary to do simple daily tasks like buying groceries to social and mental support like interacting with others and playing games.
Solution: Design a mobile app that allows volunteers in communities to help with simple tasks so that vulnerable people can have access to daily necessities and social interaction.
Target Audience: Vulnerable community members who need assistance with grocery pickups, dog walking, medication pickup, and someone to play games with.

I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.