An app that centralizes important dates for friends & family, integrates with existing apps to avoid oversights, and offers tailored gift recommendations through advanced algorithms.
My Role
Overview
Discover | Problem
Managing important dates and associated gift-giving often consumes considerable time for users. There's a noticeable gap in current digital solutions, which tend to handle reminders and gift suggestions separately, leaving users juggling multiple platforms to fulfill their needs.
Activities
“I spent half an hour scrolling through my social media to find when my friend's birthday is, and then another hour or so trying to find the perfect gift for them.”
User Research | Competitive Analysis | User Interviews | Affinity Mapping | User Personas | User Flows | Task Flows | Sketching | Wireframing | Prototyping | UI design | Usability Testing
Duration
8 weeks | part-time
Tools
Figma | Maze | WhatsApp
Work process
Solo designer
Research
I began my research by exploring what current apps offer and identifying how DG (Direct Gift) could differentiate itself and add value with its new app.
Research | Competitive analysis
I explored Companies that bring unique & innovative ideas. However, none of them comprehensively combines all the necessary features into one unified platform. There is an opportunity in integrating these elements to create an all-encompassing solution that outperforms existing offerings.
Strengths
Contact sharing facilitates easier adoption of new apps.
Findings
Weaknesses
User flow is not easy to follow
UI is not recognizable
Alert are not prominent
Settings of reminders difficult to find
Actually, there is a gap in current digital solutions, which separately handle reminders and gift ideas.
Research | User Interview
I conducted in person interviews with 5 adults around 30-60 years old. All of them use some method to keep on track with their family and friends’ special occasions.
I collected data to understand issues with current methods. Through affinity mapping, I identified key needs: efficient visual reminders, valuable functions, and reduced time spent guessing gifts.
Findings
Affinity mapping
After thoroughly analyzing the research findings, here's how I summarized them:
Pain points
Difficulty Setting Reminders: Users find it challenging to set reminder alerts, indicating a need for a more intuitive interface.
Inaccessible and Unclear Information: Important information is difficult to locate and often lacks clarity, leading to confusion and inefficiency.
Inadequate Color Contrast: The current color contrast does not adequately highlight special dates, increasing the risk of overlooking important occasions.
Missed Special Dates: Users experience frustration when they miss special dates because they did not check the app, indicating a need for more effective external reminders.
Challenges in Editing Occasion Information: It is difficult for users to edit information about occasions, suggesting a need for a more user-friendly editing interface.
Lack of Comprehensive App: Users have to check multiple apps that show important occasions, but none of them consolidate all information in one place.
Time-Consuming Gift Search: Users spend a significant amount of time trying to find the perfect gift, indicating a need for a more efficient and personalized gift suggestion system.
Define
Define | User Persona
Empathizing with my target audience, I crafted two user personas:
Jill, a tech-savvy executive who prioritizes connection with loved ones, and Nick, who values thoughtfulness but seeks an effortless tech alternative to social media for tracking special occasions.
Now, transitioning from findings to ideation, I'll begin shaping Direct Gift based on the identified problems. To ensure the user remains at the core of our ideation process, I've formulated point of view statements and how might we questions.
Define | Story Board
I created a storyboard to grasp the emotional journey users undergo when trying to remember a friend's birthday, aiming to better empathize with their pain points.
Define | Feature Set
I prioritized features for the project. Categorizing them into four groups, I focused on the must-haves for my MVP, ensuring the project's core essence.
“I shouldn't miss any special occasion just because I forgot to set it to repeat every year”
“I check my Google Calendar every day, but sometimes birthdays appear without an alert, and I don't have time to think of a gift”
“I would love to speak and then it shows me results because sometimes I am doing things with my hand and this would help me a lot to multitask, same as voice note of WhatsApp”
Define | Site Map
Following the prioritization from the Feature Set, I crafted a Site Map centered around the four categories that aligned with the must-have features. Upcoming Occasions | Contact List | My Gift Profile | Settings
Define | Developing Flows
Then I continue designing the journey a user will take to complete a task and achieve the goal by creating two flowcharts. Task Flow and User Flow.
Task Flows
I developed two task flows based on the most critical ones according to the users.
1) Set reminders
2) Buy a gift
User Flows
I developed three user flows to show the core features of Direct Gift.
Create an account
Add a new contact/occasion
Buy a gift
These flows informed the design of my wireframes, capturing the essence of DG's core features. I began with pen-and-paper sketches, then transitioned swiftly to digital low-fi wireframes to better grasp their functionality.
Design
I sketched wireframe ideas based on the users' most essential needs. I recognized that for users to adopt this new app, it must seamlessly synchronize data with apps they already use and be easy to use.
Design | Wireframes
Low fidelity
Low-fidelity wireframes helped me determine which ideas to pursue and which to discard.
Mid fidelity
Next, I developed mid-fidelity wireframes to understand which design patterns could be replicated and to ensure that interactions were guiding users toward the defined goal.
High fidelity
Finally, I refined the designs into high-fidelity wireframes to ensure the design provided everything necessary for users to achieve their tasks with a clear and intuitive UI.
To validate the design, I conducted in-person usability tests with five participants aged 30-60 years old. Each of these participants already uses a digital method to keep track of and purchase gifts for friends and family. Notably, all felt that current methods are not seamless.
Test | Usability testing
These are the outcomes derived from the activity:
Findings
Splash screen
Test
Upcoming Special dates screen
Contact’s gift profile
“I'd like to see a search function that matches two or more types and provides a gift suggestion”
In addition to the celebrant's gift profile, I designed a screen to display a history of saved and previously given gifts. This provides clarity on past and potential future gifts. For better organization, I added an option to 'sort by year' or 'by occasion' for each contact, facilitating more tailored gift selections.
Simple UI
Recognizable icons
Easy to add new occasion/contact
Easy to find a gift according to types
Easy to make a purchase
Clear visual hierarchy of CTA
After reviewing the findings, I implemented design changes to address the issues users encountered during usability testing.
Prototype Iterations
1) Splash screen contains excessive information
Before
2) The gift profile for the celebrant appears overcrowded
3) The search function should return more tailored gift results
Final changes
View the latest prototype
Splash screen contains excessive information
Bottom nav bar is confusing
Missing easy way to sort by price
After
I designed one screen for each function of DG, ensuring users can easily read each feature.
Before
After
Reduce shown information & restructure architecture
Consider using appropriate icons in the bottom nav bar and determine when they should be displayed
Different occasions and upcoming ones are easily identified
The search button stays there but is less prominent
Price range is easily identified
Bottom nav has been removed from this screen
Options such as History and Saved were modified on another screen as they aren't the first priority.
Before
After
The icons for filtering by type of gift were replaced with words to create a universally comprehensible UI. Subsequently, I refined the browsing system, ensuring users can easily find tailored gifts to purchase.
“I'd like to see a search function that matches two or more types and provides a gift suggestion”
Before
On the final introductory screen of the app, the button was updated to signal to users that they're ready to begin.
Before
After
After
Conclusion
There's potential for future improvements and additions, such as incorporating a fund-sharing option with friends and family. This would streamline the process of sending tailored gifts.
Additionally, the 'My Profile' section (distinct from the recipient profile) could be further developed. Users should be able to create a registry list, save preferences regarding interests, products, brands, and maintain a personalized measurement table, making it simpler for others to find the perfect tailored gifts.
Takeaways
Always prioritize one or two main features when developing an MVP. I spent too much time trying to add many features, and this made it hard to get the most important things done right from the start.