UX | Design Research | Innovation
Sector
Mobile apps, ios, games
Challenge
Choose an app or digital product/service existing on the market; highlight the process and approaches towards improving it.
Project Time
5 days
I have started by exploring a number of apps and web products that could be considered as a use case for this particular challenge.
For making a decision upon which product to work on, I've considered the following metrics:
Mind mapping various options to explore.
Considering the limited availability of specific resources like time, I have selected a number of techniques from each of the UCD phases that would be appropriate for the current project.
In this phase I have collected user data by conducting moderated interviews and short tests with a sample of 5 people who are familiar with the scrabble game and mobile technologies. To reduce gender bias, I have approached both men and women in an equal proportion. While a small sample of participants might be less representative for the whole product audience, it is generally efficient in collecting anecdotal evidence for potential opportunities and identifying major usability concerns.
Highlights from contextual inquiry and observations
Personal Experience/ Expert Evaluation
After collecting the compound feedback from all interviews and observations, for a better understanding of the users and their needs I have aggregated the quotes, and plotted them further on an empathy map.
This has helped to identify emerging topics about what do the user feel, think, say and do while using the product, which then leads to definition of common pain points and desired outcomes.
The emerged clusters formed four distinctive sets. Experiences were related to the struggles of finding a valid combination of letters, validating a currently entered word, inefficient time spending between the moves and a number of usability issues.
To visually portray a real user of the game and help to focus decisions about app improvements based on the analysed research data, I've aggregated the findings into a persona.
This is also helpful for:
Aspects to focus next would be related to the identified pain points and needs of the user, which sum up to:
After identifying the main dimensions from research, I used brainstorming technique to elaborate a number of visual and structural changes that could be applied to the app in order to fit better the user needs.
The reality is that not everything can be done at once and making an informed decision on what to prioritise can be daunting.
A prioritisation matrix serves to identify the most important problems. This structured, objective approach helps achieve collaborative consensus while satisfying the varied needs of the user and business.
I have plotted on a 2x2 matrix the core ideas from brainstorming, based on two metrics: the value for the end users and the difficulty of implementing it.
In a collaborative environment, together with development teams, this approach helps in deciding the order in which to implement the discussed features in a way that would benefit all parts involved.
I have build the task analysis diagram to illustrate the current sequence of tasks performed by user for checking the meaning of an available on the board word in the dictionary.
This has helped to ideate on a better approach as of how this could be simplified and merged with the ideas from brainstorming.
I've started with low-fidelity sketches to reflect how various ideas related to previously identified opportunities could be implemented.
Adressed Drawbacks:
Suggested Improvements:
Checking the meaning of a word available on the board in the dictionary
Adressed Drawbacks:
Suggested Improvements:
Using available credit for disabling ads
Adressed Drawbacks:
Suggested Improvements:
Other UX opportunities
Adressed Drawbacks:
Suggested Improvements:
New Feature: Training mode
Opportunity: Help users develop their scrabble skills while also learning new words
Suggested Improvements:
KLM-GOMS (Keystroke-Level Model) uses empirically derived values for basic operators like keystrokes, button presses, double clicks, and pointer movement time to estimate task times in seconds.
In this way we can compute and compare how have the applied changes affected the time required for executing common game tasks.
Additionally, User Experience feedback could be captured through A/B tests with users by getting more qualitative and quantitative data.
This could be achieved by translating the prototypes in an interactive environment i.e Invision app, giving the users to perform specific tasks within a certain scenario and measuring the time, comments and attention spots (for instance heat maps).