Genevieve “Jenna” Krinsley is a junior UX/UI designer who helps create interactive products using user focused design processes so that the end product is what the user truly needs. Jenna believes that by putting the user first the end result of the designs will be more successful. Jenna graduated from Manhattanville College with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Sociology.
Case Study
EventsTogether
Caption: A couple high fidelity screens I created for the application.
Introduction
My Role:
EventsTogether was an individual project I completed for my second capstone project for Springboard. I was tasked with everything from:
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Research
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Wireframes
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Prototypes
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UI Style Guide
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High Fidelity Screens
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User Testing
Purpose:
The purpose of this app is to help people easily find local events to go to and be able to invite their friends and family to the events. This app is geared towards helping people who are new to an area find events, and helping those who are more introverted go to events by allowing them to easily see if anyone they know is already going, and or invite friends so that they are not alone.
Problem
For my second capstone project from Springboard I chose the social product scenario. I was given the prompt to create an app which helps users attend events. Users tend to sign up for events but end up not going. The prompt included information about the company's business goals, target audience, and branding information.
Process
I used this information as a skeleton to build my app upon. Then, I researched how other event applications were designed. These applications were: Meetup; Facebook Events; and Eventbrite. I found through this research that each application had both pros and cons and I used this information to help create my EventsTogether app. I conducted a user flow with each competitor application to see how the sign up process; search for events; and invite friends processes worked.
Competitor Analysis
Caption: User Flow competitor analysis I conducted using Meetup.
Caption: User Flow competitor analysis I conducted using Facebook Events.
Caption: User Flow competitor analysis I conducted using Eventbrite.
Survey Results
I then created a survey in order to see how potential users felt about going to events and using an app to sign up for events.
100%
Rather attend an event with someone else than alone
75%
Self describe as introverted
Caption: Pie Graph from the survey showing whether people sign up for events and end up not going, and how often.
Style Guide
I then started working on my style guide for EventsTogether. I used my knowledge of color theory to select the colors for my palate. Blue is my main color because it invokes a sense of loyalty and trust and also has a calming quality. For my typography I chose a very dark grey because it is easier on the users eyes than a complete black font color is. The background color of the app is an off white that is also easier on the users eyes than a true white. I wanted my users to feel at ease and calm while using my app, especially since the target users are people new to the area and or people who are more introverted.
Caption: Brand Colors I chose as part of my style guide.
Caption: Typography and button style guide.
Caption: Iconography, Button UI, and Tab Menu style guide.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
I created low fidelity wireframes in order to get the main concept down without focusing too much time on the final design for the first round of usability testing.
Caption: Low Fidelity wireframes I created.
This way I made sure that the main idea of the application was clear from the beginning. One of the main pain points discovered from my first round of usability testing was that it was hard for the user to find how to invite their friends to the event, and that is the critical feature of the app.
Once the first round of testing was complete and the results compiled, I designed the high fidelity prototype so that I had a final prototype that looked and acted much like the actual product would.
Final High Fidelity Screens
Caption: High fidelity screens I created for EventsTogether project.
Conclusion
I created EventsTogether as my second capstone project for Springboard using a prompt and then all of the design tools and knowledge I learned through the course. By conducting the whole design process from research through final iteration I was able to create a product that would help both the users end goals and the business goals. Conducting research at the beginning allowed me to learn what competitor products already do and what works and what doesn't work within those products. This helped me create a product that was useful but also unique. The surveys, interviews, and user research helped me relate to the target user and create something the user would want instead of creating something I would personally want, leading to less personal biases. Through that I realized what the users wanted and needed did not always align with what I would have thought.