PlanBmic
A mobile App focussed on alleviating the problem that social distancing is creating among the young population.
University project for the UX/UI Design Masters degree in the university of applied sciences and technology in Madrid. (CICE)
Type: Mobile application (iOS and Android).
Team: We were 25 people involved in the project. – Product designers, Graphic designers, Web developers, marketing strategists, content strategists.
My role: Project definition, User research, Interface design.
Tools: Miro, Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe XD
Process
Definition
The pandemic is a difficult situation for the average population but it’s creating a psychological issue among the young community. There is a real need to socialize which is not being fed.
How could we make a product in order to help young people find a way to alleviate the feeling of isolation by creating interesting content, clear information, and an offer of services but keeping them and their families safe and protected?
Challenges
1. Similar products already exist.
2. It is a huge topic with many unpredictable circumstances that can be a big obstacle for the development of the product.
3. It is a race against time.
4. We don’t have easy access to many stakeholders.
Analysis
We sympathized with the users at first. For that, we collect a big amount of information regarding data, predictions, an average of infections depending on the age of the population, and contextual research to understand where the most quantity of infections take place.
We also collect information about the strategies which were taken by other governments in various countries, in order to analyze the differences between Spain and those countries regarding both, data and procedures.
We made a research to understand who would be our principal stakeholders. We found that there were many possible Stakeholders as well as difficult access to close contact, we needed to prioritize (catering/events sector and families), making it extensive to other stakeholders like healthcare or security forces.
After this work, I summarized the information visually, to make it clear and easily understandable.
User Research
Once the general information was gathered, we proceeded with our user research. We defined our target group as young people from 20 to 30 years old.
We observed that the feeling of isolation, tedium, and a lack of clear information from the media, were the common problems.
Contextual research led us to a clear conclusion that we suspected: Young population would find various ways to meet despite the restrictions and of course not giving thought to sanitary issues.
We made several anonymous surveys and interviewed different people among our target, in order to have a better understanding of personal situations, and so create a complete profile of our Personas.
In the final part of our user research, we constitute an empathy map to organize all the insights we collected and I made the two Persona tabs: Andy, a young student, and Paula, an intern in her first steps in her work life.
Download full interview
Ideation
We started our ideation phase by doing brainstorming possibilities we could include in our Mobile App. We made proposals for both online and outdoors offer. We also applied the «five-thinking hats» technic in order to learn from different roles and situations and offer a wider perspective.
After the first stages of the ideation phase, I started to sketch a site map of the Mobile App. I collected, organized, and prioritized the ideas in order to make a proposal of the architecture of information that could gather all the content we wanted to include, but still keeping it simple and clear.
Prototyping & testing
As we got deeper into the process, I began to sketch how the App could look like. Firstly, I just organized the information in a more visual way and I developed a wireframe that we would use as a guide.
After this, we proceeded to turn the wireframe into tabs, so our users could interact with them. We tested our App with several possible customers, then we could outline how the user journey was. We gather the insights and we developed few more iterations until we got a better product, that the users would consider as a good match for their needs.
Subsequently, I created our final wireframe. Anyway, the conclusion was clear: This App was facing a big challenge, it could be exciting for a short amount of time, but afterward, the users would be immersed in the feeling of tedium once again. The demand for new and fresh content would be very high.
Final Product
Functionalities
Our final product was a Mobile App in which we included a wide offer of online and offline entertainment.
Within the online offer, there are several possibilities like video gaming for both single-player or multiplayer, sports sessions and concerts in streaming, and easy connection to social media, influencers, and chat communities.
In the offline offer frame, we included a guide of places where the sanitary recommendations were properly indicated. Besides that, we also add cultural activities which would be organized as open-air events.
Clear information was a fundamental aim, therefore, we made a section where the users could find accurate and updated information about the pandemic, but also a guide of hospitals and other healthcare institutions close to them. We took special attention to mental wellness, and we included a catalog of clinics specialized in youth psychology, that our customers could easily reach.
Design guide
– Name and logo: Clear message. Familiar to users due to the use of «plandmic» in a lot of entertainment content over the internet. Easy to retain.
– Background color: Dark purple (#1D092C) – After testing light and dark mode, the dark one was the preferred among the target group. Black was considered too serious and this one was very well accepted among male and female users.
– Font family: Open sans – An uncomplicated font that both apple and android users found very familiar.
– App menu: Five main interactions using recognizable icons and tags to make the navigation clearer and faster.
Conlusions
A design for everybody
Colors, fonts, and shapes matter. Our target group was vast in age and needs, so I had to give a lot of thought to those aspects, in order to create something that could be accepted by many different profiles.
A real understanding.
During the process, I understood how important is really listening to our audience. The importance of an interview, how to choose the correct words and questions, how our body language is involved while doing it. Being conscious about it brought me an amazing result. I got a lot of valuable information and insights from our users.