Once I decided on a range of capabilities for my app, I sketched and prototyped some elemental designs, incorporating previous findings. Prototyping with the target audience offered insights into the app’s functionality, intuitiveness, and provided opportunities for the exploration of new ideas early on in the development process.
Insights from prototyping
Prototyping with an uninformed audience helped bring awareness to any blind spots I may have missed while designing initially. Since the app needs to be as intuitive as possible, getting feedback live and observing where any hesitancies or confusion arose were extremely helpful. Some insights I found while testing the first version of the app:
Users respond to familiar interfaces, icons, and layouts.If the user flow is already familiar, users feel more confident finding their way around a brand new app.
My initial designs were lacking some basic functions that would allow for more flexibility when navigating the app. Alternative navigation options were needed in addition to the hamburger menu; back button and direct message options were added.
Though this won’t be present in this version, some possibilities for future development include adding a quick links section, allowing for quick access to favorite or most-visited sections.
