Interactive Prototype: LunchBuddy Student App
Learning Moment:
Delete the darlings or difficult to use but 'cool' or wow factor design. Don't fall in love with a design element if it isn’t useful or easy to understand. Usability is the end game here. This is a difficult but key step as an initially visual designer.
Lessons Learned
Micro-interactions are critical to think through. This prototype, with documentation, could be handed off to a developer to code and the minor and standard stuff, could be the blanks filled in, that mainly the prototype pages, not the minutia are the critical aspects of the design.
Design Challenge to Solve
The design challenge we were asked to solve, individually, but incorporating group feedback during formative prototype design stages. Later with feedback from the entire class of the interaction design of the master' s program, including instructor response as well. We were supplied personas, we created our own wire frames and user journeys, and eventually prototype and interactions for a school lunch payment mobile app.
User Persona 1
User Persona 2
User Journey & Transcripts
Sitemap
Plans to Solve Design Challenge & Changing Approach
Working in groups we supplied feedback and changed our designs throughout the process. I began with a very loose idea, catering mainly to the most tech savvy of the users of the personas that would use the app, but then circled back and re-designed to include the less technically proficient of my users. The user journey guided what screens to include along the way. But functionality, once the prototype became interactive, additional screens were added.
Results
The primary change was a complete transformation and back to the drawing board, including a class survey, to choose between four navigation styles and options at the outset of the app. Screens of the initial and the options, the third version was the hands down choice. This was the critical design thinking and global change. Along with the adding a 'home ' navigation , post-log-in and other guidepost changes.
