Narrowing the Project Scope

Since the scope of the project was wide – as we could choose to focus on any data insight we wanted – my team sought to narrow our focus by picking on two specific user insights: socialization and exercise. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, these two variables have seen a large downward plummet across the majority of the population in North America. By targeting these behaviors, we could focus our efforts into creating an app that specifically seeks to help users overcome obstacles of the pandemic that prevent physical and mental wellbeing.

Preliminary Research

Although everyone around the world is struggling with the pandemic, there’s still a lot of research we need to do to understand who exactly the users of our app are. In other words, who would benefit from data insights to better his/her health behaviours?

Well, yes, the answer is a lot of people again. But more specifically, let’s take a look at people living in lockdown or quarantine. Our preliminary research, conducted through the web, found that:
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28% of Americans live alone, which means this portion of the population received little to no social interaction with other people for months during lockdown
Preliminary surveys had found that feelings of loneliness had doubled over the first month of the pandemic, while emotional distress had tripled
As Nuance Health points out, exercise can improve physical and mental health, which consequently can help boost one’s immune system and help fight against the coronavirus. Since the pandemic has begun, people have lost the ability to go to the gym, many even completely stopping their physical wellness practices

Based off preliminary research data and later on, user interviews, we developed the below empathy map.

User Interviews

Our team interviewed 10 people of varying ages, from different countries, and who identified with different gender identities. Some key findings there were highlighted from these interviews were that:

Most interview participants saw a significant decrease in in-person social interaction with anyone living outside of their house, with a large shift to text communication and video-conferencing to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues
Participants left home less than they used to prior to the pandemic.
Some participants reported not leaving their residence at all for a few days
Most participants were unaware of their limited movements until it was brought up in he interview.

Based off of the interviews, we developed a persona to represent our users.

Problem Statement

Wren, a full-time student and part-time pizza delivery driver, needs to focus on creating healthy routines in a very unstructured environment in order to successfully navigate the new pandemic landscape.

Rapid Sketching

Using our persona, Wren, and the guiding problem statement above, our team set out to rapdily sketch out some ideas for different pages.

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

Our sketches were converted to low-fidelity wireframes over Figma after we shared and discussed various ideas. Another team member and I worked together to create the following low fidelity wireframes based off rapid sketching concepts.

Low-Fidelity Testing: Wizard of Oz Testing

At this stage, we conducted our first user testing through a digital Wizard of Oz test with three participants. The test was conducted as we showed users the low fidelity wireframes on Figma and asked them to complete specific scenarios, such as:

Use the navigation bar and input an hour of instagram and tiktok social activity to the app.
Check how much time you spent on Instagram on December 5th.

Throughout this usability test, we took note of any issues users encountered as they tried to complete their tasks. Some key findings we discovered from the first test:

Users were unsure on what to do on the input page even after further explanation about the app was given. Buttons often caused confusion.
Similarly, users were also confused about how to navigate the input section.

In order to combat these issues, our team made a series of changes in our mid-fidelity wireframes. For example, we split up the input section into a series of step-by-step pages to guide the user through the data input process. We also created more descriptive content labels and developed recognizable icons to improve the app’s intuitiveness.

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

Mid Fidelity Testing: Think-Aloud Protocols

In order to test our mid fidelity wireframes, we conducted a usability test with the think-aloud protocols. We recruited five users and invited them onto our clickable, interactive prototype to complete tasks such as

Check data for socialization and figure out your overall performance over the last week
Check the calendar to find out how long you took facetiming Abbey for on December 5th..

This time, we picked up on finer details of the interface

Participant found the main page was unclear due to difficult distinguishing what lines on the graph represented.
Likewise, one participant found visual representations such as pie charts to be easier to interpret

In the improved version of the mid fidelity wireframes, we solved these problems by introducing a colour coded legend and axis to the graph on the main page, as well as adding a graph preference feature option in the profile page to accommodate users better.

Iterated Mid-Fidelity Prototype

The Quarantine Companion project wrapped up after adding improvements to the mid-fidelity wireframes as per testing. Below are a few frames we developed. In order to test our mid fidelity wireframes, we conducted a usability test with the think-aloud protocols. We recruited five users and invited them onto our clickable, interactive prototype to complete tasks such as

View Prototype

Reflection

The Quarantine Companion project introduced me to the process of rapid testing and prototyping, which was a new and enjoyable experience! It was always interesting to see the impact usability testing would have on each iteration, and I really think that’s what allowed this project to narrow in on user needs. Overall, I found this project emphasized the user-centric approach to design, and I enjoyed the opportunity to appreciate how significant user testing can be.

Quarantine Companion

Project Overview

My Process