Since the COVID outbreak in 2020, many people have turned to DIY home improvement projects to keep busy while social distancing. However, finding good resources and useful information can be challenge for individual users. People are frustrated by spending hours searching for answers on Google or paying fees for contractors to visit their homes.
I see an opportunity for a coaching application, particularly for outdoor DIY projects, that allows users to quickly connect with reliable field experts or other users with shared interests. This platform could provide useful project guides with in-depth information.
Since the pandemic started, there has been an increased interest in outdoor DIY projects, as many people have been spending more time at home and looking for ways to improve their outdoor living spaces. With restrictions on travel and indoor gatherings, many people have turned to their backyards and outdoor spaces as a way to stay active, entertained, and connected with loved ones.
The trend towards outdoor DIY projects has been strong throughout the pandemic, and it is likely to continue as people prioritize their homes and outdoor spaces for both work and play.
To target homeowners aged 25-50, I conducted surveys for quantitive analysis and user interviews for qualitative analysis. The goal was to gain a deeper understanding of their behaviors and pain points related to outdoor DIY projects.
After carefully analyzing the data from the user research, I incorporated the insights into the user persona to synthesize my findings and identify the main problems that need to be addressed.
After identifying the problems and needs of users, I started to create ideas for relevant features and develop collective rationales that would justify including these ideas.
To effectively address user needs and goals within the given project constraints, I had to make informed decisions about which features to prioritize.
1. Project Guide
2. Voice/Video Call
3. Community Channel
4. Search
5. Payment
6. Onboarding
7. Sign Up/Log In
After the initial ideas, I began by identifying the necessary pages or screens for the app. My primary goal was to ensure that every user need is met at every step of the flow. I focused on designing user flows rather than individual pages so that the results would be more user-centered and successful form the users’ perspective.
When developing a product that requires a large volume of information, it was critical to ensure that it was visually well-organized to prevent overwhelming the users’ cognitive load. Equally important was ensuring that all necessary information was readily available to users to successfully initiate their projects.
To achieve this balance and solve the problem, I thoughtfully re-organized the overall layout and navigation system. Additionally, refining sitemap was necessary to ensure that the product is easy to navigate, and users could find the information they need without significant cognitive effort.
The wireframe was designed to establish the structure and architecture of the information before moving on to visual and interactive elements.
The process began with initial wireframe ideas, then moved to prototype. Here are some considerations that I had in mind during the process.
The product should make the users feel like product is speaking directly to their personal stories and daily experience.
The design should prioritize simplicity and convey useful information in a simple and intuitive way. Utilizing simple cards and friendly images would provide visual cues that help the users quickly understand the content.
Use green color to create a nature-centered, people-oriented, comfortable, and energizing atmosphere for the product.
The usability test is to assess the learnability of test participants as they interact with the application for the first time. To achieve this, each participant was given three scenarios and tasks to complete initial functions. The entire process was observed and measured to obtain meaningful insights.
After completing the usability test, I prioritized the main issues experienced by users with the initial prototype; possible design solutions and rationales were then addressed, as they were directly related to essential features of the product.
View Rainbow Spreadsheet Analysis and Usability Test Result Metrics
Users can easily browse the carefully curated content of the app, based on their most interested topics and subjects, at a glance and quickly access it.
THE BACKYARD offers over 100 outdoor project guides in various levels of difficulty, ensuring that users can easily follow the instructions written by field experts and successfully complete their DIY projects or address day-to-day challenges.
Users can receive consulting on topics of interest by directly engaging in voice or video calls with experts, enabling them to resolve issues or seek personalized advice for their unique and situational projects.
The community channel enables users to exchange opinions and feedback, as well as share their personal experiences in DIY outdoor projects, resulting in more engaging and meaningful user experience.
Due to project limitations, some important business opportunities could not be address, such as offering new users free trials for key features and encouraging membership sign-ups for additional resources. These are crucial for achieving business objectives and will require ongoing development efforts.
Knowing that not all designs can be easily implemented as code, I plan to focus on researching and improving communication methods to ensure quick and accurate information exchange in future team projects.
I continually strove to discover better design techniques and methodologies to improve user experience throughout the project, practiced and familiarized myself with scenarios to derive more meaningful results and insights in usability testing. I would like to maintain this mindset in future projects to enhance user experience.
