Summary
Client: Mirage
Duration: 5 months
Team: CEO, Developer, and myself
Role: Product Designer
Deliverables
User Research
Survey Feedback
User Persona
Competitive Analysis
User Flow
Branding
Wireframe
Prototype
Usability Testing
Results
Project Summary
This case study delves into a UX design initiative aimed at refining the user experience of a specialized social media app designed for photographers. The primary focus is on enhancing usability, engagement, and overall user satisfaction within a community primarily composed of photography enthusiasts and professionals. I strategically aligned with the Hook model, achieving an outstanding 80% user download success rate in a single attempt. In addressing the challenge of enhancing user engagement, I uncovered solutions that not only sustained interest but also cultivated a robust sense of community. Read on as I unveil the dynamic results and achievements that underscore my commitment to delivering effective user experiences.
User-Centric Redesign:
The project aims for a comprehensive redesign that prioritizes the user. Iterative design processes are employed to create an interface aligned with the diverse needs and expectations of the photography community.
Why it's done: The primary objective of user-centric redesign is to ensure that the app effectively meets the needs and expectations of its users. By prioritizing the user perspective, designers can create an interface and features that align with user preferences and enhance their overall experience.
Collaborative Stakeholder Engagement:
The success of this UX design endeavor relies on a collaborative partnership between stakeholders and engineers. A shared vision ensures that the redesigned app aligns with both business objectives and user preferences.
Why it's done: Engaging stakeholders early in the process helps in identifying potential challenges or resource constraints. This proactive collaboration allows for resource optimization, ensuring that the design aligns with available resources and timelines.
Key Focus Areas:
Usability Enhancement:
Prioritizing intuitive navigation and feature accessibility to streamline the user journey, resulting in a more user-friendly and efficient app experience.
Why it's done: The primary objective of usability enhancement is to create a more user-friendly experience. By prioritizing intuitive navigation and feature accessibility, designers aim to streamline the user journey, making it more straightforward and efficient for users to interact with the app.
Engagement Optimization:
Tailoring features to encourage increased interaction, collaboration, and content sharing among photographers, fostering a vibrant and active community.
Why it's done: An engaging user experience is a key factor in user retention. When users find the app enjoyable and interactive, they are more likely to return and continue using it over an extended period. This contributes to sustained user engagement and loyalty.
Satisfaction Metrics:
Utilizing user feedback, analytics, and satisfaction metrics to measure the impact of the redesign, ensuring that it resonates positively with the app’s user base.
Why it's done: Analyzing satisfaction metrics validates the effectiveness of design decisions. Positive satisfaction outcomes indicate that design choices align well with user needs, while negative metrics signal areas that may require adjustment or further refinement.
This collaborative and user-centric approach aims to meet and exceed the expectations of photography enthusiasts and professionals, positioning the app as a go-to platform within the photography community.
The Challenge
The overarching challenge for the app is to retain users beyond the onboarding stage by cultivating sustained engagement through beloved features. With the business model centered around a yearly subscription service, the key objective is to captivate the audience with functionalities tailored to the interests of photographers. By combining a user-centric mindset with a strategic subscription model, the app aims not only to retain users post-onboarding but to create a lasting connection by consistently delivering features that resonate with the passions and interests of photographers.
User Research
In my research, I delved into the common pain points experienced by photographers, scouring article sites and forums like Quora. For self-taught photographers, the learning curve is often slow and challenging. Establishing meaningful connections or finding the right mentor can be a daunting task in the photography community. Quora forums highlighted the struggles many photographers face in translating their vision into an image and their aspirations to turn their passion into a side hustle.
To address these challenges, I embarked on brainstorming sessions, drawing inspiration from the feedback and experiences shared by photographers on Quora. Analyzing the features of three key competitors, I honed in on essential elements. The selected MVP features include a dashboard, contest, ranking, learning, camera specs, and forums, strategically designed to alleviate these common issues and enhance the overall user experience.
Result
To refine user responses, I introduced a rewarding mechanism for their contributions. Features considered for implementation included forums, gamification, and video tutorials. The client opted for a phased approach in developing the MVP, with each feature being introduced incrementally to ensure completion within the designated timeframe. As the app evolves, the overarching objective is to incorporate all planned features.
To ascertain the feature with the highest appeal to photographers, I conducted surveys both online and in-person. Through several rounds of interviews, a consistent finding emerged: photographers are particularly drawn to the prospect of winning prizes for their work. This aligns seamlessly with the app’s rewarding mechanism, creating a cycle that incentivizes users to revisit the platform. Further research into the reward cycle highlighted that users also value acknowledgment for their achievements, reinforcing the user-centric design of the app.
Survey Feedback
In addition to contests, I inquired about users’ preferences regarding camera settings, location information, and chat features. Survey results indicated that while camera setting information is appreciated, it isn’t deemed highly necessary, falling into the category of a moderate priority based on user responses. Conversely, knowing the location of a photo emerged as significantly important to users.
In in-person interviews, users expressed a desire to replicate original photos, elevating the importance of location details over camera settings. The challenge of replicating precise camera settings, often requiring the purchase of another DSLR camera, contrasts with the practicality of visiting the physical location. Building on this, another prominent feature users actively sought was a chat room, providing a platform for engaging conversations among photographers.
Problem
The primary challenge to address revolves around establishing user connections within the Hook Model framework. Research reveals a concerning trend, indicating that a significant 1 in 4 users tend to abandon the app after just one use. The fundamental aim of the Hooked Model is to instill habit-forming behavior through a sequence of triggers, actions, variable rewards, and continued user investment. The overarching problem lies in optimizing these components to create a compelling and habitual user experience that fosters sustained engagement and mitigates early app abandonment.
Solution
User feedback strongly emphasizes the appeal of contest rewards, with both survey data and in-person interviews indicating that users are more likely to continue using the app if they have the opportunity to win prizes and receive recognition for their contributions. In light of this, a user persona was meticulously crafted to articulate the goals and motivations of the individuals expected to engage with the application. Recognizing and understanding users, their motivations, and specific requirements are integral steps in the process of building a truly user-centric product that aligns seamlessly with the needs and aspirations of its intended audience.
User Persona
Jonathan, a part-time freelance photographer with a degree in economics and a current role as a finance consultant, is deeply passionate about enhancing his photography skills and expanding the exposure of his work. While juggling his primary responsibilities, he actively seeks opportunities to connect with professional photographers, aspiring to immerse himself in their experiences and draw inspiration from diverse perspectives. His engagement with the photography app is motivated by a dual objective: personal skill development and establishing meaningful connections within the photography community.
To address his pain points, including a lack of time for attending in-person meetups, limited exposure of his photography work, and a desire for a community aspect lacking in other photography apps, our challenge is to strategically design features that not only cater to Jonathan's skill development but also facilitate meaningful connections within the app. How might we create a user-centric environment and subscription model that not only captures Jonathan's interest but also addresses his specific needs, ensuring sustained engagement and a sense of community that aligns with his passion for photography.
• Become a professional photographer.
• Easily be able to connect with other photographers and fans on the app.
I proceeded to designing the main feed and it’s counterparts. This is to map out how each interaction will transition from page to page. I’ve organized the main features of the app through sections: Home, Explore, Upload Photo, Notification, Contest and User Profile.
For convenience, users will continuously be logged in unless they logged out manually. Google login authentication was also implemented so that users can easily login with one click and don’t have to go through the hassle of verifying their account.
Navigation
In advancing the design phase, I systematically crafted the main feed and its corresponding elements, meticulously mapping out the flow of each interaction from page to page. The organization of the app’s primary features is thoughtfully structured into distinct sections: Home, Explore, Upload Photo, Notification, Contest, and User Profile. This strategic organization ensures a user-friendly and intuitive navigation experience, facilitating seamless transitions between functionalities. The design of these key sections is aimed at enhancing overall usability, providing users with a clear and engaging pathway through the Home, Explore, Upload Photo, Notification, Contest, and User Profile features.
Contest
The gamification system was divided further into three features: Contest, Winner and Votes. The subscription feature was placed in the private contests with bigger rewards. The open contests are free and intended to draw users to participate in the contest. Every month, a minimum of 10 contests will be published on the app.
Branding
After conducting a comprehensive comparison between a light interface and a dark interface, the decision was made to adopt the dark interface for its ability to create an immersive experience, particularly well-suited for photography. Dark UIs inherently lend a stylish and dramatic feel to visual elements. Prioritizing accessibility, I interviewed several users to gather insights on their preferences regarding dark UIs. A significant majority of users expressed a preference for dark mode on other social media apps, citing its ability to reduce eye strain during prolonged usage. Notably, the images displayed on the app were sourced from Unsplash, ensuring they are permitted for commercial use, aligning with ethical and legal considerations.
Typography
In line with contemporary design trends, a thoughtful typography strategy was employed to achieve a cohesive aesthetic. Embracing a streamlined approach, two distinct font styles were carefully selected. Helvetica takes center stage for the main body text and headlines, offering a crisp and classic feel that contributes to a timeless and clean design. Introducing a touch of versatility, Quicksand was chosen for tutorials and contest announcements, providing a distinctive and engaging font style for these specific elements. This intentional use of fonts is designed to enhance readability and visual appeal, aligning seamlessly with current design preferences and ensuring a modern and engaging user experience.
Prototype
Acknowledging the absence of a home button on the iPhone X and recognizing the significance of intuitive navigation, many features were designed to be initiated by gestures and hand motion. In particular, for the voting section, users are allowed to swipe using hand gestures. During the usability testing trial, it became evident that users desired the option to interact with buttons. Consequently, both hand swipes and buttons were incorporated into the voting mechanism, ensuring a flexible and user-friendly interaction model that accommodates different preferences and enhances the overall usability of the app on devices like the iPhone X.
Result
Focusing on refining the gamification system proved to be a challenging yet crucial experience. Carefully aligning with the Hook model, the app's strategic design aimed to captivate users, resulting in an impressive 80% success rate of users downloading the app in a single attempt. Recognizing the need for sustained engagement, particularly in fostering a greater sense of community, it became apparent that implementing a reward mechanism within users' activities was paramount. This solution mirrors the fundamental principles of the Hook model, emphasizing the creation of habit-forming behavior through triggers, actions, variable rewards, and continued user investment. This strategic approach not only ensures the app's continued success but also addresses user feedback by fostering a stronger sense of community and engagement.
