NeedaNanny
Conceptual Web Project
The Problem
When booking a nanny, common issues arise when parents want to find qualified nannies at a more affordable cost. While on the other hand, there is also a dilemma for nannies to find more jobs with better wages as well as having more opportunities for entry level positions. I challenged myself to create a web application that would solve these dilemmas, while also adding features that would help users obtain the services they needed more easily. NeedaNanny is a conceptual business that would be able to create those services for people looking for care and those opportunities for people providing it.
My Role
Seeing that this was a conceptual project, my role consisted of all the storyboarding, designing, and implementations regarding this project. Unfortunately, that gave me biases on the development process, however it also gave me the opportunity to learn the different roles that are present when developing and designing an application.
Goal
The goal for this conceptual project was to create a web application that successfully allows parents/clients to hire nannies, as well as nannies to be hired by parents/clients, also to create a way for their respective groups to find jobs at prices they deemed fit. I wanted to also create an interface that had proper usability and was also visual pleasing.
Solution
Seeing that this issue was for a hypothetical company, the first step I decided to do was to create a persona of an actual client who wanted this project created and designed. The next question that needed to be considered was what were the competitors doing? It was also important to determine whether or not those competitors were satisfying all the needs for the users. After gathering pain points through competitive analysis research, I found that users had issues with the competitor’s lack of features. With that being understood, the next step was to implement new features while also keeping the website’s usability maintained.
Company Purpose/Values
When formulating the idea of this company I focused on creating a purpose for them and their product.
I began to ask questions like, "Why did they want to build this product?", "Who was this product for?", "What do they provide for people?", as well as "How did their company operate?".
Once I came up with those questions that allowed me to visualize the type of company I would be working with, which helped me get a direction for what the design would look like. Learning their purpose helped me apply values to the company, which allowed me to make sure my design aligned with what they represented.
Requirements
After creating the company's purpose and values I then decided to determine the list of requirements they wanted for their product. During this process, I focused on listing screens that they deemed were mandatory for them to have as well as the features they wanted to see implemented in the product.
Research
Competitive Analysis
To start off my research, I decided to look into what a common interface looked like for a childcare site. I wanted to know what they focused on, seeing what was consistent between sites. This helped me determine the industry standards for a system's functionalities within the childcare world.
What I found out was most of the interfaces included strong family imagery as well as soft colors that exuded a sense of care and safety. The text they provided was clear and bold, they also often had parent/nanny reviews of the service they provided on the homepage. The homepage also provided login and sign up options for both the parent and nanny, which brought them to separate pages for them each to manage their profiles respectively. What I found out was these sites focused on providing the user with a clear message on what they do and how it would benefit them.
With the use of competitive analysis, I discovered the common functionalities of a child care site, as well as learned what is expected when designing something for people who are caregivers or looking for them. Knowing this information, I then gathered more information on issues these sites commonly encountered.
Pain Points
Whenever I look for issues that users have had with competitors, I always research the pain points that they encounter with the company's product.
I found out there were several common issues posted that were respective to both nannies and parents. Parents (Clients) wanted to find more qualified nannies at a reasonable price. On the other hand, nannies wanted to find more entry-level job opportunities with good hourly wages and consistent scheduling.
However, both parties desired more understanding management when it came to customer service from the company as well as more efficient ways of communication amongst the parent and nanny.
Personas
With the pain points discovered, the next step was to create personas. The reason I created personas for both the parents and nannies was to help me understand both user"s needs, experiences, behaviors and goals.
The goal of a parent and the goal of a nanny are different since they are looking for different services from the other. The parent wants to find more higher-skilled nannies so they don't have to fear for their child safety or wellbeing, while the nanny is looking for more opportunities that could help them earn a livelihood, while also improving their skill in the early stages of their career.
Another reason I thought of them separately was because I wanted to keep in mind that their are different types of people that would be needing these services and I wanted to figure out the best way to help them reach their unique goals.
Scenerios
With the pain points examined and the personas created, the next step was to create scenarios.
Creating scenarios helped me figure out what steps the users would have to go through in order for parents to hire a nanny or nannies get hired by a parent.
Dividing the users between parents and nannies also helped me determine what functions and screens would be specific to their particular categories.
Once this was established the next step was to create the screens listed so I could determine the each group's user flow.
Sketching
Wireframes
Before I could properly design a screen for the scenarios I came up with, I first had to create a list of wireframes to distinguish which design would be the most effective, clean, and usable. For each potential screen I designed different layouts to see which ones would satisfy that criteria.
Lo-Fi Design
Once the wireframes were created, I then selected which pages I felt worked well and gave them a more detailed design. The reason for this was for me to see the concepts on paper and determine whether or not I thought they were effective.
Designing
Wireframes
After creating a list of wireframes on paper, I wanted to also be able to create wireframes on the computer so I would be able to send it to the company and see which design would best fit their vision for the application.
Lo-Fi Design
With the wireframes now on the computer (after "speaking" to the company), I then chose the designs for each page that was "discussed" between me and the company. These pages were the best for user navigation purposes and I gave them more detail so the company would get a better idea on what the site would look like once it was finished.
Prototyping
User Flows
When I finished with the wireframes, I then began to create the user flows for the application. The reason for this was so I could visualize the sequences of action customers had to go through within the application as they try to accomplish their tasks.
Mid-Fi Design
With the screens selected and user flow established, the next step was to apply the color scheme, font sizes, button sizes, and spacing so the interfaces would look more complete (This helps the user's understanding during the second usability test because they will think the site is complete and will take it more serious).
Usability Testing
In order to see if the site was navigable, my next step was performing a series of usability tests. I performed a total of two test, one after creating the Lo-Fi design, and another after the Mid-Fi design. During the usability test I asked users to preform a variety of tasks that included:
- Create Parent Profile
- Search for a Babysitter
- Interview a Babysitter
- Hire a Babysitter
- Create Nanny Profile
- Search for a Parent
- Message a Parent
After the tests I learned that users were experiencing a consistent confusion during two parts, one would be during the "Nanny/Parent Choose Care" Pages and the other involved the occurred when the users where figuring out how to search for a parent or nanny.
To fix these issues that the user's were encountering, I decided to change the icon on the search bar to the actual text "Search" so there would be no more confusion regarding were to click. And the second thing I changed was the "Continue" button on the "Choose Care" pages since user's just expected them to be navigated to the next screen when they clicked on a particular type of care.
Hi-Fi Design
The last step was to utilize the information I received from the second usability test and apply it to create a more complete version of the application. I began to finish the site by altering the design so it would be less flat and look a little cleaner. This consisted of adding more depth to some elements like buttons and text boxes as well as changing the text so it would stick out more.
Create Company
Outcome
Seeing that this is a conceptual project, I did not send the Hi-Fidelity design off to a Developer, however since I did decide to be the one who applied both UX and UI to this project, the result of this project was the creation of a conceptual user flow, that would allow both Parents and Nannies to find a babysitter and job respectively.
Learned
- As I worked on this project, I gained a variety of insights on the UI/UX process. Starting off this project, I had no proper direction. However, through research of different techniques and practices, I learned how to implement weekly sprints to help my overall workflow speed.
- I gained more insight on how to properly utilize wireframing. I also looked into the importance of sketching wireframes vs developing wireframes on the computer.
- I learned and gained hands-on experience on how to navigate and operate Figma.
- I learned that usability testing isn’t as simple as it may seem. Being the facilitator as well as creator of the web application, I realized things that I thought were easy to use and understand differed from user to user.
- Being a usability facilitator, I learned about the challenge of correctly speaking to the participants without leading or influencing them on how to use the product.
- I learned how to process feedback that I received from testings. I also saw the challenges that came with figuring out how to determine which procedures were the proper next steps to take in order to make the site easier to use for that particular scenario.
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