UX/ UI Case Study

Conducted UX research, user interviews, and competitive analysis. Created data-driven personas, prioritized MVP features, and designed a WCAG AA-compliant UI with four key screens for an accessible user experience.


Synanopis:

72 Hour sprint, Solo, Contract

72 Hours

Timeline:

Insights:

AH HA Moments

IOS

Platform:

Product Designer UX/UI, I conducted UX research, created interview questions, led interviews, analyzed data, performed affinity mapping, developed personas, defined the MVP, designed the UI, and ensured WCAG compliance.

Role:

Figma, Jiro, Google Docs, Excel, Adobe Color, Surveymonkey

Tools:


Plasma donation is a critical but often cumbersome process, with users facing difficulties in finding donation centers, booking appointments, and tracking their contributions. The challenge is to design an accessible, user-friendly mobile app that simplifies scheduling, enhances engagement through rewards, and ensures a seamless donation experience for all users.


Problem Statement:

Plasma donation plays a vital role in saving lives, yet many potential donors struggle with inefficient booking systems, unclear reward structures, and lack of engagement. Users need a streamlined, accessible solution that simplifies appointment scheduling, tracks donation history, and provides incentives through a transparent rewards system, ensuring a seamless experience.


Problem Overview:

Simplify Appointment Booking: Create an intuitive interface for users to easily find and book plasma donation appointments.

  1. Track Donation History: Allow users to view their past donations and the impact of their contributions.

  2. Implement a Rewards System: Design a badge and points-based system to encourage regular donations and engagement.

  3. Ensure Accessibility: Follow WCAG AA standards to create an inclusive and user-friendly experience for all ages and abilities.

  4. Enhance User Engagement: Foster a sense of accomplishment and loyalty through personalized notifications and progress tracking.


Goals:

Design Process:

  • User Research

  • User Competition Analysis

Research

  • User Personas

  • Journey Map

  • MOSCOW

Discovery

  • Initial Ideas

  • Task Flow

  • Card Sorting

  • Information Architecture

  • Yes, and...

Ideate

  • Color Scheme

  • Low Fi Wireframes

  • Design Tokens

  • High Fi Wireframes

  • Final Screed

Design

  • Challenges

  • What I Learned

  • What can be Improved

  • Whats Next

Recollect


Research:

Based on my findings, I can make the app helpful by simplifying the appointment booking process, providing clear donation tracking, implementing an easy-to-understand rewards system, ensuring privacy, and designing an intuitive, accessible interface for all ages.

  • Combine Red Cross and OneBlood's reward systems with

  • Zocdoc’s search and MyChart’s data tracking.

  • Prioritize easy navigation and accessible design (large buttons, readable fonts).

  • Add real-time updates and clear notification prompts.



Research: Feature Inventory Chart:

  • Best Practices

  • Red Cross and OneBlood set donor-specific UX standards with clear scheduling and reward systems.

  • Zocdoc excels in appointment booking with effective search filters.

  • MyChart leads in health data access and patient communication.

Opportunities:


Research: Mobil App Information Architecture audit

  • Wireframe lacks intuitive design, hindering user experience despite a clear UI.

  • Users encounter numerous bugs while navigating the wireframe, impacting usability and functionality.

  • Clicking on certain elements redirects users to external websites, disrupting workflow and causing frustration.

  • Lack of coherence between wireframe elements contributes to confusion and inefficiency in user interactions.

  • Overall, the wireframe fails to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience, requiring significant improvements to enhance usability and effectiveness.

Opportunities:


Research: Qualitative Data

  • Health-conscious individuals transitioning to plant-based diets

  • Interested in plant-based recipes and meal planning

  • Valuing community support and resources

  • Embracing a holistic approach to health and wellness

Demographic:

Observations:

  • Button labeling/placement confusion

  • Low visibility for CTAs

  • Unfamiliarity with the community tab

  • Swipe navigation confusion

  • Difficulty leaving reviews/feedback

  • Unclear feature purposes (e.g., lesson-based learning)

Recommendations:

  • Enhance button labeling/placement for clarity

  • Improve visibility of CTAs

  • Provide clear explanations for unfamiliar features

  • Evaluate alternatives to swipe navigation

  • Streamline feedback processes with dedicated sections/buttons

Research: Feature Analysis Chart:

Reviewed seven different competitors in the market, including HappyCow and Yelp. From this analysis, I identified over 50 features and organized them into a detailed feature analysis chart.

Opportunities:

  • Expand Vegan Restaurant Database

  • Curate Vegan Travel Itineraries

  • Clicking on certain elements redirects users to external websites, disrupting workflow and causing frustration.

  • Community-Driven Content

  • Vegan Lifestyle Resources

  • Exclusive Vegan Events

  • Integration with Vegan Products

  • Rewards Program Launch

Summary:

The feature inventory chart guided the selection for the vegan restaurant locator MVP, prioritizing user needs, market research, technical feasibility, and business goals. Chosen features facilitate finding vegan options, enhance user experience, and ensure scalability. Iterative development incorporates stakeholder feedback for optimal functionality and market competitiveness.


Jake Miller (In Need of Money)
Occupation: Part-Time Retail Worker
Location: Bushwick, New York
Age: 24

About:

Background:
Jake struggles with student loans and living expenses. He works part-time and is looking for ways to earn extra money without long-term commitments.

Goals:

Opportunity:

  1. Jake wants a quick and straightforward way to donate plasma.

  2. He needs a clear system to track his earnings.

  3. Motivated by transparent payment details.

  4. Incentives like gift cards drive his engagement.


Research: Personas:

Research: Journey Map

Maya is traveling and decides that she needs to stop to find food. Being a Vegan, she needs to find a Vegan restaurant.

She pulls out her phone to search for restaurants in the area and notices how hard it is to find a Vegan restaurant in this new area, causing her to feel frustrated and doubtful.

In this moment, Maya wishes that there was a digital community that she could look into order to find out more about the Vegan food in the area.

apps that she currently uses as they don’t cater to the Vegan customer. She finally decides to order from a local place and eats a salad, even though this is not a balanced meal

Opportunities 1

Needs a centralized hub for all things related to vegan meals.

No online vegan community makes upkeep harder.

Opportunities 2

Opportunities 3

Customization options are key for helping Vegans find balanced meals.


Design: Discovery Phase

Proposed UX enhancements for V Locator:

Involve streamlining, community integration, and educational resources to reengage users and stay competitive in the evolving market

  • Streamline app features to enhance efficiency and user experience.

  • Integrate community features like forums and user-generated content for increased engagement.

  • Develop educational resources such as articles and tutorials to empower users on their vegan journey.

Summary:

These changes aim to reengage users and maintain competitiveness in the market.


Design: MoSCoW

  • Using MoSCoW for project focus.

  • Goal: Find an MVP (Minimal Lovable Product) for A week sprint.

Analyzed competition & user interviews:


Design Phase: Storyboarding

Scenario: Maya, a vegan, is driving to a tech conference that is 3-hours from NYC. + She is half way into her drive when she decides that it’s time to get something to eat.

1

Maya eagerly awaits end of work shift, tired and hungry.

2

Leaving the office, Maya unsure, opens Vegan Locator for nearby options.

3

Maya eagerly awaits end of work shift, tired and hungry.

4

Maya swiftly locates top-rated vegan eatery on Vegan Locator, utilizing its mapping feature for directions.

5

Was able to map directions and order an Uber through V locator.

6

Maya orders a vegan wet burrito, eagerly awaiting its delicious arrival. And shares an image on the Vlocator app.


Design Phase: Storyboarding

Scenario:Maya discovered the benefits of veganism: health, environment, and ethics. Joining a supportive community, she thrived, learning new recipes and gaining knowledge, embracing her compassionate lifestyle with confidence and joy.

1

Decided to become vegan!!

2

Friends and _family judged er and did not support her decision to be vegan.

3

Trying to educate herself but feeling lost.

4

Learning made easy with Vedu.

5

Engaging with the V Community at a vegan Event in Central Park.

6

Empowering others and feeling a sense of belonging. at a vegan restaurant, she found on Vlocator


Design Phase: Sketches to Mid Fidelity

I facilitated inclusive collaboration, guiding the team with "Yes, and..." and "How might we..." prompts. Mid-fi mockups enable user feedback, efficient iteration, cost-effective exploration, focusing on core functionality, early problem identification, collaboration, and risk reduction.

Initial sketches

Second round

Third round

MID FI


Demographic:

  • Health-conscious individuals transitioning to plant-based diets.

  • Integrate community features like forums and user-generated content for increased engagement.

  • Seeking sustainable and ethical consumption options

  • Valuing community support and resources

  • Embracing a holistic approach to health and wellness

Optimizations:

  • Clarify labeling, enhance button/icon placement

Optimize UI:

Enhance visibility:

  • Prominence of CTA buttons

  • Tooltips for unfamiliar features

Provide explanations:

  • Explore navigation options

Improve swipe:

Test button placements:

  • Prototype for intuitiveness


Design Phase: Updated Information Architecture

  • New wireframe design optimized for MVP product post-MOSCOW analysis

  • Retained food location feature; fixed broken links

  • Implemented dual navigation: permanent bottom bar (Home, V-Community, Vedu, Profile, More) and dynamic top bar

  • Initial "For You" page displays locator offers: find restaurants, recipes, events


Design Phase: Style Guide

Presented founder with a style guide emphasizing WCAG

  • Emphasized WCAG-accessible colors.

  • Agreed to keep current typography/logos, limited to 4 sizes.

  • Demonstrated commitment to inclusivity.

  • Aligned with accessibility guidelines.

Logos

Color Pallets

Typography


  • Simplify user interactions through standardized design elements. Agreed to keep current typography/logos, limited to 4 sizes.

  • Establish consistency across UI components for seamless navigation.

  • Enhance efficiency and user satisfaction by streamlining UI processes.

Design Phase: Standardizing Components

Familiarity

Different but same

Recycle reuse

Same but a lil different

Custom for this one page but follows the design style


Design Phase: User Centric Design Thinking

  • Prioritize user needs and preferences in design decisions.

  • Illustrate a user-centered approach through a recipe card interface. Enhance efficiency and user satisfaction by streamlining UI processes.

  • Illustrate a user-centered approach through a recipe card interface.

UX/Ui Recipe Card:


Design Phase: High-Fidelity Mockup

For You Page

Restaurant Pages

Recipe Pages

Event Pages

V-EDU Education Pages

V-EDU: Article Pages


Recollect:

The V locator application boasts several accomplishments, including its cleanliness, adherence to current standards, and intuitive user experience. Leveraging founder stories, user interviews, and research, we developed a solid MVP product.

Conclusion:

Reflecting on the project's constraints—a three-week timeline with a small team—I recognize areas for improvement. Enhancing my Figma skills would streamline design processes, while time limitations prevented the implementation of card support. Additionally, further testing is needed to determine the suitability of the article page within the VEDU framework.

Reflecting:

I aim to conduct more qualitative testing and ensure WCAG compliance by setting a minimum font size of 16. Additionally, I plan to introduce an audiobook feature, which I believe would be relatively straightforward to implement

Looking ahead:

I am immensely satisfied with the project's outcome. It surpasses expectations and stands as one of our finest achievements to date, both visually captivating and highly functional.

Final Thoughts:


Check out my other projects:

Vlocator

Vlocator.co

Redesign VLocator app: Enhance visuals, improve data access, structure info, create narratives, ensure usability, and coordinate updates.

Lastbookstore.com

Conceptual

Redesigned thelastbookstore.com e-commerce site as UX Designer, Researcher, and WCAG Expert, focusing on E-commerce, branding, accessibility audits, and information architecture.


Emma Walker (Save the World Type)
Occupation: Environmental Scientist
Location: Seattle, WA
Age: 28

About:

Background:
Emma is passionate about making a positive impact. She regularly volunteers at community events and supports environmental causes. She’s health-conscious and values transparency and ethical practices.

Goals:

Opportunity:

  1. Emma wants to donate plasma to help save lives and support medical research.

  2. She seeks a transparent and easy-to-use app.

  3. Wants to see the real-world impact of her donations.