dhawkins44 / csci431w_ux_project

Collaborated with a software team to shape the UX from scratch. Conducted analysis, evaluations, and walkthroughs to guide design decisions. Developed sketches, wireframes, and prototypes for assessment. Executed user tests and used feedback to enhance the UX.

Neighborhood Deals

Neighborhood Deals aims to address the growing demand for sustainable and affordable shopping options by creating a platform that connects buyers with sellers in their local community. By facilitating the exchange of second-hand goods, the app not only promotes the reuse of existing resources but also fosters a sense of community and reduces the environmental impact of traditional retail practices. With features like location-based searches, Neighborhood Deals offers a seamless and trustworthy way for people to find and purchase second-hand items that meet their specific needs and preferences.

UX Team Members

• Daniel Hawkins - Primary Contributions: Writing of the Executive Summary, Phase 1 Report, Personas and Scenarios, Heuristic Evaluation, and Competitive Analysis.
• Andrew Moskowitz - Primary Contributions: Writing of the Executive Summary, Phase 1 Report, Personas and Scenarios, Heuristic Evaluation, and Competitive Analysis.

User-Centered Design Artifacts

• Personas and Scenarios
• Sketches and Diagrams
• Wireframes
• Prototype

Phase I: Analyzing Users, Competitors, and Initial Designs

Executive Summary

The demand for buying and selling second-hand is higher than ever. Neighborhood Deals aims to provide its customers with a convenient and cost-effective way to connect with others in their area by providing a platform to post and locate second-hand items and yard sales in their locality. Through our research, we uncovered possibilities to revolutionize the user experience.

• Competitive analysis revealed strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for innovation in multiple segments, enabling us to differentiate our product and enhance the user experience. Competitors' weaknesses we aim to improve upon:

  • Basic For-sale sites - Customers expressed the notion of these having an unappealing layout and nothing to entice them to use their site over a rival
  • Yard sale locators - Lack of mapping software, item-specific filtering, and user engagement
  • Social media-based platforms - Sites tend to be cluttered with irrelevant listings and ads, making it difficult to easily find targeted yard sale postings.

• Heuristic evaluation of the competition revealed opportunities in the aesthetics of the design, error handling and prevention, and innovative features (i.e. routing software)

• Personas and Scenarios clarify user needs:

  • Streamlined processes with ease of use to provide a quick experience
  • Consolidation of features: Search, post, and navigation in one app
  • New features: Fastest routing to desired yard sale locations

• Sketches and Diagrams depict the initial concept:

  • Effortless walk-through of posting an item or yard sale
  • Steps necessary to find user-specific yard sales
  • Guided fastest route to visit relevant yard sales

Full phase I report

Phase II: Refining interaction and designing wireframes

Executive Summary

Through user feedback from cognitive walkthroughs as well as information from our Software Engineering team, we are now able to prioritize what features are most important for our application and make design adjustments to better meet our user’s needs.

• Cognitive Walkthroughs provided insight on the decision making process of our target users and determined strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of the application’s current design.

  • Messaging Tracking - Customers expressed the desire for a page on the application to present the status of messages sent to and from other users.
  • Ability to Share - Customers wanted the ability to share an item or yard sale with other users or neighbors.

• Contributions from the Software Engineering Team have given us a better understanding of the technical limitations of the software being used as well as feedback on our proposed usability designs.

  • Consolidate Features - Our team noticed that each feature of our wireframe is on a different page and discussed the possibility of integrating multiple features on a single page.
  • Limitation of features - As the deadline for our product approaches, we have had discussions about the possibility that not all of the intended features will be feasible to include.

• Wireframe served as a blueprint to the design process and helped create structure and organization within the application.

  • Simplified visual representation of the user interface
  • Established user flow, content hierarchy, and navigation

Full phase II report

Phase III: Prototypes and User Testing

Executive Summary

We conducted a formative assessment with five participants to assess our progress on Neighborhood Deals and identify potential areas for improvement.

• Participants were asked about their use of competing applications.

  • What steps they would take to sell a used item or post a yard sale.
  • How they would find a used item to buy or a yard sale to go to.
  • What features are important to them when doing these tasks.

• Participants were asked to complete five tasks thinking aloud as they went:

  • Search for a specific item near them
  • Find nearby yard sales using list view
  • Post a used item of theirs
  • Find nearby yard sale with a specific tag using map view
  • Post a yard sale with a specific tag

• Participants were asked questions about their experience using Neighborhood Deals

  • Overall feedback was positive with each participant
  • Participants appreciated the map and directions feature for yard sales
  • Simplicity of use was a key positive throughout
  • An ability to link to social media was desired
  • Navigation suggestions will help streamline some tasks

Full phase III report