A3: Project Summary
Sustainability Victoria App Prototype
Intro
I was asked to design an app for Sustainability Australia, with the hope to educate Australians on growing food at home, and providing recipes and cooking idea. Sustainability Victoria is a website dedicated to helping Victorian citizens transition to a circular, climate-resilient economy. Australia’s high rate of urbanisation means that most people experience a significant disconnect between their food production and consumption. Over the decades, suburban gardens have declined and Australians reportedly have a lacking understanding and appreciation of how their food is grown. But luckily statistics indicate this trend is changing. A large number of Australians need education on growing their own food, as well as recipe / cooking ideas to make good use of their newly harvested crop. Their audience is any Victorian who is climate conscious, or simply considering growing their own food.
A2: Concepts
The Sustainability Victoria executives wish to see 3 initial design concepts, each with their own variation before user research is conducted. The three design concept variations are a Context Variation, an Aesthetic Variation, and an Accessibility Variation.
I designed the 4 most important screens and created High Fidelity Mockups for each one of these 3 concepts. In these mockups I included Sustainability Victorias existing logo, branding colours, UI design and images. My peers and tutor then voted on the strongest of the 3, and told me which one i should choose to continue on with.
The strongest concept that was voted on was Concept 1, my Context Variation. Concept 1 — Context Variation: The first design concept must be catered only to Australians living in dense inner city urban areas with very little space to grow food.
These were my original mockups for my app design. After some peer and tutor feedback I realized i needed a lot of improvement in my design. One of the most common comments was that it didn’t look modern, as modern apps use minimalism and adhere to a design trend called Neumorphism. I then decided to look at some modern simplistic designs for inspiration, and believe i have improved my app greatly, both visually and interactively.
The wireframes i created in Assignment 2 as well as the mockups can then be used by me, the designer, to then create a prototype for the client, and design the clients desired app. This design then can achieve the goals and purposes outlined by the client, and benefit all future users.
UX Flow Diagram
My first step was to create a UX Flow diagram, to establish the different screens, filters, and button my prototype would need.
Storyboards
In Assignment 2, i created some personas and scenarios based on the target audience and on my user research. I created scenarios of how they might come to need the app, as well as how the app could solve their problem.
User Goals
Before starting the creation of the prototype, I reflected on my user goals that i established in A2. As a result of the creation of personas and scenarios from A2, as well as the 2 story boards created in A3, 3 user goals were identified. These user goals were discovered because of the data received from the survey and interview participants in A2. These user goals will be the focus I will try and achieve with my final app design in A3. The 3 user goals are the following…
- To gain general and beginner knowledge of both gardening and cooking,
2. To receive a simple and easy to understand and follow step by step guide for both gardening and cooking,
3. To spend minimum time, effort and space when both gardening and cooking.
AB Split Testing
While beginning the app prototype, i made several variations of screens and tested them on users, to see which screen would be the most usable, and the best fitted for the app.
After these 3 variations were tested, i was then able to add them into my final app design, knowing that they respond best to my target audience.
I also conducted 5 user tests, where 5 test participants tested, navigated and commented on my final app prototype. Below is the test summary, including a list of improvements and changes that needed to be made, a list of strengths and likes from the users, as well as similarities of what was commonly said.
This is a brief overview of the app design i tested my participants on, before making some final changes and adjustments.
Final App Prototype
Conclusion
Overall I think the app has greatly improved in its design, with a more modern and minimal layout. The aesthetics tie in well together, and the use of green for buttons you can tap guides the user, creating a guided and seem-less experience. The interactivity is simple but allows the user to really feel like this is an app, and i believe it covers all the user goals established beforehand.
