Boosting productivity through remote workers finding ideal workspaces.
Role: Sole Product Designer (with mentorship from a Chief Design Officer)
Timeline: 1 week-long modified GV design sprint for my Springboard UI/UX certification
Constraints: Project prompt, Limited time, Sole designer, Users had to be able to find a place that already exists, Solution had to be a mobile app
Impact: 4/5 Participants were confident they would be able to find a place to work from, 3/5 Participants found the service to be “easy to understand”
Business Objective
PostUp, a startup where freelancers and remote workers share tips and advice, wants to make it easy for their audience to find great public places to work from.
The Challenge
In order to see this to fruition, PostUp brought me on board to do a design sprint around offering remote workers a means to search for convenient public spaces.
Remote work has exploded in growth due to the rise of the pandemic, and in May 2021, a Mercer study found that 70% of companies said they were planning to adopt the hybrid model. Many companies have already made the switch, including prominent brands such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Spotify, and Slack. The bottom line is that companies have realized that physically being at the office full-time isn’t necessary to produce great results.
Day One: Map
What issues do remote workers face when searching for public places to work from?
I reviewed the customer interview (supplied in the project prompt) that asked Chelsea, a Freelance Graphic Designer based in NYC, on how she currently found places to work from, and wrote down all the problems that were mentioned. I chose to address the three most commonly discussed issues in this project.
Day One: Compassion
My persona, Nina, regularly has trouble finding spaces which accommodate her needs, which results in frustration more often than not.
I created a persona, Nina, to accumulate the desires, goals, and frustrations that remote workers experience while searching online for a place to work. Nina was especially helpful in creating a clear vision of the ideal experience and the features that would be pivotal to include in the prototype.
Day One: Draft
I created several end-to-end user experiences to gauge the possible steps Nina would need to take achieve her goals.
The maps I created laid out the steps Nina would take to be able to conveniently find places near her to work at. During this process, I had several insights on possible features that could be implemented into my service, particularly on the inclusion of a review system, which would help Nina be involved with the community.
Day Two: Compare
What services does Nina use to find spots to work from?
In order to get some inspiration I conducted a modified lighting demo, where I set out to learn what alternate services were offering as a means to search for public spaces. This was an effective way to help me understand what features and information to prioritize when creating the prototype.
Day Two: Ideate
How might we help Nina feel confident that she can quickly find a place that meets her needs?
To come to the best possible solutions within the shortest time, I indulged in making Crazy 8 Sketches, where I sketched out different designs that would help Nina visualize how crowded or noisy a location was. These sketches allowed for specific features to take shape, which set the stage for what would be implemented in my prototypes going forward.
Some key insights I took away from this experience were
It’s definitely hard to come up with eight different ways to convey the same feature
Your final idea can end up the most intuitive and easy to understand
The most unique solutions can come from a lack of expectations
Day Two: Develop
What would cause Nina the least amount of effort for the best reward?
The Crazy 8’s set the stage for a refined solution sketch to be developed. Choosing the critical screen that would come to be the backbone of my app was easier than expected. I had realized that my struggle to come up with eight sketches for the same idea had resulted in the final sketch being the best possible solution for what I wanted to achieve.
The crowd and noise status indicators were comprised of simple icons and colours which communicated exactly what they needed to and no more at first glance. This ‘eureka’ moment of sorts was empowering, as I had created an effective representation of my ideas when I had least expected it.
Day Three: A Harmonious Experience
Nina’s journey starts with an overview of her surroundings and ends with getting directions to a quiet and spacious location where she can work in peace.
On this third day of the sprint, I took the solution sketches and transformed them into a storyboard of the entire app experience. The focus was to ensure that I had answered the three key pain points previously outlined on day one.
In hindsight, I could have spent more time refining the initial critical screen. Visual friction and confusion could have been avoided, which would likely have addressed usability issues that I unearthed during testing.
Some areas of focus I kept in mind during this experience were
I wanted to ensure the user should be able find what they’re looking for within three clicks
I valued mixing experimentation with precise intent, promoting the concept of ‘easy, accessible, and intuitive’
Sketching the storyboard taught me to ensure that I had every UI element I needed to translate over to my prototype
Day Four: Bringing it to Life
With a few hours to design the high fidelity prototypes, I focused on the key elements which would make the prototype feel like a cohesive experience.
The creation of the prototype had one purpose, to bring about a realistic facade of what the previous concepts might look like as a legitimate service. This would help the immersion of the participants of the testing process, which would result in the most authentic insights.
Day Five: Finished Designs
The startup screen lets Nina survey her surroundings, allowing an ease of access to her nearby locations.
The home screen was designed to make Nina feel comfortable with opening up the app and immediately getting access to possible work locations. A second ‘Favourites’ tab would allow for her to be able to conveniently check any places she liked and set a route with no friction.
She would be able to view which amenities were available at any given location from the search results and store overviews, making the experience simple and intuitive, not frustrating.
After selecting on any given location, Nina can easily see how crowded or noisy it is.
To help Nina know how busy a location is at first glance, large, colourful icons are at the forefront of her browsing experience. This not only helps her get a quick run down of the information she wants, but its presented in a way which makes it easy to know the status simply by way of the colours green, orange, and red.
The spectrogram invites an alternative way for Nina to get a live display of the amount of noise present in a location, so she never has to wonder what type of scene is in store for her when she arrives.
Before Nina is ready to set a route, she wants to know what the community is saying, to make sure it’s the right choice.
With the ability to leave a personal rating and review, and to also see what others in her position are saying, Nina has the convenience of hopping over to the ‘Reviews’ tab to help her make a fully informed decision. This process never takes more than a couple minutes, as the rating system is easy to understand, and she can also filter the reviews to her preferences.
Day Five: Usability Testing Results
The ‘Status’ icons helped participants feel more comfortable, but other elements lacked transparency.
The test comprised of scenario-based tasks for participants to complete, where I also followed up with questions after completing to gauge whether certain design features were performing adequately.
The usability testing revealed
The icons for crowd status, noise status, and amenities lacked clarity
Participants were unsure what clicking the ‘Status’ and ‘Highest’ filter chips would result in
3/5 participants had difficulty navigating to the home screen to access the ‘Favourites’ tab
In retrospect, this was a great oversight on my part as I had relinquished consistency with the ‘Back’ button and typography. More time spent critiquing my initial designs would have stopped these issues from slipping under the rug.
Impact
Testing revealed that the ‘Status’ screens were a success, but the icons needed a visual overhaul to promote understanding.
Within five days, this project was successful in testing a realistic experience of a remote worker’s search for a place to work from on PostUp’s mobile app. Nevertheless, usability testing did reveal that there are elements of the design to take note of in order to address specific pain points.
Lessons I Learned
Small details matter.
In my urgency to finish the high fidelity designs and to begin user testing, I forgot to pay attention to the smaller details of my screens which would have transitioned into a smoother testing period. Seemingly small oversights resulted in annoyances with the user experience, compounding into a confusing mess at certain points.
Manage your time.
Time management was pivotal during this project, in which I could have definitely done better. On day 3, I spent much time on my storyboard sketches, making them near identical to my finished prototypes. And in my vision to translate the sketches to prototype effectively, I lost sight of why certain design elements were being included in the first place.
What’s Next?
Redesign and retest.
If PostUp wishes to continue exploring this idea, it would be beneficial to iterate on the design and make changes where necessary. Perhaps another design sprint around this concept or further testing would help them arrive at a more conclusive answer.
Note the process.
In the case that PostUp wishes not to further pursue this idea, I would suggest there would still be value for the company to set aside some time and record the happenings and outcomes of this project. Plenty of valuable insights regarding what users find appealing in a service of this calibre were accumulated, and it would help inform future decisions.
Boosting productivity through remote workers finding ideal workspaces.
Boosting productivity through remote workers finding ideal workspaces.
Role: Sole Product Designer (with mentorship from a Chief Design Officer)
Timeline: 1 week-long modified GV design sprint for my Springboard UI/UX certification
Constraints: Project prompt, Limited time, Sole designer, Users had to be able to find a place that already exists, Solution had to be a mobile app
Impact: 4/5 Participants were confident they would be able to find a place to work from, 3/5 Participants found the service to be “easy to understand”
Business Objective
PostUp, a startup where freelancers and remote workers share tips and advice, wants to make it easy for their audience to find great public places to work from.
The Challenge
In order to see this to fruition, PostUp brought me on board to do a design sprint around offering remote workers a means to search for convenient public spaces.
Remote work has exploded in growth due to the rise of the pandemic, and in May 2021, a Mercer study found that 70% of companies said they were planning to adopt the hybrid model. Many companies have already made the switch, including prominent brands such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Spotify, and Slack. The bottom line is that companies have realized that physically being at the office full-time isn’t necessary to produce great results.
Day One: Map
What issues do remote workers face when searching for public places to work from?
I reviewed the customer interview (supplied in the project prompt) that asked Chelsea, a Freelance Graphic Designer based in NYC, on how she currently found places to work from, and wrote down all the problems that were mentioned. I chose to address the three most commonly discussed issues in this project.
Day One: Compassion
My persona, Nina, regularly has trouble finding spaces which accommodate her needs, which results in frustration more often than not.
I created a persona, Nina, to accumulate the desires, goals, and frustrations that remote workers experience while searching online for a place to work. Nina was especially helpful in creating a clear vision of the ideal experience and the features that would be pivotal to include in the prototype.
Day One: Draft
I created several end-to-end user experiences to gauge the possible steps Nina would need to take achieve her goals.
The maps I created laid out the steps Nina would take to be able to conveniently find places near her to work at. During this process, I had several insights on possible features that could be implemented into my service, particularly on the inclusion of a review system, which would help Nina be involved with the community.
Day Two: Compare
What services does Nina use to find spots to work from?
In order to get some inspiration I conducted a modified lighting demo, where I set out to learn what alternate services were offering as a means to search for public spaces. This was an effective way to help me understand what features and information to prioritize when creating the prototype.
Day Two: Ideate
How might we help Nina feel confident that she can quickly find a place that meets her needs?
To come to the best possible solutions within the shortest time, I indulged in making Crazy 8 Sketches, where I sketched out different designs that would help Nina visualize how crowded or noisy a location was. These sketches allowed for specific features to take shape, which set the stage for what would be implemented in my prototypes going forward.
Some key insights I took away from this experience were
It’s definitely hard to come up with eight different ways to convey the same feature
Your final idea can end up the most intuitive and easy to understand
The most unique solutions can come from a lack of expectations
Day Two: Develop
What would cause Nina the least amount of effort for the best reward?
The Crazy 8’s set the stage for a refined solution sketch to be developed. Choosing the critical screen that would come to be the backbone of my app was easier than expected. I had realized that my struggle to come up with eight sketches for the same idea had resulted in the final sketch being the best possible solution for what I wanted to achieve.
The crowd and noise status indicators were comprised of simple icons and colours which communicated exactly what they needed to and no more at first glance. This ‘eureka’ moment of sorts was empowering, as I had created an effective representation of my ideas when I had least expected it.
Day Three: A Harmonious Experience
Nina’s journey starts with an overview of her surroundings and ends with getting directions to a quiet and spacious location where she can work in peace.
On this third day of the sprint, I took the solution sketches and transformed them into a storyboard of the entire app experience. The focus was to ensure that I had answered the three key pain points previously outlined on day one.
In hindsight, I could have spent more time refining the initial critical screen. Visual friction and confusion could have been avoided, which would likely have addressed usability issues that I unearthed during testing.
Some areas of focus I kept in mind during this experience were
I wanted to ensure the user should be able find what they’re looking for within three clicks
I valued mixing experimentation with precise intent, promoting the concept of ‘easy, accessible, and intuitive’
Sketching the storyboard taught me to ensure that I had every UI element I needed to translate over to my prototype
Day Four: Bringing it to Life
With a few hours to design the high fidelity prototypes, I focused on the key elements which would make the prototype feel like a cohesive experience.
The creation of the prototype had one purpose, to bring about a realistic facade of what the previous concepts might look like as a legitimate service. This would help the immersion of the participants of the testing process, which would result in the most authentic insights.
Day Five: Finished Designs
The startup screen lets Nina survey her surroundings, allowing an ease of access to her nearby locations.
The home screen was designed to make Nina feel comfortable with opening up the app and immediately getting access to possible work locations. A second ‘Favourites’ tab would allow for her to be able to conveniently check any places she liked and set a route with no friction.
She would be able to view which amenities were available at any given location from the search results and store overviews, making the experience simple and intuitive, not frustrating.
After selecting on any given location, Nina can easily see how crowded or noisy it is.
To help Nina know how busy a location is at first glance, large, colourful icons are at the forefront of her browsing experience. This not only helps her get a quick run down of the information she wants, but its presented in a way which makes it easy to know the status simply by way of the colours green, orange, and red.
The spectrogram invites an alternative way for Nina to get a live display of the amount of noise present in a location, so she never has to wonder what type of scene is in store for her when she arrives.
Before Nina is ready to set a route, she wants to know what the community is saying, to make sure it’s the right choice.
With the ability to leave a personal rating and review, and to also see what others in her position are saying, Nina has the convenience of hopping over to the ‘Reviews’ tab to help her make a fully informed decision. This process never takes more than a couple minutes, as the rating system is easy to understand, and she can also filter the reviews to her preferences.
Day Five: Usability Testing Results
The ‘Status’ icons helped participants feel more comfortable, but other elements lacked transparency.
The test comprised of scenario-based tasks for participants to complete, where I also followed up with questions after completing to gauge whether certain design features were performing adequately.
The usability testing revealed
The icons for crowd status, noise status, and amenities lacked clarity
Participants were unsure what clicking the ‘Status’ and ‘Highest’ filter chips would result in
3/5 participants had difficulty navigating to the home screen to access the ‘Favourites’ tab
In retrospect, this was a great oversight on my part as I had relinquished consistency with the ‘Back’ button and typography. More time spent critiquing my initial designs would have stopped these issues from slipping under the rug.
Impact
Testing revealed that the ‘Status’ screens were a success, but the icons needed a visual overhaul to promote understanding.
Within five days, this project was successful in testing a realistic experience of a remote worker’s search for a place to work from on PostUp’s mobile app. Nevertheless, usability testing did reveal that there are elements of the design to take note of in order to address specific pain points.
Lessons I Learned
Small details matter.
In my urgency to finish the high fidelity designs and to begin user testing, I forgot to pay attention to the smaller details of my screens which would have transitioned into a smoother testing period. Seemingly small oversights resulted in annoyances with the user experience, compounding into a confusing mess at certain points.
Manage your time.
Time management was pivotal during this project, in which I could have definitely done better. On day 3, I spent much time on my storyboard sketches, making them near identical to my finished prototypes. And in my vision to translate the sketches to prototype effectively, I lost sight of why certain design elements were being included in the first place.
What’s Next?
Redesign and retest.
If PostUp wishes to continue exploring this idea, it would be beneficial to iterate on the design and make changes where necessary. Perhaps another design sprint around this concept or further testing would help them arrive at a more conclusive answer.
Note the process.
In the case that PostUp wishes not to further pursue this idea, I would suggest there would still be value for the company to set aside some time and record the happenings and outcomes of this project. Plenty of valuable insights regarding what users find appealing in a service of this calibre were accumulated, and it would help inform future decisions.
Boosting productivity through remote workers finding ideal workspaces.
Boosting productivity through remote workers finding ideal workspaces.
Role: Sole Product Designer (with mentorship from a Chief Design Officer)
Timeline: 1 week-long modified GV design sprint for my Springboard UI/UX certification
Constraints: Project prompt, Limited time, Sole designer, Users had to be able to find a place that already exists, Solution had to be a mobile app
Impact: 4/5 Participants were confident they would be able to find a place to work from, 3/5 Participants found the service to be “easy to understand”
Business Objective
PostUp, a startup where freelancers and remote workers share tips and advice, wants to make it easy for their audience to find great public places to work from.
The Challenge
In order to see this to fruition, PostUp brought me on board to do a design sprint around offering remote workers a means to search for convenient public spaces.
Remote work has exploded in growth due to the rise of the pandemic, and in May 2021, a Mercer study found that 70% of companies said they were planning to adopt the hybrid model. Many companies have already made the switch, including prominent brands such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Spotify, and Slack. The bottom line is that companies have realized that physically being at the office full-time isn’t necessary to produce great results.
Day One: Map
What issues do remote workers face when searching for public places to work from?
I reviewed the customer interview (supplied in the project prompt) that asked Chelsea, a Freelance Graphic Designer based in NYC, on how she currently found places to work from, and wrote down all the problems that were mentioned. I chose to address the three most commonly discussed issues in this project.
Day One: Compassion
My persona, Nina, regularly has trouble finding spaces which accommodate her needs, which results in frustration more often than not.
I created a persona, Nina, to accumulate the desires, goals, and frustrations that remote workers experience while searching online for a place to work. Nina was especially helpful in creating a clear vision of the ideal experience and the features that would be pivotal to include in the prototype.
Day One: Draft
I created several end-to-end user experiences to gauge the possible steps Nina would need to take achieve her goals.
The maps I created laid out the steps Nina would take to be able to conveniently find places near her to work at. During this process, I had several insights on possible features that could be implemented into my service, particularly on the inclusion of a review system, which would help Nina be involved with the community.
Day Two: Compare
What services does Nina use to find spots to work from?
In order to get some inspiration I conducted a modified lighting demo, where I set out to learn what alternate services were offering as a means to search for public spaces. This was an effective way to help me understand what features and information to prioritize when creating the prototype.
Day Two: Ideate
How might we help Nina feel confident that she can quickly find a place that meets her needs?
To come to the best possible solutions within the shortest time, I indulged in making Crazy 8 Sketches, where I sketched out different designs that would help Nina visualize how crowded or noisy a location was. These sketches allowed for specific features to take shape, which set the stage for what would be implemented in my prototypes going forward.
Some key insights I took away from this experience were
It’s definitely hard to come up with eight different ways to convey the same feature
Your final idea can end up the most intuitive and easy to understand
The most unique solutions can come from a lack of expectations
Day Two: Develop
What would cause Nina the least amount of effort for the best reward?
The Crazy 8’s set the stage for a refined solution sketch to be developed. Choosing the critical screen that would come to be the backbone of my app was easier than expected. I had realized that my struggle to come up with eight sketches for the same idea had resulted in the final sketch being the best possible solution for what I wanted to achieve.
The crowd and noise status indicators were comprised of simple icons and colours which communicated exactly what they needed to and no more at first glance. This ‘eureka’ moment of sorts was empowering, as I had created an effective representation of my ideas when I had least expected it.
Day Three: A Harmonious Experience
Nina’s journey starts with an overview of her surroundings and ends with getting directions to a quiet and spacious location where she can work in peace.
On this third day of the sprint, I took the solution sketches and transformed them into a storyboard of the entire app experience. The focus was to ensure that I had answered the three key pain points previously outlined on day one.
In hindsight, I could have spent more time refining the initial critical screen. Visual friction and confusion could have been avoided, which would likely have addressed usability issues that I unearthed during testing.
Some areas of focus I kept in mind during this experience were
I wanted to ensure the user should be able find what they’re looking for within three clicks
I valued mixing experimentation with precise intent, promoting the concept of ‘easy, accessible, and intuitive’
Sketching the storyboard taught me to ensure that I had every UI element I needed to translate over to my prototype
Day Four: Bringing it to Life
With a few hours to design the high fidelity prototypes, I focused on the key elements which would make the prototype feel like a cohesive experience.
The creation of the prototype had one purpose, to bring about a realistic facade of what the previous concepts might look like as a legitimate service. This would help the immersion of the participants of the testing process, which would result in the most authentic insights.
Day Five: Finished Designs
The startup screen lets Nina survey her surroundings, allowing an ease of access to her nearby locations.
The home screen was designed to make Nina feel comfortable with opening up the app and immediately getting access to possible work locations. A second ‘Favourites’ tab would allow for her to be able to conveniently check any places she liked and set a route with no friction.
She would be able to view which amenities were available at any given location from the search results and store overviews, making the experience simple and intuitive, not frustrating.
After selecting on any given location, Nina can easily see how crowded or noisy it is.
To help Nina know how busy a location is at first glance, large, colourful icons are at the forefront of her browsing experience. This not only helps her get a quick run down of the information she wants, but its presented in a way which makes it easy to know the status simply by way of the colours green, orange, and red.
The spectrogram invites an alternative way for Nina to get a live display of the amount of noise present in a location, so she never has to wonder what type of scene is in store for her when she arrives.
Before Nina is ready to set a route, she wants to know what the community is saying, to make sure it’s the right choice.
With the ability to leave a personal rating and review, and to also see what others in her position are saying, Nina has the convenience of hopping over to the ‘Reviews’ tab to help her make a fully informed decision. This process never takes more than a couple minutes, as the rating system is easy to understand, and she can also filter the reviews to her preferences.
Day Five: Usability Testing Results
The ‘Status’ icons helped participants feel more comfortable, but other elements lacked transparency.
The test comprised of scenario-based tasks for participants to complete, where I also followed up with questions after completing to gauge whether certain design features were performing adequately.
The usability testing revealed
The icons for crowd status, noise status, and amenities lacked clarity
Participants were unsure what clicking the ‘Status’ and ‘Highest’ filter chips would result in
3/5 participants had difficulty navigating to the home screen to access the ‘Favourites’ tab
In retrospect, this was a great oversight on my part as I had relinquished consistency with the ‘Back’ button and typography. More time spent critiquing my initial designs would have stopped these issues from slipping under the rug.
Impact
Testing revealed that the ‘Status’ screens were a success, but the icons needed a visual overhaul to promote understanding.
Within five days, this project was successful in testing a realistic experience of a remote worker’s search for a place to work from on PostUp’s mobile app. Nevertheless, usability testing did reveal that there are elements of the design to take note of in order to address specific pain points.
Lessons I Learned
Small details matter.
In my urgency to finish the high fidelity designs and to begin user testing, I forgot to pay attention to the smaller details of my screens which would have transitioned into a smoother testing period. Seemingly small oversights resulted in annoyances with the user experience, compounding into a confusing mess at certain points.
Manage your time.
Time management was pivotal during this project, in which I could have definitely done better. On day 3, I spent much time on my storyboard sketches, making them near identical to my finished prototypes. And in my vision to translate the sketches to prototype effectively, I lost sight of why certain design elements were being included in the first place.
What’s Next?
Redesign and retest.
If PostUp wishes to continue exploring this idea, it would be beneficial to iterate on the design and make changes where necessary. Perhaps another design sprint around this concept or further testing would help them arrive at a more conclusive answer.
Note the process.
In the case that PostUp wishes not to further pursue this idea, I would suggest there would still be value for the company to set aside some time and record the happenings and outcomes of this project. Plenty of valuable insights regarding what users find appealing in a service of this calibre were accumulated, and it would help inform future decisions.