The Challenge

Day 1: Understand & Mapping

For the first day of my design sprint, I took the time to read through the challenge brief, research, and interviews to understand my problems a lot better. 

Before sketching any ideas, I wrote out the “How might we” questions to define the problem.

• How might we inform our users of the nearby photo ops?

• How might we allow our users to choose these types of photo ops?

• How might we make this so easy to use that users can enjoy more of their traveling rather than planning?

Then, I created an affinity map and laid out the personas with the information I gathered from the research and interviews. The map allowed me to stay organized with my insights and kept my users in mind as I continued the design process.

Affinity Map

Top Insights:

• Users have different preferences for the type of photography

• They want to know when a good photo-op is nearby

• They want something quick & easy to use 

• The app can be a tool to help them plan out their trips

End-to-End User Map

I mapped out an end-to-end user experience to better address the problem and convey my solution. The user map helped me stay on track as I began brainstorming solutions and later when I created my prototype.

Day 2: Sketch My Solutions

Before I began the day with sketching, I looked at competitors and products, solving a similar problem. I conducted a solo version of the lighting demos on different apps that inspired the interfaces and ideas I could experiment with.

Crazy 8

I went back to look at my end-to-end user map and decided that my most critical screen was when the user would be browsing through the different photo opportunities. To quickly generate ideas on paper, I performed a crazy 8 exercise. In this exercise, I sketched out eight distinct screens in eight minutes. For the first few screens, I sketched out all the ideas that I had in mind. I struggled with developing new ideas for the remaining screens and decided to combine some previous solutions. It turned out to be solutions that I ended up liking the most.

Using my three-panel solution sketches, I sketched out my entire storyboard. The storyboard let me map out the prototype screens I would create on day four of the design sprint. I added a flow where the users could take a picture and upload it to the app when they arrived at the photo-op.

Storyboard

The next step was to build a prototype from my storyboard. I decided to use a dark mode for the app to enhance the photos better and kept the magenta pink color to align more with the brand.

High Fidelity Screens

On the final day of the design sprint, I conducted usability testing with five people to gather feedback on my prototype. My targeted participants are those interested in taking photos when they travel. I gave them all the same questions and tasks to complete. By the end of the usability test, I hoped to learn if the participants would use GramCity’s new feature.

Conclusion

4 out of 5 participants said they would use this feature for their future travels.

After completing my design sprint,  I reflected on my prototype and noticed this was my first time using dark mode. I researched and read more about using dark mode in UI designs and discovered the importance of color contrast accessibility. I decided to spend an extra day improving my prototype’s color accessibility with the help of some color-contrasting tools.

I used WebAIM's contrast checker to test the colors I previously used in my prototype. The magenta pink on the dark gray failed at almost all the categories. Then, I used Material Design's color palette tool to help me choose a lighter color. I went with the color in the 200 range (#F68EBE) and ran another test on WebAIM. This color passed the accessibility standards, so I revised my prototype.

WebAIM’s Contrast Checker

Revised High Fidelity Screens

Here are some high-fidelity screens next to each other to compare before and after the accessibility improvements.

The design sprint was a success! Most participants would use this new feature to help them find photo ops near them. If we can move forward with this project, the next step will be to brainstorm how to incorporate the app’s photo editing part with this new feature. I would also reiterate the design with the feedback I received.

Overall, the design sprint was astonishing, and it went by fast. I greatly enjoyed this project, as it allowed me to test my skills and push me to develop solutions in just five days. Since I was the sole designer of this project,  I completed a modified version of the GV design sprint. However, I look forward to participating in a full GV design sprint as a member of a bigger team.

If I can do this project again, I will propose crazier ideas to experiment with and see how users react. After all, I would only spend five days, and it was the perfect opportunity to see if the idea was too absurd or something that might work.