Project Background

This project brief asked me to design the user experience for an end-to-end mobile application that does not exist. Initially endeavoring into this project was difficult because there were no constraints to use as a guide.

I started by looking at my everyday experiences and asking where I was lacking support. I have a natural inclination towards entrepreneurship, as such, I’m constantly looking for ways to validate and implement my newest idea.

When I looked to validate this experience externally I saw that the greatest barrier to entry with entrepreneurship was fear.

Thus, I created this app to help users push past their fears via a highly accurate and logical algorithm that indicates their probability of success.

In reality, this algorithm does not exist and is a fictitious product. This case study was undertaken to demonstrate my entire UX design process from discovery research through usability testing for a mobile user experience.

Project Overview

Design Process

The Design Thinking framework guided my entire design process from discovery research to usability testing.

Phase 1: Empathize via Research

Research Planning

Research Goals

Understand hopeful entrepreneurs' support needs and pain points around starting a business.

Research Methodologies

• Competitive Analysis

• User survey

Participants

• People who have thought about starting a business

Assumptions

I assume that most people have wanted to start a business and have thought as much about it as I have. Since this project is starting from a personal pain point I risk not validating the problem.

Challenges

Most people have only thought about starting a business, for this reason they might not know what type of support would be most helpful to them in practice. I needed to craft a survey that would give me a full understanding of their experience.

UX Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis Insights

• There is only one competitor offering business plan validation, but the onboarding process is lengthy and requires much greater effort to complete

• Most business planning apps offer a free version and then offer more valuable tools and insights with an upgrade.

Discovery Survey

I surveyed 27 hopeful entrepreneurs' in order to understand their support needs and pain points around starting a business.

A few patterns emerged:

• The top 3 reasons for not starting a business included: lack of confidence, funding, and business knowledge

• 85% of respondents felt excited about their ideas but ultimately lacked the confidence to carry them out

• 63% of respondents said that business planning support would enable them to move forward

Phase 2: Define via Research Synthesis

User Persona

POV Statement

Jerry wants organization and business education support for planning a business because without these he doesn’t feel confident enough to start his own business.

How Might We

• How might we teach Jerry what creates a successful business?

• How might we instill confidence in Jerry throughout this process?

Defining Project Goals

Discovery interviews, competitive analysis and industry data allowed me to confidently define product goals and features.

Phase 3: Ideate via Research and Design

Information Architecture: Site Map

Information Architecture: Task Flow

Information Architecture: User Flow

Lo-fi Ideation

Digital sketching of potential design solutions within Figma.

Branding and UI Design

Hi-fi Wireframes

Phase 4: Prototype via Design Ideations

This prototype allows users to input their unique data points as a part of the app’s onboarding flow.

Phase 5: Usability Testing via Prototype

Usability Testing Plan

Goals

• Understand user expectations and experiences with on-boarding forms

• Determine if there are any pain points associated with the survey questions they’re being asked

• Determine v2 updates based on user feedback

Participants

• Number of participants: 3

• Age: 30-35

• Qualifier: All aspire to start their own business

Methodology

• Testing will be conducted in-person

• Participants will navigate the prototype via my desktop

User Tasks

Task: Complete the onboarding survey process

Usability Testing Insights

Successes

• 100% of testers felt the task flow was intuitive and easy to use

• 100% of testers said they would use this product if it were available

Pain Points

• 66% of users said that the direction text was hard to read because it was too light in color

• 66% of users felt that the gender identity question was hard to answer because there was too much information to sort through

• 33% of users said it was not clear which sections were accessible with an upgraded account

Suggestions

• 33% of users suggested that pop-up instructions should be included to keep the user motivated and focused

• 66% of users felt that the copy should easier to understand for people without a business education

• 33% of users suggested that their progress through the survey be more apparent

Prioritized Revisions

Updated Prototype

Task: Complete the onboarding survey process

Takeaways

This project brief asked me to design the user experience for an end-to-end mobile application that did not and does not exist. Initially endeavoring into this project was difficult because there were absolutely no constraints to use as a guide.

It was easy to get distracted by limitless imaginary constraints but I was able to overcome them by focusing on my role as a UX designer. I didn’t have to be the founder, tech genius and data scientist in order to create a great user experience.

Reminding myself of my purpose and role as a UX designer allowed my design process to flow and allowed me to learn best practices in form design through the onboarding survey process shown here.