Kumanu
Helping people live more intentionally and purposefully each day
ROLE
UI/UX Intern
DURATION
4 months
PROJECT
Summer Internship
TOOLS
Sketch, Illustrator, and Photoshop
USER INTERVIEWS
Kumanu is a B2B tech start-up that focuses on building stronger organizations and helping people be their best selves through the alignment of purpose. Purposeful is its beta mobile app designed to help user live their lives more intentionally and purposefully through reflection and well-being exercises.
I was the lead designer for the ideation, design, research, and launch of the features Community Tip Sharing, Search Bar, Custom Actions, and Reminders for Purposeful.
THE CHALLENGE
How can I enhance Purposeful's in-app user experience?
At the time, the beta version of Purposeful app consisted of only basic functionality and features and was continuously in the research and development phase. As a result, I was brought on as a design intern to research and design solutions within the Purposeful app that would address user needs and enhance the app's overall user experience.
USER INTERVIEWS
Uncovering user motivations and frustrations
The first step of my process was to talk to the users themselves and gain insight into their experience with Purposeful. I conducted eight semi-structured interviews and identified the motivations, challenges, and opportunities they faced when using the app.
PERSONAS
Who are the users?
To empathize and understand the users, I synthesized my research and mapped out user behaviors, motivations, frustrations, and needs into three personas.
1. The Wellness Enthusiast
Mary is enthusiast about life and believe it's too short not to live it with meaning and purpose. She strongly values her overall well-being and actively seeks out ways to maintain her mental and physical health.
2. The Productive Parent
Spencer is a busy father of three young children. He enjoys having a busy work/life schedule and seeks out experiences that fit into his schedule and add value to his day to day tasks.
3. The Inspired Workaholic
Livia is a career-driven working professional living in the city. She was recently inspired by some health conscious colleagues to have a better work/life balance and to take better care of her health.
IDEATION
Opportunities in customization and community features
The ability to customize experiences and share with the broader community were areas I looked into when I was brainstorming potential features and ideas. With the guidance of my mentor, I ultimately decided to focus on features that support community tip sharing, search ability, content creation, and reminder customization.
WIREFRAME
Visualizing the layout and functionality
Wireframes for each feature were created based on their finalized users flows and and iterated through several rounds of feedback from my supervisor and colleagues before narrowing down and converting them into prototypes.
USER FLOW
Identifying the steps users take for each feature
I was encouraged by my supervisor to create multiple versions of user flows for each feature. This allowed me to explore different paths and thoroughly think through each step. The image below is an example of the different flows (Options A and B) that I came up with for the Community Tip Sharing feature.
After discussing with my supervisor, we ultimately moved forward with Option B because of the visibility and mobility of the Explore page and its potential to showcase user submitted tips as cards. A wireframe for this flow and wireframes for other features were subsequently created and tested.
WIREFRAME
Visualizing the layout and functionality
Wireframes for each feature were created based on their finalized users flows and and iterated through several rounds of feedback from my supervisor and colleagues before narrowing down and converting them into prototypes.
USABILITY TESTING
Iterating through each round of feedback
User testing was essential to the design process. I created testing protocols, conducted guerilla testing and formal usability tests with both users and non-users, and modified prototypes through multiple design iterations. Improvements were made with each iteration of user testing as shown below.
High fidelity prototypes were created using Sketch to refine visual details and simulate user interaction. Further feedback was gathered from my mentor and co-workers and subsequent changes were before testing of prototypes began.
High fidelity prototypes were created using Sketch to refine visual details and simulate user interaction. Further feedback was gathered from my mentor and co-workers and subsequent changes were before testing of prototypes began.
THE SOLUTION
Intention behind each visual detail and interaction
Community Tip Sharing
The Social Tip Sharing feature allows community members to submit and share tips that have worked for them with the broader Purposeful community. It consists of a "From the Community" section located at the bottom of the Explore page containing cards that consists of tips from other people or cards that allow users to share their own tips surrounding highlighted topics.
Search Bar
The search bar allows you to search for specific topics and content. Located on the top of the Explore page, the search bar also provides suggestions of what to search for in its placeholder text.
Custom Actions
The Custom Actions feature allows users to create their own daily action and add their own custom actions within the Act page. It consists of two buttons that prompt and lead the user to create a custom action card. Once saved, users will have the opportunity to update their customized action card and/or add more details to the card.
Customizable Reminders
The updated Reminders feature has four different reminders with pre-set times while giving users the option to change reminders to their preferred times.
REFLECTION
How I grew as a designer
Due to the nature of the start-up, I was able to do a lot of independent, hands-on work and see the impact it had on the app. I learned to confidently
• Create questions and protocols for usability tests and conduct user tests remotely, in coffee shops, etc.
• Use design tools such as Sketch, Abstract, etc. to prototype and follow through multiple design iterations.
• Present my findings in a clean and easy to understand way and consistently ask for constructive feedback on my work.
