bloom
UX Concept mvp
This concept project had me and my team discovering ways to connect people with nature. We had an idea about creating a path for a middle ground: farmer’s markets. They are sustainable, local, and often a great way of connecting with farmers and your community.
Overview
My role:
UX researcher, Design, Usability Testing Researcher
Tools: Figma/Figjam, Maze, Affinity Designer, Adobe, Zoom, Otter
Research foundations
survey
We created a survey that would help us choose users for potential interviews. This is called a screener survey. We knew we were looking for ways to connect users to farmer’s markets. So we asked questions about sustainable shopping, local farms, and farmer’s markets in general. We made sure to keep questions simple and shallow, knowing we could go in depth during interviews.
interview
Once we found 4-5 potential users from our screener survey, we contacted them about a longer interview. We were able to collect 4 interviews ranging 25-40 minutes each.
Interviews were prepared with a loose interview guide, letting users speak more on the topics that concerned them, and less on the topics they didn’t care for
Methods: zoom or in-person
Tools: Recorded via phone or zoom, transcript by Otter
ideate
Once all interviews were transcribed, we created a collaborative Figjam affinity map. This is where we put user quotes on individual post-it notes and moved them around into different groups until we found patterns that showed us what users needed in an app. From our groupings, we found 2 major findings:
Information about farmer’s markets were hard to find and often inaccurate
Farmer’s markets were seen as a way to connect with local vendors and the community
Meet Camilla!
Behaviors
Friendly and outgoing, loves to chat with new people
Tech and social media savvy
Needs
A better understanding of where local products come from
A fun, low-pressure environment where she can explore the locale and meet new people
Pain points
Doesn’t know the city well enough to know where she might like to hang out
Has a car, but has a hard time finding parking in an unfamiliar downtown space
Our Problem Statement:
(The statement that solidifies all our data into one memorable focus)
Camilla wants to easily find information about farmer’s markets and independent vendors in her area because she wants to deepen her relationship to her community and support local, sustainable businesses.
Solution Statement:
(The statement that illustrates how we will try to solve Camilla’s needs)
Bloom, a farmer’s market app, will provide accurate, updated information on farmer’s markets and vendors that Camilla can easily access and follow.
Feature Prioritization
While we needed to prioritize functionality, Camilla also wanted to connect with her community as well. We considered how we would allow Camilla to find and connect with locals and her friends.
We chose a mobile app because Camilla would be on the move when searching for markets and vendors.
We performed a competitive and comparative analysis to help us figure out what features work best for our app and how to make them excel.
Mid-Fidelity Prototyping
With a medium fidelity (mid-level detail) prototype, we wanted to translate any sketched ideas or features into a digital format. For this project, we used Figma (an industry standard wireframing tool). We created multiple pages and icons that were navigable—making sure to keep it minimal in case we needed to make changes later.
As a UX researcher and designer, any features we create and add need to be proven to solve the users needs. How can we know that? We need to find this out via testing the prototype and its features. This test phase is called Usability Testing—we create a prototype highlighting the features we are testing, and have user complete a series of tasks. Their ease and hardships with the tasks will show us which designs and edits we need to make.
testing & synthesis
1.) To understand how the users would search for farmer’s markets using the
2.) To discover the user’s ease and hardships with navigation.
Our Goals
results
Liking a Vendor was Confusing
Some users were finding the “like” feature confusing. There were hearts in the original mid-fi, and users were confused by the connection between “liking” a vendor and “following” them.
Recommendation:
Replace the like/heart feature with a more linear and intuitive term. For example, replace it with a “follow” button.
i can’t see!
The color schemes of mid-fidelity prototype are typically grey-scale or very color-minimal, however, the contrast and text choices made it very, very hard to read.
Because users became very frustrated, this was considered another major concern.
Recommendation:
Add color, a sharper contrast, and a thicker text font. Buttons should pop, making them more clickable.
Search bar confusion
We noticed users were immediately reaching for the search bar when we asked them to find a vendor. We wanted users to approach the categories (as it’s more controlled and visible).
Recommendation:
Shrinking the search bar to a collapsed form, or even removing it from the home screen.
fluid navigation??
While users had an easy time navigating pages, there was no way in the prototype to return to previous pages. As we designed this for an android (which has its own back button), we had not considered the drawback of testing on desktops.
Recommendation:
Adding navigation buttons or clearly marked buttons that can return the user to certain pages.
success with icons!
A great success for our team was the simplicity and ease of use users had with identifying icons and navigating pages. We had many conscious decisions to eliminate a hamburger menu to minimize pages, and to keep the app simple and informative.
Recommendation:
Keep icons clear and familiar. Keep navigation minimal without the need for a hamburger menu.
The Design Begins with a Mood
We created a pinterest mood board to compile the colors, themes, and general vibe of our app.
We created a board that encompassed the idea of freshness and vibrant natural colors. Farmer’s markets are so local, sustainable, and fresh. We chose a simple color palette, and chose a Logo (app name).
The Final Product
It all began with a concept, connecting people with nature. Through these 5 weeks, our team researched, synthesized, and designed the aspects that will be shown in this prototype.
Find Farmers Markets by Vendor or Market!
You can follow either or both! Information, photos, and directions are provided.
Have fast and easy access to your favorite vendors!
You’ve got access to your favorite markets and vendors easily! You can also check where you’ve been before, friends you’ve met, and more!
A calendar makes it even easier!
You can see local and recent events with the calendar function!
Next Steps — Where Am I Going Next?
This project shows a completion for our goal, connecting users to farmer’s markets. However, there are features that would enhance this experience that I would like to pursue. For example, adding a social media extension or a vendor rating system.
Our team was really excited to explore other options for the app as well. Limiting ourselves to farmer’s markets and vendors was done to really focus our ideas. We also hadn’t collected enough data to support adding features that would include other sustainable and local stores. Maybe we could add grocery stores or markets that support sustainability efforts.