BACKGROUND
A lifestyle app is a type of mobile application designed to help users manage, organize, or improve various aspects of their daily lives and personal routines. These apps typically focus on areas such as fitness, health, productivity, hobbies, travel, or personal finance. Examples of apps focused on the productivity aspect of lifestyle include Todoist and slack.
WHAT PROBLEM DID I TRY TO SOLVE?
One of the most well-known and frequently cited issues with productivity apps is their potential to become a source of distraction and procrastination themselves. The examples we are targeting include the following:
- Users have to constantly swap between the main app and other apps to refer to information which can disrupt focus and context.
- Excessive notifications
- Overwhelming complexity which makes it difficult to navigate and use effectively
- Steep learning curve
- Overreliance in which users may become too dependent on the app reducing their ability to manage tasks without it
PROCESS DELIVERABLES
- Defining the problem
- Understanding the user
- Early Ideation
- Solution
- Next steps
DEFINING THE PROBLEM
I ran a survey to understand user needs. I used AI for survey ideas out of curiosity to see what questions it would come up with.
I followed up with competitor analysis for both direct and indirect competitors.
UNDERSTANDING USERS
Using the data gathered, a persona was created by the name of Wanda to better empathize with users. Wanda would like a solution to being more productive and accountable with tasks.
EARLY IDEATION
After going through the research process and based on feedback its clear that the app should include easy navigation, a way to include time blocks and the ability to set deadlines, calendar syncing, the ability to import tasks from other productivity apps, productivity levels, and progress indicators to help motivate the user. Since this would be several screens I decided to focus for now on the process of completing a task due to time constraints. Created a taskflow and userflow to show the steps a user would take to complete or check off a task in the app.
Followed up the taskflow with a userflow to show different paths.
Drew sketches and created wireframes of possible screen designs for the user interface.
FINAL SOLUTION
Added color to the finalized screens and then ran a user test with the prototype. The finalized screens include:
- Card style design for task boards screen
- Progress indicators to track progress of task boards
- Checklist for tasks
- A success message when a task or entire board is completed
- Productivity level and recent progress to help motivate the user with staying on track and being productive.
NEXT STEPS
I would be putting the screens through user testing to see if users can complete the process of adding a task without difficulty as I want to make sure users have a pleasant experience using the app.