How we designed an event feature for WhatsApp — A UX Case Study
My Role: UX Researcher | Duration: 2 Weeks | Project Status: Delivered
Project Summary
This project was part of a 12- week user experience design course from General Assembly. The task was to design a feature inside of an already existing mobile app. The feature would address a problem concerning remote communication that we discovered in our user research. Our process consisted of conducting formal user interviews, designing a prototype, and testing usability.
Scope of Work / Problem Space
You know how you can have a whole conversation with your friend just going back and forth trying to nail a time you can both hang out?
Well, that got us thinking…
Our chosen problem space was personal communication. Personal communication includes texting your girlfriends, chatting with your uncle over Zoom, and emailing funny photos to your grandpa
Specifically, we focused on how people connect with their loved ones while being stuck at home during COVID-19. Applications in this problem space include WhatsApp, Zoom, and Email.
Our process followed these four phases:
This is what we believed to be true at first…
Hypothesis
We believed that when a group of users can share their schedules more clearly they will be able to socialize more often.
We assumed that…
Complexity in scheduling causes frustrations
Users mostly communicate after-work and on the weekends with their loved ones
Users don’t have a clear objective to their engagement
Initial Problem Statement
HOW MIGHT WE help a group of users agree on a time to meet up with each other?
Discover & Define
And now we wanted to find out how we were wrong…
We couldn’t begin to design a solution without truly understanding the problem we were to solve. Our hypothesis and assumptions simply served as indicators for where we might find our problem. But we needed to be sure…
This is how we did it:
I collaborated with Chris Aflague and Jessica Chiu to conduct formal, in-person interviews on Zoom over the course of two days.
Participants were chosen by relevance to user profile
All interviews were recorded
The interviews followed a clear discussion guide
These were some of the questions we asked:
What was the PROCESS of scheduling/choosing the date and time of your personal meeting?
How many participants were in the meeting?
WHEN was a recent meetup you tried to communicate with a group of friends or family members? Was there a reason for the meeting?
Synthesis
We organized various callouts from our interviews into thematic groupings called affinity maps. This helped us to uncover some underlying trends which were that
Users keep in touch throughout the day with instant messaging apps
Users want to use programs that they are familiar with so that they can spend more time catching up with friends.
Users want to know when their family and friends are available so that they can find a time that works for both of them
Persona
A persona is a fictional character who humanizes our data.
Introducing Shira, a Wyoming native who moved to Brooklyn this past June. We liked Shira because she lives far from home and social distancing has made her miss her family and friends even more. She is also fairly busy with work, and she doesn’t have the flexibility to simply hop on a video call whenever her girlfriends are available.
Now we reframed our problem…
Because of social distancing, remote communication has become the preferred way for people to connect with their friends and family.
However, people struggle to find times that work for all parties. As a result, what can be an enjoyable experience often becomes a frustrating process.
HOW MIGHT WE help Shira set up remote meetings with friends and family in a way that she is already familiar with?
Insights » Features
Insight
Shira set up personal meetings informally, via instant messaging apps.
Feature
Allow Shira to set up personal meetings within the messaging app she uses throughout the day.
Design + Deliver
First Prototype
Now that we had a new way of understanding Shira’s needs and the key feature that can help us address them, we began to form how the feature would function and look in context.
We decided to design a feature within WhatsApp since that seemed to be the app of choice for our Shira to keep in touch with family and friends throughout the day. We wanted the feature to allow Shira to share her availability.
The First Round of User Testing
While testers took a while to understand what the feature even was, testers seemed to learn the app quickly, with each task becoming more intuitive.
We realized that we needed some way of letting testers know where they were in the process of making an event. In our second prototype, we decided to include titles that would move the tester along.
In addition, we decided to change the FROM/TO title to a START/END title in the screens where testers choose a time for their event. In the first prototype, this was a point of confusion for our testers.
Second Prototype
We then made a second design based on our key learnings from the first test. This design was more detailed and therefore looked closer to an actual app.
The Second Round of User Testing
This time around, the feedback we received was mostly about integration. The testers wanted the calendar to connect to their calendar app of choice so that they can see what their availability was. Testers also wanted to be able to ask many people if a specific time or date works for them.
Recommendations + Implementation + Next Steps
In conclusion, I would suggest adding a default event into the message board which can be edited once the user understands the feature.
Users asked for the feature to integrate with the calendar apps, to show their availabilities
Add a vote/poll option so large groups can vote and agree on a time that works for most people.
