Project Type
UX Research
UX Design
Class Project
My Role
UX Researcher
UX Designer
Timeline
Nov - Dec 2023
Team
5 Researchers/Designers
Skills
Writing
Mixed Methods Research
Data Analysis
Design
Software
Figma
Miro
Google Forms
Google Sheets
Summary
For this project, I worked in a group of 5 to investigate a community, identify their needs, and design three technological solutions. I connected my group to the local dance community within the Bay Area, reviewed interview/survey questions, sent out surveys to dancers, used thematic analysis to identify pain points within the community, and created lo-fi and hi-fi interactable prototypes. The other members of my team worked on the data analysis and designs for the other 2 prototypes (for a total of 3) and created the interview/survey questions. I specifically worked on the event search feature to help consolidate information on dance events within a specific area, making it easier for dancers to find and book events from different organizations and studios.
This project was done as the final project in my Introduction to Design Methods class at UC Santa Cruz. We received a perfect score for the project and favorable feedback from our instructor and peers regarding identifying pain points and how our designs tackled these problems.
Problem
Our task was to choose a community to work with, determine their needs, and create three digital solutions/prototypes in an attempt to help meet their needs. As a dancer, I had connections to the local dance community in the Bay Area and in LA, so our group decided to investigate the needs of dancers by sending surveys.
We determined pain points through the qualitative and quantitative data collected and analyzed. Dancers in the greater SF Bay Area and in LA had the following pain points based on the data collected: 1) trouble finding classes, 2) trouble finding other beginner dancers, and 3) struggling with getting dance-related feedback.
Solution
Three distinct prototypes were created to tackle each problem based on the three pain points identified. I worked on the first pain point: dancers had trouble finding classes and dance-related events. I designed a mobile dance event booking website to help users find classes and events in a specific location. The app is also meant to help users book these classes and events in a centralized place for their convenience and help local organizers advertise and get dancers to attend their events.
Research Process
Data Collection
As a team, we decided to have two surveys, one with open-ended responses and the other with multiple-choice questions and Likert scales. I reviewed the surveys my teammates made to collect qualitative and quantitative data. I then sent the surveys to dancers in the Bay Area after reviewing the surveys and making appropriate changes, such as changing the wording for readability and asking additional questions relevant to dancers. As a dancer myself, I was able to personally reach out to dancers I knew to collect data. I also made posts on my social media with a poster linking to the surveys. We had a total of 17 respondents who answered both surveys.
Data Analysis
After collecting data over the course of several days, I took the data from the Google Surveys sent out to participants and organized them on a spreadsheet by how relevant the questions were in relation to each other. I then took a portion of the responses onto a Miro board to organize the responses to each question. I used thematic analysis to find commonalities between responses to the question, “In what ways has being a part of dance contributed to your personal growth, whether in terms of skills, confidence, or other aspects of your life?” I split the more extended responses into multiple ones if they had talked about different topics and found that six themes emerged from the responses.
Thematic Analysis
I was able to identify some prevalent themes after organizing the survey responses. I then helped to narrow down the themes into two categories: What dancers liked and didn't like about the art, community, classes, and events. What the dancers liked was personal fulfillment and community. What dancers didn't like was having limited dance resources and the struggle with progressing in dance
Defining Problems
Through the themes discovered through thematic analysis, I helped to determine the three design problems we wanted to tackle as a team. The purpose of these problems were to help define the scope of our project, the features we wanted to develop, and the design requirements we would later create to help guide our wireframe designs. Through these problems, I helped to ideate possible solutions that would also translate into our designs. The three main design problems are: 1) Trouble finding dance classes, 2) Struggle finding other beginner dancers, and 3) Struggle with dance progress and getting feedback.
Design Process
Design Requirements
I helped come up with design requirements based on the three main design problems and proposed solutions t hat we had discussed as a group. Based on survey results, we felt it was best to create a mobile friendly website and make booking events easy and intuitive.
Sketching
I was tasked with focusing on the event booking feature and I created different iterations of sketches that I would turn into wireframes. These sketches helped me to refine my designs before going into Figma using feedback from my teammates.
Mid-fi Wireframes
I went into Figma and made mid-fidelity wireframes using my sketches as a guide. The wireframes went through a couple iterations and went beyond the sketches to incorporate the user flow. I also presented these interactable wireframes to several colleagues in order to get feedback on the ease of navigation.
Hi-fi Wireframes
Once the the functionality of the dance event booking feature was established through the Mid-fi wireframes, I then cleaned it up using our teams design themes to create a fully functional Hi-fi prototype on Figma. These wireframes were presented as part of our final presentation in our Introduction to Design class for the M.S. HCI Program at UC Santa Cruz.
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