New interface designs and colour scheme variants

New visual designs based on some research into other travel apps and websites. Many of these are to be given minor cosmetic adjustments in the final working version based on where in the app you are - the icon at the top of the page will change, for instance. Also, the colour scheme is subject to change. Below the mockups are a number of colour variants to be user-tested.

interface design mockups

colour scheme variants

Screenshot data structure version 2

More visuals added to the sitemap.

Broadening out the experience of discovering gems

In continuing on from my post with personalising the experience and profile building I have been looking at how linked in connections people in its network,

For this first image it shows how many "connections" away from someone you are and I feel this could be implicated in our app in terms of how many "friends" away from someone we are. This could help with suggesting people based on our friendlist

For this it shows how many skills on linked in I share with someone, for Pickaxe this could be how many saved gems I have in common with someone. This the suggests fellow users to add based on our shared interests.

And finally this suggests people similar to the person you are view which once again broadens the circle of connections out more. It is basically users similar to the user you are viewing which could open up a wide avenue in the app for social exploration

Screenshot data structure version 1

Started replacing sections of sitemap with more visual ideas of what each section will look like to give users a more clear idea of how the app will run. Waiting until interface design is set before creating a more complete version.

Design research

A look at the interface designs of other travel apps for reference purposes, and to inform a possible overall shift in the visual design. Already seeing where things could maybe change, esp. colour scheme.

Foodspotting:

FourSquare:

Musement:

TripAdvisor:

User Test 6

For the user testing I conducted on the 18th of April, I had five people tell me what their favourite and least favourite colours were from the list I had given them. I also asked them if they had any other comments about the colours shown to them. The test took place in a common environment for the users. The most common consensus was that number 2 was the one most people liked. Another results was that some of the users didn't really like the brighter colours.

Icons Variants

After some of the user test feedback from last week, I've been rethinking how the gem icons appear - the elongated diamond shape recalled, to some people, the pointer of a compass, and I admit I had briefly noted the resemblance. Below is an attempt at an alternate gem design, emphasising the look of a cut gemstone. This will alter the design wireframes somewhat, and the other icon ideas as well, as the original design did rely somewhat on the sturdy, vertically-symmetrical nature of the simple diamond. More to come.

Updated sitemap and Hierarchy

Here is the updated system design. The new features are marked as green in the site map and are based on the user testing done by evan which collected features users would expect to find in the app. The new features are also based on the idea of personalising the app to someone. Two new features added which ties in with this theme is suggested gems based on gems you have saved and suggested friends based on your friends and saved gems.
The idea is the app starts making suggestions to you based on your activity inside the app and thus makes the experience more tailored to you.

The hierarchy stands at essential features and desirable features. The essential features are the basics of the app which cannot be lost and they are represented as orange and yellow in the site map. Desirable features are more broad than the basic version but are not essential to the basic app functionally. These would preferably be done on a grander scale when the app is developing further, they re represented as green in the site map.

Icons

A collection of icon ideas, variants and mockups, based on sketches. More to come. Looking to continue the angular shapes I've been working with in the overall design. Would rather not use curves, circles etc. though this leads to the big question of whether or not certain icons read properly e.g. the magnifying glass for the search icon - something for user-testing?

Dark grey colour indicates a highlight of icon-specific colour in the colour scheme - this is another thing I need to finalise colour-scheme-wise.

Profile building and personalisation

I have been researching profile building and personalisation to try incorporate a more tailored experience into our app. The app world is highly saturated with the current number of apps on the app store being 1.5 billion. On the other hand 75% of apps dies out within 90 days which means keeping your user base is more important than ever. The goal is to create a highly personalised experience to keep our users active and engaged in the app. I have gather what I feel to be the most important aspects of personalising an app from a number of different sources and site.

Here are the 5 things I feel should be included when building a personalised app experience and I have tailored each section to work with our app.

• Personalized Content: A key step in creating an experience that is personalized is to put our users into groups so that the app will present users with content that is highly relevant. Track a users activity within our app (saved gems, saved gems from friends carts and most re-chosen preferences/interests) and present content based on this collected information.
• Personalise experience: Use a persons name when communicating with them. This raises a persons engagement with an app. For example "Hello Conor, here are some Gems I think you might like" straight away the user feels more special and has a stronger connection with the app.
• Location-Based Personalization: Geo tagging was one thing that popped up everywhere when I was researching this online. In the next 2 years it will be a dominant feature in the app world. For our app we could send push notifications based on users location suggesting a nearby gem (based on character profile)
• Push Notifications : This was another highly suggested feature online when personalising an app experience. For our app I was thinking we could send push notification updates to the user based on the gems they have already saved. Things like an upcoming sale in a saved gem or of a saved gem is moving location etc.
• Social: By simply connecting a persons social media page (Facebook) to the app lets the app have access to more information on the person and can profile them better based on likes/ interests that Facebook has stored already.

User Test 5

For the user testing I conducted on the 6th of April, I asked five people to take part in the test. The test took place in a familiar location for the users. One by one, I asked them to look at a colour palette that Calum had made and asked which colours they liked, didn't like and why. After that was done I showed them a basic design layout with the colours from the swatches. I then asked them which colour they liked again seeing if their opinion changed when they saw it in the design.

One or two changed their opinion on colours they had previously disliked when they were shown to them in the basic layout. But most of the users opinions stayed the same. They also commented on the design which gave some helpful feedback for Calum, like some of the gem icon being too big or that it doesn't resemble a gem very well. Two users also commented on two different colours and thought they reminded of Pokémon.

The results were quite varying, some people saying they preferred the darker colours to the light ones and others saying the opposite of that. The one thing everyone one agreed on was the bright red colour for the gem in the design.

Gem collection (coordinates, info and picture of 3 gems per category)

Categories, sub categories and their gems.

1)  Bars and Nightlife :

             Nightclubs: Havana browns

             Old Pubs: The Hi B Bar

             Craft beer pubs: The Rising sons

2)  Culture:

             Castles: Blackrock Castle

             Art Galleries: Crawford Art Galery

             Theatre: Cork Opera House

3)  Food:

             Food Markets: The English Market

             Take Aways: Kc's and sons

             Cafes: O'Conaill Chocolate shop

4)  Shopping:

             Book shops: Vibes and Scribes

             Vintage shops: Records and Relics

             Clothing: Opera Lane

5)  Nature:

             Zoo: Fota Island

             Beach: Inchydoney beach

             Scenic: Old head of kinsale

6)  Leisure:

             Bowling: Leisure plex

             Tours: Jameson Experience

             Cinema: Gate Cinema

Colour Swatches and Scheme Variants

First real attempt at variants on a colour scheme employing mostly muted earth tones, in this case taken from the Movies In Colour post on Raiders of the Lost Ark - this came from thinking of the app in terms of discovery and adventure, which lead to adventure movies like the Indiana Jones series, and thinking about what colours brought those sorts of films to mind. Earth tones dominate, especially sandy yellows and rusty reds moving into deep browns.

For my next variant, i'll probably go completely the opposite direction and return to the turquoise and aqua theme from before, for comparing and contrasting.