Your one stop shop for all the latest news and trends. A social meda integration website/app: a place where you can see all trending news that is related to your preferences.
Taken from Google images
Single source for all your social media content
Viewing multiple feeds from your social media accounts
Posting on multiple social media accounts
An app that will have 'Intuitive discovery' & 'Intuitive accessible'
Within 2 - 3 Months
The goal of this project is to provide a unified and integrated platform for social media, trending news and entertainment. The feed presented to the user will be based upon the preferences set by their behaviour. The app will provide a unique experience to the users by tailoring the feed depending on their social media preferences. On of the biggest goals of this project is to provide ‘intuitive discovery’ and ‘intuitive accessibility’ features and aiming to reduce the time spent on manual search by the users.
Integration of all social media to one platform
Research competitors and similar apps to gather data on current trends
A well designed user interface which presents the features to the user in most efficient way possible
As the senior designer I was assigned to work on this project to meet the deadline given by the client. This project required me to go through the proper design process. Building out the structure or skeleton for the app and website first and then going all the way.
I started this project by addressing the real user problem and keeping in mind that my solution should be functional and affordable.
First step of any UX design process is to empathize, which means discovering what the end user needs. Keeping the end user mind I conduct user interviews and user research to paint a clear picture of who the end users are and what challenges they face, and came up with some personas.
Persona # 1
Persona # 2
During this phase I also did some of the secondary research. Which led me to some good numbers of competitors who are doing the same thing as us and some additional data that i found during my research was really helpful.
Listing down some of the competitors i found:
Buffer
Hubspot Marketing Hub
Hootsuit
Sendible
Based on all the research and user interviews and the personas created I was able to find some pain points or user problems which they face while managing or using multiple social media accounts.
Some problems user face:
Hard to manage my social accounts on so many different apps
Hard to post separately on social media platforms
Hard to keep up with the new trends on the market via social media
Keeping in mind these user problems I was able to create good designs. Before i start ideating my solutions I wanted to nail down some User journey so that i understood that i am for sure solving this problem for the end user. I wanted to look at a users experience while they will use this app.
User Journey Map
With so many solutions in my mind but first I need to understand the user flows and the whole structure of the app/website. If there is some complex task which users need to perform I need to have that flow figured out first. I created multiple IA’s Information Architecture as I have two separate platforms where this app was built. App and desktop.
App Information Architecture (IA)
Web Information Architecture (IA)
After I was done with the whole structure of the app and website, I started thinking about some complex tasks which users have to perform while using this app and I wanted to nail those down as well, which will help me when I am designing these screens.
User flow for a specific task:
I want to post on all my social media accounts at a time
Specific Task
Once all of this was created I had a better understanding of the whole app structure and all the complex user tasks which were in my mind. Which i have now solved.
Now was the time to bring my thoughts and my flows to life and start with pencil sketching because I can change anything quickly and brainstorm ideas easily. During my designs I had my IA information architecture and user problems and the goal which I am trying to achieve in mind.
App Sketch # 1
App Sketch # 2
App Sketch # 3
Web Sketch # 1
Web Sketch # 2
These sketches were discussed with the client many times and everyone would share their ideas using the sketches until we reached a conclusion.
These sketches helped me build the Lo-fi wireframes first which mapped to our sketches and show a little bit of graphical aspect as well. These Lo-fi wireframes were discussed with clients before moving on to the Hi-fi prototype. All of these processes do take much time but doing them right will give you the best results.
App Wireframe # 1
App Wireframe # 2
App Wireframe # 3
App Wireframe # 4
Web Wireframe # 1
Web Wireframe # 2
After wireframes I moved on to a Hi-fi prototype. Which i needed to create for different platforms, apps and websites both. This prototyping was made easy for me as I had followed all the phases of the process and I already have the structure of the app and sketches and wireframes which will really help me during this prototyping. I didn't use so many colours in apps that can be done by any graphic designer. I was more focused on the apps and website UI user interface and the UX user experience.
App Prototype # 1
App Prototype # 2
App Prototype # 3
Web Prototype # 1
Web Prototype # 2
I was able to provide everything to the client on time. The usability testing part will be done by the client himself. Client seems satisfied with my work. He was happy that the designs come off so good and experience of the app/website is good too. Time for me to challenge myself if I did ok? Or can I improve this design some more.
