Skilld: Expert help at your fingertips.
Marketplace & Consulting Services | User Research, Deliverables & Web app
Overview
Project Context: Skilld is a responsive web app that enables people to access tailored solutions through expert advice.
It was developed in a seven-month case study for the Career Foundry UX Program and completed in February 2023.
Role: UX & UI Designer
Design Process: Design Thinking
Discovery - Problem Statement and User Research (Competitor Analysis, Surveys and Interviews)
Conceptualization - User Personas, Journeys & Flows, Sitemap and Wireframes
Interaction - Usability and A/B tests and Redesign
Exposition - Design Language System, Final Wireframes, Conclusion & Next Steps, and Prototype
Discovery
Problem Statement
Adults seeking specialized assistance outside their expertise require a streamlined method to access high-quality, tailored information from experts via an app. This solution should save time, money, and inconvenience, ultimately facilitating goal achievement. Success will be evident through the app's usage metrics and user feedback, indicating effective and reliable outcomes.
It's like having an extremely qualified and personalized assistant for every important question you could have; a team of assistants when and where you need them.
User Research: Competitor Analysis
To understand more about the business field, I researched businesses similar to the project, finding various applications with differing functionalities, and targeting diverse interests and user profiles. I compiled them into a repository and selected Fiverr and Symposium for analysis.
Business Requirements
After analyzing both solutions, it was time to consider the business requirements to promote effective communication, ensuring clarity on the application's purpose, target audience, and development needs, thereby facilitating teamwork and project direction.
User Research: Surveys
A research analysis began with 37 surveys with the target audience. Open-ended responses were grouped using affinity mapping and refined to generate additional quantitative data. The survey aims to understand user behaviour and pain points in seeking expert input, identify the websites or apps used, and determine if users contact experts directly and if this meets their needs.
Survey Insights
The survey reveals that we have a well-defined target audience, with most users showing low engagement with existing products. Additionally, it highlights that Google Search is the primary search engine used and the answers emphasize the necessity of incorporating machine learning capabilities.
User Research: Interviews
I also conducted 4 remote interviews, categorizing the data by behaviours, attitudes, needs, goals, frustrations, and quotes. These results were grouped, and analyzed, leading to 14 main categories to explore and aid in developing user personas. The interview goals were to delve deeper into user behaviour when seeking expert input, identify preferred websites or apps and their features, determine user preferences for contacting experts directly through an app, and understand past pain points in finding expert advice.
Interview Insights
Interview insights reveal that respondents mainly rely on search tools like Google or YouTube and often seek advice from acquaintances for specific queries.
Only one interviewee reported using a dedicated website or app for expert advice, but it was not solely for this purpose.
Two participants noted challenges in conducting research, expressing suspicion about the reliability of information and a reluctance to pay for advice.
Interests span various categories, including niche specialists like immigration lawyers, nutritionists, and therapists.
The reliance on simple search tools and referrals significantly influences decision-making. Still, despite initial distrust and concerns about reliability when adopting a new service, all interviewees expressed an interest in using a comprehensive app dedicated to expert advice.
Data Categorization and Affinity Map (click to view more details)
Quotes
2. Conceptualization
User Personas, Journeys & Flows
With all the information gathered from surveys and interviews, I developed 3 user personas. All deliverables are customized for each user persona, addressing their goals, habits, and behaviours (click to view more details). Key research insights were integrated to position Skilld as the optimal solution for all these diverse needs.
Sitemap
After designing the initial Sitemap for the Expert project, I conducted an open digital Card Sorting session using the Optimal Workshop tool with 5 participants. The results revealed patterns and enhanced navigability. Notably, the wide array of content classification names underscored the significance of UX Writing and highlighted the challenges of Open Card Sorting for this project.
Similarity Matrix and Dendogram (click to view more details)
Due to card sorting, the sitemap adjusted organization is in grey (click to view more details)
Wireframes
After defining the sitemap, Initial wireframes for both mobile and desktop were made featuring core features. Homemade stencils were used for the Lo-Fi wireframes, proving essential for idea initiation and refinement. Mid and HI-FI wireframes (which, at that point, were the first of three versions) were then developed to demonstrate logical connections to the sitemap and user flows, optimizing time and resources while emphasizing key functions.
3. Interaction
Usability & A/B Tests
The usability test objective, supplemented by additional tests (Success Rate, Efficiency, and Learnability) was to identify whether the users could navigate and complete the tasks. As a result, the problems from 12 tests with 6 participants each (mobile and desktop) were identified:
Difficulty starting and setting meetings in advance
Lack of option to close and unsend messages
Usability Test Reports (click to view more details)
An A/B test was also conducted with 49 users to determine the most welcoming intro screens for users. While the initial result showed no statistically significant difference, qualitative feedback (the a.k.a why) revealed areas for improvement (readability and logo enhancement). A subsequent test confirmed a considerable preference and opportunity for refinement.
The problems were addressed, alongside refinements to other features requiring simple adjustments to create a cleaner layout and a refined colour palette. Below, you can see the before & after of the intro, Home and Expert pages, from the 2nd to the 3rd (and final) version.
Redesign
After the A/B test, three new iterations of the app were made focusing on Gestalt principles, accessibility, and peer reviews. The peer review iteration was particularly valuable, with 5 UX/UI senior professionals providing 67 observations, including both praise and suggestions for improvement. Despite some being optional or just cosmetic, all suggestions were considered.
As an example of these iterations, here is the before and after for the Sign Up & Log In screens. Applying the laws of Proximity, Similarity, and Good Continuation for grouping, block forms were unified and aligned to establish a clearer hierarchy. Texts and shapes were integrated visually, the logo size was reduced for proper emphasis, while the main actions were highlighted.
4. Exposition
Design Language System
Between numerous iterations and refinements, maintaining updated and organized solution documentation is crucial. Below are Skilld app design system language rules for elements, alongside visual and emotional design aspects.
Introducing Skilld
Log in
Home
Search
Search Results
Expert Page
Booking
Confirmation
Meetings
Conclusions & Next Steps
Skilld addresses the initial problem effectively, particularly improving through user testing and analyzing other apps. Across the prototype’s versions, the refined colour palette and UI elements aimed to reduce cognitive overload, focusing on accessibility and usefulness.
In hindsight, including extreme users in ideation and conducting in-person interviews and Guerrilla Testing would have been beneficial. Conducting more tests with fewer and objective questions would also have optimised the iteration process.
Top 3 learnings:
Future goals include improving accessibility, adding new features, and fostering community engagement. While the app has no critical usability issues, future efforts will focus on evolving user testing and emphasizing diverse user participation for valuable insights.
Prototype
Click to test the prototype