local
Promoting wellness and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic by connecting people with activities in their local area.
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Overview
Local helps people engage activities that are both enjoyable and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project will explore the challenges people face during the pandemic and what can be done to make this time easier.
The Problem
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about many unique challenges. In March 2020, emotional distress skyrocketed. Meanwhile, many of the resources used to cope in healthy ways were not accessible. Though we all needed new ways to get by, there lacked a tool to help us do so.
Role & Strategy
As the sole UX researcher and designer for this project, I used a design thinking process to address the problem. This model is composed of two steps: exploring the problem, and narrowing in on the solution. In line with this model, I employed a variety of UX methods.
The Problem Space
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for nearly everyone. As an advocate for mental health awareness, I’ve been both saddened and intrigued by the psychological impacts of the pandemic. I started this project with the initial goal of promoting wellness during the pandemic.
Some psychologists argue that the most damaging effect has been the inability to access many healthy coping mechanisms that people turn to in times of need. Some examples include closed gyms for people who turn to exercise to clear the mind, loss of in-person interaction for those who find comfort spending time with close friends, or having to work from home for those who find peace of mind while working from a favorite coffee shop.
When times are challenging, it is essential to practice coping in healthy ways.
But what happens when those healthy coping mechanisms are not accessible?
Secondary Research
From research done by the CDC, I learned about the pandemic's impact on mental health. Based on this report as well as other sources, I chose to focus my efforts exploring two particular challenges:
1. Feelings of loneliness and isolation, associated with social distancing and staying home.
2. Fear and anxiety about the virus and one’s health, or the health of loved ones.
The two challenges conflict: social distancing and staying home lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, but staying home and away from others helps mitigate the fear and anxiety about contracting and spreading the virus.
Primary Research
At this point in the process, I began to conduct user research. As I set out to learn more about people’s experiences during the pandemic, I narrowed my target demographic to people who maintained an active lifestyle before the pandemic but have not been able to do the same during this time. I chose this target audience because of their shared experience, as they had a drastic lifestyle change that could make it difficult for them to cope during the pandemic.
I reached out to five people from this target audience to conduct user interviews. My goal was to learn about their past experiences, struggles, desires, and unique perspectives. I received a vast collection of diverse responses, and created an affinity diagram to analyze and synthesize my research findings. The results revealed patterns and themes across the target audience.
Through my affinity diagram, I found similarities in the participants’ experiences. The data suggests that there are two distinct groups of people in my target audience.
Group A
People who could not maintain their active lifestyles due to concern about spreading the virus.
Group B
Those who couldn't maintain their active lifestyles due to roadblocks such as local restrictions and closed businesses.
These two groups had distinct differences in how they felt about being active during the pandemic. Both groups faced different challenges and had different priorities regarding their personal lives in the pandemic. To find a solution that addressed the desires of the entire target audience, I proceeded to dive deep into the challenges faced by both groups.
What Exactly is the Problem?
"The virus"
- Group A
When Group A was asked about what challenges they felt impeded their active lifestyles, they mentioned loved ones whose health they feared for, or a moral obligation to contribute to slowing the spread of the virus. People in this group spoke about not trusting certain businesses or people and only wanted to go places where they felt safe. Despite their safety concern, the group expressed the desire to partake in activities again.
Group B faced a different challenge. They shared with Group A the desire to be active, but felt it was impossible to do so in their current situation. People in this group mentioned restrictions, constantly changing business hours, and not knowing what to do with their free time.
"Restrictions"
- Group B
I found that people in both groups had certain places they visited or activities they did on a regular basis. They attributed this repetition to the limited options that were both safe and open. People wanted to know of more places within this category, but had given up on looking. Those fun activities are out there; it's just about finding them.
I turned again to the target audience to uncover more about their challenges with their current method of finding and participating in leisurely activities. Through these conversations, I identified some pain points users felt:
Lack of inspiration and creativity when planning activities.
Loss of trust due to inaccurate information online.
Plans now require more steps and feel more challenging to make.
Once I had a better understanding of the specific problems users faced, I formed the questions that would guide my designs:
How might we inspire and motivate people to do something new with their free time?
How might we share information about business safety and restrictions with people so they can feel informed when making decisions?
How can we reduce the steps users need to take to find, research, and plan an activity?
Personas
I created personas to reference as I approached the ideation phase. These personas allowed me to maintain empathy and focus on the target audience throughout my design process.
Meet Ernest and Caroline. Both of them lead active lives before the pandemic and now long for the joy that they found from social activities. Ernest holds back from seeking these out due to safety concerns. Caroline struggles to participate in similar activities because of local restrictions around the virus.
Note: I chose to draw my own images to represent Ernest and Caroline because, although I was the sole researcher and designer, I believe it is vital to mitigate sources of potential bias that may influence assumptions about a person based on appearance.
User Stories
Synthesizing my research led me to conceptualize the different tasks people would use Local for. I conducted a card sorting study to categories and prioritize the features.
Once I had determined the features necessary for the MVP, I was ready to begin turning my ideas into a solution.
The Flow
With the MVP in mind, I mapped a user flow for every high priority task from beginning to end.
Sketches
Next, I began sketching out the UI. I really enjoy sketching because it is a great method to explore multiple possibilities quickly and inexpensively. Like brainstorming on paper.
I kept the personas in mind. Ernest and Caroline would likely be using the app from home, in a relaxed and comfortable manner. This led me to create a social media-like feed for the home page. Here, they could browse, explore, and make plans for their freetime.
Once all the red routes were sketched, I created a simple paper prototype to conduct guerilla usability tests. I tested people from my target audience by asking them to complete tasks using the prototype. The data indicated users were able to navigate from beginning to end with ease, with the exception of a few screens with missing back arrows or an ‘X’ to close a pop-up window.
Wireframes
The results from guerilla usability testing propelled me to turn my sketches into wireframes, followed by a wireflow. Another round of usability tests using wireframes would provide more thorough information and identify any usability issues with the major task flows.
During testing, users generally moved through each of the task flows intuitively and completed the assigned tasks. However, there were some errors during testing that revealed areas of weakness. I removed the “save” option on the activity cards in the feed because I saw people preferred to click on the activity card to save the activity from the description page.
Visual Design
I iterated on the wireframes to create a high fidelity prototype. To do this, I created a mood board and style guide. I wanted the Local app to visually represent it’s focus on clarity and transparency. Considering the goal to improve wellness through leisure activities, I wanted the app to feel like a well-spent sunday afternoon, a spontaneous beach day, or visiting a favorite local bakery.
High Fidelity Prototype #1
Using the wireframes to design the page structure, and the mood board to lead the UI’s message, I created high fidelity screens for the high priority task flows.
I used warm and playful colors and lots of rounded shapes to give Local a welcoming, friendly appearance. I chose to embrace white space, and use simple and concise language to demonstrate the apps straightforwardness and clarity.
I conducted more usability tests with the high fidelity prototype. On top of identifying pain points, my goal was to learn about what additional features users might enjoy, and what they think of the current set of features in the prototype.
High Fidelity Prototype #2
I iterated on the prototype after analyzing the feedback from the previous usability test. The results of testing yielded interesting information. When I spoke with users about features, a handful suggested more ways to share activities with others, or add another user to access a shared collection of saved activities. To address this, I decided to add a feature that would involve adding people to a reservation while it is being made. This would notify invitees, and would simplify the process of inviting others now that users won’t have to remember to invite others from the reservation confirmation page.
Usability testing revealed some overlooked components, such as a “you are here” marker on the map, and an indication of the current date when choosing the date for a reservation. I added these elements in addition to other useful information, such as making use of empty state design practice by adding a “browse more” prompt when a user has finished making the reservation.
I conducted another round of usability tests with the second high fidelity prototype. I was delighted to see users move right to the “Browse more activities” button. In fact, all of the users clicked that, opposed to the “X” in the corner of the window. Although users were not able to invite a real friend using the limited prototype, the majority said it was a feature they would use.
Goal #1: To Inspire and Motivate
Through Local, I strove to address the target audience's pain points. My first goal was to design a solution geared towards helping users find fun activities nearby. In user interviews, I found that users often felt that they “didn’t know what to do” with their free time or felt bored with their mundane routine. I wanted to spark inspiration and help people break away from a repetitive schedule.
Inspiration in the Forefront
To address the writer’s block when planning, Local’s main feed contains loads of inspiration, from various featured events to popular dining spots. This feature will allow users to turn to Local when feeling a loss of creativity when planning.
Save for Later
To add more impact to the feed, I included a feature for users to save activities of interest to a collection. This feature helps users create a personalized bank of activities they can turn to when they want to make plans.
Goal #2: Build Trust
The second goal of Local is to build trust with users through accurate and verified information. Even if you have a great idea of what to do this weekend, it won’t mean much if the information is inaccurate. With so much uncertainty, Local must be able to provide reliability to users.
Crowdsourced, Verified Information
For local businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everything from how many employees can work to where your business takes place. The resources people use to find information about companies (e.g., Google, Yelp, Facebook) cannot keep up with the constant and unpredictable change. Inaccuracies online make it difficult for users to trust the information they find. To address this issue, Local is made up of verified, crowdsourced information. The goal is to build trust between Local and its users through transparency, clarity, and power of numbers.
Goal #3: Quick and Easy Planning
There's no arguing the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic can planning out a weekend a daunting task. To support users in improving their wellness through well-spent free time, we must make such activities easily accessible.
One-Stop Shopping for Activities
In addition to the features above, being able to find and research an activity, book a reservation, and invite others all in the Local app is essential for users. Having multiple times of activities gives Local a competitive advantage against similar platforms. Although ease of use is always a known part of having a good user experience, the pandemic has shown how impactful it truly is.
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Conclusion
The final iteration of Local elicited an overwhelmingly positive response. Many of the users mentioned wanting to be able to use the app for themselves. Some mentioned that it would be helpful as the pandemic comes to an end and we transition back to normal life.
“Where was this app back in the summer of 2020?”
What I've Learned
I learned a lot about myself and the principles of UX design during this process. First, I was reminded that having expectations will only hurt your designs. Many of the assumptions or expectations I had about the users’ behavior were debunked through research, whether it was card sorting, user interviews, or usability testing. My appreciation for UX research has grown tremendously through this process. Second, I learned the challenge of working as the sole designer. There were many times I felt I would benefit from getting input from someone else, or simply talking through a concept. I am a team player at my core, and I look forward to working on a team with other designers in the future.
