I facilitated a design sprint for a startup client in Los Angeles. With the idea of providing families with an easier way of finding nursing homes, we worked towards a viable solution worth investing in.
The client, David, expressed that there is no current web application that allows users to find a home based on both condition and lifestyle requirements. My approach was to define the users pain points and quickly provide a solution that would improve upon similar web apps.
How might we
Granny Flat allows users to search, filter, and book tours of facilities all in one place. Relieving the headache that is caused by finding nursing homes the old way. With other platforms only focusing on types of conditions, Granny flat incorporates lifestyle requirements as one of the main focuses too. Scheduling a showing of a potential home is built in to ensure the nursing home is all what it is expected to be.
I led the design sprint of Granny Flat and completed all the deliverables from user research to delivery of the working prototype.
Based on Google Ventures design sprint process. We performed an industry standard sprint within a 2 week period to test if Granny Flat was worth investing in and if it was to be developed.
During the design sprint process, it's important to move quickly to be able to achieve a working prototype by the end of this short process. While I was short on time, I was able to complete a variety of user research methods to define our users. User pain points and quantitative data were incredibly important for this design sprint and we achieved these via empathy maps, journey maps, and competitive research done by the client, David.
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Bio
Goals
Frustrations
Initial versions of wireframe sketches were based on mental models of typical booking sites with very similar functionalities that are also highly used by the target audience. These “copycat” wireframes were based off the following sites:
- Trip Advisor
- Yelp
- Expedia/Orbitz
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We chose this option as the best for the search results page due to the familiarity it brings to our users. We found that if we keep the overall layout familiar enough, the ease of using the application will ensure that our users will continue to use the application.
Storyboarding is an important process when it comes to sprint methodologies. It helps unify the sprint team to see the prototype concept and how the prototype flows, once it gets built out. It also helps define the potential usability test tasks that will be performed on the final day of the design sprint.
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A purple color palette that would help signify some sort of luxury feel and a sense of calmness to the whole nursing home process because it can sometimes be quite stressful making a decision as big as this one. I also added a sandy texture to signify resort living and peaceful beaches, which is incorporated in certain areas throughout the prototype.
We went with quicksand due to its ease of legibility and since the target audience is that of an older age, we wanted to make sure they could have an easy time reading all text available.
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As a user, I would like to browse and choose a nursing home for a specific condition or lifestyle.
100% of users successfully searched for a nursing home based on location and other requirements due to the minimal layout and a clear call to action. The higher misclick rate was a result of users rapidly clicking as the testing software was trying to compute the changing of the next screens. All users found the optimal path to the search results page.
- 100% Success Rate
- 13.2 Seconds Average Duration
- 22.3% Average Misclick Rate
As a user, I would like the search process filterable, streamlined, and easy to use.
100% of users successfully filtered based on budget, but due to the higher difficulty of the task, there was some confusion among the users. Although it was clearly stated that the task was to filter based on budget, users still attempted to click on more filters. One user clicked on the highest rated home, circled back, and completed the task after realizing her mistakes. Some users did not find the optimal path for completing the task.
- 100% Success Rate
- 10.6 Seconds Average Duration
- 16.5% Average Misclick Rate
As a user, I want to be able to tour a potential home easily.
100% of users successfully booked a 10:00 AM tour for the Taj Mahal. It was important that the task clearly stated a 10 AM tour time because in the outside world we have very similar constraints. The misclicks were due to the users having to refer back to the task, but as they realized what time needed to be booked, the process seemed streamlined and easy. All users found the optimal path to success, despite a high misclick rate.
- 100% Success Rate
- 6 Second Average Duration
- 16.8% Average Misclick Rate
I found that empathizing with an older crowd aged 40-65 can be quite the challenge, but a great learning experience
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