Final Project

The Flatiron School

UX/UI Product Design Bootcamp

A Tool for Quick Insights

A touch on a developing tool

ROLE

UX/UI Designer, Researcher, & Writer

The client is one close to me: my employer, REVOLT Media & TV.

Over the past two years, REVOLT’s Insight & Research department underwent their largest endeavor yet: become the thought leaders in all things Black Gen Z.

To accomplish this goal, REVOLT partnered with an AI platform to conduct 500 hours of verbal interviews with 748 people in the span of one week.

The output? A website where users can access quick insights on this growing population.

Throughout this project, I found myself adding a fresh perspective on a developing tool, finding new ways to present data visually while keeping insight simple.

SKILLS

Figma, Research, Prototyping, Data Synthesization, Ideation and Creative Production, UX writing

OBJECTIVE

Ideate, prototype, and test a product that houses research data on a growing population.

TIME SPAN

Jan. 2024 - August 2024

The Problem & Opportunity

The client tapped a vendor they have a longstanding relationship with to ideate, develop, and launch a website to house the insights.

However, after a month of creative development and numerous feedback loops, the client released the vendor from the project. They cited the following reasons for this decision:

  • Poor understanding of the target user and their needs

  • Lack of inquiry during creative development meetings

  • An overemphasis on creative ideas rather than letting the insight dictate the platform’s UX journey

  • A UX interface that is difficult to navigate

Another key point I suspected might cause issues down the line is that the client wanted to focus purely on the web version of the site before focusing on mobile.

Being that my client is also my employer, I gained explicit permission from the project’s stakeholders to approach this product in my own way.

I must note that as I undertook this project, the client hired another vendor to ideate, develop, and launch the website. As such, my approach is purely for the purpose of my final project, and will not be used by the client.

We can build something fresh here.

The User

The client already conducted user research prior to tapping in creative vendors. These are the key characteristics:

Who are they? What do they want?

Persona

  • Occupation: VP Brand Partnerships, CMO, Marketing Execs

  • Marital Status: Married with at least 2 kids

  • Values: Performance, forward thinking, staying cultured

Pain Points & Challenges

  • Time Poor: Limited time due to demanding job responsibilities and family commitments.

  • Industry Pressure: Needs to stay ahead of cutting-edge industry insights and stay ahead of competition to maintain market position.

  • Future-Proofing: Concerned about appealing to younger Gen Z audience and tapping into new profit markets to sell authentically to this audience.

Goals & Desires

  • Knowledge Acquisition: Wants insight on emerging trends, Black gen Z consumer behavior, and new marketing strategies.

  • Talent Acquisition: Interested in attracting diverse talent who can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to their company.

  • Profit Growth: Seeks to identify and learn about untapped market opportunities.

  • Brand Image Enhancement: Aims to position itself as a modern, inclusive, and forward-thinking brand.

After reviewing the user persona, the competitive domain, and the client’s topline report on the growing population, it was time to get ideating.

Going in, I knew that my UX design needed to accomplish the following things to be viable:

  • Let the insight shine through downloadable slides

  • Offer a newsletter signup form to establish the client as a subject thought leader

  • Reduce the amount of scrolling and clicking around needed

  • Feature a simple yet creative use of visuals to counter the lull of reading a white paper

The Information

Coming into this, I knew that a minimalistic style to the navigation and information architecture was key. Our users need to get in and out without too much hassle in clicking and searching around the site.

With that said, we need to design a small amount of pages. And these pages need to have all the information they need in one place.

One thing that changed from the User Task Flow screenshot here and the final product is the exclusion of sharing cards or decks. That feature moved into a “Nice to Have” when there are more resources.

In its place is the signup form task flow, aligning with the client’s want to gather users’ emails.

Simplifying the road to victory.

Information Architecture

User Task Flows

Additional Task Flow

The low-fidelity version was my chance to play around with how text, info cards, and visuals might co-exist on a limited scrolling page.

One thing the client noted as an incentive and as a way to become a thought leader is to offer free newsletters about the growing population. To this end, I knew a signup form that existed in every page’s footer would be ideal.

My biggest challenge was the methodology page. The client stated that this page doesn’t need a heavy design lift. Being text-heavy to explain the research would be best. So I played around with a 3-column page fit snuggly to limit scrolling.

The provided photography was used sparingly throughout, being mostly used for the info cards that when clicked on, opened a slide users would be able to download. Hover states were used to help dictate interactive elements to the user. And to help with reading on a UX writing level, the client’s accent colors highlighted the most important parts of the copy and research.

But of course, these designs need to be put through the ringer. Onto the usability testing!

All the solves! Solution everything!

The Design Solution

The Testing

I enlisted five (5) individuals who match the user persona as laid out earlier in this deck. Here are the folks I tapped in:

  • An Associate Media Director on a media strategy team

  • A Global Head of People Experience within a DEI team

  • A VP of Student Inclusion

  • A Director of Strategy and Insights

  • A Senior Data analyst at a media agency

Succeeding at what it’s intended to do.

Here are the performance metrics:

  • How quickly can a user come into the site, get what they need, and get out?

  • Are the data points and provided slides enough to gather a story for their professional use?

  • Are the visuals distracting or useful for their journey throughout the site?

  • How accessible is the signup form located in the footer?

And the results?

  • On average, each user was able to complete each task in under 15 seconds and 4 clicks.

  • Users found the provided slides helpful and full of story, citing that it alleviated having to synthesize data themselves.

    • However, one user said, “Maybe I would want the data points to make my own slides and stories.”

  • Another user advised that I think about how the site looks in different devices, harkening back to the client’s decision to not develop a mobile version just yet.

  • No user reported an unhappy path. From a qualitative perspective, users found the site intuitive.

Reflections

I am fortunate to be part of a company and insights team that challenged me to take a developing product and practice data visualization and storytelling.

Though this project will not be used by my client/employer, it allowed me to observe how insight can exist in creative ways outside of white paper formats.

What was learned and what can be improved on.

Throughout this process, I observed and reflected on a few things:

  • Data visualization is an art form. As someone who has a professional and educational background in creative writing, I was challenged in thinking how to simplify my stories. Great storytelling gets right to the point while taking the audience on a memorable journey.

  • As I enter into a new career in UX/UI, I will come across clients who have a way of thinking that is against what I have learned. I wanted to push back on the client when they mentioned they didn’t want to focus on a mobile version, but ultimately realized that sometimes pivoting is necessary.

  • The simplest designs are often the best ones. I think about this as I compare the previous design done by the vendor that was let go. It’s easy to get lost in the creative, but I have to ask myself if that is the best solution for the user.