Discover
Problem space
Making decisions with indecisive people can be frustrating, especially when planning activity as a group. Unfortunately, it can negatively affect people involved in the repetitive and time-consuming process, such as friends, colleagues, partners, and family.
Secondary research
I conducted further research to identify the current state and detailed information regarding the problem space.
20% of adults are INDECISIVE
Having too many options leads to the indecision of people.
Indecision leads to anxiety, worry, regret, shame, and negatively impacts one’s quality of life and social life.
Starting with small decisions, adding playfulness such as flipping a coin, drawing lots can reduce indecisiveness.
Interview findings
By conducting interview and synthesizing the data, I acquired the following insights.
Reason for indecisiveness
There are two main reasons that cause people’s indecisiveness:
Having too many options make people confused and not know what they truly want.
Being considerate and caring about others’ satisfaction causes people’s indecisiveness.
Frustration
People find the discussion tiresome when it gets longer than 20 minutes, and it can become a reason for an argument amongst a group. Such delayed group decision for dinner plan leads to familiar options for members and limits the opportunity to try new places.
Helpful method
An indecisive person feels comfortable making simple decisions depending on probability, such as flipping coins or random drawings, and they find it helpful by accelerating the decision-making process stress-free, easy and fast.
Organizing all the insights helped me determine a good area to focus on for this project.
I decided to concentrate on the insight ‘Helpful Method’ for a particular social event among groups of people and came up with the question:
Define
Persona
By synthesizing and analyzing the research data, I created a persona that can represent my user segment, for whom I will design the best possible experience.
Experience mapping
From the perspective of Claire, I made the experience map of her when deciding for group dine-out to get a more precise idea of the frustration, goal, and opportunities to improve the experience for her.
User stories
To define and design features that reflect the user’s needs and pain points,
I wrote user stories and chose the epic ‘Getting options’.
Epic: Getting options
As an indecisive person, I want to…
Have fewer restaurant options to choose from so that I get fewer things to consider for making a decision.
Get recommendations for the restaurant so that I can consider that option first for a decision.
Have the option to get a random result so that we can skip the group discussion and make the process the simplest.
Have filtered restaurant options so that we can make more friends satisfied with the result.
Receive available suggestions only so that I don't need to waste time checking the availability of the place.
Task selection
From Claire’s perspective, I translated the user stories into tasks and created the task flow diagram to describe the user’s product flow logic visually. Her task is to choose the area and set other criteria for group dine-out, get random suggestions, and check detailed information for each option before sharing them with the group.
Develop
Exploratory sketches
I visualized the product's functionality into initial sketches based on user stories, a task flow diagram, and a UI inspiration board that I created to acquire inspiration from other applications.
Solution sketches
By comparing concept sketches, I decided on the final solution sketch to turn into the initial prototype.
Wireframes
I translated my solution sketches into mid-fidelity greyscale wireframes using Figma.
Through review and feedback sessions, we refined the design scope, gaining a clearer, more tangible understanding of the features to incorporate in the design revamp.
Deliver
Usability testing (1st round)
By using the initial prototype, I conducted the first round of usability testing with 5 participants. Through the user testing, I could confirm whether the tester can complete the following tasks:
Task 1 - Adding a new decision for group dine-out
Task 2 - Searching and selecting the area on the map
Task 3 - Setting preference filter
Task 4 - Checking details of each option
Task 5 - Exiting and going back to the landing page
Opportunities
It can be confusing what task to do on the map screen without a title and clear instruction.
The order of preference filters may need to be rearranged.
Having all preferences settings on one page looks crowded.
Wireframe revision
I revised the initial prototype by reflecting feedback from the first user testing session and the design prioritization matrix. After the modification, I ran another round of user testing with 5 more testers.
Usability testing (2nd round)
Opportunities
Wording on some screens can be confusing.
The visual hierarchy of the map screen can be confusing due to the ‘Adjust Pin’ button.
Wireframe revision
I revised the prototype by reflecting feedback from the second user testing session and the design prioritization matrix.
High-fidelity prototype
I applied the brand typography and color palette to turn the mid-fidelity prototype into high-fidelity.
Responsive marketing website
As a part of the marketing strategy, I designed the responsive marketing website for 'I’m decisive' app. The website is designed for desktop view for over 1024px width and mobile view for between 320 to 767px width. It introduces the app by telling who might need it, its features and testimonials.
Retrospective
Design Impact - Does Claire Find 'I'm decisive' Helpful?
Claire tried ‘I’m decisive’ for the upcoming group dinner. She appreciated the simple steps to receive suggested options from the app and could easily share them with friends so that they could make the process faster. The app narrows down possible choices, and it helps them make an informed decision by providing the place details. They can even consider a restaurant they have never been to before. Claire is happy that she no longer feels guilty for not participating in group decisions.
Next steps
For the following steps, I would like to conduct further usability testing, using my high-fidelity prototype to figure out opportunities to improve the application. Personally, I would like to conduct A/B testing by adding more preference filters for the group dine-out decision-making process that can narrow down the range of options so that the app can bring more satisfying results for the users. In addition, I want to start considering other task flows such as ‘making a personal decision’ and ideate on how users can complete it efficiently by creating accessible and practical screens.
Takeaways
Useful and practical research process
This project’s problem space has a broad spectrum of possible subjects, but secondary research and interviews helped a lot to find an area to focus on. Creating a persona and making experience mapping based on them helped a lot think about problem space and its best possible solution from the user’s perspective. Furthermore, the user stories and task flow helped me a lot to keep myself on track with the subject especially as the project process gets longer.
Importance of user testings and feedback
Multiple user testing sessions and feedback from testers are really constructive and valuable since they make me realize what I didn’t notice or miss. Another thing that I learned from the usability testing sessions is that even though testers from the user testing sessions could successfully complete the given task, there are many opportunities to improve the user experience through iteration.
UX design is not a linear process
Sharing my project idea and work procedure with others during the process gave me chance to look back on my strategy or design to modify it to bring out a better user experience. This may mean giving up part of the current work and going back several steps, but ultimately a profitable choice to enhance the entire process.