9 Muses

RESEARCH

USER DISCOVERY

As the sole designer on the project, I led a user discovery research to explore two key users: artists/designer and the clients. I had surveyed 15 artists/designer (3 were also interviewed) and 4 clients (2 were also interviewed) to learn more about their general booking process as a vendor and client.

Through this process, I validated that for both vendors and clients reliability, scheduling and transparency were important factors and miscommunication was a key pain point for both parties.

‍Go deeper: View my full recap of user discovery research

‍

‍

SECONDARY RESEARCH

I conducted an indirect market competitive research to understand, compare, and contrast current trends in existing marketplace platforms and find places of opportunity in the already expansive network.

‍

‍

‍

‍

DEFINE

Using the information gathered in the primary and secondary research, the MVP target user was defined: Amy Park, the bride. Her user journey map was also created to better understand how she would use 9 Muses for her wedding planning journey.

After defining our MVP user, Project Goals were also defined to set as guidelines to be used during the design-decision process and to determine the shared goals amongst the business and the users, while keeping in mind the technical considerations. Their shared goal was to create a positive client-booking experience.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

WHY AUGMENTED REALITY(AR)?

As mentioned, miscommunication was a key pain point for both vendors and clients when taking on projects. During my ideation process, I found inspiration from products intended for art. The INKHUNTER app, for example, allows its users to choose uploaded artwork from artists and using AR technology to virtually try on a tattoo on any part of their body so they can see how it would look before it gets inked. It gave clients control of their vision and ability to better communicate with the artist. How might 9 Muses similarly aid in creating a positive collaboration between artist and client? How might 9 Muse streamline communication?

Implementing an AR feature in 9 Muses would allow artists to upload pre-made templates of their artwork and enable their clients to virtually see how a sample project may look on a specific medium, manipulate the placement and size before booking the artist/designer. Which could save time for both the client and artist and help streamline communication.

‍

‍

‍

‍

INTERACTION DESIGN

APP MAP

After the initial research was completed and comparing the app maps of competitors, an App Map was created to determine the key screens that would make up 9 Muses.

‍

‍

TASK & USER FLOW

With the App Map as a guide, 4 user tasks flows was used to highlight the screens and user actions taken to complete 4 main tasks on 9 Muses:

• New user sign up process
• Find a local vendor
• Use AR feature using the vendor's template
• Book vendor and attach saved images

The 4 user task flows combined together to map out a unified user flow:

‍

‍

FEATURES ROADMAP

A roadmap was use to highlight the key features and ranked based on effort vs impact priority matrix. It was also used to answer:

• What are the screens that would make up the MVP?
• What features would make the app fun, easy to use and memorable?
• What features would make the most impact?

‍

‍

‍

‍

WIREFRAMES

I made rough sketches of the app's main screens and defined each screen's elements before moving onto Sketch App. The sketches were then used as a guideline to design the mid-fidelity wireframes that were polished according to the set style guidelines and a hi-fi prototype was used for usability testing.

LO-FI WIREFRAMES

‍

MID-FI WIREFRAMES

‍

‍

‍

‍

PROTOTYPING + TESTING

Usability testing was conducted using 2 methods while remote testing:

• Observed 3 participants as they test the prototype on Marvel (Moderated)
• Recruited 17 participants to test prototype on Maze (Unmoderated)

‍

Each participant were to complete the same 4 tasks:

• New user sign up
• Find a local calligrapher to make invitations
• Try the AR feature using a artist's template
• Book artist and attach sample image

‍

Go deeper: View my full usability testing findings

‍

RESULTS

Participant's feedback and suggestions from the usability testing were organized onto an affinity map to highlight the successes as well as find other windows of opportunity and areas for improvement. The next steps were placed in a priority matrix to determine which actions would have the most impact and could be iterated first.

Some quick wins (high impact, low effort):

• Rearrange the position of templates
• Enable AR feature on homescreen
• Make main navigation more prominent
• After image is saved to project gallery, redirect user and enable them to send inquiry to muse

‍

‍

‍

‍

ITERATIONS

During the usability testing I discovered that users wanted to have quick access to templates and had prioritize seeing those earlier on in the discovery page rather than a gallery view of completed projects. For the iterations I focused on the quick and impactful wins that would allow the users to use the AR features earlier on in their experience.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍