Industry Design Project
Design Project with The Assembly
I was selected with two other classmates to do a 4 week design project with a start up company called The Assembly. This project involved doing UX and UI work that the start up would use in developing their product. While working as a team to deliver effective UX and UI solutions for our client we found that we were able to adapt to all the requests and changes that comes with working with a client. By the end of the project we had created compelling UX and UI designs that fit the clients needs.
More about the Client
When the project began the client we were working for went by the name of Cozy, later changed to The Assembly, is a startup company focused on creating an ‘IRL Social Network’ aimed at helping 18-35 year olds combat adult loneliness by creating a network and clubhouses for them to use and socialize. This membership based club would have an application process and regular fees and would allow members to have access to clubhouses, clubs, and events. The product was aimed to mimic the college campus feeling with various clubs to join and central locations to meet up at. The Cozy team wanted to encourage members to help in creating clubs and events with the goal of creating a network of like-minded driven young adults.
Week 3 of this project we were made aware that there were some changes made at this start up, for one it was no longer called Cozy and instead Assembly. The main idea of a membership based group comprised of clubs and event with a clubhouse remained, but many other aspects changed. The Assembly was more focused on young professionals, business networking, corporate sponsorships for employees memberships, and having the members put in more work running the clubs, events, and clubhouses. Along with the model changing to having paying members work as event organizers and moderators the visual aesthetic also shifted to be very academic and collegiate. We began the project with UI deliverables assigned and half way through the assignment was changed to focus on UX elements and user research. This change was unexpected but allowed us to practice a wider range of skills.
Week 1
The first week of this project consisted of going over Cozy’s mission statement, short term and long term goals, ideas, and discussing what missing pieces we could fill in for them. In addition to discussing this plan we established forms of and a schedule for communication, and went over a project plan for deliverables Cozy wanted from us.
At the time the project plan was:
Week 1: Review current materials and competitor analysis
Week 2: A low fidelity (V1) and a medium fidelity (V2) screen by screen prototype of the web app.
Week 3: High fidelity (V3) screen by screen prototype of the web app.
Week 4: High fidelity prototype of the on-boarding process.
Our Springboard group met after the meeting with Cozy to make a game plan for how to distribute work for the 4 weeks. Through the whole 4 weeks we would meet right before our weekly client call, after the meeting, and again 2 days later to check in as a team.
Week 2
On this week we had deliverables of V1 and V2 prototypes of the web app due, but our contact with Cozy did tweak the assignment half way through the week. We began by creating a user flow diagram and a simple site map, we did this to better visualize how to break up the work between the 3 of us and to reference as we worked on our specific screens to keep the design and flow more consistent.
Part way through the week our contact at Cozy asked us to split V1 into V1 and V1.5 with a few direction changes, placing more focus on 6 specific screens.
Simple User Flow
Simple Site Map
Version 1.5 (V1.5)
We then created the medium fidelity V2 prototype screens by refining and elevating the V1.5 screens.
The low fidelity versions had no colors or other visual details like photos so for the next step up to medium fidelity we started to fill in those blanks of colors and images. It was difficult to know what to do color wise because the start up Cozy did not have an established brand identity or style guide and did not want us to make one so the 3 of us agreed on some colors to keep our work consistent amongst ourselves.
Example of some Version 2 (V2) screens
Week 3
Week 3 is when the assignment, the company’s name, and some of the products objective changed. Although it was an unexpected change and we had to completely shift gears from UI to UX, the team and I adapted together very well and made a new plan.
Cozy became The Assembly and the focus of the product turned away from loneliness and connection and more heavily on the networking aspect. Our connection with The Assembly explained that they wanted to focus on the membership as a networking tool and talent pool for companies, and that they wanted the members to run the club houses, organize and execute events, and manage clubs. As well as changing to a more academic visual identity.
We were now to abandon the high fidelity screens and onboarding prototype and instead would have new UX deliverables. For week 3 our end of week deliverable would be a site map of the web app, specifically a map for the clubs page, events page, application process, marketplace, and profile creation.
Our team took this new challenge and hit the ground running, determined to adapt to the clients new requests and deliver high quality work. We broke up the work for the site map and worked on the map in the same file so we could make sure our formatting was consistent.
Advanced web app Site Map
Week 4
Week 4 we were tasked with creating a user testing guide/template for The Assembly team to use when they do user testing and user interviews. They had not previously done any interviewing or testing for this product and did not have a clear plan of how to do so. We decided to break down the guide into three major sections:
How to screen and choose users to test or interview with
Example scripts and interview and test templates
A guide to analyzing the data from the interviews and testing
A link to our user testing and interview guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bh7JUGDJ6mgs1MLNsmnW_th8OUViByhF3Y3jAPG_0MM/edit?usp=sharing
In conclusion
Working in a team of designers was a really positive experience and I think we did a good job of handling the challenges this project threw our way together. Not only what was expected from us as designers changed during the course of this assignment, but also the name and objective of the client company changed. Our contact with The Assembly also threw challenges our way because she didn’t have experience working directly with UX UI designers so there were some communication issues to work around. Collaborating with my teammates was a high point of the project and one of the aspects that went smoothest.
Through this project I learned a lot about how to work with a client who might not have a clear vision of what they want. It was a challenge but something that I could adapt to and learn from. Keeping up with communication with the client and my team members was also a learning opportunity. During this project I acted as team lead and I found that initiating communication, relaying updates, and conveying questions and concerns from the team to the client was an exciting experience that a position I thrived in.
We created consistent and effective solutions for our client. Through UI and UX methodologies we were able to set up the client for better and more consistent design as they move forward in development. We were also able to set them up to begin user testing and user interviews, of which they had done none of before. We explained that testing and interviews is vital to creating a better product and for keeping the product user-centered. I think that using our site map for design and beginning user feedback with our guide they are well set up to start to develop a more effective product.