Mauricio Martinez- Lead UX Researcher

Daniel Sonenberg- Project Manager

For a General assembly bootcamp project, me and a team of two others were tasked with either a redesign or creation of a new feature for the app Co-Star. This was a mock assignment and required a complete audit of the app as well a week of research into their values and a week of choosing the perfect feature to add. My role in this was Lead UI designer and I got to make some really exciting design decisions that I believe really helped elevate our assignment output.

The most significant problems I my team was tasked with solving was " What was missing from Co-Star as it stands now? How could my team help current Co-Star users have a better experience while also adhering to Co-Stars current business model?"

We were able to come up with multiple solutions as well as create wireframes, prototypes and mockups. The potential impact of our solution were it to be implemented in the actual app would allow users greater self-expression and connection with other Co-Star app users.

During the initial research phase of the project, our project manager conducted user interviews to build new personas and to inform the design. Together with the team, we prepared an interview script with 10 open-ended questions, focusing on our target audiences’ values, motivations, and knowledge of astrology. In 2 days, Dan recruited and interviewed 5 users remotely. We referenced the user interview findings throughout the entire design process but found our survey results to be the most helpful

We wanted to know user thoughts on astrology and social networking

5 user interviews

Main insights included limited knowledge of astrology in general and lack in ability to social network through astrology

We used our findings to help us in the creation of our persona

After the project kickoff, we defined our research strategy and objectives. Understanding the target audience and their challenges were our priority. First, we built an online survey and shared it with relevant communities. In just a few days, we received 17 submissions. Based on these, we identified 5 common pain points, which lead us to the next step in process.

we used open-ended and multiple-choice questions in our survey

17 submissions

We concluded that most used astrology to connect with others and that most had very strong opinions about astrology

We used our survey answers to develop our persona as well

We wanted to form a deeper understanding of our users' goals, needs, experiences, and behaviors. So, we created one user persona. She was based on our user interviews and surveys, and we kept updating her throughout the project as we gathered more data. We used our persona whenever we wanted to step out of ourselves and reconsider our initial ideas.

We needed a persona because we were tasked with finding a solution for problem that affects actual users.

We used our survey and user interview responses to build our persona

We wanted to specify her need to connect with others as that was a common pain point

Our persona inspired us in our solution ideation

We continuously reflected on our persona throughout the entire design process

I began the design process with low-fidelity sketches and wireframes to accelerate decision-making through visualization without losing time. My sketches were based on the initial user interviews, the business goal, and the heuristic evaluation. They each pointed to the fact that there were too many distractions in the flow. We came back to the sketches throughout the entire design process to make sure that we don’t lose sight of our primary goals and ideas.

The main purpose of our sketches were to help us brainstorm possible solutions

Multiple sketches helped us keep our solution ideation broad

Our sketches led us into our grayscale wireframes

Using Figma, I translated my first sketches into mid-fidelity wireframes. Then, I improved them by adding a few relevant stock images and copies provided by Unsplash. At this stage, the wireframes were defined enough for some user testing. Based on 3 tests, I’ve made a few alternations and moved on to creating high-fidelity prototypes.

We created grayscale mid-fidelity wireframes for two tasks we wanted users to test

We used Figma for the wireframes

Conducted three user tests

Made multiple iterations

I created a fully-functional, high-fidelity prototype of the new flows using Figma. At the same time, we started recruiting subjects for the test who fit our criteria. We did 3 usability tests in the first round and then started iterating on the issues that we’ve identified:

What issue did you uncover through usability testing? How many times did this issue come up throughout the tests? How did the test subjects react to/describe this issue? 

What was the solution? How did ou come up with the solution? How many times did you iterate on the design? How did you validate your solution?

Once the usability issues were resolved, I moved on to design the final screens in Figma. My goal was to create a visual identity that’s aligned with the brand’s values and message as well as seamlessly intergrate our new complimentary feature.

We wanted to stick to Co-Star's famous dark mode

We stayed within the Design system of Co-Star and also IOS guidelines

We designed for Iphone although we acknowledged how our design might affect or impact android

How would you continue this project? Is there anything you would revisit in the final design? What advice would you give to the designer following you?

How would you continue this project? Is there anything you would revisit in the final design? What advice would you give to the designer following you?

How would you continue this project? Is there anything you would revisit in the final design? What advice would you give to the designer following you?

This was my first time working with a team on a UX project and I was delighted to discover my soft skills were useful for this project. Communication and trust were key in the success of my team. I got even more comfortable with component sets and my ability to make design decisions within a team and then also delegate next steps throughout the process. I truly believe this project allowed me to grow as a designer and I'm excited for the next collaboration with a team!

Want to work with me? Feel free to contact me!