Overview: Get It Done App
People have issues achieving goals due to poor planning leading to failure.
GID (Get It Done) App is a personal assistant that helps plan and achieve goals.
My Role
Product Designer,
User Research, UX/UI Design
Client
GID App
Year
2022
Tools
Sketch, Invision, Figma, Miro, Zeplin, Google Forms
GET IT DONE
Problem
People do not accomplish goals because they are disorganized with the work necessary to do so, do not know how to achieve the goal in the first place, and don’t plan appropriately to meet deadlines.
Solution
An application that connects calendars and tasks with goal-setting and time-based coordination will enable users to accomplish tasks and goals in a more effective and timely manner.
The focus of my research was to answer the following questions.
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How much time do users spend working towards their goals?
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What do users do to keep track of their tasks, goals, and appointments?
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How much time is wasted just managing their tasks?
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What are the challenges when trying to accomplish a task or goal?
Secondary Research Highlights
Primary Research | Survey Validation
My initial assessment was that people who were between the ages of 35-50 making 70-120k would be most inclined to use the application. So I conducted this survey to validate my assumptions.
The data from my survey shows that people who have Bachelors (60%) and Masters Degrees (24%) seem to struggle with achieving goals. The largest percentage that struggles most also earns 70K-120k while working full-time which is our target audience for this product.
Key findings from the surveys include.
What problems do you have achieving your goals?
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People who make less money also struggle to stay motivated, and they have a hard time planning out projects.
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People with higher education, making more money struggle with being too busy and find that things are not achievable and also did not plan.
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Two major groups of people experience the same problems but in very different ways.
Comparison of Project Management Apps.
I used this comparison of my MVP features to see what applications are offered by others rating them on a scale of 1 - 5. 1 being the worst and 5 being the best.
Heuristic Analysis
Early secondary research already revealed project management market opportunities, so I geared my research to gain knowledge from companies that had strong user flows and minimal UI functions.
I did a deep dive into five apps using a rating system from Nielson Norman's Group 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design, ranging from 1 (Below average) to 5 stars (Above average).
Specific rules are used in this process.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use — Allow for customization, so users can choose how they want the product to work.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design — Interfaces should not contain irrelevant or rarely needed information. Every extra unit of information in an interface competes with the relevant information units and diminishes their relative visibility.
Consistency and Standards — Failing to maintain consistency may increase the users' cognitive load by forcing them to learn something new.
Affinity Mapping
Clustering Ideas and Revealing Insights - [Link Here]
In order to get a better understanding of my design priorities and outline common feelings found in potential users, I grouped them together into categories.
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Synthesizing
Presonas - [Link Here]
To further help with the synthesizing process I created Personas that embodied the behaviors, needs, and goals that I found among the interview findings.
Sketches & Ideas
Ideation, user flows, and sketches of MVP features needed to be designed for testing.
Interviews revealed that people had similar ways of documenting personal goals, tasks and appointments. But very different ways of attempting to manage their tasks if any at all. This led me towards building an intuitive personal assistant that would function like a Swiss Army knife with AI technology. Very much like the Science fiction movies I grew up loving I wanted to create and application that improves the more you use it, to the point that it know how you think, feel and work on various goals. Luke Skywalker had R2D2 and my users will have GID.
User Stories, Flows, Sketches, Wireframes, Hi-Fidelities
User Story: The user wants to add a task with time duration and if the time does not fit an alert will pop up and the user will allow the app to pick a timeframe that best fits.
Early sketch of the interface in FIGMA.
This is an early sketch on the whiteboard of a user task flow when trying to add a task with a time duration.
Users Need to Have Priorities Listed.
One of the common issues people have with achieving a goal is making it a priority. GID does just that. With a priority matrix, the application allows users to easily schedule tasks while taking into account the level of importance. Research let me know that users are pretty lazy when it comes to planning and poor planning leads to failure. So with the priority matrix, users can very easily decide where the task stands in their priorities.
User Story: The User wants to add a task with a priority level.
Wireframes of Priority
Matrix Screens User Testing, Updating
What I learned from usability testing with the following wireframes allowed me to update the app on multiple screens. In the end, it helped the landscape in the sense that users felt the layout made them feel less cluttered.
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Opened up the Matrix Priority screen to take over instead of popup
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Added a much-needed back navigation
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Updated the main navigation to the footer
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Added, share, delete, edit, and info icons allowing for easier navigation
Wireframes (additional changes to screen layouts)
Knowing the importance of easy-to-use navigation that is intuitive. I refocused, going through various scenarios that would work best for my users and keep them engaged.
Initially, I had an icon set up with very little menu direction. I realized this was not going to work and had to allow my users to see and read what the items were for simplicity I added copy, then reworked the layout. Because this is a mobile application first on the front end I needed to use my small screen and decided that a listing similar to the task listings would be my best route. Below is a sample of the updates.
Hi-Fidelity Prototypes
Information Architecture
I learned that this step is incredibly valuable for quickly evaluating and iterating the user experience, without getting lost in the detail of screen design. Defining the most simple and elegant flows up front really helped when moving on to wireframing the full experience.
Usability Testing
All 5 of the usability tests conducted were taken remotely via Skype and featured a mixed-gender set with diverse career and social backgrounds.
The goal of the study's last round of testing:
- See if the UI was simple to follow
- Determine if the task management was smooth
- See if the experience properly illustrated the complex topic of goal setting and task management, in a simple way for users to understand.
Style Guide
After rounds of testing, it was time to design. I focused on solidifying the brand identity and assets needed in order to make designing Hi-Fi screens an efficient and smooth process.
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What I learned.
Good UX/UI is More Science than Art
UX is a fluid method with various methodologies to get to a solution. Finding the suitable way and sometimes walking off the yellow brick road is fun. Always better with others... especially the ones with courage, heart, and a brain. There's no place like good UX.
One Step at a Time
It was exciting to explore all the various technologies and how breaking a problem down has its place. The primary key to producing a quality solution at a good pace is to avoid getting caught up in the minutia and moving forward.
Teamwork and Collaboration
The UX field is so team-orientated and my Art Direction and design style of collaboration thrive in the UX cycle.
What I Learned About The Industry.
I learned that the need for productivity and task management applications is enormous. The task management market segment is expected to grow from USD 1.79 billion in 2017 to USD 4.33 billion by 2023. Task management software helps individuals and teams to create plans, control, track, manage, collaborate, and report tasks throughout their life cycle and make decisions based on them. They help users to work more effectively by automating and streamlining tasks. There is a growing need for enterprises to utilize task management applications. But, there is also a need for individuals, and will advancements in the areas of AI we are going to see an integration of tack management software with other third-party tools.
What's Next?
(the future of this product)
The future of the application is to continue with user testing. I started concepts for a digital pen that will transfer notes directly to the application so users do not waste time inputting information multiple times.
While developing the application concept, I wanted to dig deeper into the voice recognition portion of the application, which allows a user to input information into the app by simply using their voice and having the application do the rest. As Michael Knight says to KIT, “ Keep your scanners peeled.” Kitt then might respond. “Let’s Get It Done!”
Digital Pen Drawing Penny
(digital pen drawing)
During my interviews, more users mentioned that they still write down their goals and task appointments on paper, which they then have to retype into their digital calendar, or they spend unwanted time trying to find the list they wrote down. Until recently, your only option would have been to read back your notes and type in the information (that is, write it out all over again)—but now there's a better solution: the digital pen.
Focusing on the future of the GID application and introducing Penny. Penny is a digital pen that connects to the application and allows users to continue writing down lists and notes or even sketching a design for work while on the train. But Penny is also a listener who uses her AI voice recognition element to allow a user to speak to her while she dictates your voice into a note which can be categorized, saved, and shared. With the breakthrough of LaMDA I feel GID users will be using the application just like Luke Skywalker, Micheal Knight, and Tony Stark.
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Power Button
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USB Connector
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Bluetooth Transceiver
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Light Illuminated OLED Display
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Microphone
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Battery
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Ink Cartridge
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Infrared Camera
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Processor
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Memory
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Speaker
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Navigation / Input Buttons
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Force-sensor Units
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Tip Connection
User Task Flow
(task added written and spoken)
The Next Round of Testing
The next step in the product's design is to continue working on adding the digital pen with user task flows. Some user testing will follow to see how people prefer to use Penny and how the platform can continue growing.