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NCXT




Background

NCXT is a digital transformation consultancy. We worked with a financial services startup that aims to help users grow their financial knowledge through community based discussions, gamification, and personal goal setting.

the ask

How might we iterate and improve upon the existing design through user research and testing to increase app usage?

timeline

12 weeks

role

UX Design & Research Intern

IMPACT

*Conducted 25+ individual semi-structured user interviews resulting in synthesis of 15 new insights to improve the app.

*Presented sprint overviews and findings directly to the client team.

*Updated the design language and library.


Process


PRoject structure

For this project, our team worked in a 2-week sprint cadence with the following process:

Define:
Define the sprint research goals and design prototypes
Conduct:
Write up a testing script and conduct usability tests
Synthesize:
From user testing results, synthesize low, medium, and high priority recommendations
Deliver: 
Present recommendations to the client
Implement:
Update designs and hand off to developers for implementation.


Understanding the users

Our target demographic primarily included young adults just starting their financial journey and looking to learn more about the basics of financial planning. We aimed to utilize modern branding, encouraging language, and gamification to appeal to our demographic.


designing prototypes

Each sprint, I conducted 5 hour-long usability test sessions with participants in our demographic. Below are some of the wireframes I worked on to use during testing.


Sprint research focuses:
*Profile landing page
*Profile editing
*Verified vs. unverified users


Sprint research focuses:
*New branding
*Onboarding
*Creating a post
*Signing up for challenges

Sprint research focuses:
*Copy and UX writing
*Editing profile
*Engaging with posts
*Goal setting
*Completing challenges
Sprint research focuses:
*Verified user profile
*Profile redesign
*Gamification
Sprint goals:
*Interaction between users
*Editing a post,
*Gamification



User testing

Each sprint, after creating wireframes and updating designs, I wrote a test plan defining the tasks and questions in preparation for user testing. During each session, as these were semi-structured, I instructed the participants to click through the tasks outlined in the test plan, and took note on pathways the participants took, problems experienced, comments and recommendations, and answers to open-ended questions for current and future features.

After each session, I synthesized the insights and observations, and presented an overview of the sprint goals and research findings to the client team to implement in the current and future state of the app. Below is the structure of the findings I would present.




Final Designs


After each sprint, I was able to make updates to the designs to pass off to developers. It was really rewarding being able to see changes I helped conceptualize and design go into implementation throughout the summer. During my time with the team, I helped redefine our client’s goal and overall app experience for the user, including the onboarding experience, introduction of challenges, and user-to-user engagement within the app.




Takeaways


  1. Learning the ceremonies of and how to work in an agile environment
  2. Learning how to write and conduct scripted user testing interviews
  3. Learning how to use user feedback to drive design decisions for a product
  4. From working directly with a development team, learning how to understand the limitations when designing for development


Some feedback from my team:

“It was a fantastic summer having Cheri on our team. It's not often I come across young professionals as developed and ambitious as her.”

-NCXT CEO



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let’s chat!


Thanks for stopping by 😁 please send me an email if you’d like to see more work!





designed by cheri wang & running on Cargo