- Jonahtan Rabago
- Oct 10, 2020
- 4 min read
(*Notice: when I first started this project, I was not aware that there was a brief; I just had the basic overview about what this brief was about.)
Persona V1
What I knew about this project at the was that Digital Life Library would be geared towards people with at least 100 digital items, hardware, and peripherals that wanted a hub of all of their items. For my persona, Kevin Gray, I imagined a college student who wanted to create his own man cave to escape from his family.
Storyboard V1
Kevin Gray's story is told with the conflict being him wanting to isolate himself from his family, climax being him discovering Amazon's Digital Life Library where he could manage all of his media all in one place, and the resolution being him finally able to create his man cave.
Feedback that was given to me was that the blue was too dark which made text and images harder to see. I realized this once I started coloring. Other than the darkness of the color and the story not following the brief, I received comments of how successful it tells the story and how even thought it does not follow the brief exactly, it was able to get the essence.
Design Stories V1
This list details the different processes a user might encounter when navigating through Amazon's Digital Life Library. From feedback given to me, I was informed that the Design Stories should only detail processes that follow the design brief so details like payment, signing in, etc. should not be considered.
Task Flows V1
Browse Items
Based of feedback I was given, I did not need to be so specific with every option. Item could be summed up into just "categories" and did not need to follow irrelevant tasks that is not specified from the brief. Additionally, I needed to organize my task flow in a more identifiable manner.
Task Flows V2
Browse Items & Browse Hardware and Peripherals
I applied the feedback I was given towards future task flows I created. Flows were being revised based on throughout the dates; especially once I discovered the project's brief---where I could base the tasks on what is actually necessary.
UI User Flow Sketches V1
For my user flows, I sketched a screenshot for every screen that would would be prevalent in the Digital Life Library. I shaded in the sections that were not important to focus on, highlighted the important sections, and colored the element that would be clicked on. During critique, I was advised to only sketch the idea of the overall design, that it did not need to be organized in sequence, and that I should add some real text in order for the viewer to know the context of the screen without me having to explain.
Browse Items
Manage Content
Browse Items
Persona V2
Once I discovered my project brief, I was able to create a more detailed and accurate representation on who the Digital Life Library user would be. I imagined a more mature person over the age of 30 who would have more experience purchasing digital items, before subscription services were out or popular; when you would have to purchase media from iTunes and/or burned their CD's and DVD's onto their computer. Someone who would play PC games in order to have a digital copy of their games, and someone who was tech-savy, in order have a need to keep track of their hardware.
Storyboard V2
The conflict in the story is that Kevin isn't able to relax since it is difficult for him to manage all of his digital items, subscription, and hardware. He is also concerned about all the money he is spending on all of his subscriptions. The climax is him discovering Amazon's Digital Life Library where he is able to manage all of that. The resolution to the story is Kevin saving time and money.
UI User Flow Sketches V2
During my process in creating user flow sketches, I used the critiques given to me me by my peers and professor. I focused more of following my task flow and adding some text elements so people can get more context about what they are looking at.
Metadata
Here is an example of what a metadata for a product would look like.
Design Consequences
This diagram lists the possible consequences that may occur based on a design decision in 2nd and 3rd order.
Prototype V1
During user testing for filtering results, I received a lot of useful feedback. For example, the filter icon is eye-catching but on the other hand, it seems more like an adjustment of preferences; that the website design looks more like a video streaming service confusion on what page the user is on; putting more indicators on the prototype to know where to click and what element; option menu being too difficult to find; and the play button appearing after hovering over media being really helpful.
Reflection
Throughout the Amazon Digital Life Library project, I learned many lessons that I utilized to improve my design's productivity and effectiveness. For example, when a design brief looks a little too brief, I should make sure I have all the information need to create an accurate representation of the design, both written and visually. This also ensures that I do not have to do additional work to fill in the vacant information or to correct it. Additionally, when creating user and task flows, I need to be brief and effective by listing all the options and by sticking to the brief. This ensures that there is no filler information that will delay me from accomplishing and staying in focus on the task. Finally, I learned that a user or tester does not know the elements I want them to interact with so putting more context, such as titles or images would give them more context when trying to pursue a task. Working on this project, I learned a lot of useful information that I will be using throughout my design career.
