27th September - 20th October 2024 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Sin Jun Ming 0364638
Application Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 1 - Mobile Application Proposal
LECTURES
Week 1 - Introduction
First week, Mr. Zeon briefed us about the module information of Application Design I and about his requirements for this module. He emphasized the importance of application design, and he also mentioned that our assignment progress is also very important. For our first task, we were assigned to search for three applications and analyze their weaknesses to create our draft proposal.
Week 2 - User-Centered Design
Week 2 lecture covers the fundamentals of User-Centered Design (UCD), User Experience (UX), and User Interface (UI) design. We were introduced to the UCD process, which is essential for the final submission of Project 1. For this project, we need to focus on a single company's app and assess whether the proposed mobile application concept is suitable for the next stage of development. We will need to refer to the Week 2 lecture slides for additional guidance and required components. UCD is a design philosophy that prioritizes user needs, providing the framework to create products that are both user-friendly and visually appealing. UX focuses on ensuring smooth, functional interactions, while UI handles the visual design, making the UX come to life.
Week 3 - Usability
In this week, Mr. Zeon talked about the importance of usability in application design, focusing on key principles such as consistency, simplicity, visibility, feedback, and error prevention. He also mentioned that the final project proposals are due in Week 4, with each student allotted 5 minutes to present.
Week 4 - Presentation
We are assigned to present our final proposal in class physically this week.
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 1 - Mobile Application Proposal
Requirements
Draft proposal Canva slide:
- Create a proposal documentation for their mobile application project.
- Redesign an existing app that you find unsatisfactory in terms of the user experience or interface design and it's subject to preliminary approval by the module coordinator.
- Do surveys, interviews, market studies and research on the selected topic.
- The document should also include key features of their mobile application and provide clear flowchart of the app.
- The document will determine whether the mobile application idea is good to continue to the next development phase.
A. Draft Proposal (Week 1-2)
Instructions:
- For this week's assignment, our task involves researching various applications. Choose three company apps that you believe could benefit from enhancements in their design. Your objective is to identify all existing drawbacks and propose potential solutions.
- Attached company information, capture screenshots of all pages on each company application design and compile them onto individual slides. For subsequent slides, focus on specific areas within the screenshots that you believe could be improved on their user interface design and user experience. Accompany each analysis with the rationale behind the identified issues and propose suitable solutions.
- We are tasked with generating a concise report outlining your discoveries, which will be showcased via slides and presented for feedback during Week 2.
The three options of apps I have chosen for application redesign are
- My Fitness Pal
- Encode
- TGV
Fig 1.1 Three application options for proposal
From my interest in fitness, I searched for fitness app at first and I found the My Fitness Pal app. Although the rating is good which is 4.7 out of 5.0, I decided to give it a try. Eventually, the overall experience of using the app is not well and I found some information and banner design issue in this app.
Fig 1.2 My Fitness Pal current app design
For the second application, I searched for an education app to learn coding because I am currently self-learning coding. I tried out the Encode app and it gives me bad experience not only from the bad UI design, but also from the learning system of the app, which is not beginner-friendly for those who have zero experience in this field. Although it has a high rating of 4.6 out of 5.0, the app has several weaknesses to be improved, and I found that other users have the same opinions on the review section.
Fig 1.3 Encode current app design
Other from the new applications, I reminisce of a bad experience on using the TGV app to book movie tickets. The TGV app have a low rating which is 3.7 out of 5.0, and the review section is filled with bad reviews because the app is not well-designed for the users.
Fig 1.3 TGV current app design
After consultation with Mr. Zeon in week 2, I realized the problem of the "premium mode", or ads problem are not to be considered for a designer, we must focus on what a designer can do to help to improve the overall app design for a better user experience.
Draft Proposal by Sin JunMing
B. Final Proposal (Week 3-4)
Things to include in the final proposal:
1. Introduction
- Introduce the purpose of the proposal.
- Explain the importance of mobile application design and how it impacts user experience.
2. Background and Context
- Describe the existing mobile application and its current design.
- Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the current design.
- Explain the user demographics and user needs of the application.
3. Goals and Objectives
- Define the objectives of the redesign.
- Identify the primary and secondary goals for the new design.
- Explain how the new design will address user needs and improve user experience.
4. User Research
- Describe the user research methods you will use.
- Explain how you will gather user feedback and insights.
- Provide a plan for user testing and validation.
5. References
- Include any references used for research and inspiration, such as articles, books, or design examples.
To start the final proposal, I have chosen the Encode app as the final proposal idea.
Application name: Encode
Category: Education
Target audience: Coding learners
Age: 18-34 years old
Fig 2.1 New Canva slide for presentation
The purpose of researching the Encode app is to observe the standard of educational application industry and find out the best practice to improve app performance and provide a user-friendly educational platform.
Since I could not find the user demographics of the Encode app on similarweb.com, after receiving feedback from Mr. Zeon in week 3, I did it on its competitor, Sololearn app to find out the user demographics and do analysis.
Fig 2.2 User demographics of Sololearn app (competitor)
Final proposal Canva slide:
Final Proposal by Sin JunMing
Feedback
Week 1
No feedback this week.
Week 2
Premium mode that needs user to pay for exclusive features are not considered as a weakness of the app because that is not a problem a designer can control. Highlight the keywords in the user reviews. For the third idea which is the TGV app, go ask others about their opinions on horizontal scrolling vs. vertical scrolling and small vs. large movie poster, if the ideas of weaknesses are valid, it is good to go and make improvements on them.
Week 3
Overall okay, try to find the competitors data, and third-party research on the company or competitors. Do analysis on who is their target customer, can do user demographics on competitor using similarweb.com if the target company is not founded on the website.
Week 4
The content is good. However, the presentation skill has room for improvement, should have spent more time on explaining the primary and secondary goals of the application.
Reflection
This is quite a new experience to me as the first task required us to do a presentation slide and have presentation physically in front of lecturer. It was interesting to explore different kind of applications, although it took me a lot of time to try out different apps, I gained some valuable insights on the application design from it. Last but not least. I am looking forward for the final project where the final prototype is done, and the overall design is enhanced to provide better user experience.
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