RUTD
Overview
RUTD is a developing platform that aims to help veterans and their family members locate qualified resources and quickly communicate this back to veterans (within 24-48 hours). Their vision is to increase awareness of support resources and increase correct and timely matching of organizations with veterans and families. In order to bring the development of this application to the next stage, RUTD is seeking to set clear expectations while incentivizing users to engage in resource seeking, prioritizing the differentiating features of the application, and modeling control and satisfaction through the user interface and interactions.
I was brought on as a UX designer to research and recommend relevant features to their platform.
Role: UX Designer
Tools: Google Docs, Sketch, InVision, Google Sheets
Methods: Competitive Audit, Stakeholder Interview, User Journey Map, Feature Cards, Kana Analysis, High Fidelity Prototyping
Design Cycle
Competitive Audit
I started my research with a competitive audit. A competitive audit is the process of research and evaluation of the usability and learnability of a competitor’s products. The audit allowed me to understand what currently already exists and what could potentially be missing from the market. From the audit, I learned that there are many varying features between organizations. Features were all tailored to the needs of the organization and what they wanted to achieve in their user’s journey. This insight helped solidify the next steps of my research in familiarizing myself with the user journey in order to propose meaningful features.
Stakeholder Interview
After the competitive audit, I had a stakeholder interview with the client where I was able to dive more into the goals of the project. The client is also a subject matter expert and was able to speak to the experiences of veterans in their resource seeking journey. The insights I gained from the stakeholder regarding the current journey of veterans are mapped as seen in the next section. From the interview, I also gained insight into the goals of the stakeholder. Autonomy, timeliness, and connection are all very important to the stakeholder.
User Journey Map
Following the stakeholder interview, I created a journey map of the experiences I synthesized from the interview. The user journey map helped me visualize and gain a deeper understanding of the user’s experience. It also gave me an understanding of where I can potentially focus my features. I know the stakeholder values autonomy, timeliness, and connection. My proposed features target moments in the journey where I can begin to influence the user’s journey.
Feature Cards
The journey map allowed me to be able to pinpoint meaningful moments to design for in the journey. The rationale behind my feature cards were drawn from the competitive audit, stakeholder interview, and journey map. A few of the features I ideated and their descriptions are listed below.
Tech Estimate
After the completion of my feature cards, they were sent to the organization’s developer for a tech estimate. The developer estimated features by complexity and amount of content. For this particular project, development efforts for features were measured by small, medium, large, or extra-large. The constraints of the project were to propose 4-5 large features. The scope gave me a look into the developer’s process as well as which features the client prioritizes over others.
Kano Analysis
Following the tech estimate, a select number of features were sent to users in a Kano analysis survey. A Kano analysis is a method used to determine the user’s satisfaction with a product feature. The purpose of the Kano analysis was to gain insight into the desirability of selected features. From the Kano analysis, many of the features sent to users were performance features meaning if there is an increase in that feature’s functionality it would lead to an increase in user satisfaction.
Annotated Wireframes
After my research, I carefully selected the features I wanted to move forward with. I selected to move forward with application status, pre-categorized qualified resources, universal application, and live chat. These were chosen based on their importance to the client, desirability to the user, and the development effort.
Journey Map
Application Status
Live Chat
Next Steps
Summary
User journey maps are so satisfying! I enjoyed being able to visualize and communicate the user’s journey from start to finish. It gave me a new perspective on how to dive into an opportunity space to begin identifying where there can be improvements and adjustments. The most challenging aspect of this project was working without a physical product. Although this was alarming at first, the ability to see how the product can come together was illuminating. I also learned a lot from the tech scoping session. It was insightful to learn more about a developer’s process and how what developers and UXers do influence each other.
Be curious.
Keep dreaming.