Research and Design By: Ruibin Li

Time Line: March - July 2022 (12 weeks)

My Role: Solo student project for Springboard UX Bootcamp

Instructor: Nishant Rai

INITIAL PROBLEM DISCOVERY

Hire a plumber to fix my water heater, and …

• Time spend totally: 5hr

• Installation: 30min

• Time to get parts: 4.5hr

• Hourly rate: $180

• Total cost: $900

“On this project, reducing the time to get the parts will save me a great deal of money.”

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

Conduct research to explore the main problem

Based on my research, I found that every family has different problems with the electrical appliances in their home that can affect their daily routine. Once the issue has been identified, they must figure out how to resolve it. Even if some of them know how to fix it themselves, they will probably wait until the critical product is delivered. The expert should check first and then tell you to wait until they get the part if they hire an expert to fix the problem. It may take one or two days to get materials for some typical problems, and an expert can tell you when it will take. There might be a local store that sells the parts. But, it is not always easy to find the product near your location.

When I lock the field of the problem, I start to analyze three applications that have related services surrounding this problem. I follow the “10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design” from Nielsen Norman Group and dive deeply into the pros and cons of these competitors. But none of these applications have a good solution.

Analysis of Competitions

To learn about user expectations and experiences with home improvement, a home improvement interview is conducted. I choose five candidates with different backgrounds, but all have experience in home improvement. Knowing the user’s experience and expectations from other versions is essential. These interviewees will help me to figure out the solution through a similar pain point.

Link to the affinity map

As a homeowner, you have two options when it comes to a home improvement project. Do it by yourself or hire an expert. The homeowner wants to save time and money. He must order all the parts himself and has the necessary knowledge. Suppose he hires an expert to do the project. He could not handle the project schedule and spent more money on it.

Through the research and user interviews, we find many local small stores have good services and supplies, but they are not easy to advertise on google maps. Users find it hard to know if these stores have specific parts. The phone call has an asymmetry of information that will stick the client to get the correct information. Image is an excellent choice to identify the item, but they don’t have a website or mobile app.

Information Classification

More detailed classification can help users find the target product precisely that they need.

User Story

Creating user stories and deciding which to prioritize for my minimum viable product.

User Flow

I dive into one user flow about the shopping experience to help the user find the specific product near the user’s location.

After collecting the data and ensuring my platform's features, I decided to make a mobile app to help the user find the parts. I sketch to illustrate the idea and initially create wireframes to show the prototype.

I initially designed the main category at the top bar, and the secondary class stays on the same screen. This design looks a bit mass and is not obvious for new users to catch the target category. Thus, I use the whole page to list the main types and use the home functional classification for homeowners and professional classification for an expert to help them find the variety in their knowledge range.