Now that I had an idea in place it was time to bring it to life.
We recently looked at user stories in class and I felt that they are a great way to find the best uses for a product. Simply put, user stories are a way of defining what you want somebody to do on your product. These inform us more about what the product needs to achieve in order to fulfil its purpose.
<aside> 1️⃣
As a person in a long distance relationship with a big time difference.
I want to make the most of the limited time I have with my partner.
So that we can maintain our relationship.
</aside>
<aside> 2️⃣
As a freelance designer, who works with clients all over the globe.
I want to know the most suitable times to contact my clients without being intrusive or unprofessional
So that I can have healthy relationships with clients in hopes of repeat business.
</aside>
<aside> 3️⃣
As someone with friends who have moved abroad.
I want to know when best to contact my friends without disturbing them or waiting hours for a reply
So that we can continue to be friends and not drift apart.
</aside>
We can’t use user stories effectively without an acceptance criteria. These are the conditions that a product must meet in order to be accepted by the user and attain functionality. They can be viewed as the lowest level of functionality. In this case the functionality for user story one will be that the app must let users make the most of shared waking hours between two time zones. User story two’s acceptance criteria might be that it notifies users of the best times to contact clients as to not disturb them if it were nighttime or they were simply unavailable. User story three’s acceptance criteria could be allowing users to schedule calls or messages with friends to allow for a better social connection.
I started by thinking about how the user might interact with the application. I mapped out the user journey to help me visualise what screens would be needed and what features might be good to offer. I don’t think I have done this for a project yet but it seems like such a simple but powerful way to prepare for the visuals whilst also putting the users needs first.
Using the user flow I then sketched out some initial ideas for the screens. This includes a home page, a contact specific page, a contacts page and a globe visualising the different time zones of your contacts. After drawing these sketches they didn’t feel 100% concrete as whole screen concepts but I felt I would need to bring them to life a little first to be sure.
For the globe screen I think it feels like a great ‘sleep’ screen or perhaps home screen but I feel it is quite ambitious to create a rotating earth animation considering the time frame for this project. That being said I will try it out but I just thought it was worth noting.
I then used these sketches to create low fi wireframes to begin the digital designs. These low fi wireframes let me understand further how the application will be used and if these screens really are necessary. They didn’t stand out to me much so I decided to go ahead with more detailed versions of these screens.
