Reimagining How People Make Plans

A Common Good

As part of my 2nd project for the Google Certificate, I had to make an app designed to serve a common good.

Smaller Screen

When designing an app, there is not much room for fluff. So every element must be important for the user to see.

Immediate Crisis

Coming up with an idea for this project was just about the most difficult part. When I have to design an entire app, the idea had to be something I believe in and would pursue in the future.

But that was a question I have been putting off for years.

For a while now, I have been dreaming of starting a business, yet I never put in enough effort to choose something real and worth pursuing. I simply didn't know how.

This course revealed a lot about how I think, and how I work, all because I am putting myself through new problems.

Problems call us to find the truth about ourselves.

When things become real, your mind navigates through it to find an answer. Putting myself through this program allowed me to face what I have been avoiding.

The answer was brainstorming. I never asked the right questions, had the wrong focus, and could never come up with more than a few ideas. I would assume most ideas would never work, judging them too quickly.

I decided to look up everything on brainstorming and took notes.

Once I practiced enough, I then applied it. I asked: "What are the issues I would change in the world?". That pain point was where my passions resided. I narrowed down the 100+ ideas I created down to a handful, and judged them based on criteria I cared about.

The idea I chose, funny enough, did not come from the brainstorming session, but when I was daydreaming in between sessions. It was a sudden inspiration.

Giving People More Confidence

I believe that today, we are more distracted than ever. There is just so much information, and the only way to combat it is through consuming less and becoming more organized.

Just as I designed with the Cleared app, I want to organize a messy process. In this case, making plans with others. People are inconsistent, busy, distracted, and left with little information to work with when trying to plan anything.

Making plans and inviting people should be quick and easy. We as a society should interact more, and in more meaningful ways beyond partying and intoxication.

Remove the barriers to increase frequency.

The Prototype Process

1. I reached out to several people on LinkedIn to hear their stories

2. I used Chat GPT to create personas based on my data and internet data

3. I chose a color pallet to follow

4. I looked up app designs as reference/inspiration

5. I outlined the user journey, and the process of making plans

6. I drew out the app architecture and wireframed what each page would look like

7. I focused on using shadow, shape, and color to separate and organize

8. Trial and error, research, learning how to use Figma

Feedback After Testing

A friend who tried the app ended up loving it. Again, no words from his mouth told me I had designed anything poorly, despite me blatantly begging for criticism.

I knew that couldn't be true.

I reflected on how he interacted with the app, and it looked like he got confused with the language I used on the buttons. He had trouble understanding if the "pending requests" he was looking at were his or someone else's. That was because I used very neutral language. Another example was the events HE was hosting were labeled as "Your Events", which could be interpreted as the events he is going to.

So I got more specific. "Pending Requests" became "My Sent Requests". "Your Events" became "My Event Hosting".

The "Workshop" page was also a confusing title, so I changed the language to "Editor", because that is where you "edit" your plans.

Language can make or break understanding.

Results

I love how this first iteration came out. I was able to organize how people make plans in an easy and simple manner. I feel that I will come back to this in the future and develop it further.

What to Do Next Time

Although I got some feedback, I do think I need to collect more data, and talk with more people to justify the legitimacy of this project. I have the ideas and pain points understood, I just need to focus on really understanding the consumers and their user journey.