| Business Case: SleepMapper will be the mobile application that connects to dedicated wearables (such as the Philips head-band), through which it will track the user's sleep patterns. As outcome, the wearable devices will provide a measurable increase of sleep quality. But this innovation comes with the risk of being too complicated or unappealing for most consumers, because of introducing brand new gestures and devices that require a considerable learning curve. Design challenge: design a mobile App that will make this learning curve as smooth and flat as possible, while also making sure that users will correctly use the devices during sleep time, and keep proper necessary maintenance of them during day time. Furthermore, make so that the App will not result in a heavy pile of instructions to follow, and ensure engagement and desirability. 1. I join the project when the prerliminary research has been already done, and the foundations of the UX (main flows, cases, wireframes) as well as the visual design have already been delivered. In the hand over to a brand new team, is made clear that the main challenges (ease the learning curve, provide guidance, improve desirability) are still the priority to be achieved, although at this stage the architecture of the App has been already built and the time to market is short. 2. My main respnsability lays in the visual dynamics of the App, aimed to improve storytelling, clarity and desirability of the product. But as my first step in the project I decide to support the assigned UX designer in her brilliant work of remapping the App (wireframing, flow diagrams, new screens designs..); this allows me to forster team connection as well as to gather a good awareness of the complete features of the App. Then, together, we negotiate with the development team leads to intervene for improvements with the minumum possible disruption of the developed architecture. 3. Meanwhile I approach the delicate storyteling work (screen staging, iillustration, animations) within the same constraints. In particular being the hugest contraints the impossibility of working on the staging and the transitioning between screens (the architecture has been completed) and the impossibility of developing programmatical animations with support of the developers. For this reason, I focus on the creation of sets of animated illustrations that do not require any programmatical interaction and that do not require substancial modifications of the existing UI layout. 4. By doing so, I can emancipate the creative work from the development constraints. I can finally utilise the outcomes of (previously performed) research to integrate the input that I receive from stakehlders, and I am able to create sets of animated illustrations that can be demonstrated and tested (independently from development constraints) until satisfaction of the original intents. This is the most important phase of my contribution, because it enables the stakeholders to finally see a visualisation their stories, functional instructions, directions and to be able to inject those in the actual App experience. |
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