Download - Natalie Taylor UX Design Portfolio
NATALIE TAYLORUX portfolio 2015
I’M NATALIE…
A native Manhattanite living in Brooklyn.
I am a UX Designer and User Researcher, working and living by my process.
I’m passionate about uncovering insights — identifying people's wants, needs and behaviors — to design products that impact meaningful change.
In developing strategies and designs, I look for the most elegant solution, the seamless key to elevating users, businesses and communities.
Design, in its broadest sense, is the enabler of the digital era – it’s a process that creates order out of chaos, that renders technology usable to business. Design means being good, not just looking good. CLEMENT MOK
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MY EXPERIENCE
Before diving into User Experience Design, I did PR and Marketing for almost four years at at full-service agencies. Through this work I developed a wide range of professional skills including: client communication, brand development and rapid adaptation.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY
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MY PROCESS
I’m guided by the pursuit of elegant solutions.
My process begins with an empathetic and unbiased exploration into the discovery of a single problem. I believe that ideas grow out of a problem — uncover its roots and innovation will follow.
Aways advocating for the user, I take an agile UX approach that is grounded and guided by research.
Understanding the steak holder and user needs, I test and iterate on an idea until a usable and enjoyable design is realized.
Case Study | WE RADIATE
Research startup with a mission to raise local awareness about the benefits of composting, and to promote a new diagnostic tool used in the composting process.
RESPONSIVE WEB PROJECT
MY ROLE
Organized and led the research and user tests, identifying business goals, pinpointing target customers and uncovering their insights. Communicated these findings into visual and written artifacts and reports, which served as advocates for the user and brand needs throughout the project. Collaborated with my team to translate these insights into a digital framework and features, and wrote the copy for essential elements. Conducted usability tests on various aspects of the site and its flow and created wireframes to iterate upon the feedback..
CHALLENGE
The client approached us with a brand founded on a technology in the infant phases of development and presented us with an objective to create a digital space that would establish brand identity and serve its primary user groups in the immediate.
SOLUTION
Create a responsive WordPress site that provides a space for essential resources — immediately welcoming users into the world of composting — and a platform to build upon with the eventual technology.
OBJECTIVE
Work directly with company stakeholders to create a responsive website communicating the brand and its story and serving the the needs and demands of the primary user groups in a fresh way.
TEAM TIME
18 days.
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATION
Natalie Taylor Jesse Cohen Matt Valenti
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
To understand the landscape in which the client would be entering with its new site, we researched websites that tackled urban green issues and conducted heuristic evaluations. We discovered some some inspiring features to adapt for the client and some not so inspiring areas in which the client could shine.
• Novel interactivity used at expense of clear content • No single hub for community/urban composting
resources
We Radiate exists without ThermoSense
Basic Purpose Solve for inefficiency in composting.
Mission Statement Redefining the value of waste.
POST-DISCOVERYWe Radiate is ThermoSense
Basic Purpose To collect data.
Mission Statement The change in the waste
management system.
PRE-DISCOVERY
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
After in-depth interviews with the founder, we discovered that the company had a great understanding of composting and a passion for helping communities. However, they lacked clearly defined business or brand goals. Through branding exercises and targetedquestions we uncovered We Radiate’s true essence, its minimum viable product — MVP
• Impactful statistics effective in grounding abstract ideas • Complex visualizations brought dry data to life, weaving
elegant narratives
NATALIE TAYLOR | UX PORTFOLIO 9
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATION
SURVEY
We built an online survey to explore what moves people to care, opening with questions about involvement in past causes and ending with more targeted questions about composting. These were are key takeaways:
USER INTERVIEWS
We interviewed 18 people, including urban composting directors, city dwellers involved in composting, environmentally conscious city dwellers not involved in composting and a green tech investor.
FIELD STUDIES
I spent time at two community garden composting sites and observed the action. This exposed insights the users didn't realize they held.
Big picture understanding of cause attract people Detailed feedback on personal impact motivate people
An active community surrounding the cause retain people
Written accounts of composting in context of the environmental crisis Visual data representation of up-to-date individual impact Interactive online forum connecting individuals and communities
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATION
PERSONAS
Synthesizing insights we gathered, we identified five user archetypes and developed cards detailing their stories, personalities and motivations. We referred to these cards as if they were the actual users, using them as litmus test for all of our design decisions.
SITEMAP
We organized all of the possible features into three categories: (1) Necessary (fit all personas and client could immediately fulfill); (2) Nice (only fit one persona, but client could immediately fulfill); (3) Future (fit all personas, but client not ready to fulfill); (4) Discard (fit only one persona, and client not ready to fulfill)
From there we organized the features into two different site maps: (1) A sitemap for initial launch (contained: all necessary and some
nice features)(2) A sitemap for when client’s future technology was to be launched
(contained: all necessary and future features)
WIREFRAMES
At the start of the project we designed a low fi wireframe, which led to our first roadblock upon the realization that the client did not have the content to meet his expectations for the site. This led to a major pivot in the project — the decision to use Wordpress to create a fully functioning and
NATALIE TAYLOR | UX PORTFOLIO 11
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATION
adaptable platform — which led to the new sitemaps and redesigned wireframes.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE: LINK
We delivered a fully responsive and usable website, along with a 30-page research report and guide outlining how the client could expand the website with the projected business and technological growth. The website provides a platform for the client to establish a voice and, eventually, communicate its future technology.
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATION
WEARABLE DEVICE PROJECT
Wearable device application connected to the JINS MEME smart glasses to correct posture
Case Study | BACKBONE
MY ROLE
Organized and conducted the research throughout the project, delving deep into the technology of the hardware and the brand identity and identifying the most relevant potential users. Created detailed delivers to define the scope, direction and specific of the projects. Developed and conducted creative usability tests to understand how users would respond to alerts throughout the day and how they might be moved to break habits.
CHALLENGE
Grasp the details of the JINS MEME enough to identify it’s unique practical potential for solving back problems, without overstepping into murky, medical territory
SOLUTION
Create an app that helps to correct your sitting posture by providing guidelines, alerts and progress for readjusting posture
OBJECTIVE
This was a project for my User Experience Design Immersive at General Assembly. Our task was to design an app for the wearable device JINS MEME, a type of smart glasses, leveraging the technology in a unique way.
TEAM TIME
10 days.
TECH DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW CONCEPT & DESIGNUSER RESEARCH
Natalie Taylor A.J. Cerami
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
While the Jins Meme is incredibly unique in its placement on the body and combination of sensors, we identified three potential competitors based on functioning, engagement and flow of their health apps. We conducted evaluations through examination of app store reviews and interviews with current users.
HARDWARE ANALYSIS
To understand how to leverage the JINS MEME hardware, we conducted a deep study of the technology, reviewing academic journals on all the individual sensors and how they interact together.
Pro: he only wearable and app that monitors full posture. Visually attractive UI, including presentation of analytics Con: prone to inaccuracies due to placement as clip on shirt. Shallow analytics. Takeaway: Popular due to its attractive and easy use. However, very limited in its feedback and potential.
Pro: Strong loyal base already established. Affordable and readily accessible and reliable. Con: Some users don’t like the look of it. Cannot monitor posture. Limited it it’s use. Takeaway: Jins Meme’s high design is attractive to users, and so user-base will vary from this wearable.
Pro: Beautifully designed product and interface. Promising in depth analytics and customizable alerts. Can be used without phone Con: Cannot monitor posture Not always accurate depending on skin type (i.e. dry skin). Takeaway: Will be biggest competition, but there’s potential for partnering with Apple.
“I'm not really sure how accurate it is at fixing your posture. You set the alignment yourself
and it's hard to tell. It also can't catch everything, as long as your shoulders stay
level it doesn't buzz.”
JawBo“I wish there were an option for constant feedback outside of coaching sessions. It’s hard to find the time to set aside parts of my day for
yet another self-improvement plan. I just want it to buzz me whenever I find myself slouching”
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW CONCEPT & DESIGNUSER RESEARCH
EXPERT INTERVIEWS
To gain figure out how to the positioning of the sensors in the device related to human movement, we interviewed a doctor at NYU Langone Medical Center, a physical therapist at Hospital of Special Surgery and a freelance chiropractor. We learned that the most common back problem is “Text Neck”, caused by our constant eye focus on phone and computer screens.
USER INTERVIEWS
Once we narrowed in on “Text Neck”, we put out a survey to identify people who experienced the pain, which led to interviews with 15 potential users. Through the interviews we discovered the daily patterns that contribute to the issue and how those patterns could most effectively be disrupted and corrected.
PERSONAS
Based on user feedback (on their back pain, level of motivation to address it and attraction to trends in fashion), combined with the brand’s goals, we identified three main personas. These archetypes represented the groups of users who would benefit most from the app, and who would also fuel brand growth.
“When I first got an iPhone I was attached and it wasn’t long before
I started feeling really bad tightness in my neck. My mom
took me to a doctor who said I had Text Neck.”
“Neck pain is so common here among us techies that we call it
‘Silicon Valley Syndrome’. It’s very uncomfortable, but, I need to do things that make sense and that I
can see results from.”
“I’m in my cube at a computer writing emails all day. I feel it when I go home. My neck is always cramping. I do want
to improve. I want to know when I’m doing things wrong, without being
made to feel bad.”
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW CONCEPT & DESIGNUSER RESEARCH
9:41 AM
ProgressReal Time
Real Time
134
Profile
All straightened out!
User moves around
(1) User sets Daily Progress Report
alert and exits appUser taps timer
Screen pulls up telling user to check out alerts when done
exploring
User taps on progress tab User taps on Profile
User understands that it is filling up to 60m, but is curious as to
why.User notices that dots are moving with her
User is not invested enoufgh in the service to want alerts, so she
decides to explore mor
user deides she wants to know as soon as her first progress
report is in
Progress tab with notice that profile
User is not convinced she needs constant
feedback alerts and is not interested in setting goals yet
User opens app
User receives alert that daily
report iin
User is on her commute home, which is when she
was planning to review the app
Rea time
Sees she’s currently in happy range
taps on Progress tab
Daily progress
User shocked by how bad her posture was that day and is spurred to set up
more alerts
User taps on profile
Profile
Turns on the following alerts:(1) Sustained bad sitting posture for 10 min.(2) Time to take a lap (3) Weekly progress report(4) Tips ad direction throughout the day
Leaves goals at apps recommended level.
Exits app
User opens app
User receives alert that daily
report iin
User is preparing for week on Sunday evening
when she receives the alert.
Rea time
Sees she’s currently slightlyy out of her happy
range
User adujsts sitting until dots
align and tap Progress tab
Weekly progress
User sees that her first day was the worst and she has improved throughout the
week, though she still sees a developing trend of poor
posture at 2pm
User taps month view
Month view shows notice saying that after first
month’s data os collected, BackBone will identify sustained trends and habitsm which can be
prevented by following the Real Time tracker and tips
(4) Weekly Progress Report
Timer disappea
rsUser strays from good
posture
Timer starts to fill up
(1) Daily Progress Report
User is interested in the Real Time tips, which she
hadn’t received yet
User goes back to Real Time
Tip alert activated around top dot, which provides details about
raising computer to foster healthier posture
habit…User given option to save tip in
profile
User saves tip and exits app
9:41 AM
ProgressReal Time
Real Time
Profile
BACKBONE
Weekly Progress Alerts
Daily Progress Alerts
Alert me after I have been sitting for..
Never 30 mins 45 mins 1 hour15 mins
Never 5 mins 30 mins 1 hour 2 hours
Keep alerting me to correct my posture every..
Real TimeProgress
9:41 AM
Profile
DAISY
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW CONCEPT & DESIGNUSER RESEARCH
USER JOURNEY
We mapped out each persona’s journey through the app, following the paths from three points: emotional responses, digital interactions and digital responses.
USER JOURNEY
Based on the needs, wants and desires we discovered through the mapping process, we sketched out low fi wireframes, testing them before developing high fi wireframes. Using creative user tests, we were able to see how the users related to the wearable throughout the app.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE PROTOTYPE: LINK
We created a clickable prototype of a completed mobile app, taking the user through the high-fi mockups, starting with the onboarding experience and following the main user flow.
DISCOVERY OUTCOMEOVERVIEW CONCEPT & DESIGNUSER RESEARCH
