jonah osawa - ux portfolio
TRANSCRIPT
Hi, I’m Jonah.
I’m a User Experience Designer from Honolulu with a
background in music industries and marketing.
My Specialties are
I think what makes a good story is how well the listener can empathize with the
characters. This is why I'm a UX Designer; nothing excites me more than
understanding someone's story and having a chance to make the next chapter
more positive. User TestingUser Interviews
Wireframing
My Process
Research Design
Discovery SketchUser Research Synthesis Usability Test Visual
While each project demands its own unique tweaks, I rely on this framework to guide me towards the best solution for the problem at hand.
Brand AnalysisCompetitor AnalysisTech ResearchHeuristic Evaluation
Contextual InquiryUser InterviewsSurveys
Affinity MapsFeature PrioritizationPersonasSitemapsTask FlowsUse Cases
Design StudioWireframePrototype
TestIterateTestIterate againTestIterate once more
High-Fidelity Mockups
Research
I approach every new project with an open mind, without making any assumptions or jumping ahead to possible solutions. I am a firm believer that every design decision should be supported by research.
Discovery
Get a lay of the land.
Feature analysis of competitive and comparative sites
Notes from project kickoff meeting with a client
Listen to stakeholders.
I begin by getting a feel for the scope of the project. What is the current state of the product? Who are the competitors? How are their solutions designed? Analyzing similar products to identify strengths and weaknesses can lead to design opportunities later in the process.
Every stakeholder has their own perspective. Listening to them will help me strike a balance between the goals of the user and the goals of the business. This step also acts as an introduction, and opens the line of communication moving forward.
Meet the users.I learn who the users are through surveys, contextual inquiries, and interviews. Interviewing people to uncover their stories is one of my strongest passions in the entire UX process. Nothing reveals more about a user than simply asking them, “why?”
User Research
Notes and key quotes from user interviews
Survey results from Google Analytics Conducting contextual inquiry with potential users
Synthesis
Analyze the results.
Visualize the user.
With sufficient information from my research, I begin organizing it to reveal patterns in user behaviors and demographics. Using this information, I prioritize features and construct the research report to validate future design decisions.
Using the research findings, I develop personas and build potential user flows. I will refer back to these visualizations throughout the rest of my process to keep my designs as user-centric as possible.
Mapping features to create a “M0SCoW” feature prioritization
Cleaned up Persona and User flows for use throughout the rest of the process
Design
High-fidelity mockups come near the end of my process, once designs have proven to be intuitive through usability testing. I keep fidelity low during testing to allow for rapid iterations and prototyping. I am always willing to take as many steps back as needed if it means producing a better user experience at the end.
Rapid design studios.
Explaining my ideas to my team after a few minutes of quick sketching
Once I have a clear understanding of the challenge and the users, I can begin visualizing high-level designs through rapid, timed sketching sessions. I like to involve as many stakeholders as I can in these sketching sessions because they are an ideal way to explore design strategies with minimal time and financial investment.
Sketching
Iterate, iterate, iterate.I conduct usability tests at each phase of the design process. To determine if a design is intuitive to users, I ask users to complete various tasks and observe their interaction. By starting usability testing early in the process with low-fidelity prototypes, even with paper prototypes drawn by hand, key flaws can be identified and improved upon quickly.
Usability Testing
Observing a card sort to help determine information
architecture
Prototype drawn on paper with movable modules
Conducting a usability test, making sure not to ask leading questions or make leading statements
Move to higher fidelity.
After the design has proven to be intuitive through testing, I raise the fidelity and make the design not only usable, but delightful for the user. The visual aspect of the design will reflect the company brand and identity, helping solidify the experience and brand as one.
Visual
SoundCloud RoomsDesign a new feature for existing responsive siteRedesign existing e-commerce site
Solo projectContextual Inquiry
Card SortingUsability Testing
WireframingDesktop Prototype
3 member teamCollaborated on Research
Led Usability TestingSitemapping
Keynote PresentationMobile Prototype
Forbidden Planet
Samples
Case Study: Texts.com
Overview
The Challenge
My Role
Deliverables
Our ProcessTextbook prices have increased a whopping 812% in the past 30 years, and 80% of the market is controlled by only four publishers. They are determined to keep prices high, so Texts.com offers a cheaper alternative to college students.
Working with two other UX designers, my primary contributions to this project were conducting usability tests, building the wireframes, and analyzing competitive and comparative sites. I also conducted user interviews, helped create the research report, and guided a design studio with the CEO and developers of Texts.com.
• Research Report⁃ Key contextual inquiry takeaways⁃ Key interview takeaways⁃ Survey results⁃ Competitive and comparative analysis⁃ Persona
• Design⁃ Medium fidelity wireframes⁃ Annotated wireframes⁃ Sitemap⁃ New user flows
• Suggested features
• Clickable Prototype
Texts.com is a site that offers two main services to college students:
1) compare textbook buying and selling prices across online retailers.2) buy and sell textbooks with fellow students at their campus.
Because Texts.com is a relatively new company, my team and I were given options as to what we could provide UX design services for. After discussion, we decided that redesigning the existing site would be the most beneficial to the business, as succeeding here would potentially drive mobile app and plug-in downloads.
With a timeline of only two and a half weeks to complete the design, we prioritized the features that needed to exist within our design based the most common use cases. We also communicated with the developers regularly to understand the technical constraints of the website.
• Analyzed features, layouts, elements, and market positioning of 4 competitive sites
• Received ~40 survey responses• Conducted 6 in-depth user interviews• Conducted 6 usability tests of existing site
Gathering the data from our competitive analysis, we gained an understanding of the online textbook retail landscape and what services were available to college students. Through our user research, we uncovered pleasures and pain points that students were encountering in their textbook buying and selling behaviors.
Survey Response Analysis
Our sole persona for this project
Layouts of competitor sites
Using these insights, we developed use cases, user stories, task flows, and a persona. Due to all of the results from user interviews and surveys aligning perfectly, only one persona was needed to encompass all the goals and needs of our potential users.
Research
• Ensure users know exactly what services Texts.com offers from the homepage
• Delay sign up/log in until absolutely necessary in the task flow
• Cultivate the user’s trust in the site and brand
We held a timed sketching session with the Texts.com team in order to see their design ideas and take them into consideration as business goals. Each page was designed with specific user goals in mind.
My team and I knew what features were necessary, but we initially struggled with determining what page each of those features would be on. We solved this problem by developing the user flows and sitemap first, then using those as a guide for designing each page of our prototype.
After sharing and discussing each designer’s ideas, we finalized an initial design for each page. Beginning with low-fidelity wireframes, we were able to conduct 3 rounds of usability testing and make 2 rounds of iterations. The third round of testing was used to make design recommendations that could not be incorporated into the final deliverable due to time constraints.
Our primary goals with the design were to
Design
Initial Design Latest Iteration
After giving a keynote presentation to our client, we held a debrief meeting with them to discuss our design decisions and suggestions in further detail. The client was enthusiastic with the final deliverable, and any questions about our design were backed by research findings outlined in the research report.
Our design is currently in the development process, and will be live on the Texts.com website in July 2015. My UX team with the CEO and developers of Texts.com
Outcome
