Project overview
Project overview
Startup Roadmap is a digital platform that help new startups with no prior experience in business and guide them through the steps of creating their own business from ideation to launching. The platform offers users the necessary education and provides helpful tools and resources to help them with accomplishing each task.
Project duration
November 2022 to December 2022
The problem
Starting up a new business is an ambiguous and overwhelming process for people with no business experience.
My role
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery
The goal
Design an app that will improve and facilitate the process of creating a business by helping users learn and apply the steps they learned.
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.
User research: summary
I conducted interviews and created personas to better understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. Most interview participants reported that the process of creating their own business was ambiguous and took them a lot of time to learn through trial and error. The feedback received through research made it very clear that there is a need for a business guide that is compatible with the Saudi laws and market.
Persona 1: Lina
Problem statement
Lina is a history teacher and an artist who needs a clear roadmap, learning resources and tools because she wants to open her shop to sell her artworks and doesn’t have any experience in business.
Persona 2: Abdullah
Problem statement
Abdullah is a business owner who needs efficient business tools and resources to help him maintain his business because not all the available resource and tools are compatible with the Saudi laws and market
Competitive audit
I conducted an audit of 3 competitor’s products to recognize the market’s gaps and opportunities to help guide the direction of creating the Startup Roadmap app.
Click to view the full competitive audit and audit report
Ideation
I continued the ideation phase and completed the crazy 8 exercise to generate a wide variety of solutions for the gaps identified in the competitive audit
Digital wireframes
After sketching and drafting paper wireframes, I turned some of them into digital wireframes. These designs focused on delivering a guidance to users to help them start their own business.
Low-fidelity prototype
To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of viewing the lessons and accessing the tools and resources to complete tasks.
Usability study: parameters
Study type
Moderated usability study
Participants
5 participants
Location
Saudi Arabia
Length
15-20 minutes
Usability study: findings
These were the main findings uncovered by the usability study:
1
Titles
Users need better descriptive titles to help them understand the app’s content
2
Navigation
Users had a hard time figuring out where to find lessons
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3
Small Text
Users were annoyed with the small text in “Do it” page
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Mockups
Before usability test
After usability test
Based on the insight that users were annoyed with the small text in “Do it” page, I increased the size of the text for better legibility.
Before usability test
After usability test
Mockups
High-fidelity prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype and was optimized based on the findings of the usability study.
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Accessibility considerations
1
I used hierarchical headings to help users better navigate the website content and highlights them by their importance
2
I used icons to help make navigation easier
Sitemap
With the app design completed, I started work on designing the responsive website. I created this hierarchical sitemap to make website navigation seamless for users and consistent across devices.
Responsive designs
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I adapted the designs to the various screen sizes and user needs for each device.
Mobile
Tablet
Desktop
Takeaways
Impact
Users shared that the app is helpful not only for people with no experience in business but also for people with experience as it help them learn and organize their tasks. One quote from peer feedback was “ It’s really beneficial to have such an app to help new startups save time, money, and effort to start their business”
What I learned
I learned that consistency is key when designing for different screen sizes. It’s important to unify the look and feel of the products across devices while having different features depending on the use case.
Next steps
1
Conduct usability studies for each screen size and iterate on the designs
2
Identify any additional areas of need and ideate on new features