Uh Oh… BACK AGAIN With Another Redesign!
The app redesign process has begun once again, but now we have more knowledge and first-hand experience with this. Also, being paired with a partner for the second redesign has helped immensely because there isn’t as much confusion and having another individual to bounce ideas off of is always beneficial. As a result, overall confidence has definitely been replenished.
The first step, as always, that must be completed is a competitor analysis. “Competitive analysis means: ‘Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product or service’” (Mishra). Identifying and educating ourselves on each competitor is crucial because we must be able figure out potential problems and realize where our product stands in the market. This, in turn, provides the designer with useful information that could make the UX design process less tedious. “A competitor analysis allows UX designers to find out if there are any gaps in the market. For example, through your research, you may discover a feature that your competitors’ products do not have” (Douglas). Along with differences, it’s just as important to find commonalities among the competitors as well. This can help you figure out what you’re doing correctly and incorrectly based on the primary topic’s criteria. Although a competitor analysis is mainly just research, it’s still an important skill to refine in order to create polished products without too much complications. Although we’re designers, that shouldn’t be the only thing we know how to do; we still have to uphold a balanced set of skills in the professional world.
Once the competitive analysis has been completed in detail, it’s now time to focus on user interviews. “User interviews are where a researcher asks questions of, and records responses from, users. They can be used to examine the user experience, the usability of the product or to flesh out demographic or ethnographic data (for input into user personas) among many other things” (Interaction Design Foundation). This step helps the designer understand the user’s mindset when interacting and navigating through an app. It also helps us understand what’s working for the app and what isn’t. As the user interviews are conducted, there’s a clear distinction between designers and users; not everyone thinks like designers think, if you know what I mean. Apps are not meant to be complicated, but rather easy and aesthetically pleasing. So, it’s important to take that into consideration when designing in order to provide the best possible product for the user. Also, while interviewing your friends and family are nice and convenient, it’s also vital to interview random users so there isn’t any bias. Communicating with other individuals that you’re not closely acquainted with also helps the designer make realizations on what they should really be doing in terms of the redesign or product.
My partner and I decided on an anxiety and panic relief app, Dare. Initially, this app seems to be sufficient with their layout and overall theme. However, there are definitely improvements that could be made. I’m looking forward to see what we come up with!