Onroot
A web platform for sharing travel experiences that enables users to both offer and receive recommendations from locals and experienced travelers.
Ongoing, 1 year
Project Duration:
Product Manager / Designer
Project Role(s):
Onroot
A web platform for sharing travel experiences that enables users to both offer and receive recommendations from locals and experienced travelers.
Project Duration:
Ongoing, 1 year to date
Project Role(s):
Product Manager / Designer
Tivity
A productivity application designed specifically for architectural designers, focusing on efficient task management across various design phases for multiple projects running simultaneously.
Project Duration:
Four weeks
Project Role(s):
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
Go Gallery
A mobile application that uses audio to provide users with information about art and artifacts in museums or galleries, allowing them to learn at their own pace and discretion.
Project Duration:
Four weeks
Project Role(s):
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
A productivity application designed specifically for architectural designers, focusing on efficient task management across various design phases for multiple projects running simultaneously.
Tivity
Duration:
Four weeks
Role(s):
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
The Problem
Designing architecture involves a lot of teamwork to make sure projects are drawn and detailed correctly. Team members often work on multiple projects at once, which can make it hard to know who's responsible for what. Using a productivity app to streamline communication can help prevent mistakes, avoid duplicated tasks, and keep everyone updated on project progress.
Design Process
Research
Understand
Iterate
Test
User Interviews
Results of the interviews led to a card sorting activity which revealed a strong desire for:
-
Task Management
-
Project Information
-
Deadlines and Milestones Tracker
Additionally, interviewees stressed that it was difficult for them to prioritize tasks when everything was deemed important.
User Personas
Jennifer Zi, Project Manager
Jennifer has 15 years of experience working in the architecture industry and has participated in the design of over 50 unique buildings. She currently leads teams through the design process and has meetings weekly to discuss tasks and objectives with her team. As new designers get added to the firm, she finds that it is difficult to integrate them seamlessly into the project that has been underway for over a year.
Darnell Lafferty, Project Designer
Darnell is a recent graduate with one year of internship experience in the architecture industry. He has some exposure to the idea of construction drawings but is still getting comfortable working on multiple projects simultaneously. As a young designer, he acknowledges that his technical knowledge is still in development, which may impact his speed in task completion.
Information Architecture
Paper Wireframe
Simple wireframes were great for getting many different iterations out to review with user groups, but it meant nothing without proper annotations. Furthermore, the paper wireframe invited users to sketch and make notes for areas of improvement.
Highlights
Including project tracking as a feature throughout each design phase ensures accountability for project teams. It enables team members to monitor their upcoming submittal dates, track remaining tasks, and alerts managers about individuals who may need monitoring to prevent burnout.
The team project tasks list is organized into drop-down folders, with titles derived from the construction documents set. Each folder represents all the drawing sheets assigned to the team. Team members can add specific tasks to the most relevant section, and then add the task to their personal list. This action makes the task visible to the entire team, indicated by their initials until it's marked as complete. Additionally, tasks can be flagged as high importance, serving as a reminder to resolve them before submission. The project tasks list serves as the primary coordination tool for the architectural design team, detailing what needs to be completed and facilitating the distribution of responsibilities.
In the redlines section, users can upload their complete architectural drawing set in PDF format. The application will automatically read the page labels within the PDF and generate corresponding folders for task assignment. This section functions as a repository for tracking milestones and reviews accomplished during the current design phase.
Conclusion
My background in the architecture industry provided insight into how a productivity app could function. However, discussions with colleagues highlighted pain points I hadn't considered. Focusing on productivity in this project allowed me to hone my skills in Figma by using components more effectively.
Key lessons learned from this project:
-
Listen to your users: Understand that different individuals may have unique pain points.
-
Utilize Figma productivity: Make the most of components and variants to enhance efficiency.
The Problem
Designing architecture involves a lot of teamwork to make sure projects are drawn and detailed correctly. Team members often work on multiple projects at once, which can make it hard to know who's responsible for what. Using a productivity app to streamline communication can help prevent mistakes, avoid duplicated tasks, and keep everyone updated on project progress.
Design Process
Understand
Research
Iterate
Test
User Interviews
Results of the interviews led to a card sorting activity which revealed a strong desire for:
-
Task management
-
Project Information
-
Deadlines and Milestones Tracker
Additionally, interviewees stressed that it was difficult for them to prioritize tasks when everything was deemed important.
User Personas
Jennifer Zi, Project Manager
Jennifer has 15 years of experience working in the architecture industry and has participated in the design of over 50 unique buildings. She currently leads teams through the design process and has meetings weekly to discuss tasks and objectives with her team. As new designers get added to the firm, she finds that it is difficult to integrate them seamlessly into the project that has been underway for over a year.
Darnell Lafferty, Project Designer
Darnell is a recent graduate with one year of internship experience in the architecture industry. He has some exposure to the idea of construction drawings but is still getting comfortable working on multiple projects simultaneously. As a young designer, he acknowledges that his technical knowledge is still in development, which may impact his speed in task completion.
Information Architecture
Paper Wireframe
Simple wireframes were great for getting many different iterations out to review with user groups, but it meant nothing without proper annotations. Furthermore, the paper wireframe invited users to sketch and make notes for areas of improvement.
Highlights
Including project tracking as a feature throughout each design phase ensures accountability for project teams. It enables team members to monitor their upcoming submittal dates, track remaining tasks, and alerts managers about individuals who may need monitoring to prevent burnout.
The team project tasks list is organized into drop-down folders, with titles derived from the construction documents set. Each folder represents all the drawing sheets assigned to the team. Team members can add specific tasks to the most relevant section, and then add the task to their personal list. This action makes the task visible to the entire team, indicated by their initials until it's marked as complete. Additionally, tasks can be flagged as high importance, serving as a reminder to resolve them before submission. The project tasks list serves as the primary coordination tool for the architectural design team, detailing what needs to be completed and facilitating the distribution of responsibilities.
In the redlines section, users can upload their complete architectural drawing set in PDF format. The application will automatically read the page labels within the PDF and generate corresponding folders for task assignment. This section functions as a repository for tracking milestones and reviews accomplished during the current design phase.
Conclusion
My background in the architecture industry provided insight into how a productivity app could function. However, discussions with colleagues highlighted pain points I hadn't considered. Focusing on productivity in this project allowed me to hone my skills in Figma by using components more effectively.
Key lessons learned from this project include:
-
Listen to your users: Understand that different individuals may have unique pain points.
-
Utilize Figma productivity: Make the most of components and variants to enhance efficiency.