KRU
Startup ios application
Although this project does not reflect my skilll level now, I like to include it to showcase how long I have been using UI editors and the Adobe Suite for clients (2016). Kru is releasing an update for their social media app, and my goal is to learn from their users how they can optimize the changes in this update. The purpose of this application is for its users to form a group, and then "match" with other groups using a Tinder-like swiping system. Kru users swipe from a pool of activities based on location, while the group of people themselves are an afterthought.
My role
I first constructed and administered usability testing, interviews, and a comparative analysis to compile useful data and help pin point problem areas in the application. I then designed a new UI and motion animation to solve the following problems:
The users could not make multiple "Krus" (Kru is the term used for the group of people the user creates).
People could not use their past krus in order to make a new one, which forced the user to reconstruct the kru each time.
The notifications were too frequent, but were necessary to preform a certain function.
The user interface needed to be more user friendly.
The app needed motion animation.
User Interface Design
The new UI that I designed strives to address the problems unveiled with my research. In my work, you can find a more detailed explanation of my design decisions.
Motion animation
I also discovered through my research that users found that the experience was jolty, confusing, and boring. I quickly realized that this was because there was little to know affordances through motion animation. Below are some of the motion animations I created with After Effects CC for the developers to add to the experience. My goal with the animations was to establish a seamless flow that accompanied and guided the user throughout the whole process. My animations aimed to direct the attention of the user towards important parts of the UI, and also let them know when their commands have been registered.
Events Feature
To set Kru apart from Tinder, the co-founders and I theorized about adding an "events" feature. I scoped and designed the new events section, which will now include Groupon information and show the most popular activities within the user's geo location. This opens the user up to a whole new landscape of possibilities to explore. The new map will also show where other krus are going out. It also solves the notification problem that Kru had.
The users were previously sent a notification any time they entered the radius of another kru. This resulted in a bombardment of incessant notifications. Unfortunately these notifications were necessary to see when other krus were in the area. The new map included in the updated UI effectively makes these notifications obsolete. In addition, it allows for the user to change the radius to weed out people who are too far away from their point of interest.
After Effects Presentation
After all was said and done, I used After Effects in my stakeholders presentation to show them everything in action. This presentation allowed the stakeholders to see how the new motion animation would flow with the new UI. It also showed how the new events feature would interact with the other cogs of Kru's system.