Bujo.edu is a research through design (RtD) project aiming to enhance online maker (bullet journal makers) communities while providing a collaborative maker platform for university students.
To have a better understanding of the complex experiences of Bullet Journal Makers, including how they find other BuJo makers, expectations from a maker community and difficulties they encounter while making BuJo, we conducted contextual inquiry and in-depth interviews.
After transcribing the interview recordings, we documented participants' statements on post-it notes. Then, we grouped similar ones and created categories and subcategories based on commonalities and themes in order to determine key insights, user needs, pain points and gaps in our data. Ultimately, we further synthesized our insights, providing a solid foundation for ideation.
Based on our key findings, we developed two personas as fictional representations of our target users, mentor and mentee.
We preferred paper card sorting as there is no learning curve for the study participants, and they were able to move cards around easily or even start over. Participants were asked sort cards into groups we provided -either using our predefined names and/or creating new groups based on criteria that made sense to them. While performing, we also asked them to think out loud to have a better understanding of their decision-making.
Mid-Fi wireframes were created for usability testing and to better understand the basic structure of an app before UI design.
The clickable prototype was built in Adobe XD. In order to ensure testers focus on information architecture and navigation flows, I used mid-fi wireframes. Three participants (two BuJo maker, and one student) went through the pre-determined user flows and afterwards interviews were conducted about the issues they encountered.
After collecting qualitative and quantitative feedback from users, along with my own insights, I determined that that designs required iteration before they're final.
I created a color palette for Bujo.edu to reflect various aspects of its visual identity, from the user experience and inclusivity to the overall atmosphere and emotions the app aims to convey. In this process, I paid regard to the predefined keywords, including modern, dynamic, sociable, and informative.
