iQue: Skip the line!

Project Overview
iQue is a platform that allows users to book appointments to visit stores. The main idea is to solve the problem of waiting lines to go inside a store during the pandemic time, where capacity has been restricted to 25% occupancy. By making appointments, iQue puts the user always first in line so user can only focus on shopping experience rather than waiting.

Target user

The site is targeted to people who are willing to go to stores in person, but are too busy and can’t afford waiting to do shopping.
Goals
Identify and solve pain points of shopping in person.
Create an online platform that anyone can access from any device.
Allow users to create appointments easy and fast.

My role

UX desiger
problem:

People have to wait long lines to go inside a store

During the pandemic, the mandatory low capacity rule restricted the amount of people that were able to go inside a commercial facility. This created long lines in some of the most popular stores wasting a lot of peoples time. It is importnat that due to many Covid variants and other virus, this type of situation can be seen in the future.
solution:

A booking system similar to restaurants and Redfin

A booking system similar to other platforms can be a solution to solve this problem. Redfin, for example, allows potential home buyers to schedule house visits and restaurant already have apps or online tool for customers to book a table. By learning from these platforms, we can create a booking system so shoppers who really need to see to buy in person, can maximize their time and book a time to visit their favorite store.
Design and Research Process
Competitive analysis
Research
The research started with competitive analysis by looking other applications that let users make appointments or put them in a queue for some event or meeting. The main platform to research were Redfin, a platform to book visit to real estate properties for sale; Open Table, and app to make reservation for restaurants and bars; and The Cut, a platform to schedule barbershop appointments.

The competitive analysis focused on strength, frustrations and pain points that users experience with those three platforms. The idea was to get some background that would help formulate questions for the interviews.
Interviews
Research
The primary research was done in the form of interviews. The participants were of different gender and age and had booked an appointment of any kind in the last 30 days.

Below are the main common patterns found during the interviews:
  • All participants have used mobile app or web to book their appointment simultaneously.
  • They all struggle with the mobile version.
  • All participants have mistakenly booked the wrong appointment at least once while using the mobile version.
  • Most participants use the web version for cancelling appointment, even if they book via mobile version or app.
Persona
Strategy
Based on the primary research, I created a persona that characterized the common concerns, behaviors and goals of the participants. The persona is Sam Peterson, a manager at a tech company whose calendar is really busy and have not time for waiting in line to get inside a store for shopping.  The fact that Sam is a very busy user, can push our design to be as efficient, simple and easy as possible.

Journey Map
Strategy
Base on the Persona, I created a journey map that would provide a better understanding of how Sam could interact with iQue. The Journey map also helped understand the different steps and tools Sam needs in order to achieve a task, in this case booking an appointment to visit a store.

User Flow
Strategy
After, understanding better the journey map. I created a user flow that would layout the screen that the user would go through in order to book an appointment.

Wireframes
Interaction Design
Almost simultaneously while working on the user flow, I started working on wireframes. In between the process of wireframes, I ran a usability test that helped refine the wireframes before jumping UI design.

UI kit
User Interface Design
I spent several hours completing the sets of wireframes, making sure that the layout was readable. To ensure user were able to complete a task, I ran a usablity test using the wireframes as a prototype. After making corrections, I created a UI kit and started populating the wireframe with content.
Prototype
User Interface Design
After completing the prototype, I ran a second usability test. This last usability test showed participants being confused with some buttons and the language. I updated the prototype accordingly as shown below.
Open prototype
Reflection
This was the first project that I run as a sprint process with deliverables every week in a span of 4 weeks. I had to learn to create deliverable much faster and how to synthesize information that translate into concise narrative and clear graphics. I also realized how important is the input of users. For example, even at the last usability test, there were findings that would force me to create more iteration in the UI aspect, that I thought were already good. I definitely learn to work much faster than I was doing before.
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