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BlissBoard
A happy family scheduling platform ❤️
Project Overview
The Problem
There is a wealth of scheduling apps out there, but few that cater specifically to those busy parents who are drawn by the practicality of a digital platform but don’t want to lose the creative flexibility and guaranteed privacy of a physical planner.
The Goal
Design a family scheduling platform that blends the convenience of a digital scheduling app with the aesthetic customization of physical planners.
My Role
This is an individual project that allowed me to plan and direct each step of the design thinking process as a UX design student with mobile and web UI design experience.
Responsibilities
Conduct user research
Define the problem and provide insights to inform the ideation phase
Define personas, user journeys, empathy maps and user flows
Visual design of lofi and hifi wireframes, prototypes, and user testing
The Product
BlissBoard is a family scheduling platform that blends the practicality of digital apps with the creative flexibility of physical planners.
Project Duration
March 2024 to April 2024
Understanding the User
Customization
Many users are reluctant to dive into digital scheduling platforms because they are so attached to their physical planners. They use their planners as creative outlets; a feature which is generally lacking in online scheduling apps.
Privacy
Especially for a family scheduling app, privacy is a top priority for users. They want to be sure the info they upload to their scheduling platform is safe from public eyes.
Kid Friendliness
Some users expressed the desire to introduce organizational habits to their children, and found that there is a lack of kid friendly scheduling tools on the web.
Paywalls
Many of the feature-rich scheduling platforms available have locked their more useful features behind a paywall, frustrating several users. Instead, some of these users resort to multiple free apps, which is a pain to keep track of.
User Research: Summary
To understand user pain points and their needs, I conducted user research in the form of structured interviews. I created empathy maps based on the data collected in order to gain insights on the needs and wants of users to better understand who I was designing for when creating my family scheduling website and app.
User Research: Pain Points
Meet the Personas
Problem Statement
Erin is a busy mom and physical planner user who needs an online scheduling system that reflects the flexibility of an analog system because she loses interest in bare bones schedulers that offer no creative outlet.
Problem Statement
James is a remarried divorcee with two sets of kids who needs to be able to organize his life into multiple schedules and family circles so that he can keep every aspect of his family life clearly organized.
Focus on Erin: User Journey
Goal: Find a digital scheduler that allows her the aesthetic customizability of a physical planner.
Notes: I created a user journey map of Erin’s search to find an ideal family scheduling platform, noting improvement opportunities and identifying her hopes and struggles.
Starting the Design
Sitemap
There are two main parts to BlissBoard’s website; the website itself and the dashboard (only available to logged in users).
Creating a sitemap was extremely useful in organizing the two, allowing me to clearly map out what needed to be included in each section.
Paper Wireframes
The next step was creating paper wireframes. With the insights gained from my research, I designed them with a focus on aesthetic customization and practicality.
The dashboard variations shown here focus on a simple design that imitates the aesthetics of a corkboard-style planner.
Screen size variations
Digital Wireframes
Moving on, I created digital wireframes for both desktop and mobile screen sizes.
The focus was on the layout, assuring the user would have easy access to the platform’s multiple features. I wanted to make sure navigation was simple and intuitive regardless of which device was being used.
The wireframes of the calendar screen for both desktop and mobile.
I aimed for a minimalist approach for mobile as to not overwhelm the user, while incorporating analog-like customization options.
Low Fidelity Prototype
I created a basic prototype for a “Create Event” user flow, enabling multiple options to get to the same result.
Usability Study: Parameters
Study Type
Location
Participants
Length
Unmoderated usability study
Canada, remote
5 participants
20-30 minutes
Usability Study: Findings
Navigation
Stickers
Terminology
Users mentioned there was no way to go back to the dashboard.
Initially, stickers were front and center in mobile calendar. Users didn’t find them to be a priority feature.
The term “schedules” in the mobile app was confusing to some users.
Refining the Design
Before usability study
After usability study
Mockups
Based on feedback from the usability study, I adjusted the design for the mobile calendar. I changed the name “schedules” to the more intuitive “calendars”, and opted create a tab for the stickers so they would be less intrusive and make room for the more practical “settings”.
Users mentioned they were missing the option to navigate back to the dashboard. Initially clicking on the name/profile photo was the sole way to accomplish this, but I opted to add a “dashboard” header to the sidebar links to make it more obvious.
Before usability study
After usability study
Mockups: Original Screen Size
Mockups: Screen Size Variations
Considering many people schedule straight from their phones, I created mockups for mobile devices as well. I optimized layout and features appropriate to an on-the-go experience.
High Fidelity Prototype
My HiFi prototype was more intensive than my LoFi prototype, and I included a variety of potential user tasks to assure my design was easy to navigate.
I chose cheerful pink and pastel yellow for my main colours, to inspire a sense of warmth and cheerfulness.
Accessibility Considerations
1.
I made sure my chosen colour palette met WCAG AA Compliance before moving on from grayscale mockups.
2.
I kept to the typeface “Work Sans” in a few different font styles to ensure legibility and aesthetic consistency. BlissBoard’s logo is the practicality the only area which uses different typefaces: Ubuntu Mono and Grandstander; still legible but different enough to stand out.
I adjusted the typography to create a clear text hierarchy, bringing focus to the most important areas of the screen first with larger text size and thicker fonts.
3.
Going Forward
1.
Obtain UX/UI feedback from more experienced designers and peers in order to improve the design further.
2.
Further improve the responsive design; addressing more screen sizes such as tablets.
Ideate on new features, such as to-do lists etc. and conduct follow-up usability testing and research to help further design iterations.
3.
Impact
Next Steps
When discussing ideal features for a family scheduling app with potential users, privacy and customization are two of the main themes that come up. In this particular project, I addressed the desire for creative flexibility while keeping things intuitive and practical; improving users’ mood and willingness to switch over to a digital planner.
What I Learned
Takeaways
I learned the value of usability studies in design iterations, and that sometimes you have to sacrifice what you think is “appealing” to account for accessibility. I also learned valuable methods for keeping designs lean and intuitive, particularly for mobile apps.
Let's Connect!
Thank you for reviewing my work on BlissBoard, the happy family scheduling platform!
If you’d like to get in touch, please reach out!