Google UX Coursework

Product Design

Project Overview

For the Google UX Certification through Coursera, students were tasked with designing an app to solve a problem for potential users. Students worked through all stages of the UX designing framework: Empathize, Define, Ideate, and Prototype & Test. The certification also prepared students for UX Research, giving mock and template scenarios for best practices when collecting data, feedback, and insights.

UX Subjects Covered:
- Empathy Maps
- User Personas
- User Stories
- User Journeys
- Storyboarding
- Rapid Sketching/Crazy Eights
- SCAMPER
- Wireframing
- Low & High Fidelity Prototypes
- Mockups
- Competitor Audit

My Project

When I started the course, I already had the app I wanted to develop in mind.

Back in my undergrad, I was a writing tutor for my university's Writing Center. At the time, we were using the biggest (and only) writing center website to do everything: schedule tutors, book appointments, correspond with students, upload documents, collect feedback/data, and manage user accounts.

Overall, my experience with the website was pleasant, but even back in 2017, I thought the site looked very barebones. I also overheard my supervisors' struggles with the design team. When they would express problems with certain features or requested a tweak to better suit our needs, the design team was hesitant to listen, let alone make changes.

Thus, when I started the Google UX Certification, I already had plenty of ideas for a better kind of website/app. What you'll find below is all my work put toward this fictional app of mine. Perhaps one day, with more experience in development and with others, the app could enter the real world!

Wireframing was an incredibly fun part of the UX Design process! Above are three wireframes I sketched out for the app. None of them made it to the final design but elements from each were used, which really showed me the importance of wireframing and keeping those sketches.

One of the design issues I was trying to solve for was the calendar. I worried an actual grid calendar would be too small for some older users or users with smaller screens. I know for myself, I have larger fingers, so any app requiring surgeon-level precision creates a lot of frustration, unless I have a stylus or alternative screen.

With my own bias in mind, I iterated designs, trying to create several options. In the second wireframe, I included the grid calendar for visual assistance, but the actual tutor bookings would be below. This design didn't go further, as I thought many users would try to interact with the calendar instead of the options below.

The third design was tutor-focused. Instead of starting with a calendar, I thought users could start by finding a tutor they wanted to book, then go to their availability slots for booking. This design also didn't progress out of a wireframe because users often want the solution to their problem first. If a user is coming to the app to book an appointment, that should be the first and most readily available task.

The wireframe to the right eventually won out. Even still, I did not transfer all my ideas from the wireframe to the prototype. For this design, I opted for a kind of "home" screen. At the top users would see their next scheduled appointment with options to reschedule or cancel. From this home screen, users would be able to immediately access their appointments or make new ones.