The Project

In the context of my UX/UI Designer education I created the project AVEDO.
AVEDO is a responsive web application that provides users with individual and personal life coaching in multiple fields. In Video Call sessions, users can talk to professional experts to solve their problems and help them to achieve a fulfilling life.

1.1 Competitive Analysis

In order to understand the market, I first analyzed potential competitors.
For the competitive analysis I did focus on the services of Coach.me and Greator.

As shown, there are some offers that provide users with digital access to coaching session, but with further need for expansion. In the next step, it was time to get to know the potential users and their needs.

1.2 Survey

To get a first insight into the target audience and the users’ needs, I started a brief online survey.
The following Research Goals formed the foundation for this:

1. Identify in which life situations people need Coaching Advice

2. Gain insight into people’s needs and preferences when seeking coaching help or advice

3. Determine what tasks users would like to perform when using a Coaching Help App

4. Document what problems and challenges users have with existing (coaching*) apps

Survey Key Insights

I also gained insight, which other features users would like to see in a coaching app.

In order to strengthen and qualitatively investigate the first insights, in-depth interviews were conducted with 3 participants.

1.3 Interviews

3 participants and potential users were interviewed with comprehensive questions. The interviews were hold remotely due to the COVID situation, the interviews lasted about 1 hour each.

The answers were evaluated with the help of Affinity Mapping.

Key Insights

• the interviews showed, that people search advice in different areas of life, such as job situations, relationships, studying and many more, highlighting the relevance for an easily accessible digital product

• also it revealed that people mostly solve their problems with the help of others - by talking to their personal environment

• key insights were that users would like to talk on the phone with a potential coach, that they would look for recommendations, nice profile picture, a personal text with a introduction, or ratings from other users when choosing a Coach

• the interviews also revealed functions users would like to see in a coaching app like filters, gamifcation or FAQs

• further the interviews gave insights, what users wish when it comes to the booking process of a session, for example that calendars need a notification option or chats need to offer a data sharing option etc.

2.1 Personas

Out of the Research Insights, then two Personas were developed. The Personas represent the target group with their special needs and demands to a Coaching App.

Additionally User Journey and User Flows for the Personas were created to show potential click flows for specific tasks through the App.

2.2 Scenario Tasks & User Flows

2.3 Information Architecture

With the information gathered from research and personas, I got a good overview of the challenges users face when seeking coaching help. With this foundation, I created the basic framework of AVEDO - the information architecture. With the help of Card Sorting, the IA was further refined.

3.1 First Sketches

Then it was time to put my ideas on paper. The foundation was a first round of low fidelity paper-pencil wireframes, which outlined the basic functions of AVEDO.

3.2 Mid-FIdelity Wireframes

After the basic functionality was in place with the low fidelity wireframes, I did design the User Onboarding as mid-fidelity wireframes. This created an initial visual direction of form and function, as well as the specifics in AVEDOS user interface.

3.3 High-Fidelity Wireframes

I refined my designs into high fidelity wireframes. This made it possible to combine the basic functions of AVEDO with first visual elements. The high fidelity wireframes already showed some details, making it easier to understand the product and build a clickable prototype for the next step of Testing.

4.1 Usability Testing

With a solid Prototype in hand, it was time to test AVEDO with real users. Therefore I created a two-page Test Plan which included important elements such as Test Objectives, the Methodology of the tests as well as the Participants information and the Equipment used.

After sorting my findings with the help of an Affinity Map into Observations (Thinking Doing Feeling),

Positive Quotes, Negative Quoten, Errors

I then transferred them into a Rainbow Spread Sheet that helped me to better structure the results and analyze recurring errors and observations among the different participants. I categorized the errors using a variation of Jakob Nielsen’s error severity scale.

4.2 Core Issues and Refining the Designs

Participants had great problems getting back to the Coach-Profile from the chat window (Severity: high)
Solution: Link an easy and quick way back to the Coach Profile, either through clicking on Profile Picture or through Menu

4/6 participants were bothered by the fact that the profile icon was available twice on the home screen, once in the navigation bar and once in the top right corner (Severity: medium)
Solution: Delete Profile Icon on the upper right as it is only confusing and doesn’t add value.

Participants liked that there was an option to set a reminder after booking the appointment, but would like more options and see an appointment overview (Severity: medium)
Solution: Give the opportunity to choose more than one reminder and give overview of appointment.

4/6 participants would like to have an offer or request for an appointment directly through the chat, either by message through the coach, click on the profile picture or 3 point menu selection above. (Severity: high)

Solution: Make it possible to book appointment directly through the Chat with an additional page and a booking tool in Chat.

I gathered many more valuable Insights from my User Testing. So I redesigned all my Wireframes based on user feedback.

In order to achieve a visual direction and to make sure that my designs are appealing and helpful to the users, I then conducted preference tests to test different elements. I presented the participants with two designs to choose between and conducted 2 separat Preference Tests to test different targets

• one to investigate the users preference of the visual overall Design (1)

• one other to test the placement and design of the elements (2)

Design Principles

In this Iteration I implemented Design Principles to my designs, such as Hierarchy and Balance as well as Gestalt Law of Proximity, Law of Similarity, Law of Common Fate or Law of Good Continuation.

With writing a Styleguide and creating a Design Language for AVEDO, I created rules and guidance to achieve an overall holistic and uniform design over multiple platforms.

Final Design

After visually refining the prototype, I did another iteration, gathering feedback from the community and polishing my designs until a ready-to-use product AVEDO was achieved.