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Google Calendar

Event Tasks for better organisation

Timeline

My Role

  • 2 weeks: 

    • Week 1: research​

    • Week 2: design

  • Solo student project for General Assembly UXUI bootcamp.

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Goal

  • IOS users were tasked to identify and better a problem space within an Android stock app, and vice versa. As an IOS user, I worked the Google Calendar app. 

PROBLEM​

College students struggle to stay organised around their deadlines.

College students struggle to locate and manage their tasks within the academic year, because they rely on multiple third party apps to create to-do lists for events listed on their Google Calendars. 

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This raises the question - Why do college students on Android devices feel the need to use so many apps for organisation?

SOLUTION

Categorisation = better organisation

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SURVEY

College students use Google Calendar because it syncs with their school calendars. 

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Similar to previous projects, I start with the users. I recruited 15 Android users by posting an Instagram story and also recruited some family and friends. 

Next, I created a Google Form to gather quantitative data on their demographic. I also used the Google Form to perform a screening process. In an attempt to avoid biases, I defined “long-term” Android users as an:

Android phone user for 8+ years.

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Out of 15, 11 matched the criterion:

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INTERVIEWS

My interviewees relied on third-party apps and even pen and paper to create to-do lists, based on upcoming events on their Google Calendars for better management.  

Next, I conducted user interviews and observational research to understand the users' usage patterns with Android stock applications. They all defaulted to Google Calendar, and experienced the same  recurring problem: they didn't believe that Google Calendar alone was enough for managing their time.

 

Users were using additional third party apps or even pen and paper to better their experience.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

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  1. Tell me about the last time you had to organise yourself for a deadline. 

  2. What was the most difficult part in organising your tasks? Why?

  3. Why is Google Cal your go-to? 

  4. Tell me about a time when you had a really stressful deadline.   

Main Insights

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Then, I synthesised my results by creating an affinity map to observe common themes and to guide my project: 

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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

The competition had no syncing option with work calendars and emails. However, the ability to categorise tasks were favoured by my interviewees. 

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My interviewees mentioned a few third party apps that they used to support their experience with Google Calendar. These include: To Do List-Schedule Planner and Stickies. So, I decided to do a competitive analysis to compare the stock app and the third-party app:

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PERSONA

As a representation of the user for this project, I created a persona based on the qualitative and quantitative data I gathered.

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SKETCHES AND ITERATIONS

To Ideate, I brainstormed and sketched a few screens for the new event task screens, which led to usability and A/B testing.

Based on how my interviewees used Google Calendar during my observational research, I created a few sketches to brainstorm how I want the prototype to look. I focused on the new "add subtask" action, and came up with three options to A/B test:

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Screen 1

Screen 2

Screen 3

A/B TEST 

Users found Screen 1 to be the most intuitive, and took an average of 7.2 seconds to complete the task. 

Out of the 11 users that passed the screening question, 6 were able to participate in the A/B testing - with 2 per subtask screen. I gave users the task to: 

Add a sub task to the Class Registration event. 

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DESIGN CHANGES

3 improvements for my design.   

Based on the feedback from my A/B test I iterated my design for the next phase of usability testing. 

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PROTOTYPE

HI-FI USABILITY TEST 

Users found the hi-fi prototype intuitive + new modal screen development.

The same 6 users from the A/B test participated in this usability test. The task:

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Add an Event Task under the Application Open event. 

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Due to the UI being more familiar to the users, the users found the interface more intuitive and were able to complete the task swiftly. However, 2 users hovered over the "+" button on the first page. This button currently exists on the Android version of Google Calendar.

So, I sketched out another development for what the modal screen for the "+" button could look like with Event Tasks.

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REFLECTION + NEXT STEPS

How to continue Event Tasks on Google Calendar.

This project taught me that people have the innate want to make things easier with categorization. We have so many tasks to complete everyday, adding an option to categorise each one will make managing our time easier. 

 

Here are the other key learnings I’ve gathered during this 2-week sprint:

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--> KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS - there is always one more insight.

--> OBSERVE FIRST, ASK LATER - sometimes what’s not said is more impactful, but let the action conclude.

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NEXT STEPS:

Looking at another persona in a different profession and age group. This new persona will help further corroborate the impact of this new feature.

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More usability tests - since both A/B test and last usability test were completed by the same group, there may have already been a familiarity with the task. I would also like to test the new modal screen.

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Desktop prototype for this new feature. Since Google Cal syncs with other work calendars like Canvas, a desktop version may increase usability.

©2022 by Heiy Design.

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