Multidisciplinary designer solving complex problems. With a growth mindset, I've taken on the roles of
Art Director, Consultant, Producer, and Photographer.
HESTIA HOME
Michael Tsay
Project Manager
Visual Design
Duration
Contract
Tools
Sketchapp
Adobe Photoshop CC
OVERVIEW
- I lead a team of 3 designers to create an iOS mobile
app focusing on designing a module for a rent payment
process that can also be used to add new features.
- I conducted daily stand up meetings to manage
expectations and design recommendations.
- I also held weekly one-on-one meetings focusing on
balancing business goals with user goals.
THE PROCESS
- Discover / Research, interviews, and analyze
- Define / Synthesis and sketch
- Develop / Wireframe, testing and ideations
- Prep / Presentation deck, practice
- Deliver / Present redesign solution and findings
PROJECT PLAN
- Identify the target users.
- Define user problems through research.
- Design solutions validated by users and user feedback.
- Deliver design recommendations and explain the journey.
MY ROLE
Project Manager & Visual Design
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Estelle needs to centralize all her bills, she needs to receive reminders, choose how she wants to pay, track her non-static bills, because keeping track of her bills in one place can help her better manage her account balances for the rest of the month.
SOLUTION STATEMENT
By creating a mobile app with benefits including a quick glance of overviews of monthly expenses and balances, it gave Estelle a clearer view of her balances throughout the month. We will know this to be true when Estelle is able to make additional payments and make additional purchases when approaching the end of the monthly billing cycle.
RESEARCH
The Information Architect provided the team with this competitive analysis on 3 payment applications which are able to make payments directly through the application.
User Interviews :
The Researcher conducted interviews over the phone and through video chat with the interview script and questions the team put together. With the interviews completed, I started gathering the data from the interviews and the team started synthesizing the data by working on an affinity map.
With the insights we gathered and the patterns identified, a problem statement and contextual scenario was formed. I put together a visual design and layout for the persona.
Persona
Contextual scenario
As per her morning routine, Estelle feeds her dog then rushes out the door to catch the bus to work. It’s a long ride so she takes out her phone to get started on her day. Her calendar shows it’s almost the end of the month so she checks the Hestia Home app to see which bills are due. Estelle wants to avoid another angry email from her landlord so she goes to pay her rent straight away.
Business goal
Develop a module for the Hestia Home iOS mobile app which additional features can be added in the future as the product moves forward into the development stage.
Feature Prioritization
The Information Architecture put together a contextual scenario and she provided the team with a feature prioritization chart along with a user flow and sitemap.
DESIGN STUDIO METHOD
With the research portion completed, I ran a design studio method exercise to generate some concepts.
6-8-5
Create six to eight drawings in five minutes for a predetermined problem which in our case, the landing page.
Critique, Iterate, Repeat...
We generated over 20 concepts. After multiple rounds of critiques and iterations, we narrowed them to 9. After the last round of critique and iteration, we then narrowed it to 3.
WIREFRAMES
With the concepts generated from the design studio method exercise, the Interaction Designer took the final ideations and brought them into the wireframe design. After multiple rounds of user testing, the wireframes were finalized.
VISUAL DESIGNS
With the wireframes finalized, I put together a style guide before going into the visual design process. I took the approach of an interior decorator when selecting a color pallet for the design. Kitchens are usually the opportunity for vivid colors. Bedrooms are usually calming. I went with Living rooms as they are usually approachable and neutral with the opportunity of an accent color.
NEXT STEPS
// New Pages
Onboarding
Notifications
// Long Term
Peer to peer payments
// New Features
Splitting bills
RECAP & REFLECTIONS
I've always enjoyed the UX Design process more when it's completed by collaborating with team members versus completing a project on your own.
As a designer, I’d like to eventually learn more on putting different teams together for different projects. I have the ability to see potential in each designer, get the best version of them for a particular project, and point out what is valuable and show them they have it and how to put it towards a project.
(End of Case Study)