TinyTales: A Google Ventures Design Sprint

Introduction to the Design Sprint

The 'Design Sprint' is a project in the Springboard UX/UI Design curriculum. One of the rites of passage every UX/UI student at Springboard must endure is the Google Ventures Design Sprint. [You can read more about the design sprint here. https://bitesizeux.com/springboard/ ] It is intended to be an ideal environment in which a student generates one user flow, builds a realistic prototype of that flow, and tests it within a short timeframe of 1 to 2 weeks.

GV is organized for small teams, however most Springboard students attempt it as a solo expedition. Here's my attempt: 

Day 1: Understanding the Problem Space of the TinyTales Prompt

This day, I studied the problem space and took notes on pre-recorded interviews from GV's website. I gathered that the goal is to help users choose a book as quickly as possible. I realized most of the people in the user base were parents or guardians and read to children frequently. 

I think that solving this problem will make story times as low-stress as possible.

Day 2: Thumbnailing Screens

I thumbnailed screens only of the book-finding user flow, knowing that I would use placeholders for actual book content. 

The original concept was more of a standard app, which centers around a search bar to begin a search - similar to Kindle or Netflix. 

I scrapped that idea for more pictorial screens (bottom 3 screens) thinking it would result in less cognitive load for the user. This is a more map and character-based design. 

Day 3: Storyboarding

Based on the videos presented to me on day 1, I realized most of the people in the user base were parents or guardians and read to children frequently. This made it easy to figure out what kind of user story I wanted to tell. 

In a storyboard, I wanted to show a simple usage case for the TinyTales app. In this case, it is a dad reading to his three kids - and using the app to allow his kids to choose which story he will read to them. 

The main idea of this storyboard is to tell potential users, stakeholders, and others interested in this app, that it will make story times easier. It will have parents, guardians, and educators spend less time choosing from a large library of stories, and help them and their listeners collaborate on the best story to read. By having a map and image - heavy interface instead of a word-heavy one, the goal is to keep the cognitive load lower so that the browsing experience is less arduous. And that is intended to reduce stress around story times.

Day 4: Medium-Fidelity Prototype

This prototype was built in Figma. The book content in the prototype is excerpts from old book projects I've done (to avoid copyright issues). 

Only routes toward a specific goal of the user tests are active. These routes are chosen around the main goal of the app:  to discover the right story as quickly and easily as possible. 

Day 5: Usability Testing

• So far, all participants completed the mail task in 10 minutes of less.
• One pain point that appeared to trip up the participants was a lack of search feature.
• The rating system I implemented with a thumbs up/thumbs down was bypassed by most participants and they often chose to skip ahead.
• Placeholder text and images caused participants to pause and ask questions, so i may have to create more realistic copy.
• The prototype was in landscape orientation, and despite my expectations, no usability tester verbalized a need for portrait orientation, however all testers were using computer monitors instead of tablets.
• Many of the participants hesitated to navigate the map and environments in this prototype of an app. They moved slowly and with uncertainty. I would have liked to test a more traditional ebook marketplace alongside the globe feature to see which would be preferable.
• A natural use of TinyTales would involve a parent or guardian reading to a child. There were no children present in these usability tests to watch or listen to participants use the app prototype.

Retrospective

With more time, I would have probably gone back to the drawing board to develop a more standard prototype, similar to other online marketplaces and e-readers. 

I would have tested at least one more medium-fidelity iteration of this product - one with a literary search-centric book finding interface instead of a pictorial one. 

Another design I would test would be an interface similar to that of an app store like Google Play. 

The user tests were borderline inconclusive due to the lack of a baseline standard. The original problem this app was designed to solve was to help parents and guardians make a story choice in a reduced amount of time. Many of the participants hesitated with this new type of interface, which made it seem like the new app would be less efficient than the original. At best, I would say further testing is needed to see how this app performs compared to a traditional ebook library or marketplace.

Want to try the prototype yourself? 👀

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made by Meg in 2023 on TypeDream