slide
Mobile Application
As the creator, I spearheaded the UX design and branding process, guiding it from initial research through to the final design and testing phases.
My responsibilities encompassed conducting competitor analysis, facilitating user interviews, developing wireframes and prototypes, and implementing design changes based on feedback from usability testing.
Timeline: 4 weeks
Tools: Figma, Maze, Parrot.ai, Google Meet
Background
The Slide mobile application is designed to enhance the honeymoon experience by providing couples with a non-intrusive and personalized way to document their memories. Recognizing that traditional methods like photos and videos often detract from the intimacy of special moments, Slide aims to fill a significant market gap.
With 1.4 million couples in the U.S. spending over $12 billion annually on honeymoons, there is a clear demand for a more thoughtful approach to memory documentation, allowing users to stay present while capturing the essence of their journey together.
Problem
Disruption of Intimacy: Traditional documentation methods, such as constant photography, can interrupt the natural flow of romantic moments, making it difficult for couples to fully engage with each other and their experiences.
Lack of Personalization: Existing apps primarily focus on itinerary planning or photo sharing, failing to offer tailored solutions for couples to capture their unique honeymoon experiences in a meaningful way.
User Frustrations: Couples often feel overwhelmed by the pressure to document their memories through photos and videos, leading to anxiety and a sense of missing out on the moment itself.
Solution
Non-Intrusive Memory Capture: Slide allows couples to document their honeymoon experiences flexibly, enabling them to capture memories without the disruption of traditional camera use, thereby enhancing their intimacy.
Personalized Features: The app offers a variety of multimedia options, including journaling, audio recordings, and digital scrapbooking, allowing couples to create personalized documentation that reflects their unique journey.
User-Centered Design: By focusing on user insights and preferences, Slide ensures that its features address common pain points, ultimately providing a solution that resonates with couples and enhances their overall honeymoon experience.
The onboarding process was essential for personalizing the experience by gathering user information, while the journal entry feature allowed users to document special moments from their day, balancing memory capture with being present.
process
Empathize
User Research
Market Research
Interviews
Surveys
Affinity Mapping
Define
User Personas
POV & HMW Statements
Product Goals
Ideate
Brainstorming
Information Architecture
Priority Matrix
Sitemap
User Flows
Prototype
Mobile Wireframing
Iterations
Mobile Prototyping
Test
User Testing
Final Iterations
Executive Summary
empathize
Research & Design Objectives
Research methods
I conducted a thorough competitor analysis, user interviews, and an unmoderated survey to gather valuable insights. This was followed by affinity mapping to identify common themes and pain points.
Understand what makes honeymoon moments memorable.
Identify the challenges and obstacles they face with current methods.
Explore which methods couples are interested in using to document their honeymoon memories.
competitive analysis
I examined competitors, including Journo and Travel Diaries, that offered downloadable journals, interactive games, and publishing options, but none provided the personalized documentation solutions couples sought.
official dating app
❌ Downloadable journal
✅ Interactive games
✅ Partner interaction
❌ Printing & publishing
✅ Suggested activities
journo
❌ Downloadable journal
❌ Interactive games
✅ Partner interaction
✅ Printing & publishing
❌ Suggested activities
travel diaries
✅ Downloadable journal
❌ Interactive games
❌ Partner interaction
✅ Printing & publishing
✅ Suggested activities
market insights
The honeymoon app market is growing, but most apps focus on itinerary planning or photo sharing. There’s a significant gap for personalized solutions:
Existing apps need features for uploading photos and videos and basic journaling.
The market lacks tailored solutions for documenting honeymoons.
There’s a strong demand for innovative, personalized honeymoon documentation tools.
User insights
“How many more pictures should we take to get a good picture and how much can we just chill and soak it in?”
James, 38
“A Special moment is Something more intimate, shared with the one person I truly cherish, which is my wife.”
Sam, 34
“Imagine we're both sitting down for dinner, having shared our experiences. Then, we could take a moment to reminisce about that amazing vacation we enjoyed together.”
Mattie, 27
User Interviews
I interviewed five couples to understand how they documented their honeymoon memories, their challenges, and what made moments memorable.
100% of participants did mention writing about their memories
80% mentioned specific grievances related to their feelings about camera
Affinity Mapping
To confirm insights from interviews, I conducted an unmoderated survey with 14 users, organizing the data using affinity mapping.
Key takeaways
Users favor well-organized, transparent websites that foster emotional connections.
Many seek to support non-profits non-monetarily, desiring transparency without pressure to donate.
Users want easy navigation, impactful stories, and straightforward volunteer application processes.
Testing of assumptions
The research validated users' frustrations with the intrusiveness of cameras and the limited personalized documentation options, reinforcing the need for Slide.
Impact on the project
These insights shaped the app's features, emphasizing flexibility, privacy, and personalization in the user experience.
Define
User Personas
Using the research data, I developed two distinct personas to understand their needs, guiding my design decisions with clarity and purpose.
Reminiscent Rebecca
“The real memories are in the stories.”
Motivations
Rebecca cares about having mementos of special times she shares with her husband. She feels that the best memories are in the stories they experience together and wants to grasp those details to reflect back on.
Goals
Have flexibility in ways they can reminisce
Access details in years to come
Have an intimate, shared experience when documenting
Pain Points
Feels taking pictures or videos ruin the intimacy of a moment
Has a bad memory
Doesn’t like relying on her camera to document memories
Present pablo
“Taking pictures at that moment wasn’t worthwhile because it felt like I wasn’t fully present.”
Motivations
Pablo wants to make memories and enjoy the moments he shares with his new wife. While he enjoys taking photos, he prefers to be present and talk about their experiences on a walk or over a meal together.
Goals
Document special moments with his wife while being able to stay present in those moments
Maintain the privacy of their experiences
Effectively achieve these goals without having to think too much about it
Pain Points
Not being able to recall all of the details from a memory by just looking at pictures
Feels pressure when taking pictures
Worried about how the information they gather will get organized
Product goals
I employed POV statements to gain insights into user needs, goals, and frustrations, guiding my design process to develop solutions that align with user experiences.
Additionally, I utilized HMW statements to transform challenges into design opportunities, fostering creativity and ideation to effectively meet user needs.
“I’d like to explore ways that we can give our user flexible ways to document their memories because they feel like using a camera is the only way to do so.”
How might we provide users with diverse documentation options that seamlessly blend written reflections, voice notes, and multimedia elements, allowing them to capture memories beyond just photos?
How might we create a user-friendly interface that encourages spontaneous memory sharing without the pressure of formal photography?
How might we incorporate prompts and interactive features that inspire couples to document their experiences in meaningful and personalized ways, fostering deeper connections during their honeymoon?
Ideate
Brainstorming
Priority Matrix
Using insights, I brainstormed flexible documentation methods and envisioned a digital scrapbook format combining multimedia elements. I utilized a priority matrix to organize the ideas aimed at addressing the identified pain points.
site map & User flows
I envisioned how users such as Rebecca or Pablo would use the application based on the feature set. I developed a sitemap to outline the user flow structure. Key aspects of the user flows included the onboarding process and journal entry feature.
New user onboarding
Create a new journal entry
Developing A Brand
Name:
The name "Slide" conveys the idea of sliding into marriage, embodying movement and transition.
Logo:
The logo features clean lines and geometric shapes, reflecting modernity and evoking smooth movement.
Typeface:
Roboto was selected for its contemporary look and readability.
Color Palette:
Warm, romantic colors evoke feelings of love and intimacy, while playful illustrations enhance the onboarding experience.
prototype
wireframing & Design Decisions
Low-Fidelity
Using the sitemap and user flows as a reference, I created a few sketches to visualize the onboarding process.
Onboarding
design Decisions
Multimedia Integration
Users can combine photos, videos, audio recordings, and written notes into a digital scrapbook, offering flexibility in how they capture their memories.
User-Centered Onboarding
The intuitive onboarding process gathers essential user information while providing a warm, welcoming experience to enhance engagement.
Privacy Features
Shared journals with reflection prompts and voice note transcription ensure couples can document their memories privately and intimately.
Mid-fidelity
Guided by the sketches, user flows, and sitemap, I began the process of digitizing the prototype, making numerous iterations along the way. I incorporated illustrations as a key enhancement to add fun and excitement to the user experience.
My goal was to warmly introduce users to the app and its features while fostering a sense of connection and shared experience between couples. I focused on how to help them create lasting memories and inspire ideas for their honeymoon journal.
Users are greeted with an overview of the app’s features and given the option to set up their profile and connect with their partner's account.
onboarding
Dashboard
Users share the dashboard with their partner, providing easy access to add a "love note" (journal entry) where they can tag their location, include a picture, or record a voice note.
They can also quickly enter their favorite adventure, meal, and memorable moments.
test
Iterations & final product
User testing
I conducted usability testing with 50 participants, revealing issues with onboarding and visual hierarchy. User feedback led to design refinements, reducing text and enhancing visual clarity.
tasks
Participants were asked to imagine they were onboarding an app. They filled in their name, added a picture, and entered their partner's code, followed by filling in some trip details.
Participants were then asked to imagine they wanted to add a journal entry and were prompted to explain their approach.
metrics of success
Task Completion Rate: The percentage of participants who successfully completed the onboarding and journal entry tasks without assistance.
Time on Task: The average time taken by participants to complete each task, indicating efficiency.
User Satisfaction: Feedback collected through post-test surveys to gauge participants’ satisfaction with the onboarding process and journal entry feature.
Error Rate: The number of errors or confusion encountered by participants during the tasks, helping to identify areas for improvement.
results
✔️ Completion time was quick
100% Success rate
85% of users rated their experience as a 7 out of 10 or higher
V1
In the initial low-fidelity test, users expressed a need for a more streamlined onboarding process. After iterating on the design and transitioning to high-fidelity screens, I conducted a follow-up test. The new condensed onboarding proved to enhance the user experience, with participants not noting any issues of density.
I created an affinity map to analyze feedback, which revealed a desire for clearer visual hierarchy, greater consistency in design, and improved text legibility.
V2
Following further iterations, I conducted a second user test that included a task to locate the newly added note. While users generally enjoyed the onboarding process, additional feedback highlighted the need to reduce clutter on the dashboard, ensure consistent design elements, and enhance text clarity.
high-fidelity iterations
Users appreciated the onboarding choices but noted inconsistencies in buttons, spacing, and visual hierarchy. The dashboard appeared cluttered, which caused confusion.
I established consistency in button colors and positions, which users found pleasing.
While most participants enjoyed the playful colors and gradients, some suggested adopting a more cohesive color palette for branding purposes.
At this point, I shifted gears and designed the light/dark mode palettes.
Dashboard Iteration
Sun Icon Confusion: The sun icon under “love notes” was confusing since it had no function. To address this, I integrated the color mode function, allowing the sun icon to toggle between light and dark modes.
Unnecessary Quote: The quote above the date contributed to clutter and was deemed unnecessary. I removed it and kept only the date displayed as a fun counting meter.
Redundant Quick Access: The "love note" quick access option at the bottom was considered redundant, as users could easily access it via the “+” button in the navigation. Instead, I added a button to view their honeymoon book, which showcases a collection of logged notes, moments, and activities, along with a preview of what they could purchase in the book.
Larger Profile Pictures: Based on user feedback, I made the profile pictures larger to enhance visibility of their loved ones.
Enhanced Feature Buttons: I improved the "mindful moments" and "playful activities" buttons to make these features more prominent and obvious to users.
Final Product
executive summary
Overview
Slide is an innovative mobile application designed to help honeymooners document their memories while staying fully present in the moment. The goal was to create a non-intrusive, personalized solution that allows couples to capture the intimate details of their honeymoon without the distraction of constant camera use.
objectives
The primary objectives were to:
Create an intuitive and enjoyable user experience that encourages couples to document their honeymoon memories effortlessly.
Develop features that enable users to capture intimate moments and share meaningful experiences, promoting a deeper connection between couples.
Design a flexible and non-intrusive way for users to log their memories without feeling overwhelmed or distracted by the act of documenting.
approach
My approach involved employing user-centered design principles through interviews and usability tests to gather insights on user needs, followed by an iterative development process that refined the app’s features based on feedback. I focused on integrating diverse documentation methods to enhance user engagement and promote intimacy between couples while streamlining the documentation experience.
results
performance against objectives
The final design successfully provided a flexible, non-intrusive way for couples to document their memories. Users reported that Slide would enhance their honeymoon experience, allowing them to capture moments intimately.
impact on users
Users felt that Slide will enable them to cherish their honeymoon memories in a more personal way, enriching their overall experience.
impact on the business
Slide has potential to fill a critical market gap, differentiating itself from competitors and driving engagement with innovative features.
Lessons learned
I learned the significance of consistency in design and the importance of visual hierarchy in guiding users. Managing time constraints and prioritizing features became a key focus for ongoing development.
areas for future improvement
Looking ahead with this project, prioritizing the implementation of the postponed 'mindful moments' and 'playful activities' features will be essential for further enriching the user experience.
strategic value
By prioritizing user-centered design, Slide offered a unique balance between memory capture and intimacy, setting it apart from other apps that focus solely on photo sharing or itinerary planning.