UX Design Case Study
Arrival
Arrival is a project I took on during my UX Design Certification Course at Google. My randomly generated prompt at the start of the Course was "Design a job search service to help first generation immigrants." So I set out to research and design a job search platform that runs on a native mobile app and web browser, with my target audience in mind: first generation migrants.
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Over the length of this project, I was tasked with researching and solving design problems for my target users.
Client /
Google UX Certification
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Role /
UX Research
UI/UX Design
Agency /
Year /
2021
Over the course of 2 weeks, I researched, designed, and tested a native mobile app and website design. The goal of the project was to deliver an effective design that allows users to find and view job listings in the United States that are welcoming of new Americans quickly and easily.
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The Problem
My challenge here was to create a responsive interface for a fictional job search platform that not only conveys it's purpose, but delivers an effective design to its users. We also have to keep accessibility in mind, to reach as many people as possible.
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The Goal
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Deliver designs for an App and Website that allows users to find Job Listing and Apply to it quickly and easily, while following accessibility standards and modern visual design principles.
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My Responsibilities
Conduct usability tests and user interviews, and iterate upon my prototype designs to build a final deliverable.
User Research Summary
I conducted usability tests and interviews, and built empathy maps to better understand the users this platform might serve. A primary user group I discovered after researching are registered migrants looking to line up a career before immigrating.
This group confirmed some initial ideas about Arrival's users, but addition research adds to the conversation. Customers who use our site are not just first generation migrants, our demographic also includes their families, and those who may be 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants as well. Factors that lead them to use our site include: necessity, security, and our support.
Competitive Analysis
I looked at several potential market competitors, and most compete directly with Arrival in the type of users they serve, and will influence the potential revenue an popularity of our website. Arrival has the chance to exploit the gap in some competitors not directly providing job listings to its users.
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The variation in our competition was great, and it goes from large non-profits, to small community driven organizations. Here are the main things I've noted:
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- Most large organizations take the time to consider language in their accessibility.
- The larger non-profits focus more on educating the user than finding them a job.
- Smaller organizations provide local support, while large ones provide professionals.
Preparing for the Designs:
I constructed a site map based on the basic user journey through the website, from Home or Search to Listing to Application. This helped me piece together the information architecture before coming up with ideas for the user interface. This exact architecture and level of connections has since been updated after user trials called for their change.
Digital Wireflow
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After sketching out the designs on paper, I decided on the features and UI elements I wanted to bring with me into the digitizing phase. I poured a lot of time into this step, and took my usability tests to heart before moving on to the visual design stage.
Iteration
After finishing the prototype from low fidelity wireframes, they were given to 5 testing users in an unmoderated usability study of the primary user flow. After this test, I interviewed them to further understand their likes and dislikes about using the prototype. What are the users pain points? What was difficult and what was easy? Where were users the most confused? How could that be worked on?
These are the type of questions I wanted to gain insight to answer.
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Findings
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Round 1:
- Users wanted more ways to search (job title and/or location)
- User curiosity leads them to parts of the app that aren't on the main flow
- Users were intimidated by parts of the user interface that were extremely cluttered
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Round 2:
- Labels and icons speed up navigation drastically
- Color scheme needs to be swapped to improve contrast
After usability testing, I spent time adding iconography, images, and copy to better illustrate the final state of the design. I wanted the user to have the same options available to them without the clutter, so I spread the elements out, and made them distinctly separated as cards. I also think displaying information like this is effective, since the listings also act as calls to action.
After testing the mobile version, I spent time translating the design to a responsive website. I wanted the user to have the same options available to them regardless of the device they access the product from. So I combined some of the pages what were separated on mobile, to make effective use of the screen real estate on larger devices.
Style Guide
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With Arrival, I wanted to present the Arrival brand with modern simplicity and appealing colors. I also wanted to experiment with using an established design system, and settled on Google Material 3's Figma Design Kit. I decided from there I would use a card-component structure to the site to make every element consistent and scalable in the mockups.
Takeaways
After completing the second round of user testing, I truly believe this platform has made great progress, and can achieve its goal of giving users access to job listings as first generation immigrants. One quote I received during peer feedback was "Arrival looks like something I’d use if I wanted to find work, whether or not I was a new American." During this project, I learned that even if the problem you’re addressing seems massive and intimidating, diligently researching your users and addressing their needs can bridge the gap, and make large projects very doable. There are still many features I can bring to this app, like education or legal advice for new New Americans.
The next steps from here are to continue to research the performance of the app, hold further rounds of usability studies to ensure all user pain points are addressed, and that accessibility standards are held up.
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Thank you for taking the time to read through my work.