› problem ‹

brief

Make the app more engaging to create a greater connection with users.

Get users to submit more noise level recordings ("SoundChecks") at venues.

problem statement

Noise-sensitive people have difficulty finding quiet public places to go, whether for business, studying, or leisure.

→ How might we help users easily find quiet places near them?

› process ‹

My Roles

Scrum Master
UX Designer
Researcher/Notetaker/Tester
[team of three]

Duration

3 weeks

Tools

Sketch
InVision
Marvel
Trello

› research ‹

User Research → Key Insights

• Our stakeholder created this app for the hearing-impaired but we found that this is useful for the masses, as well, and perhaps even more— 3/5 hearing-impaired people we interviewed did not care about finding quiet places because they're used to having to deal with the challenges that hearing loss presents.
• A venue's atmosphere is the highest influencer when deciding where to go out, for both non-hearing impaired and hearing-impaired people
• Users need to be able to hear people so they can have meaningful conversations
• Search screen on existing app is not intuitive

Competitive Research → Key Insights

User Personas

› solution ‹

Key Changes

Search screen

This is the first screen users see upon opening the app, so it should be clearly understandable and engaging, but users thought the the existing design was overwhelming—and we agreed!

We cleaned it up by only showing the results that matter to the user, and identifying the quietest spot nearest to them as being the largest pin they see. We also included "Venue Type" buttons at the top for quick and easy access.

VENUE PINS

Inspired by the Waze app icons, we personified the pins to be fun, engaging, memorable, and learnable.

Search results

Previously, users could look at either the map or the list view and it was frustrating to go back and forth. Here, we've streamlined to combine them and include pertinent information users also wanted to know when browsing.

Venue screen

This screen was all about adding context to the venue information for the user.

The "Yelp" label was added because users were unsure what the star rating meant. "Call" and "Directions" CTAs provide easy access; "Directions" would open the user's native map app. And the same SoundCheck info shown on the search results page appears here for consistency. When the blue button is tapped, a history of taken SoundChecks is shown.

Atmosphere qualifiers replace comments as they're quicker to read, easier to submit, and users tend to not trust polarizing online reviews. The qualifiers were designed with our research in mind, where music, lighting, and space were most important, especially for the hearing-impaired. These can even be added to a venue that has no SoundChecks so that users can still get to know it.

Taking a SoundCheck

When taking a SoundCheck with the existing app, users had trouble remembering the decibel scale and therefore, had difficulty understanding the information presented. We included the same pins users see elsewhere in the app because consistency is key in effective memorability.

New "My Places" Section

We created this section of the app to make it feel more personal and create trust among users, thereby increasing retention. There are two tabs within it: one for venues starred (favorited) by the user, which incentivizes them to use SoundPrint for trip planning, and one for "My SoundChecks", where users can see all the venues they've recorded SoundChecks at (an already existing feature of the app).

› outcome ‹

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