PERSONAL PROJECT (IN PROGRESS)

ASSEMBLE.

Creating an app to elevate the flatpack furniture assembly experience, from user research through to initial prototype development

👁️ Overview

🔍 Objectives

After creating a personalized cat tree with my own user needs in mind—specifically, making it collapsible for easy storage—I found myself contemplating how I would guide someone else through the assembly process.

This led me to reflect on assembly instructions in general. Despite my experience in designing and building, I realized I had never used an app for assembly before. This sparked curiosity about what users might desire in such an application. 'Assemble.' represents my design for an app that addresses these considerations.

Conduct research to establish user base, wants/needs, and which aspects of the app to centre and prioritise
Create a persona that encompasses user research, that I am able to use as a reference point throughout the process
Use sketches and wireframes to generate problem solving ideas
Create a basic prototype
Conduct usability testing to test the prototype

🚀 User Research

I conducted interviews and a survey to establish what people would want out of the app. The target audience were people who buy flatpack furniture, 18-50, all genders.
For my interviews I recruited through my own network, with people from diverse backgrounds and a range of ages.
The survey was open to anyone, to gain a wider understanding of basic needs for assembly instruction, and was shared via Instagram and Facebook.

The aims of my research were to establish:

pain points of assembling furniture
which aspects of the app would be important to users
specific features that users would find helpful

INTERVIEWS
AFFINITY MAPPING
SURVEYS
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
PERSONA

I collated the qualitative data from the interviews with an affinity map.

The online survey received 50 respondents. A few examples of the quantitative data I acquired are below.

👥 Persona

I created a persona from this research. The persona embodies the key points from the interviews and surveys, and was created for me to constantly refer back to in the design process.

From the persona I was able to initiate problem statements (below).

Sarah is searching for an app or online resource to help with the assembly of flat-pack furniture that provides engaging, clear and concise instructions for an efficient assembly process, as her busy schedule requires a streamlined process.

1 Sarah needs a tool that prioritizes clear visuals over text such as images and videos, as lacking the necessary visual guidance causes frustration and delays.

2

3 Sarah wants to ensure she has all the necessary tools and components before starting the assembly process, as discovering missing parts or inadequate tools halfway through the assembly is a significant source of irritation and interruption when assembling furniture.

🧠 Wireframing

When sketching ideas, although having an abundance of ideas for app features, I began by sticking to the core focus of the app, and addressing user needs first.

I began with a (very) simple user flow, with the whole process beginning with the user scanning the QR code on the product, taking them to the app.

To address a key user need from research participants - ensuring they have all the necessary tools and components before starting the assembly process, I sketched ideas for a landing page for their product, detailing key information about the product assembly, and all tools and parts needed. I had to consider what information would be included on this page, and how it is presented.

The idea is that users will be able to view this before purchasing the product (along with the step-by-step process), so they can make sure they have the right tools and are fully prepared.

Rough wireframing and thought processes.

Stemming from the user flow, I sketched ideas for how the steps are presented to the user, focusing on the research participant's needs for simple, clear and visual information.

🔎 Close-up images...

✏️ Visual Design

One of my perfectly timed Daily UI Challenges was to design a logo for an app. This also happened to fall on the same time I was doing a course in visual design. So I decided to do the UI design a little earlier in the process.

⚒️ Prototyping

To understand the flow of the wireframes, I created low-fidelity prototypes of the key assembly stage of the app.

The prototype focuses on 3 key interactions:

The landing screen after scanning the product QR code
The tool and part checklists before beginning the assembly
How the user navigates the steps of assembly

Interaction 1

The landing screen after scanning the product QR code

When users scan the QR code on their product and download the app, they'll be presented with this engaging introduction animation, confirming to them it's their product.

The product info screen is then revealed, giving users immediate, quick info about the assembly process for their product. Included is product and brand name and a brief product description. Users will see how long it takes to complete the assembly, and how many people needed. The completion wheel will be at 0%.

Interaction 2

The tool and part checklists before beginning the assembly

The tools and parts checklist are key for user needs, as research has showed. Users will be able to click on each one, and also check off the list as they go by tapping the items, making them green. When all items in the list are green, the 'Tools Checklist' and 'Parts Checklist' in turn will turn green.

Interaction 3

How the user navigates the steps of assembly

After considering and testing out options for how users navigate the steps, I applied the visual design to this option, to see how the navigation circle would work.

My next step is to carry out some A/B testing with the other options for the steps, as this is arguably the most important aspect of the app.

Thank you, and stay tuned for my progress with this project!

PERSONAL PROJECT (IN PROGRESS)

ASSEMBLE.

Creating an app to elevate the flatpack furniture assembly experience, from user research through to initial prototype development

👁️ Overview

🔍 Objectives

After creating a personalized cat tree with my own user needs in mind—specifically, making it collapsible for easy storage—I found myself contemplating how I would guide someone else through the assembly process.

Conduct research to establish user base, wants/needs, and which aspects of the app to centre and prioritise

Create a persona that encompasses user research, that I am able to use as a reference point throughout the process

Use sketches and wireframes to generate problem solving ideas

Create a basic prototype

Conduct usability testing to test the prototype

​

🚀 User Research

The aims of my research were to establish:

pain points of assembling furniture

which aspects of the app would be important to users

specific features that users would find helpful

INTERVIEWS AFFINITY MAPPING SURVEYS PROBLEM STATEMENTS PERSONA

I collated the qualitative data from the interviews with an affinity map.

The online survey received 50 respondents. A few examples of the quantitative data I acquired are below.

👥 Persona

I created a persona from this research. The persona embodies the key points from the interviews and surveys, and was created for me to constantly refer back to in the design process.

From the persona I was able to initiate problem statements (below).

Sarah is searching for an app or online resource to help with the assembly of flat-pack furniture that provides engaging, clear and concise instructions for an efficient assembly process, as her busy schedule requires a streamlined process.

1

Sarah needs a tool that prioritizes clear visuals over text such as images and videos, as lacking the necessary visual guidance causes frustration and delays.

2

3

Sarah wants to ensure she has all the necessary tools and components before starting the assembly process, as discovering missing parts or inadequate tools halfway through the assembly is a significant source of irritation and interruption when assembling furniture.

🧠 Wireframing

When sketching ideas, although having an abundance of ideas for app features, I began by sticking to the core focus of the app, and addressing user needs first.

I began with a (very) simple user flow, with the whole process beginning with the user scanning the QR code on the product, taking them to the app.

Rough wireframing and thought processes. Stemming from the user flow, I sketched ideas for how the steps are presented to the user, focusing on the research participant's needs for simple, clear and visual information.

🔎 Close-up images...

✏️ Visual Design

One of my perfectly timed Daily UI Challenges was to design a logo for an app. This also happened to fall on the same time I was doing a course in visual design. So I decided to do the UI design a little earlier in the process.

⚒️ Prototyping

To understand the flow of the wireframes, I created low-fidelity prototypes of the key assembly stage of the app.

​

The prototype focuses on 3 key interactions:

The landing screen after scanning the product QR code

The tool and part checklists before beginning the assembly

How the user navigates the steps of assembly

​

Interaction 1

The landing screen after scanning the product QR code

Interaction 2

The tool and part checklists before beginning the assembly

Interaction 3

How the user navigates the steps of assembly

Thank you, and stay tuned for my progress with this project!

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INTERVIEWS
AFFINITY MAPPING
SURVEYS
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
PERSONA

Rough wireframing and thought processes.

Stemming from the user flow, I sketched ideas for how the steps are presented to the user, focusing on the research participant's needs for simple, clear and visual information.