Role: Product Designer
Timeline: Two Months (Feb 23 - March 23)
Tools: Figma, Google Survey
Co.lab Bootcamp
Stream: A Web-App for Writers
Project Focus
Minimizing workload for developers by streamlining pages and functions while ensuring visual and UX design support an efficient and calming guest experience for users.
Problem Space
Consistency is an issue for young writers interested in long-form writing (fictional or non-fictional). Most writers attributed this inconsistency to writer’s block. Through interviews, surveys, and research, it was revealed that...
User Flow
Before wireframing and designing, I created a user flow that prioritized and illustrated our top goals for our web app. This flow prioritized the following user stories for a writer:
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Select writing durations to plan sprints in my schedule.
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Share word count achievements on social media to engage writing communities and share progress with friends.
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Establish and reward specific writing goals to maintain motivation and daily routines.
Developer Concerns
Regarding development, our developers quickly raised concerns regarding the absence of a backend for saving user data and limited resources to build many pages, specifically for the guest experience. Unfortunately, we would be unable to encourage iterative sprints or save users' work.
User Flow: Optimized
Considering time and developer constraints, I streamlined the user flow by removing iterative actions requiring backend development. We focused on encouraging writing in a distraction-free zone for this development phase and building community via invitations to write on Stream.
Wireframes
Through daily design meetings, I focused on creating an accessible guest experience that decreased unnecessary pages and accounted for developer concerns and time constraints.
Graphic Design
To underscore our desire to provide our users with a calming and encouraging environment for writing, I created visual design elements that evoked soothing feelings while being bold and trendy.
Color Palette
Logo
The logo draws inspiration from Hokusai's famous work, "The Great Wave," which portrays a stormy sea. However, instead of capturing the chaotic rush typically associated with storms, the logo focuses on a single, serene wave or stream. This choice symbolizes the idea of continuous progression in writing, akin to the steady flow of a stream building upon itself, wave by wave.
Typeface & Typograpgh
The rounded peaks of the Baloo Bhai font exude a sense of trendy and youthful curiosity, while the sans serif font, Inter, conveys a purposeful and determined tone. This combination balances playful exploration and steadfast determination, reflecting the dynamic nature of the web-app it represents.
Brand Assets And Buttons
Success
Developers were able to build and launch Stream in a record of 3 days, while potential users reported satisfaction with implemented features and visual design.
![“Considering all the changes we made these [designs] were clear and simple
to follow.”
- D](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d5e03c_468f73ae6f7e4ca0adc44eb6c28b5086~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_400,h_397,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/_Considering%20all%20the%20changes%20we%20made%20these%20%5Bdesigns%5D%20were%20clear%20and%20simple%E2%80%A8to%20follow_%E2%80%9D%E2%80%A8-%20D.png)
Next Steps
Currently, the web application focuses on a guest/non-logged-in user experience that addresses a user's desire to overcome writer’s block in a distraction-free zone. When moving the project forward, we would like to address other needs of users with a focus on mobile capability.
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Phase 2: Track Progress in Stream
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Implement backend functionality/login access to track and save user content and progress.
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Enable content sharing between writers via Stream, Facebook, and Twitter
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Phase 3: Plugin for Non-Native Writing Apps
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Develop a plugin to track a writer's progress on non-native apps like Google Docs.
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Ensure seamless integration and synchronization between the plugin and Stream.
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