6ZEROS
OVERVIEW
This client project included UX research and usability testing. 6ZEROS is a forum-based social media website that caters to the liberal-minded community. The founder was beginning to update the website and was preparing to develop the app, so he sought insights on how to increase user interaction and decrease friction within the site.
PROJECT INFORMATION
Design Practices: user surveys, user interviews, developing personas, data analysis, comparative analysis, ideation sessions, slide decks, usability testing
Timeframe: 4 months
Tools: Canva, Miro, Figma, Google Forms, Google Docs, GoTo
ROLE:
Created surveys
Conducted surveys
Conducted user interviews
Analyzed insights
Formed personas
Conducted ideation sessions
Ran comparative analysis
Conducted usability tests
Created slide decks and reports
The Challenge
To find ways to increase engagement on the platform.
To learn more about the current user experience.
To find out what kind of format users prefer.
23 survey responses | 3 interviews
Interview highlights:
Tell me what do you like to do on social media?
Learn about career-building opportunities
Meeting like-minded people.
Marketing their business
Keeping in touch with family and friends
What do you dislike/need improvement on 6ZEROS?
Improved navigation on the platform
More live broadcasts
The ability to submit videos
Notifications don't always work.
The ability to stream live
Produce more videos that are funny yet informative for sharing.
INTERVIEWS AND SURVEYS
Personas
We decided to make two personas in order to show the scope of users we got on the site according to the results of our research. This allowed the owner of 6ZEROS to have a more intimate understanding of his user base.
Problem Statement
How do we get more engagement on 6ZEROS?
HMW Questions
How might we draw free-minded people to 6ZEROS?
How might we garner more participation on the 6ZEROS platform?
How might we bring more revenue to 6ZEROS whilst maintaining its integrity?
Comparative Analysis
OkayPlayer
Forum based
Focuses on African culture, Music and Politics
Gives updates to music events via email
Has a section for videos
Launched in 1999
powerful search/filter engine
live streams
able to create different subreddits
feed based
uses hashtags
has explore page
Solutions
Allow for quicker replies
Incorporate Back Button
Use points to incentivize posts
Points can be used for customizing the profile
Allow Props during probation
Do media run on black channels and platforms outside The Big 3
Take part in Twitter Spaces
After UX Research, he made changes to the website and developed an app. and he hired us to do usability tests for it.
FOLLOW UP | USABILITY TESTS
After receiving the initial results of our research, the founder of 6ZEROS wanted to use the services of my team and I to conduct some usability tests for the app before it launched in the Google Playstore and Apple App Marketplace.
Tasks
Task #1: Log into 6ZEROS
Task #2: Do you know what the icons at the bottom mean?
Task #3: Navigate to the forum called Test.
Task #4: Make a post in the Test forum.
Task #5: Navigate to your notifications.
Task #6: Send a private message to Jay
Final Status: Failed
The first sets of usability tests were unsuccessful primarily due to confusion with the icons used to represent functions such as the forums or login features. This caused a lot of friction with navigating the site. We suggested improvement by using icons that were more intuitive.
Usability Report #1
Tasks
Task #1: Log into 6ZEROS
Task #2: Do you know what the icons at the bottom mean?
Task #3: Navigate to the forum called Test.
Task #4: Make a post in the Test forum.
Task #5: Navigate to your notifications.
Task #6: Send a private message to Jay
Final Status: Passed
We got good feedback on the navigability and layout of the application. We were unable to complete tasks 3-5 since the forums section of the beta wasn’t operational. The intuitive icons made navigation and thus using the app more streamlined and seamless.
Usability Report #2
Summary: The purpose of the usability tests was to find any pain points or usability issues before the app launch. The first set of usability tests showed us that the application needed certain changes to make the user experience smoother, such as changing the icons. Once the client changed these issues the tasks went smoothly apart from specific bugs with the Testflight that limited our access to certain portions of the app. Due to Testflight issues, we were unable to access the forums, the post button was not working, and we couldn’t see the comments under the social status within the app. There were issues with sending DMs, but that is primarily due to the account not being logged in so that the options that are under the logged-in icon are available. The study was conducted online on a platform called GoTo which allows the test subject to gain access to the screen to be able to navigate the app.
Final Thoughts/Next Steps
The founder of 6ZEROS finished the app and is going live once Google approves the specs for Android devices. There is room for improvement regarding efficiently running the app as the customer base increases. The founder is self-funded takes time to fix all the features and is one of the primary moderators, so in the future, hiring a team of developers and moderators would help balance the workload of running 6ZEROS.