Culture
Compass
A mobile application for cultural adjustment and discovery. Prepare for your travels, adapt to life in a new country, and connect with locals.
The User Interface Design
During the on-boarding process, users create an account and answer questions that help personalize and tailor their experience.
Once set-up, users can record what nootropic botanicals they had today. The diagram shows what part of the brain is responsible for certain cognitive functions.
Users can search for nootropic botanicals and sort them by popularity or scientific study grade (assigned by researchers). Users can also filter by cognitive functions.
Users can record and view a history of their experiences in the app.
"I think coffee helps me focus at work, but it's hard to tell"
"Sometimes coffee makes me anxious and jittery"
"I wish there was a way to keep track of my experiences"
"I wish I knew what would actually help me focus at work"
Context
More and more people are seeking out to boost their cognitive function and brain health. As a result, there has been a surging growth in the nootropic botanical and supplement market.
The Problem
There are very few unbiased resources out there that provide information on nootropic botanicals without trying to sell a product. There are currently no platforms that help users keep track of their experiences in a similar way that exercise aplications do.
Role
This was an individual project that involved
User Research, Competitor Analysis, Design, Prototyping & User Evaluation.
The Solution
Tropic Topic is a mobile-based platform that can help educate users about nootropic botanicals. Users will be able to track their intake and record experiences.The application will help users with safety assessment.
Constraints
9 week timeline
IOS platform
Mobile-first design
User Research
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A survey was created using Qualtrics
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Participants that have experience with nootropic botanicals were recruited
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Participants were asked questions about their interest in brain health, any current supplements or botanicals that they are using, and if they would find it helpful to track their experiences
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Some participants were interviewed to gain further insights
100%
Participants want to improve their cognitive ability related to focus & attention
65%
Participants currently gather their information from social media platforms & podcasts
80%
Participants reported that they would find it helpful to track their experiences
0%
Participants currently keep track of their experiences with nootropic botanicals & supplements
Personas
Personas were developed based on user interviews & user research
Competitor Analysis
There are were very few precedents and competitors to analyze.
a web-based platform with a great database of scientific papers, but no ability to interact with the platform to record experiences, and lacking in graphics
Natural Remedies
a mobile application with lots of information that had organization and lacks links to scientific papers, with no ability to record experiences
Task Flows
that are representative of the main features of the application.
Sign-up Flow
Finding A Nootropic Botanical Flow
Recording An Experience Flow
Low Fidelity Prototype Sketches
sketched on paper & tested in the Marvel App.
On-boarding sequence
Browsing Nootropic Botanicals
Tracking Experiences
Design, Font & Color Scheme
A serif font was selected for the large titles, and a sans serif font for the small titles and body text, for legibility. A rounded font was selected to accentuate the playful pallet.
The analogous pastel colors make for a fun interface, and provide opportunities for gradients.
Medium Fidelity Prototype in Figma
tested with users using cognitive walkthroughs.
Next Steps
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As the next step, I plan on conducting usability evaluations using moderated in-person interviews with at least 6 participants.
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I plan on creating a discussion guide, defining the tasks and metrics.
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To analyze my results, I will create an affinity diagram, and use tenets & traps to identify problems. Then, I will use heuristics to come up with solutions.
Learnings
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Even when designing playful interfaces, it is important for the overall interface system to match real world conventions.
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It's important to organize elements in a familiar and intuitive way.
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The color logic should permeate throughout the entire design for consistency & standards.
Liza Karimova. 2023.