BACKGROUND
GNAR LLC. (later called slingshot, Inc.) wanted to solve the ultimate problem of managing operations with vendors. With the idea to improve external communication, we strove to create a simple and accessible centralized task management tool to solve this problem.
MY ROLE | PRODUCT DESIGNER
During the early stages of product development, I created over 100+ iterations until we have finalized the MVP. I then built and updated a successful design system and iterated final key designs on Figma for developer hand-off.
I also focused on improving former designs and feature definitions in our team’s shared Spec Doc and Roadmap. On top of my responsibilities as the sole designer, I was highly involved in marketing & business strategies while conducting usability & quality assurance tests.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Project Managers & Coordinators
DURATION
2022 | 1 Year
TEAM | slingshot Inc.
Brandon Stewart CEO + PO
Osman Pontes CTO
Andre Benatti Frontend
Sam Timbo Full Stack
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PROBLEM
PM INTERVIEWS + TEAM REFLECTIONS
Through informal discussions with our team and personal network of project managers, we found a reoccurring pain point of multiple "follow-ups" and emails for many collaborative external projects, especially with our project Intrmodl.
Surprisingly, this natural phenomenon of working with upper leadership and clients is common in many industries. Therefore, we needed to create a space for teams to collaborate both internally and externally.
SOLUTION
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The team wanted this product to be “unique” and "minimal" compared to our competitors and that was where I aimed my focus in my competitive analysis.
Looking into our competitors' task management products, all these apps require in-depth tutorials and repetitive actions for the user to utilize all of their features. The main takeaway is that we needed to have an intuitive design where the user can easily learn all of the product's core features.
CENTRALIZED TASK MANAGEMENT WEB APPLICATION
As we brainstormed ideas for the app, we wanted to create a centralized platform that allowed internal and external communication with and without signing up as a user. Therefore, project managers can still communicate with vendors who refuse to use a new tool and change their workflow.
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PROCESS
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
I worked with the team to establish our core features for the MVP and prioritize key elements needed in a task management tool. With 6 confirmed features, the focus of this study will be the design process of slingshot's dashboard.
GETTING THE RIGHT FEEL
With limited bandwidth to create prototypes for quick user testing, I focused on fixed designs with notes to show user flows and my "why's" for each exploration. My designs were inspired by our current competitors' dashboards & positive customer reviews and iterated according to the PO's and developers' feedback.
Wireframes 0.1 | Utilized a wireframe kit to create initial dashboard & used a similar design look as INTRMODL.
Mid-fi 1.0 | PO suggests an accessible filter on left-hand side of screen. Utilized competitors' kanban view design.
Hi-fi 2.0 | Included color with team's suggestion to have the filters on the top header while maintaining minimal look.
MVP 1.0 | Moved filter selection to left-hand side & incorporated filter selection + search bar subfeatures.
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CHALLENGES
BROADENING THE TARGET AUDIENCE
The team believed we can broaden our target audience to small creative business owners, education, and neighborhood communities. With limited time, I ventured to understand what the educational space looked for students who want to keep track of their assignments.
EXPLORATION 1.1 | Online Research + Competitive Analysis
I looked into current trends & tools students use to keep track of their homework and projects. According to my findings, college students are more likely to utilize Evernote, Microsoft To Do, Google Suite, & Notion.
Since there were not many reliable articles to confirm these findings and data analysis, I sought to conduct quantitative surveys at a local college.
EXPLORATION 1.2 | Quantitative Surveys with College Students
At UCSB, I sought to see what task management tools are used by students who are Generation Z (ages 18-24) and the tail end of millennials (ages 25-30). Surprisingly, 19% of Gen Z and 75% of millennials who are working in research are more likely to use a task management software.
EXPLORATION 1.3 | Quantitative Surveys with Working Individuals
If graduate students who does collaborative tasks in research use task management software, I explored if the person's working environment was the main factor. As a result, the role & responsibilities of working in a team has more impact than age.
This concludes that education is not the best area to market the product & the team should focus on working individuals who carry "task heavy" duties.
ONLY TESTING THE APP OURSELVES
Due to time constraints, the developers were only able to incorporate 75% of the MVP 1.0's design. With testing the app ourselves throughout the 6 months of product development, I believed there may be severe UI & UX issues that came unnoticed.
EXPLORATION 2.1 | Usability Tests Outside of the Team
I first conducted one usability test with a relative that raised flags on the current production's design. Using these insights, I convinced the team to move forward in conducting 10 usability tests prior to release.
In the span of 2 days of in-person and virtual tests, I found 5 significant issues in the dashboard design that is over 50% severity.
EXPLORATION 2.2 | Priority List + Redesigns
With only two months before our projected goal, we focused our priorities based on the severity of my findings & core features yet to be developed:
1. Create & develop redesigns for issues over 70% severity for the dashboard + task card.
2. Ensure email notifications design + functions are working and correct.
3. Finalize development of the task card external token feature.
4. Continue to perform QA testing + create bug tickets for developers.
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FINAL KEY DESIGNS
OUTCOME
STILL IN DEVELOPMENT
With beta testers using the app, the team is currently optimizing and improving the product's features. More information on slingshot, Inc.’s product can be found here.
SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO WORK CULTURE
Despite my limited time working at slingshot, Inc., I made significant impacts to the company culture including:
- Creating and maintaining the product's first design system.
- Initiating the need for a Spec Doc + Roadmap to define and track features and product goals.
- Implementing Critique Workshops to efficiently gain feedback from PO + developers.
- Teaching the significance of user feedback through usability tests and quantitative surveys.
- Optimizing designs and notes for better developer hand-off.
With these impacts, the team is able to include beta testers after 1 year of meeting product goals.
Design System 1.0
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REFLECTIONS
MANY HATS + CORE DESIGN VALUES
For this project, I wore many hats as the designer, researcher, marketing analyst, task manager for developers, and assistant to the CEO. My role required executive decision-making and planning while keeping track of product development. While juggling these different roles, I learned to focus on my role as a designer and to mitigate any issues that jeopardized our goals.
