How do you create a pilot app to help base-bound Marines connect with each other and manage their time off? First you have to understand your target user.
Imagine a newly enlisted 19-year-old Marine who has recently moved half way across the country, doesn't know anyone, is unfamiliar with the inner workings of base life, confined to the barracks, knows next to nothing about the surrounding area, and doesn't have a car. How do you help them connect with their community both on and off the base?
Multiple weeks of on-base user interviews, workshops, and concept testing helped us truly understand the environment, the frustrations, and the motivations of the base-bound Marine, which informed the designs for a pilot app that will released on two Marine bases in 2017.
“As the Experience Lead on the project, I was in charge of: upfront research and competitive analysis, stakeholder/user interviews, concept testing, workshops, formulating experience principles, wireframes, prototyping, and working with visual design and dev to bring the pilot app to life. ”
User Interviews & Concept Testing
During two base visits, one to Camp Pendleton in San Diego and another to K-Bay in Hawaii, the team did user interviews as well as concept testing to understand what would resonate more with Marines. We used 3 distinct concept prototypes, each hitting on a different need and interaction model to understand the current gaps in their on-base experience. View InVision link
Wireframes
After taking the findings from our interviews and concept testing, I set out to create the wireframe set for the Pilot. I created a set that hit on the components used in the app, any additional states, as well as additional pages that would inform visual design and dev as we moved past the UX phase.
Prototype & Pilot
Working with Alie Brown as the visual designer, I built the prototype to create a working model for our developers and also to create a selling piece for the client, to help make their case to higher ups in the Department of Defense. View the InVision prototype.
