The Kiwi Kiwi Project
The Kiwi Kiwi Project is a site designed for conservation enthusiasts and young animal lovers looking to expand their knowledge and find small ways to get involved. This initiative aims to make the process of finding quick stats and information regarding Kiwi conservation efforts easy, comprehensive, and efficient. Offering fast stats for quick reference, with a navigation that’d allow for interested parties to learn more.
The Breakdown
So here’s the problem, conservation enthusiasts wanting a way to have stats at the ready to share their passion for conservation so they wouldn’t feel pressured to remember all the facts off the top of their head.
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Design a website that would allow both young animal lovers and conservation enthusiasts to be able to learn a comprehensive amount of information about Kiwi conservation, while still being concise enough to quickly access site information.
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Lead UX Designer and Art Director from concept to delivery
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As part of that process I completed the following tasks:
Conduct user interviews
Wireframe (paper/digital)
Prototype (low/high-fidelity)
Conduct usability studies
Iterate on designs based on feedback
phase I
Getting Started
Before jumping into designing, I needed to take the time to consider what the user needs were. From there I could then craft meaningful solutions to meet those needs with the Kiwi Kiwi Project. Understanding conservation enthusiast pain points from my research was crucial to drafting personas and composing a competitive audit. They were the foundational building blocks to the entire design process.
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I conducted interviews and created user journey maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was conservation enthusiasts who needed a quick reference for information regarding Kiwi conservation efforts.
This user group confirmed initial assumptions about the Kiwi Kiwi Project’s target users, but research also revealed that young animal lovers who wanted fun facts on conservation animals was another factor that influenced the design of this app.
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Auditing a few competitor’s sites provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the Kiwi Kiwi Project site.
My focus was specifically on quickly accessing conservation statistics as well as locate opportunities to make the information more engaging for younger audiences.
Phase II
Initial Designs &
Usability Studies
I began the design process with paper wireframes. They allowed me to come up with many ideas before deciding what might work best for the user. From there, I digitized those wireframes in Figma, setting them up as a low-fidelity prototype.
Using the low-fidelity prototype as the focus, I conducted a usability studies with my peers, with the study helping me understand what aspects of the app needed refining.
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Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points.
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These wireframes were the next stage of the design process and based on feedback from the user research.
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Using the completed set of digital wireframes I created a low-fidelity prototype, with the primary user flow centered around giving the users quick access to kiwi conservation statistics to review in a usability study.
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Instructional Text: Users wanted indications for when to scroll and what’s clickable
More information: The younger study participants wanted more information and interactive options
Confusion on buttons: Users preferred clear indications of where the call to action buttons were.
Phase III
Full Design With
Accessibility Considerations
Taking the low-fidelity prototypes into high-fidelity prototypes was the last step in the mobile build. With a focus on keeping the flow simple for faster navigation.
Before finalizing everything, it was worth taking the time to check my design for unconscious biases. I needed to consider what accessibility options would be essential for everyone using the Kiwi Kiwi Project.
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The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for navigation along with fast access to statistics and data. It also met younger user needs for more interactive elements and information.
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Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.
Initial focus of the stats screen is larger and more legible fonts for the user.
Phase IV
Desktop Build
After completing the mobile build, I repeated the ux design process using Figma to build out a desktop variant of the Kiwi Kiwi Project. Keeping in mind that the user’s journey should be as close as possible to the mobile version. The larger screen allowed me to fit more information within the UI, and provide a familiar brand design from the existing mobile site experience.
Impact:
Users shared that the site made Kiwi conservation seem like something they could actually help spread awareness on and actively contribute towards.
Personal Takeaways:
I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both informative and compelling.