Digital Scorebook Manager
Over a seven-week time frame, i've designed a full digital scorebook manager app from start to finish. throughout this process, i've had a detailed schedule from week to week and have a large number of different artifacts from the project.
Below is a detailed list and summary of these artifacts and the overall process i've gone through making this application.
Week 1: The Project Proposal
Blog Post 1 | The Importance of a Project Proposal
To begin my project, I first created a detailed project proposal. In this proposal, I first performed research to discover the issue fans today have when keeping score, as well as why they still try to and what they enjoy about the hobby. With the information laid out, I then created a detailed plan for what I would need to do, and when for the remainder of the project. This proposal not only provides an example to give other potential people with interest in a project such as this an idea of it but also helped provide me with a better understanding of what this project would entail and how I'd go about doing it.
Week 2: The Project Plan
Blog Post 2 | The Creative Benefits of Project Management
With a detailed proposal showing what the app needed and how it would be done, I then moved on to create a full project plan. For this plan, I wanted it to be as comprehensive as possible, making sure every step of the project was jotted down in some way. This included major things like wireframes and prototypes, as well as smaller aspects like my production journal and bibliography. By making this plan, it not only helped schedule out my work and get a better understanding of what I will actually create but also gave me more confidence going forward and took away some of the stress of the unknown this project would bring.
Week 3: User Research
Blog Post 3 | Researching the Competition
Now with all the planning out of the way for the project, I undertook heavy research for my third week. This included areas such as visual research, competitive analysis, user interviews, and empathy maps. I first began with visual research and the competitive analysis, as this would give me a better understanding of both the look and feel of the app, as well as features either liked or missing from other, similar applications. With all this information in mind, I then conducted and documented three interviews with a wide array of potential users for the app. These interviews have been fully documented and contain matching empathy maps.
Week 4: Information Architecture and Persona’s
Blog Post 4 | Narrowing the App’s Focus
With a greater understanding of my user base and their wants and needs, I was to begin narrowing the focus of my app down to the essential parts. For the first half of the week, I created five different Persona's to help provide potential examples of users for my app. I made this persona's as diverse as possible, making them various age groups, all with differing wants, needs, and frustrations in regards to scorekeeping and how to improve their experience. For the second half of the week, I then designed a full information architecture detailing what all the features of the app would be. While doing this info arch, I came up with the idea of expanding the app beyond basic scorekeeping, putting in a community feature to help let individuals share their scorecards and such.
Full information architecture
Week 5: Wireframes
Blog Post 5 | Wireframing a Tablet
Now having all the research and what not under my belt, for week five I began physically designing the app itself. For this process, I first started by creating all the main navigation screens, as they were the simplest, as well as the most definitive. Afterward, I began creating screens as I found a need for them, such as when I needed an in-between screen or needed to make sure every interaction lead to a unique screen. Overall, I ended up with around 20 screens, as well as import features such as the physical scorecard itself and a sample navigation bar.
Week 6: Prototype
Blog Post 6 | Detailing an App Interface
To start this week, I actually had to do a bit of catch. In my original plan, I was going to do the color and type studies in the previous week, but wireframes took longer than expected, so I had to push it to this week. After that was all said and done, I then began creating my fully-functioning prototype. For much of it, I placed different colors in the secondary locations of my wireframes. Beyond that though, I also took a recommendation from one of my critiques on the app and expanded upon the profile aspect of the app. This included allowing users to greater customize their profiles, as well as the ability to share things such as baseball cards, memorabilia, and ticket stubs.
Week 7: Wrap Up
Blog Post 7 | Making an InVision Prototype
For the final week, it was mostly wrapping up. This included things such as finishing out my bibliography, making minor tweaks to the app, and uploading all the final documents. The minor tweaks only entailed details such as refining aspects such as leading and spacing, as well as making sure all interactions worked and you couldn't get stuck. Overall, the project came very along in these seven weeks, as well as opens itself up for many potential expansions upon it in the future.
