To find an idea that sparked me some interest in development, I made a list of apps that calculate something. Most of these ideas are apps I´d use.
From this list, I chose three ideas that piqued my interest. I finally decided to make an entertainment tracker, combining three things I love: reading and watching movies and tv shows. I started tracking the books I read in 2019 using a different note on Google Keep. I also tried to record what I watched, but I always forgot to write it down. This is why I think that tracking everything in the same app it´s so interesting.
From this list, I chose three ideas that piqued my interest. I finally decided to make an entertainment tracker, combining three things I love: reading and watching movies and tv shows. I started tracking the books I read in 2019 using a different note on Google Keep. I also tried to record what I watched, but I always forgot to write it down. This is why I think that tracking everything in the same app it´s so interesting.
You start reading a new book. Use the app to add it to your readings of the year
You don´t know what to read next, so you use the app to find suggestions based on your prefferences
You want to know how much you read this year. Use the app to check how many books you read
The first tester was male, 43 years-old, and the second one was also male, and 25 years-old. In both tests, testers wanted to check the books of the year for scenario 3 using the stats button. I´ll have to think a way to change the stats button to reduce the chance of confussion.
For this prototype I added the button Watch/read by year in an attempt to make more obvious how to see the list of books read in the year. I´m still thinking how to change the stats button, I don´t want to just take it out because it could be a cool feature for the app to have. I also added more icons to the bottom of the add new book screen and to the books I read in x year as well because I was thinking a way to edit the information added in the first scenario, so I thought users can go back to the details of the book they added by going to the lists of books they read.
The tester is female, 40 years-old. In this and the next prototypes I changed the path to books of the year from the dashboard to the new button Watch/read by year. She gave me feedback, like changing the name of some buttons, and she assured me that going to the list of books for the year from the icon of the book in the home screen was her first intuiton.
This prototype works just like the one before, I just changed the typography to Centaur and added an image to the home screen and some color. All the icons and text are dark purple instead of black. Everything else looks the same.
The tester of this prototype was male, 25 years-old, the same user that tested the paper prototype. I think that as a mistake, that I didn´t repeat during this process, because he make the same mistake in the third scenario but I think it was because he wasn´t thinking but acting by memory.
For this prototype I changed the home menu based on feedback I got and I found a solution for the stats button. I chose a bars graph for it to be clear on what people should expect from the stats, graphs basically, and not a list of books. I also added a second way for the third scenario, now you can access the list of books read in the year using the little book in the home screen that says how many books you read and by clicking in the button called stories by year. Because of the new name of this button I changed the wording in my first scenario for the second tester to avoid confusion. Another change was that I made the plus button a little bigger and added it a pale color in the middle.
This test was made by a 38 year-old female. Please note that the third scenario went brilliant, she chose the shorter and first-thought path for it.
The second tester of this protoype is a 28 year-old female. She struggle a little with the first and second scenarios, I didn´t included screenshots of her failed attempts. Part of her feedback was to add a face to the girl in the home screen. I like the minimalist look of it, but it wasn´t a bad idea. She also didn´t like the pink color in the image.
In this stage I decided to look for different icons, lighter and not too serious. I also change the drawings and chose to make them change every time you go back to home, I like that the characters on them are enjoying stories in different formats and levels of cozyness. I made the plus icon bigger, to make it more noticeable. An important change was the location of the book, popcorn and remote icons, I made them bigger and in the middle of the screen so they look more clickable.
I also added images where they belong just to show how the running app would look. I struggle to find the right icons for the trailers screen (I´m still struggling in this prototype) I need these icons to be: more information about this movie, where to watch, and add to wishlist (I can´t call it watchlist because there would be a similar one to books). And at the bottom I´m missing an icon to convey "load more suggestions".
I changed the layout of the screen with the list of books, and make it long to include all 21 books the home screen says we read this year, and so that the prototype screen can be scrolled down as it would be in the app. I added a home icon at the bottom of both scrollable screens.
This prototype was tested by a 29 year-old male. This test was a mess, I didn´t get all the pictures and I didn´t think to inlcude the failed attempts but it was hard to complete two of three scenarios. I want to clarify that one of the problems with my testers, in general was that some of them don´t know English, I think that was a factor when choosing where to click. Of course I traslated the buttons before the test but they may not remember what they said in the process of completing the scenarios.
This is the last changes I made. After the tests I didn´t feel any new change was needed, so this is the final look of the app.
To balance the bottom of the home screen I change the wishlist button to an icon and put it to the right of the screen. I change the plus button to make it more noticeable and I change the graphs icon to one with more color, again, to balance the bottom of the screen.
The trailer screen changed the most. I found icons to say what I wanted and I changed the placement for them to go under the trailers´s thumbnail instead to the right side. I also added the text play the trailer because I thoought that the way it was before people could think that the app would play the movies instead of just the trailers. I also added a plus sign at the end of the screen so people could load more suggestions. I also made the home icon a solid color.
The last change was in the list of books screen. I realized that if you wanted to see howmany books you read last year, or two years ago, yoo would have to count the covers to know the exact number of books you read, so I rephrased the top sentence so it tells you the numer of books you read in the year you chose in the drop down menu.
Now, I´m thinking I should had changed the sentence of the trailers screen as well to "I´m gonna love these movies" to be more consistent across the app.
I tested this prototype with three different testers. There were some failed attempts, that this time I include down below. Despite this fails I didn´t make any changes on the app. I think I already explained some of the challenges my testers went through. I´m very grateful for their help.
The next tester is female and 47 years-old, is the mother of the following testers.
The next tester is female, 18 years-old. Please, note that in the third scenario she chose at first the stats icon but when she corrected her choice she went for the shortcut, and original plan for it.
The last test was made by a 17 year-old female, and without errors.
If you prefer you can test the prototype below:
Scenario1: You are starting a new book. Use the appto add it to your readings.
Scenario2: You don´t know what movie to watch next. Use the app to find suggestions based on your preferences.
Scenario 3: You want to know how much you read this year. Use the app to see all the books you read this year.
This project was made for educational purposes.
To make this app prototype, videos, and presentation I used these royalty free goodies:
Icons from thenounproject.com by these creators: Yurii Harmash, Dewi Imaniyah, Hare Krishna, ardi, Ignation, Creative Stall, Andy Horvath, Michael Gaman, Delwar Hossian, Ale Pio, Barracuda, il Capitano, Thengakola, Gem designs, Gregor Cresnas, Dave Robson, Shashank Singh, Icon Depot, and Adrien Coquet.
Pictures from Pixabay.com by: Erik Lucatero, 3652586, and from Canva.com
Mockups from freepik.com by rawpixel.com, zlatko_plamenov, and Syifa5610
Music from Bensound.com
