Background:
For our second project, I had to create a party planning website for Party City that included a check-out process and the ability to bring attention to other products a planner might be interested in.
For our second project, I had to create a party planning website for Party City that included a check-out process and the ability to bring attention to other products a planner might be interested in.
Problem:
I need to make sure to give a planner the ability to plan a party, accommodate for a growing guest list, and be able to plan with multiple people.
I need to make sure to give a planner the ability to plan a party, accommodate for a growing guest list, and be able to plan with multiple people.
Competitive analysis:
I thought my competitive analysis could have gone on longer as I only spent one day on this process, however, I did find out where Party City add (huge variety of party supplies and a physical location) and where it lacks (a website that is simple to navigate). I used these two findings to try to make an easy to follow planner.
I thought my competitive analysis could have gone on longer as I only spent one day on this process, however, I did find out where Party City add (huge variety of party supplies and a physical location) and where it lacks (a website that is simple to navigate). I used these two findings to try to make an easy to follow planner.
Sketching:
My sketches took a backseat during this project. I only used them to get ideas out of my head and in front of me, then I developed pages in several iterations on Axure because I could see connections more clearly and instantaneously using this program.
User feedback:
I used user interviews, card-sorting, and user personas to figure out the approach of my project. Interviews helped me come to how individuals plan a party and the different types of planners. Card-sorting helped me learn the steps to planning a party for the majority of users, as well as help determine my global navigation terminology. And the user personas helped to narrow down one persona that would be the flow for the whole prototype, as well as learn how to address the individual needs of this persona.
Axure protoyping:
This was the first time I used Axure to build a project. I did start wireframing in Omnigraffle, but switched to Axure once I learned that I could annotate actions as I worked, which saved me time on the spec document later. One thing that was different with this project as compared to the last one is that I built a user-flow and sitemap twice – once before prototype and then I tightened it up after.
Difficulties:
While I felt more prepared for the presentation this time around, I feel like I could have done more research early one and more sketching early on. I had a lot of fun prototyping in Axure and this took me away from the planning process. I feel like more planning would have lead me to an even better end result and a unique concept. I feel like the product I ended up with, while highly functional, could have been taken one step further to become a product that people would love to use.
While I felt more prepared for the presentation this time around, I feel like I could have done more research early one and more sketching early on. I had a lot of fun prototyping in Axure and this took me away from the planning process. I feel like more planning would have lead me to an even better end result and a unique concept. I feel like the product I ended up with, while highly functional, could have been taken one step further to become a product that people would love to use.
