Where is everyone? Look OverHere
TIMELINE
July 2022 - October 2022
PLATFORM
Mobile App Research, Mobile App Prototype
MY ROLE
UX Researcher, UI Designer
Introduction
OverHere is an app prototype that was designed to solve a problem faced by the students of University of Melbourne. The app allows students to be notified of campus events as well as increase their social interactions via indirect event invites. This app is based of location tracking technology and has privacy and security as its main priority.
My Role
I was involved in the whole process of the creation of OverHere’s prototype, from the ideation, research, design and prototyping.
My role in Team “Indecision” was to...
brainstorm the idea which came to be OverHere
collect data from participants using UX research methods such as brainstorming, surveys and interviews.
create personas, Jake Lachley and Giselle Garnier, and storyboards that show their user journeys using our app.
design app features such as event creation and event list
Project Overview
The task was to create a location based tracking app that maximizes both utility and privacy for users.
Key Deliverables:
Research Report
Wireframes
Personas & Storyboards
Mobile App Prototype
Smartwatch Prototype
Problem
Our initial hypothesis was that students tend to get lost on campus and find it difficult to navigate around the campus, especially when there are sudden events or construction happening. After our research, we have noticed that only first years have this issue, and that over time they no longer have this problem. This made us pivot to what was actually troubling our participants which was their lack of awareness towards events happening on campus such as free food drives or parties. Moreover, they have trouble reaching out to their friends during class hours as University schedules for every individual. They were also looking for a way to get this information so they can make use of their time efficiently on campus.
Goal
Our goal was to create an app that would alert users of the nearby events as well as allow them to create events. This in conjunction to prioritizing the privacy and security settings on a location tracking app would be viable to solve the problem listed. This led to our list of features that we would include in the app:
Have a hyper-local map to increase effectiveness
To include full control of user privacy settings to the user
To display a heat map of population density in a study space
To make it user friendly and easy to learn
To be able to make spontaneous events and send out indirect invites to their friends
Research
Our research with brainstorming the idea of OverHere in order to adhere to the brief given. We then moved on to use research methods in order to find a problem within the student community that could be solved with a location based tracking app. These methods consisted of brainstorming, surveys, interviews and empathy maps. Our surveys had reached 35 responses and 7 of those responders became our participants in our interview which allowed us to gain in-depth information on how and why the participants felt about the problems in University. The questions asked in the surveys and interviews revolved around the navigation within the university campus and students’ awareness towards events.
Our findings led to lack of awareness of campus events and the population densities of said events and locations. With this problem solved, students will be able to save time by making informed decisions before making the trip to those events and locations. To find out more about our research, click the button below.
Early Ideation
Through our findings, we now have a problem to solve, as mentioned above. We began this ideation process by having each of us design our own iterations of the way we wanted the app to look with the specified features. The specified features were:
Onboarding
Events List
Events Creation
Social page
Homepage
Settings
WHERE TO?
LOCATION
NAME
Friends:
Ratings
Adam
200m
4 minutes
Population:
Distance:
Est Time:
Location:
Location:
Event Description:xxxxxx
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Event Description:xxxxxx
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Event Description:xxxxxx
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Event Description:xxxxxx
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SEARCH
SETTING
SETTING NAME
SETTING NAME
SETTING NAME
SETTING NAME
SETTING NAME
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
NAME
ACCOUNT DETAILS
HISTORY
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ROAD CLOSURE @ MASSON ROAD
Heavy Construction due to fallin debris, started 2.00pm. Please
avoid area
The initial wireframe that shows the features included in OverHere
Prototypes
Throughout the design process we had gone through many iterations of designs. This was done via lo-fi prototyping such as sketches, wireframes then it progress to hi-fi prototypes with mockups and design iterations for both mobile and smartwatch.
OverHere
Sign Up with
Apple ID
Log In instead
or
Sign Up with
USERNAME
PHONE NUMBER
Have an account already? LogIn
Or continue with:
Continue
Welcome JERRY
Next
To
Set a time for your normal and close friends and family.
Your location will only be available to them between the time you set.
Location Privacy
Normal
Close
00
00
AM
8
8
:
:
PM
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
Allow all the time
Allowed all the time
Edit
Next
Location Privacy
My Address
Add another location
+
Save
Notify me when a friend is actively looking at my location
Turn off precise location when I am close to home
Student Pavillion
MSG
Nona Lee
Ida’s Bar
Where to, Jerry?
Today’s events
MY
FRIENDS
Places
by us
Favourites
Campus
WHAT’S GOING ON @
The early iterations of OverHere’s onboarding UI
The early iterations of OverHere’s event creation feature
Final Designs
The final design was selected amongst the many iterations we had made. We proceeded with a Apple inspired look for the app by using their font styles such as Helvetica, as well as their Apple avatars to be our profile icons. This in combination with our self-made blender map brought us the OverHere prototype that you see below.
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Tennis
1pm - 2pm
Will Smith
Student Pavillion
MSG
Nona Lee
Ida’s Bar
Today’s events
Campus
Friends
Places
Where to, Jerry?
9:41
Will
Smith
Hanne
Sofie
Peter
Parker
Emma
Watson
DJ
Kahled
Grab some lunch
Will Smith
1pm to 3pm
Check it out
@ Student Pavillion
FoDr design session
Hanne Sofie
6pm to 8pm
@ MSD
9:41
Check it out
You have 23 friends
Search
Friends
Events
The real Mario
Add a new friend
Will Smith
Currently @ Arts West
Close
9:41
Will Smith
Send friend request
Can only see your location between 8am and 8pm on Mon, Tue and Wed
The real Mario
Add a new friend
Will Smith
Currently @ Arts West
Close
Closeness
Normal
Close
Custom
9:41
Will Smith
Send friend request
Closeness
8
00
:
AM
10
00
:
AM
Start
End
Allow all the time
M
T
T
F
W
S
S
The real Mario
Add a new friend
Will Smith
Currently @ Arts West
Close
Normal
Close
Custom
9:41
Features of the app from the social aspect
Tennis |
12 am
Nick Kyrgios
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
by Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
-
Let’s play Tennis!
Will Smith
Create
Event
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Tennis
1pm - 2pm
Usain Bolt
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
9:41
Tennis |
12 am
Nick Kyrgios
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
by Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Nick Kyrgios
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Tennis
1pm - 2pm
Usain Bolt
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
9:41
Tennis |
12 am
Nick Kyrgios
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
by Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Nick Kyrgios
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Tennis
1pm - 2pm
Usain Bolt
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
9:41
Tennis |
12 am
Nick Kyrgios
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
Running 1pm
Usain Bolt
by Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Nick Kyrgios
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
Let’s play Tennis!
Tennis
1pm - 2pm
Usain Bolt
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
It’s Shawns Birthdayy!!!
1pm - 2pm
Hanne Sofie
Birthday Party
9:41
The hyperlocal map with events displayed on them, with the added features of heatmap and dark mode
Smartwatch mockups that complement the app
User Testing
Once OverHere was designed and prototyped, we conducted a contextual interview on 15 participants. These participants were briefed and told to speak aloud as they performed the prototype test. After observing and collecting participant feedback we had found that:
Users found the privacy functions obliging
Users found the design easy to navigate
Users had found that they couldn’t tell where they were currently on the map
Users had input for future implementations such as heatmap coloured buildings rather than heatmap coloured areas
Future Steps
The project was completed and we scored a good score, however there were aspects that we could have improve for future projects. First of all would be doing more extensive research by diversifying our participants. Secondly, our design phase was not in sync as we would like, as we had 4 designers with 4 different design styles that each of us wanted for the app. We were all very passionate about our ideas but the best way for us to proceed which was to compromise. By doing that it led us to accomplishing a good score and good prototype for a project that we were very proud of.
Credits
Jingle Gordon Guo
Hanne Sofie Berg
Jordi Muller