Improving Existing Features On Twitters Mobile App For A Better User Experience.
UX/UI Design | 5 Day Timeline | Redesign Project
Friendly reminder: The main points are highlighted for your convenience and better user experience :)
MY ROLE
UI designer and UX researcher.
QUICK SUMMARY
I will analyse Twitter's current features to see where users are struggling and what improvements need to be made to solve these users' pain points and provide them with a better user experience when using the mobile app.
A LITTLE CONTEXT: SO WHY TWITTER?
'I don't understand why Twitter doesn't have a way to categorise your bookmarks yet, they're just all over the place...'
I was sat with my friend scrolling through Twitter, as we do, when I noticed her make the above statement. It had me thinking, it isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone make such a statement regarding Twitter's bad UX and lack of features.
This is where the UX/UI designer in me jumped out. I was intrigued to investigate further to see whether there are others who are also struggling with the same problems and what I as a designer could do to solve them.
THE PROBLEM
Twitter's lack of updates to their current features causes users difficulties when navigating through the app leading to bad user experience and avoidance.
''Twitter is so cluttered and unnecessarily overwhelming, half the features hardly work... it's making it unusable.''
''Twitter be upgrading its UX, introducing features no one asked for but can't even fix its DMs.''
MY HYPOTHESIS
By figuring out what features are the most stressful for users and then improving them it will give the users more satisfaction and make the app more useable, resulting in a positive user experience.
RESEARCHING INTO THE PROBELM FURTHER
So what Twitter features need updating and changing...
I began to draw research to determine where users are specifically struggling and what features need adding/improving. I figured what better place to look than Twitter, a globally used social media app. What I stumbled upon was extremely eye-opening.
Despite Twitter's constant updates and new features, there were still 100s of tweets from users displaying their frustrations towards the current features Twitter has which are not user-friendly.
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH INSIGHTSS
The majority of the tweets sent showing the user's frustrations mainly surrounded 2 existing features.
PAIN POINT 1: The bookmarks feature not having categories to organise saved tweets.
'I have a lot of bookmarks, After a while, I lose the overview of them. IT would be nice to organise them into categories.'
'I'm looking forward to improvements with the bookmarks features. Organising in categories/lists/folders would be a great start.'
PAIN POINT 2: DMs not having features such as replying to an individual message, unsending, and voice notes.
'All these new Twitter features are useless! All we want is to be able to reply to individual messages in DMs and a voice note option!'
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'It's 2022 I think we deserve a new feature like, 1. Message unsend.'
USER INTERVIEWS
My interviewees validated the problems surrounding Twitter's existing DMs and bookmarks features.
Although my previous research gave confirmation as to where users were struggling, it was still important for me to conduct in-depth interviews and surveys to gather more dependable qualitative and quantitative data.
I created a survey on google forms and distributed it amongst 8 friends and families who actively use Twitter, as well as into slack groups.
I also conducted 3 in-person interviews where I observed the user performing specific tasks on Twitter to see where they struggled and what pain points they came across.
USER INTERVIEWS INSIGHTS
My interviewees struggled when using Twitter's bookmark and DM features, validating the initial problem.
Users confirmed how Twitter's bookmarks feature is unorganised and difficult to use.
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‘Make saving or bookmarking tweets easier to locate and organise.’
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'I don't like how unorganised bookmarks are, there should be categories.'
Users stressed how the DM feature needs improvements.
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‘DMs need a voice memo section, calls/video? And a way to find previously sent media and tweets easily.’
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'You can’t send voice notes which I think you should be able to do'
Users said they used the bookmark feature the least as they forgot it exists and it's difficult to use.
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‘Bookmarks? I honestly forget it exist maybe making it more obvious’
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'Finding my old bookmarks is hard so I don't use it.'
Users choose to use other platforms as they are more user-friendly and easier to use.
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‘Instagram, because I like the DM features & TikTok because I like how you can save/bookmark content and it is well organised.’
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'Instagram, everything seems seamless.'
PRIMARY PERSONA
RED ROUTE ANALYSIS
A red route analysis helped me to identify what features users would consider the most to least important when using an application created to help homelessness.
I used 10 users to help me do this task. I ensured to let them know all the possible features I deemed important from my previous research to ensure the analysis is as accurate as possible.
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Key features people deemed important seemed to be:
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Shelter finder
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Food finder
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Job help
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Map locator
RED ROUTE FINDINGS
USER PERSONA
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
THE FINAL UI
Finding a shelter or place to stay:
Finding a job:
Booking an appointment i.e. with a careers coach:
Finding a meal with the use of map services for a better user experience:
TESTING + FEEDBACK
Feedback received:
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‘Simple design that’s easy to use and navigate, with resources in one place.’
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‘Booking an appointment is quick and simple, the use of the colour green for confirmation makes the UI more accessible.’
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‘I like the map feature and colour coordination; it makes it simpler to find what you’re looking for.’
Improvements to consider:
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‘Too many options on the homepage shown at once can be a little overwhelming.’
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‘Sometimes there are steps during a process which do not need to be taken.’
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'Double search buttons may get confusing for users.'
DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS & THE LAWS OF UX/UI
UX/UI design laws were used throughout my design process to ensure my design is useable and functional.
STYLE GUIDE
STYLE GUIDE
WCAG + INCLUSIVITY + ACCESSIBLE DESIGN
It is important to create a design that is useable, accessible, and inclusive to all these individuals.
There are several disabled individuals who are homeless and increasing, but also many homeless people have not had access to technology over the years and therefore may not be as tech-savvy.
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This meant creating a design which took into consideration people with problems with hearing difficulties, sight issues and more.
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When it came to typography, I ensured all font sizes were 14px up, apart from small labels, such as the navigation bar being 12px, however, icons were clearly visible to help.
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I also made sure all button sizes and search bars met the minimum touch area requirements by creating these buttons and then getting users to test them out using the ‘Figma Mirror’ application. I did this to make sure they were easy to use, tap on, and access.
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Any error was clearly outlined in red, such as an incorrect input within the search bar, this allows the user to quickly understand that there is a problem which needs to be resolved.
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I also tried to keep my design as clean and concise as possible, making use of white space, to avoid overwhelming the user.
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COLOUR CONTRAST
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When it came to colours used within my design, I made sure they also met all accessibility standards so people with visual impairments would not have any issues.
I tested out this by using Figma's built-in colour contrast checker. I made use of each colour used to meet either AA or AAA standards, if they did not, I reiterated my designs, and made sure they would.
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CONCLUSION
LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD...
In conclusion, this project was highly enjoyable, the feeling of being able to step out of my comfort zone and design an application which would benefit and help a minority group of individuals was highly gratifying.
Carrying forward I will...
1. Conduct more user research/testing. As this project was based on the sensitive topic of homelessness as well as it only being a 2-week sprint, it was difficult for me to collect corroborated research directly from homeless people. Because of this, I found I had to design my application accurately. Next time I hope to spend more time conducting user research to ensure I can create an app that is highly authentic for the users.
2. Iterate and test my design more. I noticed due to time restraints I was not able to test and iterate my design as much as I should have. Testing is crucial when it comes to UX/UI as it allows you to fix any issues that users come across earlier on during the process. Next time I will test earlier on so I can solve any issues users face.
3. Validate my hypothesis. If I had more time I would take extra steps to validate my hypothesis by testing out my final design with the homeless community to see what works and what can be improved.