Doodle4 heuristic review and interface consultation

Doodle4 is a new app for promoting causes through making and sharing doodles. Pitched at teen Facebook users, the app’s powerful doodling tool and easy sharing process make it simple and fun to build awareness of a cause by creating doodling “challenges” for friends to pass around.

Nimble Partners collaborated with the Doodle4 team to first provide a heuristic review of an alpha interface on web and mobile devices. We walked through the app as “Ione,” a lightweight persona we developed of a teen interested in banning styrofoam containers in her community. The walkthrough uncovered opportunities to improve the flow of use, wording, and engagement. We followed up the review with rapid iterations of sketches to provide specific recommendations for improvements. We remained on the team as iterations were made through beta launch.

Services provided:

• Heuristic review
• UI sketches
• User experience consulting

Doodle4 designer Ryen Leung provides a great overview of this fun tool in the first five minutes of this video:

Apple iOS 7.1 - getting closer to a graphic design/usability showdown

Early images of Apple's iOS 7.1 UI changes show Apple making aesthetic decisions that affect usability. In particular, changes involve making key buttons (end call, answer call) smaller.

Left: iOS 7. Right: 7.1 beta.

From a graphic design standpoint, the changes elevate screens to the level of mini-Swiss posters – they are sharp and clean. Differentiating the end call button with color and white (black) space sets it apart from the other buttons, as it should. Is the phone icon clear to users under 30? Is it easy enough to hit the smaller "end" button? What about colorblind users? Is Apple betting that the design is so lovely everyone will just adapt, as with the early iPod touch?

A lot more people use the iPhone than the early iPod touch, however, and rely on it to get things done, including making calls. Judging from the comments on the TechCrunch article, not everyone finds the changes lovely. Some Apple fans are having a hard time – first Apple took away the gradients that helped make buttons look tappable, and now the buttons are smaller. Where will it end? I'm enjoying the battle.

Juniper internal app research & concept

Juniper Networks uses multiple internal tools to keep track of sales-related technical documentation. In an effort to consolidate those tools, Juniper approached us to design a proof-of-concept for a new, mobile-friendly application. We interviewed sales engineers as well as the people who manage and support them to understand the different situations and patterns of use. Based on those interviews, we designed multiple approaches for an intuitive, intelligent, and responsive search interface that guided users to the most recent and relevant information.

Work included:

• User research
• UX design