Cana
A Case Study on UX Research, Strategy, and Design
When it came to my thesis and the last hoorah of my graduate studies, I wanted to push my skills to the limit.
I saw my thesis as something to leave with that is not only unique, but highlights my design mentality in a single project.
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I believe usability has to also translate to the real world and technology's role is to enhance and provide a sense of ease in our daily lives.
The service design and customer experience is what makes or breaks good UX. Looking at these peripherals made me really question about the experience I want my users to interact with.
UX in nature will be complicated and messy since it is designed with people in mind. Understanding this also means that the design process is never linear, but having strong research mitigates risk for design decisions.
A good test in knowing my users is having the ability to be able to talk to a potential user and already have a clear and deep understanding of their needs and wants with a solution users are looking for and want to see in the real world.
Knowing my users inside and out before beginning any sketch or prototype makes the design process easier and putting their best interests at heart will make a stronger product that people will not only want to use, but enjoy using it.
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Click on the button below to read about my thesis in greater detail.
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I have included 2 interactive prototypes on this page. The first one is the final project for my thesis and the second one is the initial design and product concept.
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Cana App With User Feedback
Final project, but far from complete
User testing from the first iteration showed the needed changes in information architecture. With this version built from user research, this iteration has shown the need for testing not in a controlled environment, but within a dispensary where users would be most likely to interact with this product.
Another insight gained was that the technology needed on both the front end and back end would have to be developed in order to support whether or not this product can deliver the experiences and services. I left this project at a place where the technology can be developed and solutions have to be reworked if current technology cannot be met.
The First Iteration of Cana
Testing an hypothesis will always bring new insights, and this time it showed the need to rework the entire project
My initial theory of Cana was that it would be used as a cannabis encyclopedia to help users track what products they use.
Testing brought up that I was approaching this problem incorrectly because user research pointed to the need to help users at a dispensary. At this point, my biggest insight and lesson was the need to work on information architecture. Conducting further testing both from the app and learning more about user struggles meant re-contextualizing the initial problem and taking a more strategic approach to solving this complex problem.
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This initial design showed the need for designing a stronger customer experience and service design blueprints to help guide me in ensuring my design is meeting user needs. I also wanted to include in the next version of this prototype would have appropriate APIs that can be properly programmed for developers within iOS.