BluePrintz
BluePrintz lets homeowners preview exterior home improvement projects; users can preview new paint colors to their exterior of their home and/or preview materials.
Overview
I reimagined the user experience for the new BluePrintz app. Using evaluative research methods, I was able to uncover pain points and opportunity areas.
KEY DELIVERABLES
PROCESS WORK
MY ROLE
UX Researcher | UX Designer
Competitive and Comparative Audit | User Interviews | User Journey Mapping | Feature Concepts | Low-Fidelity Wireframes | Mid-Fidelity Wireframes | Kano Analysis | Annotated Wireframes
METHODS
Figma | FigJam | Google Slides | Google Sheets | Google Docs | Zoom | Slack
TOOLS
Problem Statement
The current BluePrintz app is not meeting user needs. Unfortunately the app is not user friendly or meaningful, so the development team is looking to build a brand new app.
BluePrintz asked me to help reimagine the current experience by having a deep understanding of user needs. I made recommendations so that BluePrintz can transform into its ideal, future-state.
The current app is intended to make the process of previewing exterior home improvement projects easier for users.
Users do not think the app is worthwhile; i.e. a “regular editing app” is better for previewing an exterior home improvement project.
Competitors
Although BluePrintz is failing to meet users needs, other apps in this space struggle as well. Users are initially excited to use these apps, but then regret using them and look for another editing app instead.
By doing a competitive and comparative audit, I was able to find shortcomings that were consistent within this space.
Apps such as Project Color and Color Snap Visualizer often frustrate users, as the interfaces are unintuitive and clunky when trying to preview painting projects.
Mapping the Current Experience
Based on the current user experience of the BluePrintz app, I created a comprehensive user journey map covering all touch points, pain points, opportunity areas, thoughts, and feelings.
This helped me identify areas of growth for the future version, and what should be avoided. It also helped me empathize with users and better understand their needs.
Users start the journey initially excited about previewing their exterior home improvement project, but that excitement quickly declines as their frustrations with the app grow.
User Interviews
After conducting my competitive audit and initial heuristic analysis, I recruited 12 users and interviewed them, asking how they would go about completing an exterior home improvement project.
12 of 12 users said that they would be very interested in an app that would let them preview their project beforehand, and some had said they had tried something similar in the past.
12 of 12 users also said that ease of use, or a user-friendly experience was most important and was valued more so than a technical, highly customizable interface that would have a much steeper learning curve.
In short, users were not necessarily expecting perfection, but a good approximation that would help them more accurately visualize the project.
Based on these interviews and all of the great feedback I had gotten, I began to work on feature concepts that would make the BluePrintz app user experience meaningful and user friendly.
Kano Analysis
I then sent out a Kano survey, this measures desirability of features, with proposed features and analyzed the results; these results gave me valuable information into what users would find most valuable when reimagining the new BluePrintz app.
My rationale when ideating new features.
Users rated the “outline a section” feature as highly desirable.
New Features
New features that were rated as desirable include:
Outline feature
Collab feature
Pinterest/design inspiration feature
Save a section
Link to product
“How to instructions”
Google Lens
Magic eraser
Side-by-side
Group sections
Saturation tool
In the current app, users have to drag and drop shapes over areas on their home’s exterior; users strongly preferred an outline feature that would let them outline a section or area, and then fill in that selected area with the desired color/and or material.
The user can connect their Pinterest account to upload their design and get inspiration from others. There is also an algorithm that will recommend designs based on the user’s preferences or suggest similar designs based on the goals of the project and what the user has already inputted. Users can also look at a gallery, filter by style, mood, etc.
The collab feature lets the user share their edits with a partner or a designer. Users can like, make comments, or edit the designs so that the collaborators can work together on a final project and both have an accurate visual depiction of what the exterior home improvement project will look like. Users can also make an album.
Mapping the Future Experience
My future state user journey map illustrates a much a different picture than the current map.
In this map, users are still excited by the initial idea, but are able to use the BluePrintz app throughout the entire process. Rather than get frustrated with the user experience, users like the new features and are excited by the intuitive interface that lets them collaborate with others and think creatively about designing their new project.
Next Steps and Learnings
I learned a lot during this solo project. I didn’t have much experience in the home improvement space, but I was able to overcome this by diving deep into research, asking good questions, listening to user needs, and using my imagination to reimagine the current user experience and think of new solutions.
Also, although I proposed a lot of new features, I would like to possibly explore the interior design space as well. BluePrintz has a chance to capitalize on this space, as apps aren’t currently meeting user needs.