Elixir App Case Study
Project Overview
Problem: Most platforms today regarding wellness alternatives are crowd-sourced, making it difficult to trust the ‘facts’ and opinions provided. Young adults need a way to search for and save verified, expert-supported information on wellness alternatives.
Solution: An app that acts as an interactive informational index of herbs and supplements sourced from experts, allowing users to search, filter, and save important herbs and supplements.
Impact: A trustworthy and resourceful platform for users to turn to when in need of information on herbs and supplements.
Background: In the UT at Austin UX/UI Bootcamp, this was the first group project that groups had to present for our class. We were tasked with creating an app on any objective our team deemed there was a need.
My Role: UX/UI Researcher & Designer
Timeline: June 26, 2023-July 13, 2023
Competitor Analysis
Direct Competitors
About Herbs
Strengths
Reputable sources
Large database
Weaknesses
No way to filter
UX/UI is outdated & hard to use
Not many supplements are included
HerbList
Strengths
Science-backed research
Well organized
Weaknesses
Very limited herb selection
No search feature
Text-heavy & tedious to scroll
Indirect Competitors
iHerb
Strengths
Provides great detail
Filterable by need & lifestyle
Weaknesses
Not backed up by credible sources
All reviews are customer-based, not science-based
Thorne
Strengths
Products are based on their own research
High-quality ingredients and testing
Weaknesses
The high price point for supplements
Proto Persona
As a group, we decided what our ideal user would be like when creating our proto persona. Our proto persona, Holistic Hannah, is interested, curious, and open-minded about holistic and alternative preventative medicine. She wants a platform that she can trust and learn about natural remedies easily. She often feels overwhelmed with wellness information and finds a lot of information online to be misleading.
Survey & User Interviews
After creating the proto persona, we sent out a survey with 11 questions regarding the user’s current knowledge, opinions, and openness on alternative wellness. We received 75 responses.
Survey Data
92% of survey takers
had either a positive or neutral opinion on alternative wellness
65.3% of survey takers
have experience using alternative wellness supplements & herbs
73.3% of survey takers
rated their knowledge of alternative wellness to be at a 2 or 3 out of 5
94.7% of survey takers
marked Google or Internet search as their main form of researching
Based on the responses from our survey, we then conducted 10 user interviews to determine any barriers and pain points users face when researching and using herbs and supplements.
User Interviews
After sorting our user interview data into an affinity diagram, we discovered that users are open to learning more about holistic supplements but are overwhelmed by the amount of information and worry about whether the information is trustworthy.
Affinity Diagram
User Insights
“Anything that I can do that’s more holistic, I definitely prefer.”
“There’s just a lot of information and a lot of contradicting statements. It’s hard to trust.”
User Persona
After user interviews, a user persona was created to represent Elixir’s target audience of users.
Meet Holistic Hannah
24
Social Media Marketing
Austin, TX
Lives an active lifestyle
Interested in wellness
Demographics
Hannah is a 24-year-old social media marketer who recently moved to Austin, TX, because of the way of life in Austin. Hannah wants to live a more holistic lifestyle along with staying active, but she finds it overwhelming and confusing to find sources online that will give her dependable information. She wants to be able to find reliable information on herbs and supplements that she is interested in without having to go down a rabbit hole to find trustworthy information, especially while transitioning to a new city.
Biography
Easy access to reliable information
Information that is verified by experts
All the information in one place
Ability to compare & contrast different supplements & herbs
Needs a way to track their current supplements
Needs researching to be less intimidating or overwhelming
Goals & Needs
Information is often confusing
Information online is heavily opinion based & crowd-sourced, making it difficult to trust
The research process can be intimidating
She can’t remember or find information again after searching
Pain Points
What would Hannah want?
Separately, our team brainstormed our individual ideas for features that we thought would be beneficial for Elixir. We then got together as a team and starred our favorite ideas that we wanted to sort through and create for our app.
Feature Prioritization Matrix
With the starred ideas, we then sorted them into a Feature Prioritization Matrix to determine which features would be “Quick Wins” for the project that we could implement first, then work our way into more demanding tasks. We decided our 2 key features were going to be an “Index Search” feature that allows users to scroll and search herbs and supplements and a “Collections” feature that allows users to save their favorite herbs and supplements to folders for easy access.
Storyboard
I created a storyboard for Hannah to showcase how she discovered Elixir, how easy it is for her to use, and how it helps her find the herb she needs to solve her issues.
Value Proposition
Elixir is an interactive educational app that helps users interested in holistic herbs and supplements solve the issue of overwhelming and untrustworthy research sources.
We’re better because we offer a cohesive and digestible informative index with the ability to save their findings.
We’re believable because we source information from experts and tailor information to our users’ preferences.
User Flows
Three main user flows were created for Elixir. The first flow is the “Sign-Up/Login” flow, which shows how users will either log into their existing account or sign up for a new account and have the option to fill out the in-app survey for more tailored recommendations. The second flow is the “Index/Glossary” flow, which shows how users will either search, filter, or sort the glossary to find the herb or supplement they are searching for and bookmark it. The third and last flow is the “Collections” flow, which shows how users will view or create a new collection.
Initial App Sketches
We were each tasked with sketching our ideas for Elixir. I sketched the homepage, collections page, glossary page, and herb profile page to review. My homepage and glossary page designs were chosen and iterated for the final app design.
Homepage
Glossary
Herb Profile
Collections
Digital Wireframes
Homepage
Glossary
Herb Profile
Collections
Mid-Fi Usability Testing
We tested 6 users with our digital wireframes. There were 5 tasks to complete to pass the usability test successfully.
Create a Collection Board for Sleep
Go to the Glossary page
Filter search results by "Sleep"
Select Chamomile from filtered search results & access the herb profile
Add Chamomile to the Sleep Collection Board
All of our users successfully completed the tasks we assigned, although a few users had difficulty identifying which tab was for the “Collections.”
High-Fi Iterations
Replaced the “Heart” button with a “Star” button to coincide with the “Collections” tab for easier translation.
Added letter dividers to the glossary and removed the left-side slider but kept the alphabetical slider.
Incorporated an AI feature that creates a “Collections” cover depending on the name of the collection created.
Final Prototype High-Fi App Mockups
Splashscreen
Medical Disclaimer
Homepage
Recipes
Glossary
Glossary - Filtered
Herb Profile
“Sleep” Collection
Conclusion
Elixir was the first group project I completed in the UX Bootcamp. I learned a lot about working with a design group and navigating Figma to create an app design and prototype. I spent about 15 hours on YouTube and Google searching different Figma tutorials to complete this project, which was well worth it because my Figma skills have only improved! This project also made me realize how much I enjoy designing, especially in app form.
After presenting our project, the design was critiqued, and we realized that the ivory icons on the light green background made our tab bar not pass accessibility standards. This helped me realize how important accessibility is, and I have continued to bring accessible design to all of my future projects.