Toolshare

Connecting a community one project at a time while building trust through a tool sharing mobile app.

Brief

Assignment: Create an app where tools can be shared between neighbors in a community.

Role: UX Researcher & Designer

Timeline: 8 weeks

Challenge

Problem

Tools can be purchased and rented as needed, but there are occasions when an expensive tool is only needed once or inexpensive tools are not necessary to own. And then, there are times a store is an inconvenient drive away, or out of stock or just frustrating tracking down a sales clerk for help.

Insights

Through an in-depth competitive analysis, I discovered that a sense of security was the top concern among users with other apps like Lend Me It. It was identified that the terms and conditions were an extremely important part of the onboarding process of new users. I also uncovered during interviews that some main pain points were inconvenience in time (learning a new tool or commuting to store), limited connection to community, lack of resources to finish more projects.

Solution

The final solution was a mobile app that helps neighbors locate nearby tools with features such as a feed, search, camera for uploading photos, favorites, user account, reviews, scheduling and booking, messaging, specifications, tutorials, and terms & conditions.

Research

Competitive Analysis

I started by researching other similar companies and found that Mooch, TradeMade, Lend Me It were the top three competitors. The top competitor was Lend Me It because they provided all the features.

I saw an opportunity to provide additional features as well, such as tutorials on how to properly use certain tools, allow users to upload before and after photos of their projects to share with the community, (which could create a sense of accomplishment and motivate others to finish their projects) .

Persona

User Journey

I needed to understand who the consumer is …. that I will be designing for, who the target audience would be. By walking through the situation when Alex needed a tool and did not have one, this helped me understand his thought process and how Toolshare could provide an opportunity to help him locate a tool nearby.

Even though Alex had a good experience with the app, there were some concerns along the way. Such as tools not being returned, coordinating time to pick up a tool, or damage to tools during use..

User Interviews

Now it was time to get some feedback from the target audience.

Student, 22

Sales Clerk, 32

Todd

Dept. Manager, 54

Jake

Matthew

Ages between 25-50, tech savvy, uses social media, and an interest in home improvement or DIY projects.

I knew 3 people that fit the criteria.

Matthew, a student who was in his 20’s, Jake, a sales clerk at a pawn shop who was in his 30’s, and Todd, a department manager in retail who was in his 50’s.

I did one interview in person, one over a phone call, and one through video chat. I wanted to find out where they were getting their tools, a situation when they needed a specific tool and did not have it, what did they do, and what makes a great app to them. And also, what would convince them to use a community app that allowed the sharing of tools between neighbors.

Analyze

I used an empathy map to further understand the users behaviors, emotions, thoughts, pain points and what could be gained from their experiences.

As I took a look at the insights I had gained from the interviews, I had learned that some main pain points were difficulty in learning a new app (to consider the ease of use), inconvenience of time (to learn a new tool or the commute to a store), the cost of buying a tool only needed once , and the hassle of locating an available associate at the hardware store when needing help. The terms and conditions was important part of gaining the trust of new users, so that was something I wanted to include

Empathy Map

Created with Miro

Interview Feedback Summary

  • Ease of use

  • Time inconvenience

  • Cost

  • Unavailable assistance

  • Trust

Design

Rapid Prototyping

I started by sketching onto note cards with pencil, then traced the ones I wanted to use with pen. I laid out the low-fidelity wireframes in the order that I wanted to present in the prototype. This helped me figure out the main features and flow. I used the Marvel app to take photos of the notecards, uploading them into the platform, creating my first interactive prototype! 

User Scenario

I mapped out the journey of a user interacting with the prototype, searching for a lawn mower and booking it. This helped me imagine what the steps were to achieve this goal.

User Tasks

I created two user tasks that I would use during the usability testing

Task A

The first task was to follow the same steps Alex did, who was planning on working in their yard over the weekend and needed a push lawn mower. They used the app to search nearby and to find the right tool to borrow.

Task B

The second task was for someone who loaned out their ladder, but suddenly needed it back. They have to contact the user that is currently borrowing it and request it back.

Usability Testing

Observations

After conducting usability testing with 4 different people over video chat, what I had observed from users that were trying to achieve the given tasks, was either they quickly navigated through the app or were confused by an element or icon. In the next iteration, I will use more universal elements and icons to help make it easier to locate them

High-Fidelity Wireframes

I used Figma to build the high-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototype that highlights some of the app’s features. The paper prototype was actually the last stage for the 8 week class class assignment.

I had been wanting to practice more with digital prototyping in Figma. So I decided to continue on with the iteration process during my own time.

I wanted to experiment with a dark mode UI, try something different for this mobile app.

For the Feed, Results, and Favorites pages I created containers for the content, using low and high contrast to bring out the colors. I also chose more universal looking icons on the bottom navigation

And I added a fun and familiar feature for the mobile experience by creating a swipe animation on the favorites page using smart animate in Figma.

UI Feedback

UX Facebook Group

I haven’t done any user testing yet with the high-fidelity prototype, but I did post this image in an UX Facebook group that I am a member of, to get some feedback on the UI. I shared the image below with the group and asked for their feedback on the dark mode UI that I was trying out.

One person mentioned considering a social login option

Another person brought up creating a mockup photo for one of the images. That some of the users might be using the camera to take photos of the tool in their environment and uploading it directly (instead of using a stock photo). Two people commented on decreasing the spacing between the results

One person reminded me not to forget the page indicator for the icons. I could choose a different color and add a line above to help with accessibility.

Summary + Next Steps

Takeways

What I learned is that I need to spend more time developing my target audience. To conduct more  interviews since I only did 3 user interviews. Ask for UI feedback earlier in process, perhaps share and ask for feedback on a design system. And I would like to follow through designing all features that I had mentioned in the beginning, implementing them into the prototypes.

Reflection

If I had more time I would include the rest of the features that I wanted to include (tutorials, reviews, messaging, interactive map, scheduling & booking). I would consider and implement the UI feedback from the Facebook group. It is important to check the colors and follow WCAG guidelines in the beginning when choosing the color palette.

I would also like to learn more about Terms & Conditions, and what that means for this app. And conduct user testing for the next iteration that includes all the changes.