Curae
Context
I was tasked with creating an end-to-end mobile app. My client was looking for key screens for an app to help marketing managers and influencers connect, collaborate, and manage campaigns.
Role: UI/UX Designer
Tools used: Figma, Figjam
Duration: 12 weeks
User Research and Insights
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Evaluated four existing campaign management softwares to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) that informed the design and development of the Curae app.
The key finding was that most of the existing softwares only offered campaign management. There was no way to easily find and collaborate with content creators.
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Gathered insights from 5 potential users by conducting in person user interviews to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points in finding partnerships and managing campaigns.
Some key findings were that creators did not have somewhere to share their work professionally and there was no all in one place for creators and brands to communicate and work on campaigns.
Ideation and Design Process
Affinity mapping
From the user interviews, I took the key points from each interview and organized them into categories to find the main pain points:
need an all-in-one place to find, contact, and work with brands/creators
want one clear line of communication
want to be able to see campaigns from start to finish/where they are at in the process
2. User Personas
From the user interviews I was able to come up with two user personas to help get into the thinking of designing for the end users.
3. Problem Statement, POV, and HMW
After finding the common pain points among users and creating the user personas, I came up with a problem statement, POV, and HMW to help think about possible solutions.
Influencers
Problem Statement
Influencers are often overwhelmed with trying to manage their brand partnerships, campaigns, and communication leading to missed business opportunities.
POV
Emma is working on a few different brand partnership campaigns at the same time. She was reached out to through Instagram, but since has been communicating over email with the campaign managers. There is no clear outline of the timeline of deliverables so she has to manually add everything to her Google calendar. Emma wishes there was somewhere to view her ongoing partnerships in one place to see what all is on her to-do list.
HMW
How might we create a platform where Emma can have access to new and ongoing campaigns she’s working on and more visibility on what needs to be done?
Marketers
Problem Statement
Marketers are often disorganized when managing multiple ongoing campaigns leading to frustration and time lost trying to sort through everything.
POV
Helena is managing a couple of different marketing campaigns and working with a few different influencers. She reaches out to clients through Instagram, but then they will email her in response. She also gets deliverables through a variety of platforms making it hard for her to remember which is for what project. Helena wishes there was a better way to communicate and collaborate on brand/influencer partnerships.
HMW
How might we create a personalized system for Helena to manage new and ongoing campaigns for her clients?
4. Feature Set
To brainstorm features to add to the app to solve this problem for users I created a feature set and categorized them to prioritize the features that were most important: messaging system, search feature, and a user profile.
5. Site map
To get more of an idea of the layout of the map and the screens I would be developing I created a sitemap.
6. User Flow
To help figure out which screens I would need to develop, I created a user flow.
Next I developed some low fidelity wireframes to get see how it would all come together.
7. Low/Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
8. Usability Testing
Objective:
Evaluate the usability of the app and how accessible it is for users. Observe how easily users navigate the interface and what challenges they may face when trying to complete the tasks.
Task Flow 1:
Create a new campaign
Task Flow 2:
Walk me through how you would explore new partnerships
Success Metrics:
Task success rate: Were the users able to complete the task without errors or assistance?
Learnability: Is the design intuitive and easy to follow?
Findings:
All participants were able to complete both tasks, but some of the navigation was not intuitive. Participants commented that some of the buttons should be worded and moved elsewhere for a more fluid design.
9. Branding
I developed a brand for my client that embodied her vision of creativity, simplicity, and engagement, blending clean design elements with vibrant, dynamic visuals to reflect her company’s unique personality and connect with her target audience.
10. High Fidelity Mockups
Once I came up with the branding I applied it to my low fidelity wireframes along with some of the changes and iterations I made from the feedback from the usability testing.
11. Second Usability Testing
With my high fidelity wireframes and a new prototype, I went back to the same participants from the original testing to have them try to complete the same task flows.
Results:
All participants were able to complete both the tasks again. More used the tab bar to navigate, but some still preferred the buttons. A few commented on the top of the screens looking a bit busy, leading to confusion.
Moved the “create campaign” button above suggested creators
Updated CTA buttons on dashboard and campaign screen to say “Create new campaign” instead of “Create campaign”
Got rid of logo on all pages to create more room and not make it look so text heavy
Got rid of the date since it was not necessary and made it look too busy
Added a back button on the profile page
12. Iterations
With the feedback from the second usability testing and a meeting with the client, I made the below iterations.
Before
After
Before
After
13. Final Prototype
With the above iterations I was able to create the final prototype for this end to end mobile application design.
Next Steps and Reflection
Next Steps
Reflection
Add filters for a more tailored search feature
Develop the screens for creators and brands to be able to personalize their profile and dashboard
Create a calendar view for all tasks
Designing an end-to-end mobile application was an invaluable learning experience, as it required me to consider the entire user journey. I gained a deeper understanding of mobile usability principles, optimizing layouts, and maintaining consistency across screens, all while balancing functionality with an intuitive interface. This experience taught me to think holistically about the user experience and to prioritize user needs in every design decision. I’ll carry these insights forward, applying them to future projects to create seamless, user-centered applications across platforms.