UX Case Study- Enhancing the Experience of users in Balcony
A Design Thinking Introduction Project: Empathize ➡ Define ➡ Ideate ➡ Prototype ➡ Test ➡ Repeat ↩
Introduction:
The journey of this project started when I enrolled myself in Growth School’s UX MASTERY COURSE. This project was given to us so that we could understand users in a better way through design thinking process. We were divided into teams and were provided with different areas of house to choose and work upon. Every member in a group required to choose different areas i.e. no two members can select a similar topic. My topic which I choose is Balcony. We were asked to interview 5 of our teammates and consider them as our users.
Hey! I am Kajal— a graphic designer — and this is a gist of my case study to enhance the experience of balcony. To me, UX/UI was all about designing web interfaces and apps. I knew very little about it. Who knew in these two weeks project I'll be here writing my first case study.
Balcony? Do we have to become interior designers? Do we have to renovate the area? How will I improve their experience in balcony? I don’t even have knowledge about interiors much?
All of these were the questions popped into my head as soon as I began with the exercise. I was in a dilemma of how a area in the house is related to UX Design or is the Interior Designing is one of the part of UX Design. I was fully confused but at the same time i had the excitement to know how will i learn design thinking from this exercise.
I kept my self-doubts aside and started my design thinking journey.
What is Design Thinking ?
Design Thinking is a process to understand users and their problems in such a way so that we can design or modify the product to make their experience better. The whole process starts by empathizing with users, defining their problems, ideating the solutions, prototyping the final and best solution & then testing it with the user for feedback. The process doesn’t ends here, after testing and getting the feedback applying the changes accordingly to make the prototype better.
EMPATHIZE STAGE 🤔
Put yourself in the shoes of the user and get to know them better! Gather real insights to understand their wants, needs and problems.
Always remember You ≠ User
Interviewing my user and understanding by asking them what is their experience with the area and their interactions helped me to get my insights. Here is all what I planned to ask!
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
1. Tell me something about yourself? What do you like to do the most? Where do you live? With Family or Alone?
2. How many rooms or areas do you have at your present place? Do you have a balcony at your place?
3. When was the last time you visited or spent time in your balcony? (if you have one, if not, than have you ever spent time on someone else’s balcony)
4. Do you usually spend time in balcony? If yes, then explain your experience over there & if no, state the reason behind it?
5. What do you think is the purpose of the balcony in a house? Is it efficiently used by you for that? If no, state where it’s lacking ? If yes, do you think it can be used for other purposes?
6. State your BEST & WORST experience in a balcony? Try to describe an experience you would like to have there?
7. According to you, what would be an ideal experience of a balcony in the house?
8. How satisfied do you feel with your balcony? Rate out of 5? What is stopping you from giving a 5 star rating?
9.What do you like the most in your present balcony? What do you dislike the most there?
I began interviewing each user one-on-one. I ensured the conversations we had were casual. I did so because only then users feel comfortable opening up and converse with ease. I collected notes while having the conversation. It was more like friends conversing, under the umbrella of the word “interview”.
Here is all the data that I collected from my users!
Woah! Never did I realized I conducted my first User Research by virtue of this fun filled activity.
DEFINE STAGE📃
Use the information gathered in Empathize Stage to pinpoint the problems. Write down the problem statement focused around the user instead of you or your business. A user focused problem statement will be a reminder that the solution should be user-focused as well.
So I revisited all the insights I have gathered in previous section- their present & ideal experience, likes and dislikes etc. and noted down a lot of problem statements that could be solved. Let’s see what I got!
Don’t have a big balcony so use the terrace in the alternative of the balcony.
Don’t have enough & comfortable space to sit.
Cannot make or don’t have a mini garden or not able keep a lot of flowers pots there
Feels balcony have a restricted view
80% of the User says it is used as a storage space.
Used for drying wet clothes.
Gets untidy or dirty due to plants there.
Gets wet and dirty in the rainy season.
Wish to sit and work there but cannot keep the stuff there.
Designed grills don’t allow or block the path to do anything outside.
Things kept there are not safe in bad weather.
Feels open balcony on top floors are dangerous
Cannot have real grass on floors
Too hot during day time and a lot of mosquitoes in the evening.
Not properly arranged and decorated.
Why each of those problems are important to the users?
- Not having a big balcony makes the user feel like using a terrace to do the activities he/she wants to do in the balcony, feeling the nature, sitting and working, listening to music etc.
- Users want to sit in the area for ling but either there is not enough space to have a sitting arrangement or don’t have a comfortable sitting arrangement even if there is space.
- All user’s wants to have greenery in the balcony but either due to less space or no space at all users feels its a problem.
- Some users feel to have a proper view from all sides i.e. 360 degree nature view such as a terrace but balconies have a restricted view maximum to 2–3 sides.
- Users don’t want to use the balcony as a storeroom for keeping lots of unnecessary stuff there. They want free or open space for relaxing and having comfortable sitting arrangement.
- Wet clothes either makes the balcony shabby or creates a distraction between the user and the nature.
- Having a clean and tidy space to sit and feel the experience good enough is the need of users.
- The floor & the sitting area gets dirty in bad weather if the window is opened or it’s a open balcony.
- Users want to sit and work in the area having their laptops, phones, paper’s and other stationery but either they don’t have enough space or no place to keep their things.
- Having designed grills feels like a jail and a barrier between the user and nature.
- Users feel winds or rain may hamper their stuff kept in the area. Everyone needs a protected space.
- User feels to floor open balconies are risky or dangerous due to its height.
- Users feels having greenery on the floor will make their experience better and having green grass on the floor of the area is not possible.
- As users want to sit there for long but in sunny weather it’s too hot and that makes them uncomfortable . During the evening and night time there are mosquitoes due to plants that ruins their feeling of peace.
- Users want to have properly arranged and minimal stuff in the area including to have decoration there to make the experience better.
IDEATE STAGE💡
Ideation is a judgement free zone! Design Thinking encourages new, unique and thorough solutions. You understand your users and you have a clear problem statement. Now it’s time for brainstorming!
I did it by keeping all the problem statements in front of me and started writing down all the solutions to them which came into my mind.
Ideas I came up with📝
These are the Top three ideas which I finalized among all the others to go forward with:
💡Top idea 1
Greenery on the balcony with hanging plants, green grass mat & shelf to keep pots — My reason for picking this idea is as most of the users wanted to have greenery in the balcony with minimal things and in a clean and tidy manner with less space.
💡Top idea 2
For Sitting arrangement a comfortable couch attached to the wall or corners and shelves above it — As users want a comfortable sitting arrangement in a balcony my idea will go with every balcony even if there is less space or its an open balcony.
💡Top idea 3
Having a cabinet and storage space under the sitting space and shed above it — Keeping things in the balcony is unsafe in bad weather and to protect them is the concern of users. So this idea of having a cabinet there and under the sitting space can reduce the space problems and also easily accessible. Having shed above it will keep things safe even in bad weather and also allows users to sit there even in bad weather safely.
“Ideas don’t matter until executed!”
PROTOTYPE STAGE🎨
Identify which solution is the best one for the problems in hand. At this stage typically ideas that win are translated into design experiences.
“At this stage you renounce your perfectionist mentality”
My Solution:
- Greenery in Balcony — Since the idea or problem of greenery is common to all my users. To solve this issue, I used hanging plants and shelves on the wall that can be installed as per the space available.
2. Most of the user stated to have tidiness while having greenery so i choose to hang plants near or outside the boundary
3. Then to solve the problem of keeping pots in a tidy manner and with minimum space I choose the idea of having shelves on the wall that could reduce the space issue as well as creates a great ambience.
Ideas which I rejected to make the final product with my ideas :
Hanging plants through the railings: As hanging plants to the railings can become a barrier to my user & nature as they want to enjoy the feel of the environment while sitting there and spending time.
Keeping all the plants on the floor: To solve the space issue and have cleanliness and separate garden area i felt keeping lot of pots on the shelves will not only take minimal space but also creates a good decoration on empty walls.
Test Stage 🔬
This may be the last step in the process however, it is rarely the end. Iteration between the 2–5 or 3–4 will take place before you make the final or best product/solution.
At this stage I was required to test my ideas with my end users and get their feedbacks and further refine & iterate them.
User 1:
Liked the idea of hanging plants but it seems dangerous to hang them on the boundary. Bad weather or strong winds can make them fall.
Plants above the seating arrangement are nice but if the height of keeping them is not appropriate one might get hurt while sitting there.
Shelves over the wall are great but all over the wall from top to bottom is not that great idea.
User 2:
Like the way you have kept your solution simple and easy.
Hanging pots outside the boundary seems risky. They might fall in bad weather.
Like the idea about the space management and keeping plants on the wall.
Having shelves on the wall is a great solution but I would prefer to have 2–3 shelves not more than that. As the wall seems too much filled with the shelves.
User 3:
Like the approach of keeping minimal space.
Hanging plants outside the boundary is risky & also blocks the view.
Keeping plants on the shelves is the best one. Having a separate wall or area for all the plants.
Keeping plants above the sitting area can make the area dirty while watering them. I would prefer to have a clean sitting area.
User 4:
Hanging plants outside the boundary is dangerous and they might cause an accident if there is a road below.
Loved the sitting area and the plants above them but feel uncomfortable as one might get hurt while sitting or getting up.
Light on the wall of the shelf are unsafe as during rain or while watering plants it’s dangerous if there is any electric supply.
User 5:
Hanging plants is the concern and feels they are unreachable and dangerous. Would like to have a horizontal line of hanging plants as these are blocking the view.
Loved the seating area and the shelves to keep the plants.
Iteration after Feedback:
The changes I came up with after testing my prototype with the users is:
- Instead of using normal shelves I choose the idea of using foldable shelves on the wall as per the convenience.
- I thought to attach wheels on the couch so that it’s movable now and one can shift its position while watering plants.
3. I opted out from the idea of hanging plants on or near the boundary as most of my users felt it risky and dangerous.
MY TAKEAWAYS:
✔️ “You are not the user” is one of the things I learned after committing the mistake. And User interviews and asking them questions are really tough.
✔️ Strictly avoid telling the solutions directly to the users.
✔️Solutions can be simple and even the problems can be simple.
✔️”Ideas are bullshit! They don’t matter until executed.”
✔️We are not here to solve all the problems.
✔️ Space is a problem but that doesn’t mean space is the solution.
“I am excited to learn more about User Interviews as i believe a good user research would be beneficial for a best product and it’s success”
The best thing I learned in this project is you don’t need to give a unique idea but a effective and most efficient solution to user problems.
It’s better to fail early than spend our time thinking too much about the outcome.
Looking forward for more exciting projects in the future!!
