Competitive Analysis
Know what's out there...
itsknottv selected a currency exchange app, like the one pictured here, for competitive analysis. Some of the pain points determined were that the calculator looks odd, and the user's ability to exchange their money while travelling. Exchange rates differ depending on the vendor. So the process of UX/UI began, starting with getting to know our potential audience.
Empathize
I feel your pain.
Before building anything, knowing and understanding your audience is crucial (even if they start out as fictional characters like the guy pictured). Creating personas and user journey maps help empathize with your potential user to determine their wants and needs. In this case, it was both the aesthetic and the functionality.
Determining their pain points is a skill sharpened by decades of experience building channels to meet the high expectations of the diverse HBO audience throughout Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Brazil.
Define
What's in it for you?
itsknottv lives in storytelling, so storyboards are our happy place. These help flesh out obstacles better. Defining the problem helps the solutions come into focus. For our currency app, we took special consideration for the user who may need the app to exchange their money while travelling. For example, local cash is the best way to negotiate a price, but where can you go to exchange it at the best rate?
Ideate
Storm's coming...
With a targeted audience and a clearly defined problem, itsknottv breaks open the box to brainstorm user-centric, conventional and creative solutions. Here we can brainstorm all the most logical and fantastically unimaginable solutions in a safe and creative space to solve our problem. Once it is selected, it's sketched into paper wireframes to save time and money before building the experience in Figma. This helps manifest the experience from our newly designed currency app.
Prototype
How do I look?
The wireframes are refined as they are recreated digitally in Figma for the team to contribute. This sample design is an early, lo-fi wireframe for the imaginary Currency Exchange App. The user journey can now be acted out for testing and modification to ensure ease of goal accomplishments, look, and feel.
Click the link to give it a try. Try to change your language, or lock in your rate with a participating vendor...
Test
Mic check one two, one two...
After its usability test, the design is modified until the design and function are harmonized, maximizing design, layout, color, branding, and writing. Using design elements and Gestalt Principles like negative space, symmetry, proximity, and color, the new spec app is tested again. After approval and a layover with developers, the app can embark on the journey to empower our international travellers with local currency.