My Role
I led the overall strategy, user research and testing, as well as designing the wireframes and high-fidelity mockups for the app.
Background
Released in November 2014, Sandboxx is a mobile app that focuses on the military community. It is comprised of two parts: (1) a social media feed for military members to connect, and (2) a letter sending feature to send letters to service members who are in boot camp or deployed.
The Challenge
To redesign the app to increase revenue and overall user engagement with the letter sending feature.
The Approach
Interviews, Competitive Analysis, Sketches, & Wireframes
I designed the UX strategy, which included: interviewing potential users, completing a competitive analysis, testing the current app, creating a new user flow, and designing a new experience.
Competitive Analysis
Sketches & Wireframes
The Solution
Dashboard with a bottom navigation
The initial design of the app combined both the social media feed and a letter sending component which confused first-time users. After speaking to potential users and doing some A/B testing, the bottom navigation bar was determined to be the most effective way to separate these different functions.
Using “realistic” imagery of the letter to be sent
Similar to how software once needed to use skeumorphic representations of physical objects to teach users the function of certain commands (i.e., printer to print), user testing showed that providing users with a visual cue of what was being sent allowed them to instantly understand what they were doing.
Customization
Unlike email, physical letters carry an emotional connection as it engages more of the recipient’s physical and emotional senses. As a result, providing users the ability to personalize the letter added an additional emotional connection that made the experience of writing the letter more meaningful.
The Response
My team presented our findings and designs to the CEO and executive staff at Sandboxx and received an overwhelming positive response to the design we created.