SUSTAINABLE WATER GROUP
THE PROBLEM
The Sustainable Water Group’s AetherBox is being designed to create a sustainable water source using minimal energy. We know that the Box is a long way from completion and will need capital and public interest. This could potentially could keep the product from getting to market. The question we want to answer is: How might we build an online presence so that potential investors and interested end users will reach out for more information or join our mailing list?
UX Bootcamp Project
CLIENT
ROLE
Project Management, Research, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping, Video Creation, Presenting
DURATION
2 weeks
TOOLS
Adobe CC, Figma, Miro, Google Suite, Procreate
PROCESS
RESEARCH
PROTO PERSONAS
INTERVIEW HYPOTHESES + FINDINGS
OUR THOUGHTS
Contractors want to stay relevant and offer innovative solutions to their clients
OUR THOUGHTS
Investors will want to know about the product, the technology and the business plan
OUR THOUGHTS
Stakeholders want the website to target Investors
OUR FINDINGS
Contractors are not concerned with environmental impact or staying relevant to new technology. They rarely, if ever, switch the products they use, unless a client specifically requests it.
OUR FINDINGS
This assumption was correct, and we were able to find out that investors also want to see contact information and market info.
OUR FINDINGS
We learned that this was partially true. They also wanted to target contractors, the assumed main buyer of this product.
CONTRACTOR
“I don’t look for new products”
INVESTOR
“The website needs to be descriptive and have a good narrative”
“The design should be appealing to a broad variety of end customers. We shouldn’t confine to only one segment”
STAKEHOLDER
Based on our findings, we decided we needed to shift our audience from contractors to homeowners. We targeted the survey towards homeowners and found that they confirmed our audience switch. They are the ones who determine what kind of water technology they use, not contractors.
DEFINITION/IDEATION
Based on our research, we determined that the website needs to prioritize both the user (homeowners) AND the investor. We researched what kind of information it needs to present and came up with the following:
After determining our initial features, we researched how to best tell this story and keep both sets of users engaged and excited. We found that a long-scrolling web solution is best for storytelling.
PROTOTYPING
LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
We put all of our information on to one long-scrolling page with side navigation to act as both breadcrumbs and a menu. Clicking on the menu would let the user jump to a different part of the page. The idea behind this was to keep the user engaged with the story we were trying to tell, but not get overwhelmed with information or lost in the scroll.
TESTING
We found that the user’s biggest pain points were:
Navigation was confusing, especially the side navigation
Navigation was confusing, especially the side navigation
UX copy was confusing
Hard to tell where to find certain information
Our solutions to these pain points:
Separated information into 3 pages, rather than one long one (but kept initial long scroll storytelling on home page)
Spaced out information on pages
Re-wrote copy so navigation was easier
ITERATING
STYLE GUIDE
STYLE GUIDE
After we tested our initial prototype, we developed a style guide based on the feedback we got from users and stakeholders. We found a font family that's clean and modern, to represent the brand that the stakeholders desired. And we developed a color palette that was both simple and effectively communicated the brand to users. We chose blue because it's “Associated with nature. Blue is strongly associated with clean water, clear skies, etc., which leads to its high preference as a color.” (Babich)
Like our stakeholder Vivek said, the brand should represent "water, water, water!"
HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
Based on the user feedback, stakeholder feedback, and style guide, we created a high-fidelity prototype complete with branding, imagery, and content. I created a video for the hero to represent the idea of clean, sustainable water. We conducted an A/B test to see if a static image or a video hero worked better. From this A/B test, we learned that users liked motion, so we kept the video.
FINAL THOUGHTS
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Research dictates direction
We believe we allowed the research to direct our decisions. We came in with a proto-persona and the research pointed us in another direction and we acted on what the research told us.
Next-Level Research
Under an incredibly tight window we successfully accessed investors, homebuilders, and contractors for interviews. These are groups that are not easiest to connect with and we were able to make it happen.
Designing for information
We approached this project in a new way compared to our previous work. It’s not selling a product. It’s not providing large amounts of information. We told a story. Our mission was to let the information guide the design. We successfully did this in a clean, professional, and exciting way.
LOOKING FORWARD
We hope that the site is built to grow with the development of the product.
We would want to test and iterate on the story to make it the most compelling.
We would like to spend more time with the stakeholders refining the branding.
